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Deuteronomio 1

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1 ESTAS son las palabras que habló Moisés á todo Israel de esta parte del Jordán en el desierto, en el llano delante del mar Bermejo, entre Parán, y Thopel, y Labán, y Haseroth, y Dizahab.

2 Once jornadas hay desde Horeb, camino del monte de Seir, hasta Cades-barnea.

3 Y fué, que á los cuarenta años, en el mes undécimo, al primero del mes, Moisés habló á los hijos de Israel conforme á todas las cosas que Jehová le había mandado acerca de ellos;

4 Después que hirió á Sehón rey de los Amorrheos, que habitaba en Hesbón, y á Og rey de Basán, que habitaba en Astarot en Edrei:

5 De esta parte del Jordán, en tierra de Moab, resolvió Moisés declarar esta ley, diciendo:

6 Jehová nuestro Dios nos habló en Horeb, diciendo: Harto habéis estado en este monte;

7 Volveos, partíos é id al monte del Amorrheo, y á todas sus comarcas, en el llano, en el monte, y en los valles, y al mediodía, y á la costa de la mar, á la tierra del Cananeo, y el Líbano, hasta el gran río, el río Eufrates.

8 Mirad, yo he dado la tierra en vuestra presencia; entrad y poseed la tierra que Jehová juró á vuestros padres Abraham, Isaac, y Jacob, que les daría á ellos y á su simiente después de ellos.

9 Y yo os hablé entonces, diciendo: Yo no puedo llevaros solo:

10 Jehová vuestro Dios os ha multiplicado, y he aquí sois hoy vosotros como las estrellas del cielo en multitud.

11 Jehová Dios de vuestros padres añada sobre vosotros como sois mil veces, y os bendiga, como os ha prometido!

12 ¿Cómo llevaré yo solo vuestras molestias, vuestras cargas, y vuestros pleitos?

13 Dad me de entre vosotros, de vuestras tribus, varones sabios y entendidos y expertos, para que yo los ponga por vuestros jefes.

14 Y me respondisteis, y dijisteis: Bueno es hacer lo que has dicho.

15 Y tomé los principales de vuestras tribus, varones sabios y expertos, y púselos por jefes sobre vosotros, jefes de millares, y jefes de cientos, y jefes de cincuenta, y cabos de diez, y gobernadores á vuestras tribus.

16 Y entonces mandé á vuestros jueces, diciendo: Oid entre vuestros hermanos, y juzgad justamente entre el hombre y su hermano, y el que le es extranjero.

17 No tengáis respeto de personas en el juicio: así al pequeño como al grande oiréis: no tendréis temor de ninguno, porque el juicio es de Dios: y la causa que os fuere difícil, la traeréis á mí, y yo la oiré.

18 Os mandé, pues, en aquel tiempo todo lo que habíais de hacer.

19 Y partidos de Horeb, anduvimos todo aquel grande y terrible desierto que habéis visto, por el camino del monte del Amorrheo, como Jehová nuestro Dios nos lo mandó; y llegamos hasta Cades-barnea.

20 Entonces os dije: Llegado habéis al monte del Amorrheo, el cual Jehová nuestro Dios nos da.

21 Mira, Jehová tu Dios ha dado delante de ti la tierra: sube y posée la, como Jehová el Dios de tus padres te ha dicho; no temas ni desmayes.

22 Y llegasteis á mí todos vosotros, y dijisteis: Enviemos varones delante de nosotros, que nos reconozcan la tierra y nos traigan de vuelta razón del camino por donde hemos de subir, y de las ciudades adonde hemos de llegar.

23 Y el dicho me pareció bien: y tomé doce varones de vosotros, un varón por tribu:

24 Y se encaminaron, y subieron al monte, y llegaron hasta la arroyada de Escol, y reconocieron la tierra.

25 Y tomaron en sus manos del fruto del país, y nos lo trajeron, y diéronnos cuenta, y dijeron: Es buena la tierra que Jehová nuestro Dios nos da.

26 Empero no quisisteis subir, antes fuisteis rebeldes al dicho de Jehová vuestro Dios;

27 Y murmurasteis en vuestras tiendas, diciendo: Porque Jehová nos aborrecía, nos ha sacado de tierra de Egipto, para entregarnos en mano del Amorrheo para destruirnos.

