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 #6225

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6225. 'And Israel strengthened himself' means new powers received through spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'strengthening oneself' as receiving new powers; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason the new powers come through spiritual good is that in what has just been said Jacob is called Jacob but now he is called Israel; for this is what is said,

[Someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself.

For 'Israel' is spiritual good from the natural, whereas 'Jacob' is the truth of the natural, and the truth of the natural, which is the truth of faith there, receives its strength through spiritual good, which is the good of charity. Also, 'Israel' is the internal aspect of the Church and 'Jacob' its external aspect, 4286, 4292, 4570. The external aspect of the Church derives its strength and receives its powers from nowhere else than its internal. The internal aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the good of charity, which is the good of faith, also the good of truth, and spiritual good as well, which are 'Israel'. But the external aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the truth of faith. They are not yet plainly governed by good; yet the truth they are governed by holds good within it, and this is 'Jacob'.

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