The Bible

 

Hosea 6

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1 In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord:

2 For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us.

3 He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth.

4 What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning.

5 For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light.

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.

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

8 Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood.

9 And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.

11 And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back captivity of my people.

   

Commentary

 

Morning

  
Two gorgeous red poppies -- one popped, and one just about to.

Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun -- which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light -- represents the Lord in His divinity, bringing spiritual life through love and wisdom. Thus, the morning represents the coming of the Lord into our lives, and all the things that flow from it: the love, joy and enlightenment He brings; the peace and tranquility of passing the spiritual obscurity of night; the anticipation of the learning and usefulness of a new day; and the awareness of The Lord's renewed presence.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 179; Apocalypse Revealed 151; Arcana Coelestia 2333 [1-3], 2540, 2780, 5740, 8211, 8812, 10134, 10200, 10413; True Christian Religion 764 [1-2])

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #705

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705. 16:15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and preserves his garments." This symbolizes the Lord's advent and heaven then for people who look to Him and remain steadfast in a life in accordance with His precepts, which are the Word's truths.

To come as a thief, when said of the Lord, symbolizes His advent, and heaven then for people who have lived a good life, but hell for those who have lived an evil life, as may be seen in no. 164 above. That person is called blessed who receives eternal life (no. 639). To watch means, symbolically, to live spiritually, that is, to possess truths and live in accordance with them and look to the Lord (no. 158). And to preserve one's garments means, symbolically, to remain steadfast in those truths to the end of one's life. For garments symbolize truths that clothe (nos. 166, 212, 328), thus the Lord's precepts in the Word, because these are truths.

This meaning now follows in sequence from the preceding ones, for the subject before was the Lord's advent and a new church, and then an attack on that church by people of the former church; and because the conflict is at hand, those people who possess truths from the Word are admonished to remain steadfast in them, lest they succumb in the battle that is the subject of the following verse.

  
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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.