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 #776

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

776. '[Every] bird according to its kind' means all spiritual truth, 'flying things' means natural truth, and 'winged thing' sensory truth. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about birds, as in 40. The most ancient people likened man's thoughts to birds, for in relation to things of the will, thoughts are like birds. Since bird, flying thing, and winged thing are mentioned here, and come consecutively in the way that intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and sensory impressions do in man, and to prevent anyone doubting that this is what they mean, let other places from the Word of a confirmatory nature be quoted, from which as well it will be evident that 'beasts' means such things as have been stated.

[2] In David,

You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air, 1 and the fish of the sea. Psalms 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord, whose dominion over man and over what belongs to man is described in this fashion. If this were not so, what would 'dominion over beasts and birds' really be? In the same author,

Fruit tree and all cedars, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and flying thing - they shall glorify the name of Jehovah. Psalms 148:9-10, 13.

'Fruit tree' is the celestial man, 'cedar' the spiritual man, 'wild animal and beast and creeping thing' the goods of these kinds of man, as in the present context. 'Flying thing' is their truths from which they are able to glorify the name of Jehovah. This a wild animal, a beast, a creeping thing, or a flying thing can never do. In secular literature such statements can be used as hyperbole, but in the Word of the Lord they are never just hyperbole but meaningful signs and representatives.

[3] In Ezekiel,

They start to tremble before Me - the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, 2 and the wild animals of the field, and every creeping thing creeping over the ground, and every man that is on the face 3 of the ground. Ezekiel 38:20.

The fact that 'beasts' and 'birds' here have such meanings is quite clear, for what would Jehovah's glory be if fish, birds, and beasts were to start to tremble? Could anyone think that such utterances are holy if they did not embody holy things within them? In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold, there was no man; all the birds of the air 2 had fled. Jeremiah 4:15.

This stands for all good and truth. Here 'man' stands as well for good that stems from love. In the same prophet,

They have been laid waste so that no man passes through, neither do men hear the voice of the herd. From the birds of the air 2 down to beasts, they have scattered, they have gone away. Jeremiah 9:10.

This in a similar way stands for the departure of all truth and good.

[4] In the same prophet,

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds have perished, for men said, He will not see our latter end. Jeremiah 11:4.

Here 'beasts' stands for goods, and 'birds' for truths, which perished. In Zephaniah,

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the air 2 and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off mankind from the face 4 of the ground. Zephaniah 1:3.

Here 'man and beast' stands for the things which belong to love and good deriving from love, 'the birds of the air 2 and the fish of the sea' for those which belong to the understanding and so to truth. These are called 'stumbling-blocks' because for wicked people it is goods and truths, not beasts and birds, that are stumbling-blocks. These are also plainly referred to as man's. In David,

The trees of Jehovah are watered abundantly, and the cedars of Lebanon which He planted. In them flying things build their nests. Psalms 104:16-17.

'The trees of Jehovah and the cedars of Lebanon' stands for spiritual man, 'flying things' for his rational or natural truths which are like 'nests'. What is more, 'the birds build nests in the branches' was a common saying by which people meant truths, as in Ezekiel,

[5] On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every flying thing of every sort, 5 in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezekiel 17:23.

This stands for the Church among gentiles which was spiritual and which is 'a noble cedar'. 'Birds of every sort' 5 stands for truths of every kind. In the same prophet,

In its branches all the birds of the air 2 made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

This refers to Asshur, which is the spiritual Church and is called 'a cedar'. 'Birds of the air' 2 stands for its truths, 'beasts' for its goods.

[6] In Daniel,

Its branch was fair, and its fruit much, and food for all was on it. The beast of the field had shade under it, and in its branches dwelt the flying things of the air' 1 Daniel 4:12, 11.

Here 'beast' stands for goods, and 'flying thing of the air' 1 for truths. This may become clear to anyone, for what else would bird and beast dwelling there really be? The same applies to what the Lord said, The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a big tree so that the birds of the air 1 dwelt in its branches. Luke 13:19; Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:32.

Footnotes:

1. literally, flying thing of the heavens (or the skies)

2. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

3. literally, over the faces

4. literally, the faces

5. literally, of every wing

  
/ 10837  
  

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