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Joshua 5

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1 Vả, các vua A-mô-rít ở bên kia sông Giô-đanh về phía tây, và các vua Ca-na-an ở gần biển vừa hay rằng Ðức Giê-hô-va đã làm cho nước sông Giô-đanh bày khô trước mặt dân Y-sơ-ra-ên, cho đến chừng đã đi qua khỏi, thì lòng họ kinh khiếp và nao sờn vì cớ dân Y-sơ-ra-ên.

2 Trong lúc đó Ðức Giê-hô-va phán cùng Giô-suê rằng: Hãy sắm sửa dao bằng đá lửa, và làm phép cắt bì lần thứ nhì cho dân Y-sơ-ra-ên.

3 Vậy, Giô-suê sắm sửa dao bằng đá lửa, và làm phép cắt bì cho dân Y-sơ-ra-ên tại trên gò A-ra-lốt.

4 Này là cớ Giô-suê làm phép cắt bì cho họ: Các người nam trong dân chúng đã ra khỏi xứ Ê-díp-tô, tức là các chiến sĩ, đều đã chết dọc đường trong đồng vắng, sau khi ra khỏi xứ Ê-díp-tô.

5 Vả, hết thảy dân chúng mà đã ra khỏi xứ Ê-díp-tô đều có chịu phép cắt bì; nhưng sau khi ra khỏi xứ Ê-díp-tô người ta không có làm phép cắt bì cho một ai trong những người sanh ra dọc đường tại nơi đồng vắng.

6 Vì dân Y-sơ-ra-ên đã đi trong đồng vắng bốn mươi năm cho đến chừng cả dân sự đã bị chết hết, tức là những chiến sĩ đã ra khỏi xứ Ê-díp-tô, mà không vâng theo tiếng của Ðức Giê-hô-va. Ðức Giê-hô-va có thề cùng chúng rằng sẽ chẳng cho họ thấy xứ mà Ðức Giê-hô-va đã thề cùng tổ phụ họ ban cho chúng ta, tức là xứ đượm sữa và mật.

7 Và Ngài đã dấy lên con cháu của họ mà thế vào chỗ. Ấy là con cháu này mà Giô-suê làm phép cắt bì cho, vì chúng nó không có chịu phép cắt bì dọc đường.

8 Khi người ta làm phép cắt bì cho hết thảy dân sự xong rồi, thì họ ở lại chỗ mình trong trại quân cho đến chừng nào lành.

9 Bấy giờ, Ðức Giê-hô-va phán cùng Giô-suê rằng: Ngày nay ta đã cất khỏi các ngươi sự xấu hổ của xứ Ê-díp-tô. Nên người ta gọi chỗ ấy là Ghinh-ganh cho đến Ngày nay.

10 Dân Y-sơ-ra-ên đóng trại tại Ghinh-ganh trong đồng bằng Giê-ri-cô, và giữ lễ Vượt qua nhằm ngày mười bốn tháng này, vào lối chiều tối.

11 Ngày sau lễ Vượt qua, chánh này đó, dân sự ăn thổ sản của xứ, bánh không men, và hột rang.

12 Ngày mà chúng đã ăn lúa mì của xứ, thì đến sáng mai ma-na hết; vậy, dân Y-sơ-ra-ên không có ma-na nữa, nhưng trong năm đó ăn những thổ sản của Ca-na-an.

13 Xảy khi Giô-suê ở gần Giê-ri-cô, ngước mắt lên mà nhìn, bèn thấy một người đứng cầm gươm trần đối diện cùng mình. Giô-suê đi lại người và nói rằng: Ngươi là người của chúng ta hay là người của kẻ thù nghịch chúng ta?

14 Người đáp: không, bây giờ ta đến làm tướng đạo binh của Ðức Giê-hô-va. Giô-suê bèn sấp mặt xuống đất, lạy, và hỏi rằng: Chúa truyền cho tôi tớ Chúa điều gì?

