The Bible

 

約拿書 1

Study

1 耶和華的臨到亞米太的兒子約拿,說:

2 起來尼尼微城去,向其中的居民呼喊,因為他們的惡達到我面前。

3 約拿起來,逃往他施去躲避耶和華到約帕,遇見一隻,要往他施去。他就價,上了,要與上的人同往他施去躲避耶和華

4 然而耶和華使中起就狂作,甚至幾乎壞。

5 水手便懼,各哀求自己的。他們將上的貨物拋在中,為要使輕些。約拿到底艙,躺臥沉睡。

6 船主到他那裡對他:你這沉睡的人哪,為何這樣呢?起來,求告你的,或者顧念我們,使我們不致滅亡。

7 船上的彼此:來吧,我們掣籤,看看這災臨到我們是因誰的緣故。於是他們掣籤,掣出約拿來。

8 眾人對他:請你告訴我們,這災臨到我們是因誰的緣故?你以何事為業?你從哪裡?你是哪一國?屬哪一族的人?

9 :我是希伯來人。我敬畏耶和華─那創造滄旱地之上的

10 他們就,對他:你做的是甚麼事呢?他們已經知道他躲避耶和華,因為他告訴了他們。

11 他們問他我們當向你怎樣行,使浪平靜呢?這話是因浪越發翻騰。

12 他對他們:你們將我抬起來,拋在中,就平靜了;我知道你們遭這風是因我的緣故。

13 然而那些人竭力盪槳,要把船攏岸,卻是不能,因為浪越發向他們翻騰。

14 他們便求告耶和華耶和華啊,我們懇求你,不要因這的性命使我們死亡,不要使流無辜血的罪歸與我們;因為你─耶和華是隨自己的意旨行事。

15 他們遂將約拿抬起,拋在中,的狂浪就平息了。

16 那些人便敬畏耶和華,向耶和華獻祭,並且許願。

17 耶和華安排一條約拿,他在魚腹中夜。

Commentary

 

Tell

  

In Genesis 12:18, telling signifies to indicate, to come to know, to inform, or to be informed. Reflection is an internal telling. (Arcana Coelestia 2862)

In Genesis 24:49, "tell me, and if not, tell me" signifies the free state of their deliberation. (Arcana Coelestia 3158)

In Revelation 1:1, 2, this signifies to make manifest. (Apocalypse Revealed 3)

In Genesis 24:66, when the servant tells Isaac his story, it signifies perception from the Divine Natural. (Arcana Coelestia 3209)

'To tell' signifies perceiving, because in the spiritual world, or in heaven, they do not need to tell what they think because they communicate every thought. This is why 'to tell,' in the spiritual sense, signifies perceiving.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 5601)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3158

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3158. 'Tell me; and if not, tell me' means a state in which they are free to deliberate. This is evident from the sense of the words themselves. From all that has gone before it is clear that while the sense of the letter in this chapter is dealing with the betrothal and marriage of Rebekah to Isaac, the internal sense is dealing with the introduction and joining together of truth and good, for the introduction and joining together of truth and good is spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage. In both instances a free state to deliberate is necessary. The necessity for it in betrothal and marriage is well known, but the necessity for it in the introduction and joining together of truth and good is not so well known because it is not visible to the natural man and belongs among the things that go on quite apart from any reflecting on them. Yet this activity continues moment by moment in one who is being reformed and regenerated, that is to say, he experiences a free state when truth is being joined to good.

[2] Everyone may know, if he merely stops to think, that nothing ever exists as a person's own unless it forms part of his will. That which belongs solely to the understanding does not become a person's own until it belongs also to his will, for what belongs to the will constitutes the essential being (esse) of a person's life, whereas what belongs to the understanding constitutes the manifestation (existere) of that essential being. Consent flowing from the understanding alone is not consent, but all consent springs from the will. Unless therefore the truth of faith which belongs to the understanding is received by the good of love which belongs to the will it is in no sense truth that has been acknowledged, and so is not faith. In order that it may be received by good that belongs to the will it is necessary that a free state should exist. Everything that belongs in the will looks to be free. The state itself of the will is freedom, for what I will, I choose and desire since that is what I love and acknowledge as that which is good. From this it becomes clear that the truth of faith in no sense becomes a person's own until it has been accepted by the will, that is, introduced and joined to the good there, which cannot happen except in a free state.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.