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Josvas 7

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1 Men Israels barn bar sig troløst at med det bannlyste gods. Akan, sønn av Karmi, som var sønn av Sabdi og sønnesønn av Serah, av Juda stamme, tok noget av det som var bannlyst. Da optendtes Herrens vrede mot Israels barn.

2 Fra Jeriko sendte Josva nogen menn til Ai, som ligger ved Bet-Aven, østenfor Betel, og sa til dem: Dra op og utspeid landet! Så drog mennene op og utspeidet Ai.

3 Og da de kom tilbake til Josva, sa de til ham: La ikke alt folket dra op! Omkring to eller tre tusen mann kan dra op og ta Ai; du trenger ikke å umake hele folket dit, for de er ikke mange.

4 Så drog omkring tre tusen mann av folket der op; men de flyktet for mennene i Ai.

5 Og Ai-mennene slo ihjel omkring seks og tretti mann av dem og forfulgte dem fra porten like til stenbruddene og hugg dem ned i bakkene; da blev folkets hjerte fullt av angst, og deres mot blev rent borte.

6 Og Josva sønderrev sine klær og falt ned på sitt ansikt til jorden foran Herrens ark og blev liggende der helt til aftenen, både han og Israels eldste, og de strødde støv på sitt hode.

7 Og Josva sa: Ak Herre, Herre! Hvorfor førte du da dette folk over Jordan når du vilde gi oss i amorittenes hånd og la oss gå til grunne? Gid vi hadde latt oss nøie med å bli på hin side Jordan!

8 Hør mig, Herre! Hvad skal jeg nu si, efterat Israel har vendt sine fiender ryggen?

9 Når kana'anittene og alle landets innbyggere får høre det, vil de kringsette oss og rydde vårt navn ut av verden; og hvad vil du da gjøre med ditt store navn?

10 Da sa Herren til Josva: Stå op! Hvorfor ligger du her på ditt ansikt?

11 Israel har syndet og brutt min pakt som jeg har oprettet med dem; de har tatt av det bannlyste gods, de har stjålet og skjult det stjålne, de har gjemt det blandt sine egne ting.

12 Derfor kan Israels barn ikke stå sig mot sine fiender, men må flykte for dem; for de er selv kommet under bann; skiller I eder ikke helt av med det bannlyste, vil jeg ikke lenger være med eder.

13 Stå op, la folket hellige sig, og si: Hellige eder til imorgen! For så sier Herren, Israels Gud: Der er bannlyst gods hos dig, Israel! Du kan ikke stå dig mot dine fiender før I skiller eder helt av med det bannlyste.

14 Imorgen tidlig skal I trede frem stamme for stamme, og den stamme som Herren tar ut, skal trede frem ætt for ætt, og den ætt som Herren tar ut, skal trede frem hus for hus, og det hus som Herren tar ut, skal trede frem mann for mann.

15 Og den som det bannlyste blir funnet hos, han skal opbrennes med ild, både han og alt det hans er, fordi han har brutt Herrens pakt og gjort en skjendig gjerning i Israel.

16 Morgenen efter stod Josva tidlig op og lot Israel trede frem stamme for stamme, og Juda stamme blev tatt ut.

17 Så lot han ættene i Juda trede frem, og serahitt-ætten blev tatt ut; så lot han serahitt-ætten trede frem mann for mann, og Sabdi blev tatt ut;

18 så lot han hans hus trede frem mann for mann, og Akan, sønn av Karmi, som var sønn av Sabdi og sønnesønn av Serah, av Juda stamme, blev tatt ut.

19 Da sa Josva til Akan: Min sønn! Gi Herren, Israels Gud, ære og pris og si mig hvad du har gjort, dølg det ikke for mig!

20 Og Akan svarte Josva og sa: Det er sant, jeg har syndet mot Herren, Israels Gud; således har jeg gjort:

21 Jeg så blandt byttet en kostelig babylonisk kappe og to hundre sekel sølv og en gullstang som veide femti sekel; disse ting fikk jeg lyst på og tok dem; de ligger nedgravd i jorden under mitt telt, sølvet underst.