15 Tướng đạo binh của Ðức Giê-hô-va nói cùng Giô-suê rằng: Hãy lột giày khỏi chơn ngươi, vì nơi ngươi đứng là thánh. Giô-suê bèn làm như vậy.

   

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Secrets of Heaven #1748

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1748. The fact that from the string of a shoe even to its strap symbolizes everything that was unclean on the earthly and bodily levels can be seen from the symbolism of a shoestrap.

In the Word, the foot and heel symbolize the periphery of the earthly level, as shown before, in §259. A shoe is what covers the foot and heel, so it symbolizes an even more peripheral part of the earthly level, which is to say the actual level of the body. A shoe's symbolism depends on the topic at hand. When mentioned in connection with something good, it is taken in a positive sense; when mentioned in connection with something bad, it is taken in a negative sense. The latter is how it is taken here, where the subject is the property of Sodom's king, symbolizing evil and falsity. So the shoestrap symbolizes what is unclean on the earthly and bodily levels. A shoestring symbolizes falsity, and a shoestrap, evil. Because it is so small, it symbolizes what is lowliest of all.

[2] This symbolism of a shoe can also be seen from other places in the Word. When Jehovah appeared to Moses in the middle of the bramble, for instance, he said to Moses:

You are not to come near here; strip your shoes off your feet, because the place on which you are standing is holy land. (Exodus 3:5)

The leader of Jehovah's army said the same thing to Joshua:

Strip your shoe off your foot, because the place on which you are standing is holiness. (Joshua 5:15)

Anyone can see here that a shoe would not detract from the holiness in any way, provided the individual were intrinsically holy. The order is given because the shoe was representing the earthly, bodily periphery, which needs to be shed.

[3] The fact that earthly and bodily things are unclean can be seen in David:

Moab is my wash basin. On Edom I will set my shoe. (Psalms 60:8)

Something similar is involved in the command to the disciples:

If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, coming out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5)

The dust of the feet symbolizes the same thing as a shoe — namely, something made unclean by evil and falsity — because the bottom of the foot means the outer limit of the earthly level. In those days people were engrossed in representation and believed that representation alone, rather than the naked truth, held secrets of heaven within it. That is why they were commanded to shake the dust off.

[4] Since a shoe symbolized the periphery of the earthly level, having a shoe taken off meant being stripped of the outermost dimensions of the earthly plane. As an example, take a man who refused to perform the levirate, 1 spoken of in Moses:

If a man does not wish to perform the levirate, his sister-in-law shall come up to him in the eyes of the elders and draw his shoe off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, "This is what shall be done to the man who does not build up the house of his brother." And his name in Israel will be called the house of one stripped of his shoe. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

This stands for a complete lack of earthly charity.

[5] A shoe symbolizes the outer limit of the earthly level in a good sense too, as can also be seen in the Word. Moses, for instance, says of Asher:

A blessing on Asher because of his sons! Let him be acceptable to his brothers and dip his foot in oil; iron and bronze is his shoe. (Deuteronomy 33:24-25)

The shoe stands for the periphery of the earthly level. A shoe of iron stands for earthly truth; a shoe of bronze, for earthly good. This is indicated by the symbolism of iron and bronze (§§425, 426). Because a shoe symbolized the earthly, bodily periphery, it gave rise to this figure of speech ["from the string of a shoe even to its strap"] that meant the least important, lowliest things of all. The outermost part of our earthly, bodily dimension is the lowliest of everything we have in us, which is what John the Baptist meant when he said,

One mightier than I is coming, and I am not worthy to undo the strap of his shoes. (Luke 3:16; Mark 1:7; John 1:27)

Voetnoten:

1. The levirate was a law that obligated a man to marry his brother's widow in order to give children to her in his brother's name. The term comes from the Latin word for a brother-in-law, levir. [LHC]

  
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Many thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation and its New Century Edition team.

De Bijbel

 

Genesis 6

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1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

2 that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

3 Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."

4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

7 Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.

9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.

10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.

21 Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them."

22 Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.

   

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