New Christian Bible Study

The Bible

 

Joel 2

Study

   

1 σαλπίσατε σάλπιγγι ἐν σιων κηρύξατε ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ μου καὶ συγχυθήτωσαν πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν διότι πάρεστιν ἡμέρα κυρίου ὅτι ἐγγύς

2 ἡμέρα σκότους καὶ γνόφου ἡμέρα νεφέλης καὶ ὁμίχλης ὡς ὄρθρος χυθήσεται ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη λαὸς πολὺς καὶ ἰσχυρός ὅμοιος αὐτῷ οὐ γέγονεν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν οὐ προστεθήσεται ἕως ἐτῶν εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν

3 τὰ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πῦρ ἀναλίσκον καὶ τὰ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἀναπτομένη φλόξ ὡς παράδεισος τρυφῆς ἡ γῆ πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ πεδίον ἀφανισμοῦ καὶ ἀνασῳζόμενος οὐκ ἔσται αὐτῷ

4 ὡς ὅρασις ἵππων ἡ ὄψις αὐτῶν καὶ ὡς ἱππεῖς οὕτως καταδιώξονται

5 ὡς φωνὴ ἁρμάτων ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων ἐξαλοῦνται καὶ ὡς φωνὴ φλογὸς πυρὸς κατεσθιούσης καλάμην καὶ ὡς λαὸς πολὺς καὶ ἰσχυρὸς παρατασσόμενος εἰς πόλεμον

6 ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ συντριβήσονται λαοί πᾶν πρόσωπον ὡς πρόσκαυμα χύτρας

7 ὡς μαχηταὶ δραμοῦνται καὶ ὡς ἄνδρες πολεμισταὶ ἀναβήσονται ἐπὶ τὰ τείχη καὶ ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ αὐτοῦ πορεύσεται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκκλίνωσιν τὰς τρίβους αὐτῶν

8 καὶ ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀφέξεται καταβαρυνόμενοι ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις αὐτῶν πορεύσονται καὶ ἐν τοῖς βέλεσιν αὐτῶν πεσοῦνται καὶ οὐ μὴ συντελεσθῶσιν

9 τῆς πόλεως ἐπιλήμψονται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τειχέων δραμοῦνται καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἀναβήσονται καὶ διὰ θυρίδων εἰσελεύσονται ὡς κλέπται

10 πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν συγχυθήσεται ἡ γῆ καὶ σεισθήσεται ὁ οὐρανός ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη συσκοτάσουσιν καὶ τὰ ἄστρα δύσουσιν τὸ φέγγος αὐτῶν

11 καὶ κύριος δώσει φωνὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸ προσώπου δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ ὅτι πολλή ἐστιν σφόδρα ἡ παρεμβολὴ αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἰσχυρὰ ἔργα λόγων αὐτοῦ διότι μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου μεγάλη καὶ ἐπιφανὴς σφόδρα καὶ τίς ἔσται ἱκανὸς αὐτῇ

12 καὶ νῦν λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν ἐπιστράφητε πρός με ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἐν νηστείᾳ καὶ ἐν κλαυθμῷ καὶ ἐν κοπετῷ

13 καὶ διαρρήξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν καὶ μὴ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν καὶ ἐπιστράφητε πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεὸν ὑμῶν ὅτι ἐλεήμων καὶ οἰκτίρμων ἐστίν μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ μετανοῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς κακίαις

14 τίς οἶδεν εἰ ἐπιστρέψει καὶ μετανοήσει καὶ ὑπολείψεται ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ εὐλογίαν θυσίαν καὶ σπονδὴν κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν

15 σαλπίσατε σάλπιγγι ἐν σιων ἁγιάσατε νηστείαν κηρύξατε θεραπείαν

16 συναγάγετε λαόν ἁγιάσατε ἐκκλησίαν ἐκλέξασθε πρεσβυτέρους συναγάγετε νήπια θηλάζοντα μαστούς ἐξελθάτω νυμφίος ἐκ τοῦ κοιτῶνος αὐτοῦ καὶ νύμφη ἐκ τοῦ παστοῦ αὐτῆς

17 ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς κρηπῖδος τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου κλαύσονται οἱ ἱερεῖς οἱ λειτουργοῦντες κυρίῳ καὶ ἐροῦσιν φεῖσαι κύριε τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ μὴ δῷς τὴν κληρονομίαν σου εἰς ὄνειδος τοῦ κατάρξαι αὐτῶν ἔθνη ὅπως μὴ εἴπωσιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς αὐτῶν

18 καὶ ἐζήλωσεν κύριος τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐφείσατο τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ

