The Bible

 

Ovadija 1

Study

1 Utvara Avdijeva. Ovako veli Gospod Gospod za edomsku: Čusmo glas od Gospoda, i glasnik bi poslan k narodima: Ustajte, da ustanemo na nju u boj.

2 Gle, učiniću te malim među narodima, bićeš vrlo prezren.

3 Ponos srca tvog prevari te, tebe, koji živiš u raselinama kamenim, u visokom stanu svom, i govoriš u srcu svom: Ko će me oboriti na zemlju?

4 Da podigneš visoko kao orao i među zvezde da metneš gnezdo svoje, odande ću te oboriti, govori Gospod.

5 Kako si oplenjen?! Da su došli k tebi kradljivci ili lupeži noću, ne bi li pokrali koliko im je dosta? Da su došli k tebi berači vinogradski, ne bi li ostavili pabiraka?

6 Kako se pretraži Isav, kako se nađoše potaje njegove!

7 Do granice te odvedoše svi koji behu s tobom u veri, prevariše te i nadvladaše te koji behu u miru s tobom; koji jedu hleb tvoj podmetnuše ti zamku, da se ne opazi.

8 U onaj dan, govori Gospod, neću li pogubiti mudre u zemlji edomskoj i razumne u gori Isavovoj?

9 I tvoji će se junaci uplašiti, Temane, da se istrebe pokoljem svi iz gore Isavove.

10 Za nasilje učinjeno bratu tvom Jakovu pokriće te stid i istrebićeš se zasvagda.

11 Onaj dan, kad ti stajaše nasuprot; onaj dan, kad inostranci odvođahu u ropstvo vojsku njegovu, i tuđinci ulažahu na vrata njegova i bacahu žreb za Jerusalim, beše i ti kao koji od njih.

12 Ali ti ne trebaše gledati dana brata svog, dana, kad se odvođaše u tuđu zemlju, niti se radovati sinovima Judinim u dan kad propadahu, niti razvaljivati usta u dan nevolje njihove.

13 Ne trebaše ti ući na vrata naroda mog u dan pogibli njihove, ne trebaše da i ti gledaš zlo njihovo u dan pogibli njihove, ni da se dohvataš dobra njihova u dan pogibli njihove.

14 Niti trebaše da staneš na rasputicu da ubijaš bežan njihovu, niti da izdaješ onih koji ostaše u dan nevolje.

15 Jer je dan Gospodnji blizu svim narodima: kako si činio, tako će ti biti, plata će ti se vratiti na glavu tvoju.

16 Jer kao što ste vi pili na svetoj gori mojoj, tako će piti svi narodi vazda, piće, i ždreće, i biće kao da ih nije bilo.

17 A na gori će Sionu biti spasenje, i biće sveta, i dom će Jakovljev naslediti nasledstvo svoje.

18 I dom će Jakovljev biti oganj i dom Josifov plamen, a dom Isavov strnjika; i razgoreće se na njih, i spaliće ih; i neće biti ostataka domu Isavovom, jer Gospod reče.

19 I naslediće jug, goru Isavovu, i ravnicu, Filisteje; i naslediće polje Jefremovo i polje samarijsko i Venijaminovo i Galad;

20 I zarobljena vojska sinova Izrailjevih naslediće šta je bilo hananejsko do Sarepte; a roblje jerusalimsko, što je u Sefaradu, naslediće južne gradove.

21 I izbavitelji će izaći na goru Sion da sude gori Isavovoj, i carstvo će biti Gospodnje.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1197

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1197. 'From whom Pelishtim came forth' means the nation which came from these, and which means a knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity. This is clear from the Word where they are mentioned many times. In the Ancient Church all were called Philistines who spoke much about faith and who asserted that salvation lay in faith, and yet possessed nothing of the life of faith. Consequently they more than any others were called uncircumcised, that is, devoid of charity. (For references to them as the uncircumcised, see 1 Samuel 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Samuel 1:20; and elsewhere.) Being such as they were they inevitably made cognitions of faith matters of memory, for cognitions of spiritual and celestial things, and the arcana of faith themselves, become purely matters of memory when a person who is acquainted with them is devoid of charity. Things of the memory are so to speak dead if the person is not such that he lives according to them from conscience. When he does live according to them from conscience things of the memory are in that case matters of life as well, and only then do they remain with him for his use and salvation following life in the body. Knowledge and cognitions are of no value to anyone in the next life, even though he may have known all the arcana that have ever been revealed, if they have made no impact on his life.

[2] Throughout the prophetical parts of the Word 'the Philistines' means people such as these, as they do in the historical sections of the Word, as when Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines and made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, Genesis 20:1-end; 21:22-end; 26:1-33. Because the Philistines here meant cognitions of faith, and because Abraham represented the celestial things of faith, he sojourned there and made a covenant with them. So likewise did Isaac, who represented the spiritual things of faith. But Jacob did not do so because he represented the external features of the Church.

[3] That 'the Philistines' means, in general, knowledge of the cognitions of faith, and in particular people who make faith and salvation reside in cognitions alone which they make matters of memory, becomes clear also in Isaiah,

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which smites you has been broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying prester. Isaiah 14:29

Here 'the serpent's root' stands for facts, 'an adder' for evil arising out of falsities based on facts. 'The fruits of a flying prester' is their works which, because they are the product of evil desires, are called 'a flying prester'

[4] In Joel,

What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? Swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head, inasmuch as you have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples, and have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Javanites, 1 that you might remove them far away from their border. Joel 3:4-6.

What 'the Philistines' and the whole of Philistia, or 'all its borders', are used to mean here is plain. 'Silver' and 'gold' here are the spiritual and celestial things of faith, 'good and desirable treasures' cognitions of them. 'They carried them into their temples' means that they were in possession of them and proclaimed them. 'They sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem' however means that they possessed no love and no faith. In the Word 'Judah' is the celestial element of faith, and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual element deriving from it, which were 'removed far away from their borders'. Further examples exist in the Prophets, such as Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 47:1-end; Ezekiel 16:27, 57; 25:15-16; Amos 1:8; 19; Zephaniah 2:5; Psalms 87:4; and the people of Caphtor are mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. the Greeks

  
/ 10837  
  

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