The Bible

 

Amos 8

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1 These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit.

2 And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

3 And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.

4 Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail,

5 Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,

6 That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?

7 The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.

8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt?

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light:

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.

11 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.

12 And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

13 In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst.

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.

   

Commentary

 

Month

  

A 'month,' as in Genesis 29, signifies the end of an earlier state and the beginning of a following state, thus a new state. 'A month' signifies a full state.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 3814)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3814

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3814. 'And he dwelt with him for a full month' means a new state of life. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling' as life, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, and from the meaning of 'a full month' as a new state. All periods of time mean states, see 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404, so that years, months, and days mean such. What kind of states are meant however is clear from the numbers attached to them. When however year, month, or day is used in the singular, an entire state is meant, and so the end of the previous state and the beginning of the next, as has also been shown in various places in the explanations. Here therefore 'month' means the end of the previous state and the beginning of the next, and so means a new state, as in other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

At length from month to its month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh will come to bow down before Me, said Jehovah. Isaiah 66:23.

In John,

He showed me a pure river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month. Revelation 22:1-2.

'Yielding its fruit each month' stands for a state for ever new as regards the reception of good and the consequent practice of it. In Moses, Count the sons of Levi according to their father's house and according to their families. Every male a month old and over shall you count. Count every firstborn male of the children of Israel, a month old and over, and take the number of their names. Numbers 3:15, 40.

[2] It was because the end of the previous state and the beginning of the next, that is, a new state, was meant by 'a month' that they were ordered to count those who were 'a month old and over'. In the same author,

If you see among captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her so that you would take her to yourself for a wife, she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from upon her, and she shall sit in your house and lament her father and her mother for a full month. After that you shall go in to her and know her, and she shall be your wife. Deuteronomy 21:11, 13.

Here 'a full month' clearly stands for the end of the previous and the beginning of the next or new state.

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