The Bible

 

Hoseas 2

Study

   

1 Si da til eders brødre: Ammi*! Og til eders søstre: uhama**! / [HSE 2, 1 er i trykte bøker plassert på slutten av kapittel 1.] {* Du mitt folk!.} {** Du som har fÃ¥tt miskunn! 1PE 2, 10.}

2 Gå i rette med eders mor, gå i rette med henne! For hun er ikke min hustru, og jeg er ikke hennes mann. Få henne til å ta sine horeminer bort fra sitt ansikt og sine utuktige fakter fra sine bryster,

3 forat jeg ikke skal klæ henne naken og stille henne frem som hun var den dag hun blev født, og gjøre henne lik en ørken, et tørt land, og la henne av tørst!

4 Og hennes barn vil jeg ikke miskunne mig over; for de er horebarn.

5 For deres mor har drevet hor, hun som fødte dem, har båret sig skammelig at - hun sa: Jeg vil gå efter mine elskere, de som gir mig mitt brød og mitt vann, min ull og mitt lin, min olje og min vin.

6 Se, derfor stenger jeg din vei med torner; jeg reiser en mur foran henne, så hun ikke finner sine stier;

7 når hun løper efter sine elskere, skal hun ikke nå dem, når hun søker dem, skal hun ikke finne dem. Da skal hun si: Jeg vil vende tilbake til min første mann; for dengang hadde jeg det bedre enn nu.

8 Hun skjønte ikke at det var jeg som gav henne kornet og mosten og oljen, og som gav henne sølv og gull i mengdevis, som de brukte til Ba'al.

9 Derfor vil jeg ta mitt korn tilbake, når dets tid kommer, og min most, når tiden er inne, og jeg vil ta bort min ull og mitt lin, som tjener til å skjule hennes blusel.

10 Ja, nu vil jeg avdekke hennes visne kropp for hennes elskeres øine, og ingen skal rive henne ut av min hånd.

11 Og jeg vil gjøre ende på all hennes glede, hennes fester, hennes nymåner og hennes sabbater og alle hennes høitider.

12 Og jeg vil ødelegge hennes vintre og hennes fikentre, hvorom hun har sagt: De er min horelønn, som mine elskere har gitt mig. Og jeg vil gjøre dem til skog, og markens dyr skal ete dem.

13 Og jeg vil hjemsøke henne for de dager da hun brente røkelse for Ba'alene og prydet sig med nesering og halssmykke og gikk efter sine elskere, men glemte mig, sier Herren.

14 Se, derfor vil jeg lokke henne og føre henne ut i ørkenen og tale vennlig til henne,

15 og så snart hun kommer derfra, vil jeg gi henne hennes vingårder igjen og gjøre Akors dal* til en håpets dør for henne; og hun skal takke der**, som i sin ungdoms dager, som den dag hun drog op fra Egyptens land. / {* JOS 7, 24. 26.} {** hun skal takke Herren for de velgjerninger hvormed han i Kana'an mottar henne.}

16 Og det skal skje på den dag, sier Herren, at du skal rope: Min mann! Og du skal ikke mere rope til mig: Min Ba'al!

17 Og jeg vil ta Ba'alenes navn bort fra hennes munn, og de skal ikke mere nevnes ved navn.

18 Og jeg vil den dag gjøre en pakt for dem med markens dyr og himmelens fugler og jordens kryp; og bue og sverd og krig vil jeg sønderbryte og utrydde av landet, og jeg vil la dem bo i trygghet.

19 Og jeg vil trolove mig med dig for evig tid; jeg vil trolove mig med dig i rettferdighet og rett, i miskunhet og barmhjertighet,

20 og jeg vil trolove mig med dig i trofasthet, og du skal kjenne Herren.

21 Og det skal skje på den dag at jeg vil bønnhøre, sier Herren, jeg vil bønnhøre himmelen, og den skal bønnhøre jorden,

22 og jorden skal bønnhøre kornet og mosten og oljen, og de skal bønnhøre Jisre'el.