28 ¿A dónde subimos? Nuestros hermanos han hecho desfallecer nuestro corazón, diciendo: Este pueblo es mayor y más alto que nosotros, las ciudades grandes y muradas hasta el cielo; y también vimos allí hijos de gigantes.

29 Entonces os dije: No temáis, ni tengáis miedo de ellos.

30 Jehová vuestro Dios, el cual va delante de vosotros, él peleará por vosotros, conforme á todas las cosas que hizo por vosotros en Egipto delante de vuestros ojos;

31 Y en el desierto has visto que Jehová tu Dios te ha traído, como trae el hombre á su hijo, por todo el camino que habéis andado, hasta que habéis venido á este lugar.

32 Y aun con esto no creisteis en Jehová vuestro Dios,

33 El cual iba delante de vosotros por el camino, para reconoceros el lugar donde habíais de asentar el campo, con fuego de noche para mostraros el camino por donde aduvieseis, y con nube de día.

34 Y oyó Jehová la voz de vuestras palabras, y enojóse, y juró diciendo:

35 No verá hombre alguno de estos de esta mala generación, la buena tierra que juré había de dar á vuestros padres,

36 Excepto Caleb hijo de Jephone: él la verá, y á él le daré la tierra que pisó, y á sus hijos; porque cumplió en pos de Jehová.

37 Y también contra mí se airó Jehová por vosotros, diciendo: Tampoco tú entrarás allá:

38 Josué hijo de Nun, que está delante de ti, él entrará allá: anímale; porque él la hará heredar á Israel.

39 Y vuestros chiquitos, de los cuales dijisteis serán por presa, y vuestros hijos que no saben hoy bueno ni malo, ellos entrarán allá, y á ellos la daré, y ellos la heredarán.

40 Y vosotros volveos, y partíos al desierto camino del mar Bermejo.

41 Entonces respondisteis y me dijisteis: Pecado hemos contra Jehová; nosotros subiremos y pelearemos, conforme á todo lo que Jehová nuestro Dios nos ha mandado. Y os armasteis cada uno de sus armas de guerra, y os apercibisteis para subir al monte.

42 Y Jehová me dijo: Diles: No subáis, ni peleéis, pues no estoy entre vosotros; porque no seáis heridos delante de vuestros enemigos.

43 Y os hablé, y no disteis oído; antes fuisteis rebeldes al dicho de Jehová, y persistiendo con altivez, subisteis al monte.

44 Y salió el Amorrheo, que habitaba en aquel monte, á vuestro encuentro, y os persiguieron, como hacen las avispas, y os derrotaron en Seir, persiguiéndoos hasta Horma.

45 Y volvisteis, y llorasteis delante de Jehová; pero Jehová no escuchó vuestra voz, ni os prestó oído.

46 Y estuvisteis en Cades por muchos días, como en los días que habéis estado.

Commentary

 

Goblets

  

Goblets signify knowledge receptive to truth.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 9394)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9394

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9394. 'And put it in bowls' means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowls' as the things which form the memory. The reason why 'bowls' are things forming the memory is that vessels in general mean known facts, 1469, 1496, 3068, 3079, and known facts are nothing other than things forming the memory. Consequently 'bowls' here are the kinds of things forming the memory which hold within themselves God's truths, meant in general by 'blood'. What known facts are in relation to the truths and forms of the good of life with a person must be stated briefly. All the things which are learned and stored in the memory, from where they can be called forth before the sight of the understanding, are called known facts. In themselves they are things which constitute the understanding part of the natural or external man. Since known facts include items of knowledge concerning inner realities, or cognitions, they serve the sight of the internal or rational man as a sort of mirror. For they then become things that can be seen by the internal man, just as fields full of plants, flowers, and various kinds of crops and trees, or as gardens adorned with various things growing there for use and to delight the senses, are accustomed to be seen in the material world by the external man. But internal sight, which is the understanding, sees in the fields or gardens of things forming the memory only those which are in keeping with the loves that govern a person, and which are also in agreement with the chief ideas he loves.