22 Da sendte Josva nogen menn dit, og de løp til teltet; og der fant de tingene nedgravd i hans telt, sølvet underst.

23 De tok dem ut av teltet og bar dem med sig til Josva og alle Israels barn og la dem frem for Herrens åsyn.

24 Og Josva og hele Israel med ham tok Akan, Serahs sønn, og sølvet og kappen og gullstangen og hans sønner og døtre og hans storfe og asener og småfe og hans telt og alt det han hadde, og de førte det op i Akor-dalen*. / {* JOS 7, 26.}

25 Og Josva sa: For en ulykke du har ført over oss! Idag skal Herren føre ulykke over dig! Og hele Israel stenet ham, og de opbrente dem med ild og stenet dem.

26 Derefter kastet de en stor stenrøs sammen over ham, som er der den dag idag; og Herren vendte om fra sin brennende vrede. Derfor kaltes dette sted Akor-dalen*; det navn har det den dag idag. / {* ulykkens dal.}

   

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Arcana Coelestia #5135

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5135. 'For I have indeed been taken away by theft' means that evil caused celestial things to become alienated. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph', who says this about himself, as the celestial within the natural, dealt with in 5086, 5087, 5106, and consequently the celestial things there; and from the meaning of 'being taken away by theft' as undergoing alienation caused by evil. For 'to commit theft' means to alienate, while 'theft' itself means the evil which causes alienation, as well as meaning evil which lays claim to the things existing there in the natural. 'Theft' means an alienation caused by evil that happens in the place which such evil takes possession of; for it expels everything good and true and fills up that place with evils and falsities. 'Theft' also means its laying claim to what belongs to others; for it takes to itself everything good and true in that place and makes such its own as well as attaching it to evils and falsities. But to enable anyone to know what is meant by 'theft' in the spiritual sense, a statement must be made about what happens to evils and falsities when they enter in and take possession of a place, and also when they lay claim to everything good and true there.

[2] From infancy to childhood, and sometimes on into early youth, a person is absorbing forms of goodness and truth received from parents and teachers, for during those years he learns about those forms of goodness and truth and believes them with simplicity - his state of innocence enabling this to happen. It inserts those forms of goodness and truth into his memory; yet it lodges them only on the edge of it since the innocence of infancy and childhood is not an internal innocence which has an influence on the rational, only an external one which has an influence solely on the exterior natural, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797. When however the person grows older, when he starts to think for himself and not, as previously, simply in the way his parents or teachers do, he brings back to mind and so to speak chews over what he has learned and believed before, and then he either endorses it, has doubts about it, or refuses to accept it. If he endorses it, this is an indication that he is governed by good, but if he refuses to accept it, that is an indication that he is governed by evil. If however he has doubts about what he has learned and believed before, it is an indication that he will move subsequently either into an affirmative attitude of mind or else into a negative one.

[3] The truths that a person learns and believes in his earliest years when he is a young child but which later on he either endorses, has doubts about, or refuses to accept, are in particular these: There is God, and He is one; He created everything; He rewards those who do what is good and punishes those who do things that are bad; there is life after death, when the bad go to hell and the good go to heaven, and so there is a hell and a heaven; the life after death lasts for ever; also, people ought to pray every day and to do so in a humble way; they ought to keep the sabbath day holy, honour their parents, and not commit adultery, kill, or steal; and many other truths like these. Such truths are learned and absorbed by a person from earliest childhood; but if, when he starts to think for himself and to lead his own life, he endorses them, adding to them further truths of a more interior kind, and leads a life in conformity with them, all is well with him. But if he starts to disobey them, refusing at length to accept them, then even though outwardly he leads a life in conformity with them, because the law and society expect him to do so, he is governed by evil.

[4] This evil is what is meant by 'theft', to the extent that thief-like it usurps the position held previously by good. With many people it is thief-like to the extent that it takes away the forms of goodness and truth previously there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities. So far as is possible with these people the Lord removes the forms of goodness and truth absorbed in early childhood from where these are to a more internal position, where - within the interior natural - He stores them away for future use. These forms of goodness and truth that are stored away within the interior natural are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284. But if evil steals the forms of goodness and truth there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities, especially if it does so by the use of deceit, it destroys those remnants; for in this case it mingles evil with good, and falsity with truth, to such an extent that one cannot be separated from the other; and then a person is done for.

