A Bíblia

 

Jueces 16

Estude

   

1 Y FUÉ Samsón á Gaza, y vió allí una mujer ramera, y entró á ella.

2 Y fué dicho á los de Gaza: Samsón es venido acá. Y cercáronlo, y pusiéronle espías toda aquella noche á la puerta de la ciudad: y estuvieron callados toda aquella noche, diciendo: Hasta la luz de la mañana; entonces lo mataremos.

3 Mas Samsón durmió hasta la media noche; y á la media noche se levantó, y tomando las puertas de la ciudad con sus dos pilares y su cerrojo, echóselas al hombro, y fuése, y subióse con ellas á la cumbre del monte que está delante de Hebrón.

4 Después de esto aconteció que se enamoró de una mujer en el valle de Sorec, la cual se llamaba Dalila.

5 Y vinieron á ella los príncipes de los Filisteos, y dijéronle: Engáñale y sabe en qué consiste su grande fuerza, y cómo lo podríamos vencer, para que lo atemos y lo atormentemos; y cada uno de nosotros te dará mil y cien siclos de plata.

6 Y Dalila dijo á Samsón: Yo te ruego que me declares en qué consiste tu grande fuerza, y cómo podrás ser atado para ser atormentado.

7 Y respondióle Samsón: Si me ataren con siete mimbres verdes que aun no estén enjutos, entonces me debilitaré, y seré como cualquiera de los hombres.

8 Y los príncipes de los Filisteos le trajeron siete mimbres verdes que aun no se habían enjugado, y atóle con ellos.

9 Y estaban espías en casa de ella en una cámara. Entonces ella le dijo: ­Samsón, los Filisteos sobre ti! Y él rompió los mimbres, como se rompe una cuerda de estopa cuando siente el fuego: y no se supo su fuerza.

10 Entonces Dalila dijo á Samsón: He aquí tú me has engañado, y me has dicho mentiras: descúbreme pues ahora, yo te ruego, cómo podrás ser atado.

11 Y él le dijo: Si me ataren fuertemente con cuerdas nuevas, con las cuales ninguna cosa se haya hecho, yo me debilitaré, y seré como cualquiera de los hombres.

12 Y Dalila tomó cuerdas nuevas, y atóle con ellas, y díjole: ­Samsón, los Filisteos sobre ti! Y los espías estaban en una cámara. Mas él las rompió de sus brazos como un hilo.

13 Y Dalila dijo á Samsón: Hasta ahora me engañas, y tratas conmigo con mentiras. Descúbreme pues ahora cómo podrás ser atado. El entonces le dijo: Si tejieres siete guedejas de mi cabeza con la tela.

14 Y ella hincó la estaca, y díjole: ­Samsón, los Filisteos sobre ti! Mas despertando él de su sueño, arrancó la estaca del telar con la tela.

15 Y ella le dijo: ¿Cómo dices, Yo te amo, pues que tu corazón no está conmigo? Ya me has engañado tres veces, y no me has aún descubierto en qué está tu gran fuerza.

16 Y aconteció que, apretándole ella cada día con sus palabras é importunándole, su alma fué reducida á mortal angustia.

17 Descubrióle pues todo su corazón, y díjole: Nunca á mi cabeza llegó navaja; porque soy Nazareo de Dios desde el vientre de mi madre. Si fuere rapado, mi fuerza se apartará de mí, y seré debilitado, y como todos los hombres.

18 Y viendo Dalila que él le había descubierto todo su corazón, envió á llamar á los príncipes de los Filisteos, diciendo: Venid esta vez, porque él me ha descubierto todo su corazón. Y los príncipes de los Filisteos vinieron á ella, trayendo en su mano el d

19 Y ella hizo que él se durmiese sobre sus rodillas; y llamado un hombre, rapóle siete guedejas de su cabeza, y comenzó á afligirlo, pues su fuerza se apartó de él.

20 Y díjole: ­Samsón, los Filisteos sobre ti! Y luego que despertó él de su sueño, se dijo: Esta vez saldré como las otras, y me escaparé: no sabiendo que Jehová ya se había de él apartado.

21 Mas los Filisteos echaron mano de él, y sacáronle los ojos, y le llevaron á Gaza; y le ataron con cadenas, para que moliese en la cárcel.

22 Y el cabello de su cabeza comenzó á crecer, después que fué rapado.

23 Entonces los príncipes de los Filisteos se juntaron para ofrecer sacrificio á Dagón su dios, y para alegrarse; y dijeron: Nuestro dios entregó en nuestras manos á Samsón nuestro enemigo.

24 Y viéndolo el pueblo, loaron á su dios, diciendo: Nuestro dios entregó en nuestras manos á nuestro enemigo, y al destruidor de nuestra tierra, el cual había muerto á muchos de nosotros.

25 Y aconteció que, yéndose alegrando el corazón de ellos, dijeron: Llamad á Samsón, para que divierta delante de nosotros. Y llamaron á Samsón de la cárcel, y hacía de juguete delante de ellos; y pusiéronlo entre las columnas.

26 Y Samsón dijo al mozo que le guiaba de la mano: Acércame, y hazme tentar las columnas sobre que se sustenta la casa, para que me apoye sobre ellas.

27 Y la casa estaba llena de hombres y mujeres: y todos los príncipes de los Filisteos estaban allí; y en el alto piso había como tres mil hombres y mujeres, que estaban mirando el escarnio de Samsón.

28 Entonces clamó Samsón á Jehová, y dijo: Señor Jehová, acuérdate ahora de mí, y esfuérzame, te ruego, solamente esta vez, oh Dios, para que de una vez tome venganza de los Filisteos, por mis dos ojos.

