The Bible

 

Jeremias 35

Study

   

1 Ang salita na dumating kay Jeremias na mula sa Panginoon sa mga kaarawan ni Joacim na anak ni Josias, na hari sa Juda, na nagsasabi,

2 Pumaroon ka sa bahay ng mga Rechabita, at magsalita ka sa kanila, at iyong dalhin sila sa bahay ng Panginoon, sa isa sa mga silid, at bigyan mo sila ng alak na mainom.

3 Nang magkagayo'y kinuha ko si Jazanias na anak ni Jeremias, na anak ni Habassinias, at ang kaniyang mga kapatid, at ang lahat niyang anak, at ang buong sangbahayan ng mga Rechabita;

4 At dinala ko sila sa bahay ng Panginoon, sa silid ng mga anak ni Hanan na anak ni Igdalias, na lalake ng Dios, na nasa siping ng silid ng mga prinsipe, na nasa itaas ng silid ni Maasias na anak ni Sallum, na tagatanod ng pintuan.

5 At aking inilagay sa harap ng mga anak ng sangbahayan ng mga Rechabita ang mga mankok na puno ng alak, at ang mga saro, at aking sinabi sa kanila, Magsisiinom kayo ng alak.

6 Nguni't kanilang sinabi, Kami ay hindi magsisiinom ng alak; sapagka't si Jonadab na anak ni Rechab na aming magulang ay nagutos sa amin, na nagsasabi, Huwag kayong magsisiinom ng alak, maging kayo, o ang inyong mga anak man, magpakailan man:

7 Ni huwag kayong mangagtatayo ng bahay, o mangaghahasik ng binhi, o mangagtatanim sa ubasan, o mangagtatangkilik ng anoman; kundi ang lahat ninyong mga kaarawan ay inyong itatahan sa mga tolda; upang kayo ay mangabuhay na malaon sa lupain na inyong pangingibahang bayan.

8 At aming tinalima ang tinig ni Jonadab na anak ni Rechab na aming magulang sa lahat na kaniyang ibinilin sa amin na huwag magsiinom ng alak sa lahat ng mga araw namin, kami, ang aming mga asawa, ang aming mga anak na lalake o babae man;

9 Ni huwag kaming mangagtayo ng mga bahay na aming matahanan; ni huwag kaming mangagtangkilik ng ubasan, o ng bukid, o ng binhi:

10 Kundi kami ay nagsitahan sa mga tolda, at kami ay nagsitalima, at nagsigawa ng ayon sa lahat na iniutos sa amin ni Jonadab na aming magulang.

11 Nguni't nangyari, nang si Nabucodonosor na hari sa Babilonia ay umahon sa lupain, na aming sinabi, Tayo na, at tayo'y magsiparoon sa Jerusalem dahil sa takot sa hukbo ng mga Caldeo, at dahil sa takot sa hukbo ng mga taga Siria; sa ganito'y nagsisitahan kami sa Jerusalem.

12 Nang magkagayo'y dumating ang salita ng Panginoon kay Jeremias, na nagsasabi,

13 Ganito ang sabi ng Panginoon ng mga hukbo, ng Dios ng Israel, Yumaon ka, at sabihin mo sa mga tao ng Juda at sa mga nananahan sa Jerusalem, Hindi baga kayo magsisitanggap ng turo upang dinggin ang aking mga salita? sabi ng Panginoon.

14 Ang mga salita ni Jonadab na anak ni Rechab, na kaniyang iniutos sa kaniyang mga anak, na huwag magsiinom ng alak, ay nangatupad; at hanggang sa araw na ito ay hindi sila nagsisiinom, sapagka't kanilang tinalima ang tinig ng kanilang magulang. Nguni't aking sinalita, sa inyo, na bumangon akong maaga, at aking sinasalita, at hindi ninyo ako dininig.

15 Akin din namang sinugo sa inyo ang lahat kong lingkod na mga propeta, na bumabangon akong maaga, at akin silang sinusugo, na aking sinasabi, Magsihiwalay kayo ngayon bawa't isa sa kanikaniyang masamang lakad, at pabutihin ninyo ang inyong mga gawain, at huwag kayong magsisunod sa mga ibang dios na mangaglingkod sa kanila, at kayo'y magsisitahan sa lupain na ibinigay ko sa inyo, at sa inyong mga magulang: nguni't hindi ninyo ikiniling ang inyong pakinig, o dininig man ninyo ako.