[5] The fact that 'theft' means the kinds of things mentioned above may be seen from the mere use of that word to refer to what constitutes a person's spiritual life. For the only riches in that life are cognitions of good and truth, and the only possessions and inheritances are the different forms of happiness in life which are gained from forms of good and from truths deriving from these. The stealing of such things, as stated above, is what 'theft' relates to in the spiritual sense, and therefore by the thefts mentioned in the Word nothing else is meant in the internal sense, as in Zechariah,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. Then he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land, for everyone committing theft from now on, according to it, will be innocent, and everyone swearing falsely, according to it, will be innocent. I have cast it forth, that it may enter the house of the thief, and the house of him swearing falsely by My name, and may pass the night in his house and consume it, both its timbers and its stones. Zechariah 5:1-4.

Evil which takes away remnants of good is meant by 'one committing theft' and by 'the house of the thief', and falsity which takes away remnants of truth by 'one swearing falsely' and by 'the house of him swearing falsely'. 'The face of the whole land' stands for the whole Church, which is why the statement is made that the curse will consume the house, both its timbers and its stones - 'house' meaning the natural mind or a person so far as that mind is concerned, 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023, 'timbers' the forms of good present there, 2784, 2812, 3720, 4943, and 'stones' the truths, 643, 1298, 3720.

[6] Profanation and a consequent removal of goodness and truth are meant in the spiritual sense by the action of Achan, who took some of 'the devoted things' - a mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold - and hid them in the earth in the middle of his tent, on account of which he was stoned and everything was burned, as described in Joshua,

Jehovah said to Joshua, Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them, and have taken some of that which was devoted; they have committed theft, have lied, and have put it among their own vessels. Joshua 7:11, 12, 25.

'The devoted things' meant falsities and evils, which were not on any account to be mixed with anything holy. 'A mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold' in the spiritual sense are specific types of falsity. 'Hiding them in the earth in the middle of the tent' meant a mingling with things that are holy - for 'a tent' means that which is holy, see 414, 1102, 1566, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599. Such was the meaning of the declaration that they had committed theft, lied, and put [what was devoted] among their own vessels; for 'vessels' means holy truths, 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318.

[7] In Jeremiah,

I will bring the disaster 1 of Esau upon him, the time I will visit him. If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave grape-gleanings? if thieves in the night, will they not destroy a sufficiency? I will strip Esau bare, I will uncover his secret places, and he will not be able to be concealed. His seed has been laid waste, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more. Jeremiah 49:8-10.

'Esau' stands for the evil of self-love to which falsities have been allied, 3322. The destruction by this evil of the remnants of good and truth is meant by the statements that 'thieves in the night will destroy a sufficiency' and that 'his seed has been laid waste, also his brothers and his neighbours, and he is no more'. 'Seed' stands for truths which are those of faith grounded in charity, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373; 'brothers' for forms of good which are those of charity, 367, 2360, 2508, 2524, 3160, 3303, 3459, 3815, 4121, 4191; 'neighbours' for the adjoining and related forms of truth and good which belong to it.

[8] A similar reference to Esau occurs in Obadiah,

If thieves come to you, if those who overturn in the night - how you will have been cut off! - will they not steal that which is enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave some clusters? Obad. verse 5.

'Grape-gatherers' stands for falsities which are not a product of evil. These falsities do not destroy the forms of goodness and truth - that is, the remnants - stored away by the Lord in a person's interior natural. But falsities that are the product of evils do destroy them, for they steal forms of truth and good and also use them, through misapplication of them, to lend support to evils and falsities.

[9] In Joel,

A great and mighty people, like heroes they will run, like men of war they will scale the wall; and they will pass on, every one on his way. They will run about the city, they will run on the wall, they will climb into the houses, they will go in through the windows like a thief. Joel 2:7, 9.

