士师记12:耶弗他与以法莲的冲突；易卜生、以伦和阿布顿。

耶弗他战胜亚扪人后，以法莲的人来到耶弗他面前，要求知道他为什么不叫他们加入战斗。耶弗他回答说，过去他的子民与亚扪人斗争时，以法莲没有回应他们的求救。

耶弗他和以法莲因为这个争端而开战，以法莲被打败了。耶弗他的手下，也就是基列的人，站在约旦河的岔口，捕捉逃亡的以法莲人。当有人要求过河时，他们会告诉他说 "Shibboleth"。把这个词念成 "Sibboleth "的人是以法莲人，并被处死。总共有四万二千名以法莲人在战争中被杀。

耶弗他在审判以色列六年后去世，被埋葬在基列。

*****

以法莲的属灵含义是理解道的真理。每当以法莲被提到负面意义时，如本章中，其属灵含义就变成了对已被破坏的道的理解。道命令我们按照我们所理解和相信的去生活；在这个故事中，以法莲没有听从耶弗他的话（见瑞典堡的著作。 新耶路撒冷教义之圣经篇79[3]).

逃跑的以法莲人因其口音而暴露出来，因为他们不能发 "Shibboleth "的'sh'音。字母'h'代表道的真正真理，也就是对主和对邻居的爱。对圣言的纯知识性理解未能理解这颗使圣言成为现实的活生生的心，因此，只能说 "Sibboleth"（见Sdenborg的作品。 天国的秘密4280).

圣言告诉我们，有四万二千名以法莲人被杀--这似乎是一个巨大的伤亡数字！但圣言不是从历史的角度报告事实，而是呈现出活生生的真理，甚至是数字。但是圣言并不是从历史的角度来报告事实；它呈现的是活生生的真理，甚至是数字。四十二是六乘以七，所以它的属灵含义可以理解为两个数字的组合。在创世故事中，主工作了六天，在第七天休息。这个想法与我们的再生有关，这涉及到我们在试探中的挣扎，以及灵性成长带来的平安。伤亡人数数以千计的事实强调了属灵含义的重要性(天国的秘密8539[2]).

耶弗他审判了以色列六年。这里的数字 "六 "也有同样的含义，即在试探中的冲突和工作。本章中的试探将是纯粹以智力或死的方式来理解圣言（以法莲的意思是不好的），而不是靠它所教导的真理来生活。

*****

在耶弗他之后，以色列有三位小法官。第一个是伊班，他送了三十个女儿到国外结婚，并为他的三十个儿子带来了三十个外国女儿。圣经没有告诉我们更多关于伊班的信息，只是说他来自伯利恒，这一点很奇怪。不确定的是这是主将要出生的那个城镇，还是另一个同名的城镇。

伊班的名字意思是 "杰出的"，代表着一种慷慨和乐意的精神，能够接受新的观点并与他人分享他的祝福。这个概念被称为互爱，是天堂的一个关键品质(天国的秘密2738).

下一任法官以伦来自西布伦，领导以色列十年之久。即使是我们了解到的这些关于他的少数细节，也在其精神含义上呈现出一种完整性：他的名字意味着 "橡树"，这种树与高贵、力量和长寿有关，每一种都是领导者的合适品质；他来自西布伦，西布伦代表善与真的统一(天国的秘密4592[13])；而数字十（他审判以色列的年数）象征着完整，也象征着我们的精神 "遗体"（见斯文伯格的作品。 新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇56).

第三位也是最后一位法官阿布顿有四十个儿子和三十个孙子，他们骑着七十头小驴。阿布顿的名字意味着 "服务"，这是继爱和真理之后的第三个精神原则。侍奉就是通过对他人的慈善，把我们的生命献给上帝。小驴子代表我们在重生前的生命中未被驯服的程度，它需要精神上的照顾（《圣经》）。天国的秘密5084[8]).

这最后三位 "小 "法官提醒我们注意防范以色列下一个主要对手的品质：非利士人，他们代表信仰，不考虑慈善或善行。

9323. 'And He will bless your bread and your water' means the increase of the good of love and of the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed by Jehovah' as being made fruitful in forms of good and being multiplied in truths, dealt with in 2846, 3406, 4981, 6091, 6099, 8939, thus an increase in the kinds of things that belong to love and faith; from the meaning of 'bread' as the good of love, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 6118, 8410; and from the meaning of 'water' as the truth of faith, dealt with in 680, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 6346, 7307, 8568. Since 'bread' meant all the good of love and 'water' all the truth of faith in their entirety, and since 'being blessed by Jehovah' means every increase in them, people in the ancient Churches were accustomed to express the wish, May Jehovah bless [your] bread and water. It was also common to speak of 'bread and water' when all natural food and drink were to be expressed and all spiritual goodness and truth to be understood; for the latter are what nourish spiritual life, just as the former nourish natural life, 4976.

[2] Such goodness and truth are meant by 'bread and water' in the following places: In Isaiah,

Behold, Jehovah Zebaoth is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah the whole staff of bread, and the whole staff of water. Isaiah 3:1.

'The staff of bread' stands for power and life provided by good, 'the staff of water' for power and life provided by truth. In Ezekiel,

Behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, so that they may eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and with dismay; that they may be in want of bread and water, and will be dismayed with one another, ¹ and waste away on account of their iniquity. Ezekiel 4:16-17.

'Being in want of bread and water' means being deprived of the good of love and of the truth of faith, as is plainly evident since it says 'that they will be dismayed with one with another, and waste away on account of iniquity'.

[3] The like occurs again in the same prophet,

They will eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dismay, so that her land may be devastated of its fullness, on account of the violence of all who dwell in it. Ezekiel 12:19.

In Amos,

Behold, the days are going to come, in which I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. Amos 8:11.

In the first Book of Kings,

The man of God said to Jeroboam, If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For Jehovah had so commanded, saying, You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way you came. But a prophet from Bethel said to him that he had been told by Jehovah that he was to eat bread and drink water with him (he was lying). ² And he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. For that reason he was torn to pieces by a lion. 1 Kings 13:8-9, 16-19, 24.

His refusal to eat bread or drink water with Jeroboam was a sign of his abhorrence of the good there and also of the truth, because they had been rendered profane. For Jeroboam had profaned the altar and all the holy things of worship, as is evident from the historical descriptions at this point in the Word.

[4] A lack of spiritual goodness and truth was meant by the absence of rain for three and a half years when Ahab was king, resulting in a lack of bread and of water, during which time Elijah went to a widow in Zarephath and asked her for a little water in a vessel so that he might drink, and a piece of bread so that he might eat, 1 Kings 17, 18. For 'bread' meant all the good of the Church, and 'water' all the truth of the Church, as stated above. Since such things in those times were representative for the reason that only something representative of the Church existed among those people, and since things of a representative nature were used therefore in the composition of the Word, including the historical section, goodness and truth laid waste was accordingly represented by the lack of bread and water. And because 'bread' meant all the good of love in its entirety, therefore also the sacrifices were referred to as 'bread', 2165, and therefore also the Lord calls Himself 'the bread which comes down from heaven', John 6:48, 50-51; for the Lord is the Good itself of Love.

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