16 Yamang tinupad ng mga anak ni Jonadab na anak ni Rechab ang utos ng kanilang magulang na iniutos sa kanila, nguni't ang bayang ito ay hindi nakinig sa akin;

17 Kaya't ganito ang sabi ng Panginoon, ng Dios ng mga hukbo, ng Dios ng Israel, Narito, aking dadalhin sa Juda at sa lahat na nananahan sa Jerusalem ang buong kasamaan na aking sinalita laban sa kanila; sapagka't ako'y nagsalita sa kanila, nguni't hindi sila nangakinig; at ako'y tumawag sa kanila, nguni't hindi sila nagsisagot.

18 At sinabi ni Jeremias sa sangbahayan ng mga Rechabita, Ganito ang sabi ng Panginoon ng mga hukbo, ng Dios ng Israel, Sapagka't inyong tinalima ang utos ni Jonadab na inyong magulang, at inyong iningatan ang lahat niyang palatuntunan, at inyong ginawa ang ayon sa lahat na kaniyang iniutos sa inyo;

19 Kaya't ganito ang sabi ng Panginoon ng mga hukbo, ng Dios ng Israel, Si Jonadab na anak ni Rechab ay hindi kukulangin ng lalake na tatayo sa harap ko magpakailan man.

   

Commentary

 

Wine

  

Wine played a key role in the ancient world, where safe, reliable water sources were scarce. It could be stored for long periods of time; if lightly fermented it was rich in sugar content; it was high in mineral content; it tasted good and generally had intoxicating qualities. Thus it was a valuable commodity and treated with reverence.

Wine is, of course, made from grapes. Grapes – sweet, juicy, nutritious and full of energy-rich fructose – represent the Lord's own exquisite desire to be good to us. That's powerful stuff! But grapes have a short shelf life; you might eat a bunch for a burst of energy, but you can't exactly carry them around with you for long-term sustenance. And so it is with desires for good: They tend to come to us in energizing bursts, but fade away fairly quickly. We need something more stable and lasting.

At some point in the distant past people figured out that if you squeeze the juice from the grapes and let it ferment, the result is a liquid that offers that stability: wine. The spiritual meaning works the same way; if we examine our desires for good, try to understand and think about how to apply them, what we will get are concepts about what good really is, how to recognize it and how to make it happen. And just like the wine, these ideas offer stability and portability. For instance, finding a wallet full of cash on the sidewalk might severely test our desire to be honest, but the idea that "you shall not steal" is pretty hard to shake.

Wine, then, on the deepest level represents divine truth flowing from divine goodness – the true principles that arise from the fact that the Lord loves us and desires everything good for us.

Wine comes in many varieties, though, and is used in many ways. Depending on context it can represent truth that arises from a desire for good on much more mundane levels. You want your children to be healthy so you make them brush their teeth even though they complain and it's a pain in the neck; the truth that brushing their teeth is good for them is wine on a very day-to-day level.

In some cases wine can also actually represent good things that arise from true ideas, something of a reverse from its inmost meaning. This happens when we are in transitional stages, setting higher ideas and principles above our less-worthy desires in an effort to reshape our actions. In that case our principles are the things being squeezed, with good habits the result.

There is also, of course, a darker side to wine. There is a good deal of debate about just how much alcohol wine had in Biblical times, and some of it may indeed have been more like concentrated grape juice. But there are also many references to wine and drunkeness, so some of it, at least, was fairly potent.

On a spiritual level, getting drunk on wine represents relying too much on our ideas, taking logic to such an extreme that we forget the good things we were trying to achieve in the first place.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 376 [1-40], 1152; Apocalypse Revealed 316, 635; Arcana Coelestia 1071 [1-5], 1727, 3580 [1-4], 5117 [7], 6377, 10137 [1-10]; The Apocalypse Explained 329 [2-4]; The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 219)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3382

Study this Passage

  
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3382. 'And practiced My observances, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws' means through revelations constantly coming from Himself; that is to say, as by means of temptations, so also by means of those revelations He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence. This becomes clear from the fact that 'practicing observances, commandments, statutes, and laws' implies all aspects of the Word - 'observances' being everything in general there, 'commandments' the internal aspects, 'statutes' the external, and 'laws' every specific detail. Because all these are attributed to the Lord who from eternity has been the Word and is the author of them all, the meaning in the internal sense cannot be His practice of them but that He revealed them to Himself when His state was one in which the Human and the Divine had become united.

