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Yoel 2

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1 תקעו שופר בציון והריעו בהר קדשי ירגזו כל ישבי הארץ כי־בא יום־יהוה כי קרוב׃

2 יום חשך ואפלה יום עןן וערפל כשחר פרש על־ההרים עם רב ועצום כמהו לא נהיה מן־העולם ואחריו לא יוסף עד־שני דור ודור׃

3 לפניו אכלה אש ואחריו תלהט להבה כגן־עדן הארץ לפניו ואחריו מדבר שממה וגם־פליטה לא־היתה לו׃

4 כמראה סוסים מראהו וכפרשים כן ירוצון׃

5 כקול מרכבות על־ראשי ההרים ירקדון כקול להב אש אכלה קש כעם עצום ערוך מלחמה׃

6 מפניו יחילו עמים כל־פנים קבצו פארור׃

7 כגבורים ירצון כאנשי מלחמה יעלו חומה ואיש בדרכיו ילכון ולא יעבטון ארחותם׃

8 ואיש אחיו לא ידחקון גבר במסלתו ילכון ובעד השלח יפלו לא יבצעו׃

9 בעיר ישקו בחומה ירצון בבתים יעלו בעד החלונים יבאו כגנב׃

10 לפניו רגזה ארץ רעשו שמים שמש וירח קדרו וכוכבים אספו נגהם׃

11 ויהוה נתן קולו לפני חילו כי רב מאד מחנהו כי עצום עשה דברו כי־גדול יום־יהוה ונורא מאד ומי יכילנו׃

12 וגם־עתה נאם־יהוה שבו עדי בכל־לבבכם ובצום ובבכי ובמספד׃

13 וקרעו לבבכם ואל־בגדיכם ושובו אל־יהוה אלהיכם כי־חנון ורחום הוא ארך אפים ורב־חסד ונחם על־הרעה׃

14 מי יודע ישוב ונחם והשאיר אחריו ברכה מנחה ונסך ליהוה אלהיכם׃ ף

15 תקעו שופר בציון קדשו־צום קראו עצרה׃

16 אספו־עם קדשו קהל קבצו זקנים אספו עוללים וינקי שדים יצא חתן מחדרו וכלה מחפתה׃

17 בין האולם ולמזבח יבכו הכהנים משרתי יהוה ויאמרו חוסה יהוה על־עמך ואל־תתן נחלתך לחרפה למשל־בם גוים למה יאמרו בעמים איה אלהיהם׃

18 ויקנא יהוה לארצו ויחמל על־עמו׃

19 ויען יהוה ויאמר לעמו הנני שלח לכם את־הדגן והתירוש והיצהר ושבעתם אתו ולא־אתן אתכם עוד חרפה בגוים׃

20 ואת־הצפוני ארחיק מעליכם והדחתיו אל־ארץ ציה ושממה את־פניו אל־הים הקדמני וספו אל־הים האחרון ועלה באשו ותעל צחנתו כי הגדיל לעשות׃

21 אל־תיראי אדמה גילי ושמחי כי־הגדיל יהוה לעשות׃

22 אל־תיראו בהמות שדי כי דשאו נאות מדבר כי־עץ נשא פריו תאנה וגפן נתנו חילם׃

23 ובני ציון גילו ושמחו ביהוה אלהיכם כי־נתן לכם את־המורה לצדקה ויורד לכם גשם מורה ומלקוש בראשון׃

24 ומלאו הגרנות בר והשיקו היקבים תירוש ויצהר׃

25 ושלמתי לכם את־השנים אשר אכל הארבה הילק והחסיל והגזם חילי הגדול אשר שלחתי בכם׃

26 ואכלתם אכול ושבוע והללתם את־שם יהוה אלהיכם אשר־עשה עםכם להפליא ולא־יבשו עמי לעולם׃

27 וידעתם כי בקרב ישראל אני ואני יהוה אלהיכם ואין עוד ולא־יבשו עמי לעולם׃ ס

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9434

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9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, 1 and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. 2 Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice 3 to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished 4 by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign 5 fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. the great and strong people who will invade the land

2. literally, a wilderness of ruination

3. literally, the glory of His voice

4. literally, visited

5. i.e. unauthorized or profane

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