[2] Those therefore who are governed by self-love and love of the world see only such things as agree with those loves. They call them truths and also by means of illusions and appearances make them like truths. And they go on to see such things as accord with the chief ideas they have adopted and love because they themselves are the author of them. From this it is evident that known facts and cognitions, which are the things forming the memory, serve people governed by those two loves as the means to lend support to falsities against truths and evils against forms of good, and so as the means to destroy the Church's truths and forms of good. So it is that the learned who are like this are less sane than simple people; privately they reject the existence of God, providence, heaven, hell, life after death, and the truths of faith. This is transparently evident from the learned of the present-day European world who are in the next life, where a huge number of them are atheists at heart. For in the next life people's hearts speak and not their lips. From all this it is now clear what use it is to which cognitions and known facts are put by those whose thoughts are ruled by delights belonging to self-love and love of the world.

[3] But it is altogether different with those who are governed by delights belonging to heavenly loves, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Because they are guided in their thinking by the Lord through heaven, they see and select in the fields and gardens of the things forming their memory only those which are in agreement with the delights belonging to those loves and which are in agreement with their Church's teachings that they love. For these people the things that form the memory are like the paradise gardens of heaven; they are also represented and in the Word are meant by paradise gardens, see 3220.

[4] Furthermore it should be recognized that when known facts or things in the memory become part of a person's life they fade from his exterior memory, in the same way as other things normally do when continual practice or habit makes them spontaneous and instinctive so to speak - the way he carries himself and acts, the things he speaks, contemplates, and intends, and in general all his thoughts and affections. But no other facts become part of the person's life except those which enter into and give form to the delights that belong to his loves, thus those which enter his will. On these matters see what has been stated and shown in 8853-8858; and regarding the exterior memory, which belongs to the body, and the interior memory, which belongs to its spirit, 2469-2494.

[5] The reason why known facts are vessels, and in the Word are meant by every type of vessel, such as bowls, cups, waterpots, and the like, is that each known fact is a kind of general container holding particular and specific truths that accord with their general container. Such general containers in the Word have been arranged into series and so to speak into bundles; and these bundles and series have in turn been so set in order that they resemble the form that heaven takes, thus are set in order from most specific truths to most general ones. An idea of such series can be gained from the series and bundles of muscular tissue in the human body. Each bundle there consists of a number of motor fibres, and each motor fibre consists of blood vessels and nerve fibres. Each bundle of muscular tissue too, which taken as a whole is called a muscle, is enveloped in its own outer covering which sets it apart from others; and the same is so for the smaller bundles within, called motor fibres. Yet all the muscles and motor fibres within them, which are present in the whole body, have been so set in order that they may co-ordinate with one another to act in whatever way the will pleases; and they do so in a manner that surpasses all understanding. The situation is similar with known facts in the memory. These in a similar way are aroused and made to act by that which is the delight of a person's love, that is, of his will, but through the instrumentality of the understanding part. What has become part of a person's life, that is, what has become part of his will or love, is that which arouses them. For the inner man always has these things in his field of vision and takes delight in them to the extent that they are in agreement with his loves. And whatever enters fully into those loves, becoming spontaneous and so to speak instinctive, fades from the external memory but remains ingrained in the internal memory from which it can never be blotted out. This is how known facts become part of life.

[6] From all this it is also evident that known facts are as it were the vessels that belong to the interior man's life, and that this is why known facts are meant by various types of vessels, and in the present instance by 'bowls'. The same is meant by 'vessels' and 'bowls' in Isaiah,

I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, so that he may be a throne of glory to his father's house; and on him they may hang all the glory of the house of his father, sons, and grandsons, every small vessel - from the vessels of bowls even to all the vessels of stringed instruments. Isaiah 22:23-24.

This refers in the internal and representative sense to the Lord's Divine Human, declaring that all truths and forms of good from first to last come through Him and from Him. Factual knowledge of truth of a celestial type is meant by 'the vessels of bowls', and factual knowledge of truth of a spiritual type by 'the vessels of stringed instruments'. And in Zechariah,

On that day there will be on the horses' bells, Holiness to Jehovah. And the pots in the house of Jehovah will be as the bowls before the altar. Zechariah 14:20.

'The horses' bells' stands for factual knowledge of truth which comes from an enlightened understanding, 2761, 2762, 5321; and 'the bowls before the altar' stands for factual knowledge of good. Similar knowledge is meant by 'the bowls of the altar' at Exodus 27:3; 38:3.

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