29 Asió luego Samsón las dos columnas del medio sobre las cuales se sustentaba la casa, y estribó en ellas, la una con la mano derecha, y la otra con la izquierda;

30 Y dijo Samsón: Muera yo con los Filisteos. Y estribando con esfuerzo, cayó la casa sobre los príncipes, y sobre todo el pueblo que estaba en ella. Y fueron muchos más los que de ellos mató muriendo, que los que había muerto en su vida.

31 Y descendieron sus hermanos y toda la casa de su padre, y tomáronle, y lleváronle, y le sepultaron entre Sora y Esthaol, en el sepulcro de su padre Manoa. Y él juzgó á Israel veinte años.

   

Comentário

 

Exploring the Meaning of Judges 16

Por New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Judges 16: Samson and Delilah; Samson dies with the Philistines.

In this final chapter about Samson, he becomes involved with two women, and both episodes lead him to fight for his life.

The first woman was a prostitute from Gaza, a Philistine town. When the men of Gaza heard that Samson was visiting this woman, they lay in wait for him all night, so that they could kill him in the morning. Samson foiled their plot by sneaking out at midnight. As he was leaving, he took the gates of the city and its two posts, put them upon his shoulders, and took them to the top of a hill facing Hebron, a town in Israel.

Some time later, Samson began to love an Israelite woman called Delilah, whose name means “lustful pining”. The lords of the Philistines bribed her to find out the source of Samson’s strength, so that they could take him prisoner. After deceiving her three times and evading her almost-daily questions, Samson finally admitted that his strength lay in his hair; if it were cut, he would be like any other man.

Delilah told this to the the lords of the Philistines, and they paid her the bribe. She lulled Samson to sleep, and had a man shave off all of Samson’s hair. She called out as she had the first three times: “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke, but he was as weak as a normal man. The Philistines took him captive, gouged out his eyes, and forced him to work as a mill grinder in prison. However, while he was in prison, his hair began to grow back.

When the Philistines gathered to make a great sacrifice in the temple of their god, Dagon, to celebrate the capture of Samson, 3000 Philistine men and women were there, plus all of their kings. Samson was brought in as a spectacle to be mocked. He could feel his strength returning, and asked the boy leading him to let him lean against the two central columns of the temple. Samson prayed to the Lord, and pushed the columns until the temple collapsed, killing everyone there. That day, Samson brought about the death of more Philistines than he had in his life. His family took his body, and buried him between Zorah (“stricken”) and Eshtaol (“supplication”) in his father’s tomb.

*****

This chapter demonstrates the temptations and potential pitfalls of faith-alone spirituality, specifically through the women that Samson was involved with. Both of these episodes - the first with the prostitute from Gaza, and the second with Delilah - highlight Samson’s brazen passions and his apparent faults and weaknesses. Samson represents our determination to overcome the draw of faith alone, which the hells employ in order to ensnare us, and then rule us. The Lord’s teachings through the Word often precipitate a struggle within us between our lusts from the hells and our spiritual intentions (see Swedenborg’s work, Apocalypse Revealed 678[2] and Apocalypse Revealed 798[2]).

Seizing the gates and gateposts stands for changing the focus of our spiritual view. Gates represent the entry and exit points to our hearts and minds, through which we receive the Lord and the Word, but also the influences of hell (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 119). The top of the hill stands for a mind raised up toward God, and ‘facing Hebron’ is representative of a new focus on the unity between us and the Word, for Hebron means ‘joined, brotherhood, unity’.

After three failed attempts, Delilah discovered that Samson’s strength lay in his hair, which had never been cut. Hair stands for the power and beauty of the Word in its literal sense, and our faithfulness in abiding by its truths (see Swedenborg’s works, Arcana Caelestia 9836[2] and Doctrine of the Lord 15[8]).

Samson’s imprisonment and abuse by the Philistines symbolize a period of spiritual turmoil, during which we are misled by the hells. Blindness corresponds to our inability to see or recognize truths; ‘grinding grain at the mill’ is like molding truths from the Word to support our own purposes - in this case, faith alone spirituality (Arcana Caelestia 10303[5] and Arcana Caelestia 10303[6]). Yet all the while, our ability to follow the Lord will gradually restrengthen, represented by Samson’s hair growing back.

In the last moments of his life, Samson brought down the temple of Dagon, killing three thousand of the Philistines at once. The two supporting columns of the Philistine temple stand for what is evil and what is false; when evil and falsity are toppled, the whole system of belief collapses. In sacrificing his life, Samson demonstrated the highest of all divine and heavenly loves (see Arcana Caelestia 2077[2]).

A Bíblia

 

Leviticus 23

Estude

   

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.

3 "'Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

4 "'These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.

5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh's Passover.

6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.'"

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

10 "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its the harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest:

11 and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

12 On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

13 The meal offering with it shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.

14 You shall eat neither bread, nor roasted grain, nor fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 "'You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed:

16 even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh.

17 You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh.

18 You shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh.

19 You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.

21 You shall make proclamation on the same day: there shall be a holy convocation to you; you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 "'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap into the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest: you shall leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.'"

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

24 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

25 You shall do no regular work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.'"

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

27 "However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

28 You shall do no kind of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.

29 For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day; shall be cut off from his people.

30 Whoever it is who does any kind of work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.

31 You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32 It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath."

33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

34 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say, 'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh.

35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.

36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.

37 "'These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day;

38 besides the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to Yahweh.

39 "'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.

40 You shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days.

41 You shall keep it a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year: it is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month.

42 You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths,

43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'"

44 Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of Yahweh.