19 καὶ ἀπεκρίθη κύριος καὶ εἶπεν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξαποστέλλω ὑμῖν τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὸν οἶνον καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ ἐμπλησθήσεσθε αὐτῶν καὶ οὐ δώσω ὑμᾶς οὐκέτι εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι

20 καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ βορρᾶ ἐκδιώξω ἀφ' ὑμῶν καὶ ἐξώσω αὐτὸν εἰς γῆν ἄνυδρον καὶ ἀφανιῶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τὴν πρώτην καὶ τὰ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τὴν ἐσχάτην καὶ ἀναβήσεται ἡ σαπρία αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀναβήσεται ὁ βρόμος αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἐμεγάλυνεν τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ

21 θάρσει γῆ χαῖρε καὶ εὐφραίνου ὅτι ἐμεγάλυνεν κύριος τοῦ ποιῆσαι

22 θαρσεῖτε κτήνη τοῦ πεδίου ὅτι βεβλάστηκεν πεδία τῆς ἐρήμου ὅτι ξύλον ἤνεγκεν τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ ἄμπελος καὶ συκῆ ἔδωκαν τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῶν

23 καὶ τὰ τέκνα σιων χαίρετε καὶ εὐφραίνεσθε ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ ὑμῶν διότι ἔδωκεν ὑμῖν τὰ βρώματα εἰς δικαιοσύνην καὶ βρέξει ὑμῖν ὑετὸν πρόιμον καὶ ὄψιμον καθὼς ἔμπροσθεν

24 καὶ πλησθήσονται αἱ ἅλωνες σίτου καὶ ὑπερεκχυθήσονται αἱ ληνοὶ οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου

25 καὶ ἀνταποδώσω ὑμῖν ἀντὶ τῶν ἐτῶν ὧν κατέφαγεν ἡ ἀκρὶς καὶ ὁ βροῦχος καὶ ἡ ἐρυσίβη καὶ ἡ κάμπη ἡ δύναμίς μου ἡ μεγάλη ἣν ἐξαπέστειλα εἰς ὑμᾶς

26 καὶ φάγεσθε ἐσθίοντες καὶ ἐμπλησθήσεσθε καὶ αἰνέσετε τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ἃ ἐποίησεν μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς θαυμάσια καὶ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ ὁ λαός μου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα

27 καὶ ἐπιγνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ισραηλ ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῶσιν οὐκέτι πᾶς ὁ λαός μου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #198

Study this Passage

  
/ 853  
  

198. Where the Lord speaks in the presence of His disciples about the ending of the age, meaning the last stage of the church, He says towards the end of the predictions of its successive changes of state:

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will the sign of the Son of Man appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will wail; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth angels with a loud blast of the trumpet, and they will gather His chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other, Matthew 24:29-31.

In the spiritual sense this does not mean that the sun and the moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the Lord's sign will appear in the skies, and that they will see Him in the clouds accompanied by angels with trumpets. All the expressions here have spiritual meanings referring to the church; and they describe its state at its end. In the spiritual sense the sun, which will be darkened, means love to the Lord. The moon, which will not give its light, means faith in Him. The stars which will fall from the sky, mean items of knowledge concerning truth and good. The sign of the Son of Man in the sky means the Divine truth given by Him in the Word being made visible. The tribes of the earth, who will wail, means the failure of all truth to do with faith and of all good to do with love. The coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory means the Lord's presence and His revelation in the Word. The clouds of heaven mean the literal sense of the Word, the glory the spiritual sense of the Word. The angels with the loud blast of the trumpet mean heaven from which Divine truth comes. Gathering the chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other means the new heaven and the new church, composed of those who have faith in the Lord and live in accordance with His commandments. It is quite plain that the darkening of the sun and the moon is not meant, nor the falling of stars to earth, because of the Prophets, where similar statements are made about the state of the church at the time the Lord was to come into the world. For instance, in Isaiah:

Behold the fierce day of Jehovah will come and the blaze of His anger. The stars of the skies and their constellations will not shine with their light, the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light (lumen) to shine, I shall visit upon the world its wickedness. [Isaiah 13:9-11]; Isaiah 24:21, 23.

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and murk. The sun and the moon will be turned black, and the stars will abate their shining, Joel 2:1-2, 10; 3:15.

In Ezekiel:

I shall cover the heavens and make the stars black. I shall cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not cause it light to shine. I shall darken all the luminaries that give light, and make darkness upon the earth, Ezekiel 32:7-8.

The day of Jehovah means the Lord's coming, which took place when there was no more good of love and truth of faith left in the church, nor any knowledge of the Lord. That is why it is called a day of darkness and murk.

  
/ 853  
  

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

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org