[2] At first sight these matters do indeed seem to be quite remote from the sense of the letter, or even from the internal sense closest to the letter. All the same, when these words are read by man, this is the meaning those same words have in heaven, for as stated several times already, and as may be seen from the examples in 1873, 1874, the sense of the letter is laid aside as it rises up towards heaven and another heavenly sense takes its place, with the result that this latter sense cannot be recognized as that which arises out of the former. For the idea in the minds of those in heaven is that everything in the internal sense of the Word has to do with the Lord, and also that everything in the Word comes from the Lord. Also in their minds is the idea that even when He was in the world He thought from the Divine, and so from Himself, and acquired all intelligence and wisdom to Himself through revelations constantly coming from the Divine. Consequently they do not perceive anything other than this from the words used here. For the practice of all things of the Word, internal as well as external, meant by 'practicing the observances, commandments, statutes, and laws' is not applicable to the Lord because He Himself was the Word and therefore He Himself was the observance that was to be practiced; He Himself was the commandment, also the statute, and the law. For all these have regard to Him as the First from whom they spring and the Last to whom they lead. In the highest sense therefore these words can mean nothing else than the uniting of the Lord's Divine to His Human by means of revelations constantly coming from Himself. For unlike any others the Lord thought from the Divine, and so from Himself, see 1904, 1914, 1935, and acquired intelligence and wisdom to Himself by means of revelations constantly coming from the Divine, 1616, 2500, 2523, 2632.

[3] As regards 'practicing observances' meaning in the genuine sense all aspects of the Word in general, 'commandments' the internal aspects of the Word, 'statutes' the external aspects of the Word, and 'laws' every specific detail in the Word, this becomes clear from many places when seen in the internal sense. Let some of these be brought in here, such as the following in David,

Blessed are the blameless in the way, walking in the law of Jehovah; blessed are those who keep His testimonies. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! I will keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly. With my whole heart I have sought You; cause me not to wander from Your commandments. I have laid up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Jehovah; teach me Your statutes! With my lips I have declared all the judgements of Your mouth. I take delight in the way of Your testimonies. I meditate on Your commands and look to Your ways. I delight in Your statutes, I do not forget Your Word. Recompense Your servant that I may live and keep Your Word. Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of Your law. Do not hide Your commandments from me. Quicken me according to Your Word. Teach me Your statutes. Make me understand the way of [Your] commands. Psalms 119:1-27.

The subject in the whole of this psalm is the Word and the things that constitute the Word, which plainly are commandments, statutes, judgements, testimonies, commands, and ways. But the specific meaning of each of these cannot possibly be seen from the sense of the letter. In that sense they are scarcely more than repetitions of the same thing, but it may be seen from the internal sense in which 'commandments' has an altogether different meaning from 'statutes'; and 'judgements', 'testimonies', 'commands', and 'ways' each have a different meaning again. Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same author,

The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple; the commands of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of Jehovah is clean, standing for ever; the judgements of Jehovah are truth. Psalms 19:7-9.

And in the Book of Kings,

David said to Solomon, You shall practise the observance of your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgements, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses. 1 Kings 2:3.

'Practicing an observance' stands for all aspects of the Word in general, for this expression comes first, and those that follow are related to it as less general aspects. Actually 'practicing observances' means the same as 'keeping what has to be kept'. In Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God, and you shall practice His observance, and His statutes and judgements, and His commandments, all your days. Deuteronomy 11:1.

Here 'practising an observance' or keeping something that is to be kept in a similar way stands for all aspects of the Word in general, 'statutes' for the external aspects of the Word such as forms of ritual, and things that are representatives and meaningful signs of the internal sense, but 'commandments' for the internal aspects of the Word such as matters of life and teaching, especially those that belong to the internal sense. But the meaning of commandments and statutes will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.

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