The Bible

 

Amós 9

Study

   

1 Vi al Señor que estaba sobre el altar, y dijo: Hiere el umbral, y estremézcanse las puertas; y córtales en piezas la cabeza de todos; y al postrero de ellos mataré a cuchillo; no habrá de ellos quien se fugue, ni quien escape.

2 Aunque cavasen hasta el infierno, de allá los tomará mi mano; y si subieren hasta el cielo, de allá los haré descender.

3 Y si se escondieren en la cumbre del Carmelo, allí los buscaré y los tomaré; y aunque se escondieren de delante de mis ojos en lo profundo del mar, allí mandaré a la culebra, y los morderá.

4 Y si fueren en cautiverio delante de sus enemigos, allí mandaré al cuchillo, y los matará; y pondré sobre ellos mis ojos para mal, y no para bien.

5 El Señor DIOS de los ejércitos, que toca la tierra, y se derretirá, y llorarán todos los que en ella moran; y subirá toda como un río, y será hundida como el río de Egipto.

6 El edificó en el cielo sus gradas, y su ayuntamiento fundó sobre la tierra; él llama las aguas del mar, y sobre la faz de la tierra las derrama; el SEÑOR es su Nombre.

7 Hijos de Israel, ¿no me sois vosotros, como Hijos de etíopes, dijo el SEÑOR? ¿No hice yo subir a Israel de la tierra de Egipto, y a los palestinos de Caftor, y a los sirios de Kir?

8 He aquí los ojos del Señor DIOS están contra el reino pecador, y yo lo asolaré de la faz de la tierra; mas no destruiré del todo la casa de Jacob, dice el SEÑOR.

9 Porque he aquí yo mandaré, y haré que la Casa de Israel sea zarandeada entre todos los gentiles, como se zarandea el grano en un harnero, y no cae un granito a tierra.

10 A cuchillo morirán todos los pecadores de mi pueblo, que dicen: No se acercará, ni se anticipará el mal por causa nuestra.

11 En aquel día yo levantaré el Tabernáculo de David, caído, y cerraré sus portillos, y levantaré sus ruinas, y lo edificaré como en el tiempo pasado;

12 para que aquellos sobre los cuales es llamado mi nombre, posean el resto de Idumea, y a todos los gentiles, dijo el SEÑOR que hace esto.

13 He aquí vienen días, dice el SEÑOR, en que el que ara alcanzará al segador, y el pisador de las uvas al que lleve la simiente; y los montes destilarán mosto, y todos los collados se derretirán.

14 Y tornaré el cautiverio de mi pueblo Israel, y edificarán las ciudades asoladas, y las habitarán; y plantarán viñas, y beberán el vino de ellas; y harán huertos, y comerán el fruto de ellos.

15 Pues los plantaré sobre su tierra, y nunca más serán arrancados de su tierra la cual yo les di, dijo el SEÑOR Dios tuyo.

   

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.