23 Og jeg vil plante henne* for mig i landet og miskunne mig over Lo- uhama, og jeg vil si til Lo-Ammi: Du er mitt folk, og det skal svare: Min Gud! / {* Israel}

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #500

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

500. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. This symbolically means that those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will oppose these two essential elements of the New Church, attack them, and reject them, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit means the people who ascended out of the bottomless pit having the appearance of locusts in Revelation 9:1-12. That they were people caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone may be seen in the exposition there. To make war means, symbolically, to oppose and attack these two essential elements of the church, as we shall see next. To overcome them and kill them means, symbolically, to reject them and root them out, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

[2] People caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will attack and reject these two essential elements because they have established in themselves two ideas contrary to them, first, that it is not the Lord but God the Father to whom they should turn; and secondly, that a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments is not a spiritual life, but simply a moral and civic life, and they maintain this to keep anyone from believing that he is saved by works rather than by their faith alone.

All those people who in schools and universities have deeply impressed these dogmas on their minds do not afterward turn away from them. There are three reasons for this, hitherto unknown. First, they have introduced themselves as to their spirit into association with people in the spiritual world like themselves, where there are many satanic spirits who find delight only in falsities, and from these spirits they cannot possibly be set free unless they reject those falsities. Nor can they do that unless they turn to God the Savior directly and begin to live a Christian life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

[3] The second reason is their belief that they are granted instant forgiveness for their sins and thus salvation in the act of faith, and afterward in the state or progression of it through the same act continued, preserved and retained by the Holy Spirit, apart from any exercises of charity. After that, then, once people have imbibed these ideas, they regard their sins as of no account in the sight of God, and so continue in their impure lives.

Moreover, because they know how to cleverly defend such ideas with falsifications of the Word in the presence of uneducated listeners, and with fallacious arguments in the presence of learned ones, we are told here that the beast from the bottomless pit overcame and killed the two witnesses. But this is the case only with people who love to live self-indulgently and are carried away by the delights of their appetites. Whenever these people think about salvation, they harbor at heart their lusts, and with both hands embrace that faith of theirs, because then they can be saved by uttering certain words in a confident tone and do not have to attend to anything having to do with their life for God's sake, but only for the sake of the world.

[4] The third reason is that people who in their youth have imbibed the interior tenets of that faith, called the mysteries of justification, when afterward promoted to a respectable ministry, do not think to themselves about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, retaining the mysteries of their faith only for the sake of their reputation so as to be respected as wise, and because of their wisdom, accounted worthy to be rewarded with riches.

Such is the case as a result of that faith because it has nothing of religion in it. The reality of this may be seen in the third narrative account above, in no. 484.

[5] That wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, which are attacks on truth and are waged by reasonings based on falsities, is clear from the following passages:

...spirits of demons... go out... to gather them for war on the great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:14)

...the dragon was angry with the woman, and it went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

It was granted to (the dragon's beast) to make war with the saints... (Revelation 13:7)

Prepare holy war against (the daughter of Zion)..., and let us go up at noon. (Jeremiah 6:4)

You have not gone up into the breaches... to stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In Salem is (God's) tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion, where He broke the flaming arrows, the bow... and... war. (Psalms 76:2-3)

Jehovah shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up zeal like a man of war. (Isaiah 42:13, cf. Psalms 24:8)

In that day Jehovah... will be... for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, ...to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isaiah 28:5-6)

Deliver me... from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man... All day they gather for war. They sharpen their tongues like serpents. (Psalms 140:1-3)

...many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. (Matthew 24:5-7, cf. Mark 13:6-8, Luke 21:8-10)

The wars of the kings of the north and south and other wars in Daniel 10, 11, and 12 symbolize no other than spiritual wars. And so, too, the wars in other places, as in Isaiah 2:3-5, 13:4, 21:14-15, 31:4; Jeremiah 49:25-26; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 10:5, 14:3; Psalm 18:35 1 , 46:8-9.

[6] As wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service, as is apparent from the following, that the command was given for the Levites to be numbered, to "perform military service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).

This is the service of the Levites: ...to perform military service in the ministry of the tabernacle of meeting; but at the age of fifty years he must cease the military service, and shall minister no more. (Numbers 8:24-25)

See also no. 447 above, where we established from the Word that armies symbolize the church's goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, its evils and falsities.

Footnotes:

1. The citation in the first edition is in error. Either this or Psalms 27:3 was perhaps intended.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.