The Bible

 

Hosea 6

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1 Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face;

3 and we shall know, -- we shall follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth.

4 What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do unto thee, Judah? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away.

5 Therefore have I hewed [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goeth forth as the light.

6 For I delight in loving-kindness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

7 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is tracked with blood.

9 And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.

10 In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing: the whoredom of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.

11 Also, for thee, Judah, is a harvest appointed, when I shall turn again the captivity of my people.

   

Commentary

 

Know

  

Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases -- when it is connected to ideas or objects -- its spiritual meaning and natural meaning are essentially the same. When the Bible talks about people knowing each other and especially when it talks about the Lord knowing people, the meaning has more to do with the states of love within people than it does with any factual knowledge. This makes sense if you think about it. When we really "know" somebody, what we mean is that we know what kind of person they are, what their motivations are, what they love, what they hate, what makes them tick. Those things are far more important than knowing their parents' names, where they were born or what year they graduated from school. Most often then, especially applied to people, "knowing" has to do with the perceptions we have about other people's loves and the conjunction that can exist between those with similar loves, not just a collection of facts.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8999

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8999. 'He would be acting treacherously towards her' means that this would be contrary to the laws of Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of 'acting treacherously' as contrary to God's truth, or what amounts to the same thing, contrary to the laws of Divine order. This meaning of 'acting treacherously' is evident from what had been introduced immediately above in 8998. In heaven the laws of Divine order are truths, for Divine order originates in Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 8700, 8988. 'Acting treacherously' is a recurrent expression in the Word, meaning in the internal sense acting contrary to truth and good in heaven, or what amounts to the same thing, contrary to Divine order, as in Isaiah 21:2; 33:1; 48:8; Jeremiah 3:20; 5:11; 12:1, 6; Hosea 5:7; 6:7; Malachi 2:10-11, 14-15; Psalms 78:57; 119:158.

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