The Bible

 

Micah 2

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1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a grievous lamentation, and say, We are utterly wasted: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

8 Even of late my people hath risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse to war.

9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a grievous destruction.

11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood doth lie, saying, I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and have gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.

   

Commentary

 

Man (as in person or human being)

  
Face-towers depicting Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Bayon-temple in Angkor, Cambodia (late 12th to beginning 13th century), by Manfred Werner

Man" is a tricky word to discuss, because the Hebrew of the Old Testament uses six different words that are generally translated as "man," with shades of meaning that are difficult to express in English. Swedenborg, meanwhile, uses two different words in the original Latin: "vir," which is a singular male person, and "homo," which usually has a meaning akin to "mankind" or "humanity" -- but is sometimes used for a singular male person as well. When used in the sense of "human" or "mankind," the meaning of "man" is based on the fact that the Lord is the perfect, divine human, and is in a way the archetype for our humanity. The Lord is, in His essence, love itself -- perfect, infinite, divine love, which is the source of all life. So in the ultimate sense, "man" represents the Lord's love and goodness. In less exalted uses, it represents the love and goodness that exists in churches, societies, and individual people. That's because the love we have, as individuals and collectively, is a reflection of the Lord's love, and our humanity is a reflection of the Lord's humanity.

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