The Bible

 

Deuteronomio 6

Study

   

1 OR questi sono i comandamenti, gli statuti e le leggi, che il Signore Iddio vostro mi ha comandato di insegnarvi, acciocchè le mettiate in opera, nel paese al quale voi passate per possederlo;

2 acciocchè tu tema il Signore Iddio tuo, osservando tutti i suoi statuti e comandamenti, i quali io ti do; tu, e il tuo figliuolo, e il figliuolo del tuo figliuolo, tutto il tempo della tua vita; e acciocchè i tuoi giorni sieno prolungati.

3 Ascolta adunque o Israele, e osserva di metterli in opera, acciocchè ti sia bene, e acciocchè siate grandemente moltiplicati, nel paese stillante latte e miele, come il Signore Iddio dei tuoi padri ti ha detto.

4 Ascolta, Israele: Il Signore Iddio nostro è l’unico Signore;

5 Ama dunque il Signore Iddio tuo con tutto il tuo cuore, con tutta l’anima tua, e con tutto il tuo maggior potere.

6 E dimorino queste parole, le quali oggi ti comando, nel tuo cuore;

7 e inculcale a’ tuoi figliuoli, e ragionane quando tu sarai a sedere in casa tua, e quando tu camminerai per via, e quando tu giacerai, e quando tu ti leverai.

8 E legale per segnale, in su la tua mano, e sieno per frontali fra’ tuoi occhi.

9 Scrivile ancora sopra gli stipiti della tua casa, e sopra le tue porte.

10 E quando il Signore Iddio tuo ti avrà introdotto nel paese, del quale egli ha giurato a’ tuoi padri, ad Abrahamo, a Isacco, e a Giacobbe, ch’egli te lo darebbe, nelle città grandi e belle, le quali tu non hai edificate;

11 e nelle case piene d’ogni bene, le quali tu non hai empiute; e a’ pozzi cavati, che tu non hai cavati; e alle vigne, e agli uliveti, che tu non hai piantati; e tu avrai mangiato, e sarai sazio;

12 guardati che talora tu non dimentichi il Signore, che ti ha tratto fuor del paese di Egitto, della casa di servitù.

13 Temi il Signore Iddio tuo, e a lui servi,

14 e giura per lo suo Nome. Non andate dietro agl’iddii stranieri, d’infra gl’iddii de’ popoli che saranno d’intorno a voi;

15 perciocchè il Signore Iddio tuo è un Dio geloso nel mezzo di te; che talora l’ira del Signore Iddio tuo non si accenda contro a te, e ch’egli non ti distrugga d’in su la terra.

16 Non tentate il Signore Iddio vostro, come voi lo tentaste in Massa.

17 Del tutto osservate i comandamenti del Signore Iddio vostro, e le sue testimonianze, e i suoi statuti ch’egli vi ha dati.

18 E fa’ ciò che è diritto e buono negli occhi del Signore; acciocchè ti sia bene, e che tu entri nel buon paese, il quale il Signore ha giurato a’ tuoi padri; e che tu lo possegga.

19 Acciocchè egli cacci d’innanzi a te tutti i tuoi nemici; come il Signore ne ha parlato.

20 Quando il tuo figliuolo per l’innanzi ti domanderà, dicendo: Che voglion dire queste testimonianze, e questi statuti, e queste leggi, che il Signore Iddio nostro vi ha date?

21 Di’ al tuo figliuolo: Noi eravamo servi di Faraone in Egitto; e il Signore ci trasse fuor di Egitto con potente mano.

22 E il Signore fece miracoli, e prodigi grandi e dannosi sopra gli Egizj, e sopra Faraone, e sopra tutta la sua casa, davanti agli occhi nostri.

23 E ci trasse fuor di là, per condurci nel paese il quale egli avea giurato a’ nostri padri, e per darcelo.

24 E il Signore ci comandò di mettere in opera tutti questi statuti, per temere il Signore Iddio nostro, acciocchè ci sia bene in perpetuo, e siamo conservati in vita, come siamo oggi.

25 E ciò ci sarà giustizia, quando noi osserveremo di mettere in opera tutti questi comandamenti, nel cospetto del Signore Iddio nostro, siccome egli ci ha comandato.

   


To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.

Commentary

 

Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5595

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

5595. 'And Israel said' means a perception received from spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with already; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598. And as 'Israel' represents spiritual good, he also represents the internal Church, 3305, 4286; for that Church is a Church by virtue of its spiritual good. Spiritual good is truth made into good; for truth is made into good when a person leads a life in keeping with that truth. When he does this, truth passes into his will and from there into action and becomes part of his life; and when truth becomes part of his life it is no longer called truth but good. But the will which transforms truth into good is the new will formed in the understanding part of his mind; and that good is called spiritual good. Spiritual good differs from celestial good in that celestial good is implanted in the will part of a person's mind. But this matter has been dealt with quite a number of times before.

[2] The reason why Jacob is not called Jacob now, as he is in Verse Genesis 42:36 of the previous chapter, but Israel is that good is the subject here, whereas truth was the subject in the previous chapter. In the previous chapter the speaker was therefore Reuben, who represents the truth of doctrine taught by the Church, 3861, 3866, 4731, 4734, 4761, 5542; but in the present chapter the speaker is Judah, by whom the good of the Church is represented, 3654, 5583. Good becomes the subject now because this time the joining together is effected of the internal, which is 'Joseph', and the external, which is 'the ten sons of Jacob', through the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin'. That joining of the internal to the external is effected through good.

  
/ 10837  
  

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