The Bible

 

約珥書 3

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1 到那日,我使猶大耶路撒冷被擄之人歸回的時候,

2 我要聚集萬民,帶他們約沙法,在那裡施行審判;因為他們將我的百姓,就是我的產業以色列,分散在列國中,又分取我的土,

3 且為我的百姓拈鬮,將童子換妓女童女買酒

4 推羅、西頓,和非利士四境的人哪,你們與我何干?你們要報復我麼?若報復我,我必使報應速速歸到你們的上。

5 你們既然奪取我的,又將我可愛的寶物帶入你們宮殿(或譯:廟中),

6 並將猶大人和耶路撒冷給希利尼人(原文是雅完人),使他們遠離自己的境界。

7 我必激動他們離開你們所到之地,又必使報應歸到你們的上。

8 我必將你們的兒女猶大人的中,他們必給遠方示巴國的人。這是耶和華的。

9 當在萬民中宣告說:要預備打仗;激動勇士,使一切戰士上前來。

10 要將犁頭打成刀,將鐮刀打成戈矛;軟弱的要:我有勇力。

11 四圍的列國啊,你們要速速地,一同聚集。耶和華啊,求你使你的大能者降臨。

12 萬民都當興起,上到約沙法;因為我必在那裡,審判四圍的列國。

13 開鐮罷!因為莊稼熟了;踐踏罷!因為酒醡滿了。酒池盈溢;他們的罪惡甚大。

14 許多許多的人在斷定,因為耶和華的日子臨近斷定

15 日月昏暗,宿無光。

16 耶和華必從錫安吼叫,從耶路撒冷發聲,就震動。耶和華卻要作他百姓的避難所,作以色列人的保障。

17 你們就知道我是耶和華─你們的,且又住在錫安─我的。那時,耶路撒冷必成為;外邦人不再從其中經過。

18 到那日,大要滴甜酒;小奶子;猶大都有。必有泉源從耶和華的殿中出來,滋潤什亭谷。

19 埃及必然荒涼,以東變為悽涼的曠野,都因向猶大人所行的強暴,又因在本流無辜人的血。

20 猶大必存到永遠耶路撒冷必存到萬

21 我未曾報復(或譯:洗除;下同)流血的罪,現在我要報復,因為耶和華住在錫安。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #350

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350. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed. (7:5) This symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord, and this in all those people who will be in the Lord's New Heaven and New Church.

In the highest sense Judah symbolizes the Lord in relation to celestial love; in the spiritual sense, the Lord's celestial kingdom and the Word; and in the natural sense, the doctrine of a celestial church drawn from the Word. Here, however, Judah symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord; and because it is named first in the series, it symbolizes that love in all those people who will be in the New Heaven and in the Lord's New Church. For the tribe named first is everything in the rest, being to them as though their head and serving as a universal property entering into all those that follow, tying them together, qualifying them and affecting them. This property is love toward the Lord.

To be shown that twelve thousand symbolizes all who possess that love, see no. 348 above.

[2] People know that after the death of Solomon the twelve tribes of Israel were divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of Judah represented the celestial kingdom or the Lord's priestly kingdom, while the kingdom of Israel represented the spiritual kingdom or the Lord's royal kingdom. But the latter was destroyed when the people had nothing spiritual left in them, whereas the kingdom of Judah was preserved, for the sake of the Word, and because the Lord would be born there. However, when the people adulterated the Word completely, and thus could not recognize the Lord, then their kingdom was destroyed.

It can be seen from this that the tribe of Judah symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord. But because the people were of the character they were with respect to the Word and with respect to the Lord, the tribe of Judah symbolizes also the opposite love, which is love of self - properly speaking, a love of dominating springing from a love of self - a love which we call diabolical love.

[3] The fact that Judah and his tribe symbolize the celestial kingdom and its love, which is love toward the Lord, follows from these passages:

Judah, your brothers shall praise you... The scepter shall not be taken from Judah... until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey's foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine... His eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Genesis 49:8-12)

...David shall be their prince forever, and I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them..., and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. (Ezekiel 37:25-26)

Exult and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! ...Jehovah will make Judah an inheritance for Himself, His portion on the holy land. (Zechariah 2:10-12)

O Judah, celebrate your feasts, perform your vows. For Belial 1 shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off. (Nahum 1:15)

The Lord... will suddenly come to His temple... Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be sweet to Jehovah as in the days of old... (Malachi 3:1, 4)

Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:20)

Behold, the days are coming..., that I will raise to David a righteous Branch... In His days Judah will be saved... (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of My mountains, that My elect may possess it... (Isaiah 65:9)

Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. (Psalms 114:2)

Behold, the days are coming..., when I will make a new covenant... with the house of Judah... ...this will be the covenant...: I will put My law within them, and write it on their heart... (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 33-34)

In those days ten men... shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." (Zechariah 8:23)

...as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me..., so shall your offspring and your name remain.

Kings (of the nations) shall be your foster fathers, their princesses your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you, their faces to the ground, and lick the dust of your feet. (Isaiah 66:22; 49:23)

[4] From these and many other passages, which we do not have the space to cite because of their number, it can be clearly seen that Judah means not Judah but the church. We are told, for example, that the Lord would make a new and eternal covenant with that nation, that He would make it His heir and His sanctuary forevermore, and that kings of the nations and their princesses would bow down to them, licking the dust of their feet, and so on.

[5] That the tribe of Judah, regarded in itself, means the diabolic kingdom, which is one of a love of dominating springing from a love of self, can be seen from the following passages:

I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity will be. ...they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith... ...they are a nation void of counsel... ...their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; its grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? (Deuteronomy 32:20-34)

(Know that) it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart... that Jehovah... is... giving you (the land of Canaan)..., for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy 9:5-6)

...according to the number of your cities have been your gods, O Judah... ...according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars... to burn incense to Baal. (Jeremiah 2:28; 11:13)

You are of your father the devil, and you choose to do the desires of your father. (John 8:44)

Jews are said to be full of hypocrisy, iniquity, and uncleanness (Matthew 23:27-28.

Footnotes:

1. In the Old Testament, the personification of wickedness and destruction, originally conceived perhaps as some sort of spirit demon.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.