The Bible

 

Miqueas 2

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1 AY de los que piensan iniquidad, y de los que fabrican el mal en sus camas! Cuando viene la mañana lo ponen en obra, porque tienen en su mano el poder.

2 Y codiciaron las heredades, y robáronlas: y casas, y las tomaron: oprimieron al hombre y á su casa, al hombre y á su heredad.

3 Por tanto, así ha dicho Jehová: He aquí, yo pienso sobre esta familia un mal, del cual no sacaréis vuestros cuellos, ni andaréis erguidos; porque el tiempo será malo.

4 En aquel tiempo se levantará sobre vosotros refrán, y se endechará endecha de lametación, diciendo: Del todo fuimos destruídos; ha cambiado la parte de mi pueblo. ­Cómo nos quitó nuestros campos! dió, repartiólos á otros.

5 Por tanto, no tendrás quien eche cordel para suerte en la congregación de Jehová.

6 No profeticéis, dicen á los que profetizan; no les profeticen que los ha de comprender vergüenza.

7 La que te dices casa de Jacob, ¿hase acortado el espíritu de Jehová? ¿son éstas sus obras? ¿Mis palabras no hacen bien al que camina derechamente?

8 El que ayer era mi pueblo, se ha levantado como enemigo: tras las vestiduras quitasteis las capas atrevidamente á los que pasaban, como los que vuelven de la guerra.

9 A las mujeres de mi pueblo echasteis fuera de las casas de sus delicias: á sus niños quitasteis mi perpetua alabanza.

10 Levantaos, y andad, que no es ésta la holganza; porque está contaminada, corrompióse, y de grande corrupción.

11 Si hubiere alguno que ande con el viento, y finja mentiras diciendo: Yo te profetizaré de vino y de sidra; este tal será profeta á este pueblo.

12 De cierto te reuniré todo, oh Jacob: recogeré ciertamente el resto de Israel: pondrélo junto como ovejas de Bosra, como rebaño en mitad de su majada: harán estruendo por la multitud de los hombres.

13 Subirá rompedor delante de ellos; romperán y pasarán la puerta, y saldrán por ella: y su rey pasará delante de ellos, y á la cabeza de ellos Jehová.

   

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 #4274

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4274. 'And a man wrestled with him' means temptation that concerns truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'wrestling' as temptation. Temptation itself is nothing other than a wrestling or conflict, for truth is attacked by the evil spirits and defended by the angels who are present with a person. And his awareness of that conflict taking place within himself is temptation, 741, 757, 761, 1661, 3927, 4249, 4256. But no temptation can arise unless the good of truth, that is, the love or affection for truth, exists in him. For anyone who does not love the truth he knows, or is not affected by it, does not trouble about it at all, whereas anyone who does love it is worried lest it should suffer harm. Nothing else constitutes the life in a person's understanding than that which he believes to be the truth, and nothing else the life of his will than that which, he has become convinced, is good. This being so, when that which he believes to be the truth is attacked the life of his understanding is attacked; and when that which, he has become convinced, is good is attacked the life of his will is attacked. And therefore when a person is being tempted his life is under attack.

[2] The reason why the conflict at first concerns truth or is about truth is that truth is what a person loves first. That which anyone loves is the object of evil spirits' attack, but once he starts to love good more than truth, which takes place when order is being turned around, the temptation of him concerns good. But few know what temptation is, because few at the present day undergo any temptation; for none are able to be tempted except those who are governed by the good of faith, that is, by charity towards the neighbour. If those who are not governed by such charity experienced temptation they would instantly give way; and in those who give way evil becomes more firmly established and falsity more firmly believed, because in their case the evil spirits with whom they are thereby associated are victorious. This is the reason why at the present day few are allowed to enter into any spiritual temptation, but only into some natural forms of distress in order that they may be held back by means of them from self-love and love of the world into which they would otherwise plunge without any restraint.

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