'A great and mighty people' stands for falsities fighting against truths, 1259, 1260; and because they fight in a mighty way, by destroying truths, they are spoken of as 'heroes' and 'like men of war'. 'The city' through which they are said to run about stands for matters of doctrine regarding truth, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216; 'the houses which they will climb into' stands for the forms of good which they destroy, 710, 1708, 2048, 2233, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4982; 'the windows which they will go through' stands for intellectual concepts and for reasonings derived from these, 655, 658, 3391. This being so, those falsities are compared to a thief because they usurp the position held previously by truths and forms of good.

[10] In David,

Since you hate discipline and cast away My words behind you, if you see a thief you run with him, and your part is with adulterers. You open your mouth towards evil, and with your tongue you frame deceit. Psalms 50:17-19.

This refers to someone wicked, 'running with a thief' standing for his use of falsity to alienate truth from himself.

[11] In Revelation,

They did not repent of their murders, or of their enchantments, or of their whoredoms, or of their thefts. Revelation 9:21.

'Murders' stands for evils which destroy forms of good, 'enchantments' for falsities from these which destroy truths, 'whoredoms' for falsified truths, 'thefts' for forms of good that have consequently been alienated.

[12] In John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. John 10:1-2, 8-10.

'A thief' in this instance also stands for the evil of merit-seeking, for anyone who takes away from the Lord that which is His and claims it as his own is called 'a thief'. This evil closes the path so as to prevent the flow of good and truth from the Lord, for which reason it is referred to as 'killing and destroying'. Much the same is meant in the Ten Commandments, at Deuteronomy 5:19, by You shall not steal, 4174. From all this one may see what is meant in the spiritual sense by the laws laid down in the Jewish Church regarding thefts, such as those at Exodus 21:16; 22:1-4; Deuteronomy 24:7; for all laws in that Church had their origin in the spiritual world, and they therefore correspond to the laws of order which exist in heaven.

Fusnotat:

1. Reading Exitium (disaster) - which Swedenborg has in his rough draft, and also in another place where he quotes this verse - for Exitum (departure)

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

Bibla

 

Genesis 24

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1 Abraham was old, and well stricken in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things.

2 Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh.

3 I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live.

4 But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

5 The servant said to him, "What if the woman isn't willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?"

6 Abraham said to him, "Beware that you don't bring my son there again.

7 Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, 'I will give this land to your seed.' He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

8 If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this my oath. Only you shall not bring my son there again."

9 The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 The servant took ten camels, of his master's camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master's with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.

12 He said, "Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.

14 Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, 'Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,' and she will say, 'drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,'--let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."

15 It happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder.

16 The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, neither had any man known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up.

17 The servant ran to meet her, and said, "Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher."

18 She said, "Drink, my lord." She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him Drink.

19 When she had done giving him drink, she said, "I will also draw for your camels, until they have done drinking."

20 She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.

21 The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not.

22 It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,

23 and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?"

24 She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."

25 She said moreover to him, "We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in."

26 The man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh.

27 He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of my master's relatives."

28 The young lady ran, and told her mother's house about these words.

29 Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.

30 It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

31 He said, "Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels."

32 The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on."

34 He said, "I am Abraham's servant.

35 Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

36 Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him.

37 My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,

38 but you shall go to my father's house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.'

39 I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?'

40 He said to me, 'Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives, and of my father's house.

41 Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don't give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.'

42 I came this day to the spring, and said, 'Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go--

43 behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, "Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,"

44 and she will tell me, "Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,"--let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master's son.'

45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.'

46 She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a Drink.' So I drank, and she also gave the camels a Drink.

47 I asked her, and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.' I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands.

48 I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son.

49 Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left."

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good.

51 Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as Yahweh has spoken."

52 It happened that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh.

53 The servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.

54 They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, "Send me away to my master."

55 Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go."

56 He said to them, "Don't hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master."

57 They said, "We will call the young lady, and ask her."

58 They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go."

59 They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his men.

60 They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them."

61 Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

62 Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South.

63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.

64 Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.

65 She said to the servant, "Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." She took her veil, and covered herself.

66 The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.

67 Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.