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1 Samuel 3

Дослідження

   

1 Ja nuorukainen Samuel palveli Elin edessä Herraa; ja Herran sana oli kallis siihen aikaan, ja ei ollut ilmoituksia.

2 Ja tapahtui siihen aikaan, että Eli makasi siallansa, ja hänen silmänsä rupesivat pimentymään, niin ettei hän nähnyt.

3 Ja Samuel makasi Herran templissä, siinä kuin Jumalan arkki oli, ennenkuin Jumalan lamppu sammutettiin.

4 Ja Herra kutsui Samuelia; hän vastasi: katso, tässä minä olen.

5 Ja hän juoksi Elin tykö ja sanoi: katso, tässä minä olen, sinä kutsuit minua. Hän sanoi: en minä kutsunut, mene jälleen ja pane maata; ja hän meni ja pani maata.

6 Ja Herra kutsui taas Samuelia, ja Samuel nousi ja meni Elin tykö, ja sanoi: katso, tässä minä olen, sinä kutsuit minua. Hän sanoi: en minä kutsunut sinua, minun poikani, mene jälleen ja pane maata.

7 Mutta Samuel ei tuntenut silloin vielä Herraa; ja Herran sana ei ollut vielä ilmoitettu hänelle.

8 Ja Herra kutsui Samuelia vielä kolmannen kerran, ja hän nousi ja meni Elin tykö, ja sanoi: katso, tässä minä olen, sinä kutsuit minua. Niin ymmärsi Eli, että Herra kutsui nuorukaista.

9 Ja Eli sanoi Samuelille: mene ja pane maata, ja jos sinua vielä kutsutaan, niin sano: puhu, Herra! sillä sinun palvelias kuulee. Samuel meni ja pani maata siallensa.

10 Niin tuli Herra ja seisoi siellä, ja kutsui niinkuin ennenkin: Samuel, Samuel. Ja Samuel sanoi: puhu! sillä sinun palvelias kuulee.

11 Ja Herra sanoi Samuelille: katso, minä teen yhden asian Israelissa, niin että sen molemmat korvat pitää soiman, joka sen kuulee.

12 Sinä päivänä tuotan minä Elille kaikki ne mitkä minä hänen huonettansa vastaan puhunut olen: minä alan ja päätän sen.

13 Ja minä tahdon tehdä hänelle tiettäväksi, että minä olen Tuomari hänen huoneellensa ijankaikkisesti sen pahan työn tähden, että hän tiesi poikansa häpiällisesti itsensä käyttäneen, ja ei kertaakaan vihaisesti katsonut heidän päällensä.

14 Sentähden olen minä vannonut Elin huoneelle, että tämä Elin huoneen pahateko ei pidä lepytettämän uhrilla eikä ruokauhrilla ijankaikkisesti.

15 Ja Samuel makasi huomeneen asti, ja avasi Herran huoneen oven. Ja Samuel ei tohtinut ilmoittaa Elille sitä näkyä.

16 Niin kutsui Eli hänen ja sanoi: Samuel poikani; hän vastasi: katso, tässä minä olen.

17 Hän sanoi: mikä sana se on, joka sinulle sanottiin? älä salaa sitä minulta. Jumala tehköön sinulle sen ja sen, jos sinä jotain salaat mnulta siitä mikä sinulle sanottu on.

18 Niin Samuel sanoi hänelle kaikki ja ei häneltä mitään salannut. Vaan hän sanoi: hän on Herra, hän tehköön niinkuin hänelle on kelvollinen.

19 Ja Samuel kasvoi, ja Herra oli hänen kanssansa, ja ei langennut yhtäkään kaikista hänen sanoistansa maahan.

20 Ja koko Israel, hamasta Danista niin BerSabaan, tunsi Samuelin uskolliseksi Herran prophetaksi.

21 Ja Herra taas ilmestyi hänelle Silossa; sillä Herra oli ilmaantunut Samuelille Silossa Herran sanan kautta.

   


SWORD version by Tero Favorin (tero at favorin dot com)

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Exploring the Meaning of 1 Samuel 3

За Garry Walsh

Chapter 3 tells the beautiful story of the “Call of Samuel.” Young Samuel hears a voice calling him in the night, as he lies down to sleep. Samuel thinks that Eli, who is old and blind, must be calling him. So he runs to Eli and asks what he wants. Eli says that he didn't call, and tells Samuel to go back to bed. This happens two more times, and each time Samuel hears the voice calling, he goes to Eli. The third time this happens, Eli realizes that it must be the Lord's voice that Samuel is hearing. So, Eli tells Samuel to answer the voice with the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” When the Lord calls him again, this is how Samuel answers.

God’s words to Samuel are clear. Eli’s sons had done bad things, and Eli had not stopped them. No sacrifice could now keep them from the consequences of their sins. In the morning, Eli begs Samuel to tell him what the Lord said. After Samuel tells him God’s message, Eli accepts that the Lord would do to him and his family what was He knew was good.

There is much that we can learn from the story. The Lord calls Samuel three times before Samuel realizes who is really calling, and answers Him. Numbers in the Bible have symbolic meanings. In this story, the number three represents completeness. When Samuel is called three times, it represents a personal process that is complete, and that gives Samuel a new ability to receive God’s message. (See Apocalypse Revealed 505.)

To “hear” means to perceive, to learn and to come to understand. When Samuel hears and replies to the Lord, he is showing that he is willing to listen to and understand God. It is similar for us. We may not hear the voice of God calling in the night, but we can make space in our lives to try to tune in to His message, in the Word, and in good, wise people we can learn from.

The expression “to hear” can also mean to obey. Someone says, “Do you hear me?” What do they mean? They are asking if you are going to obey. In this story we can see Samuel accepting his role as prophet, i.e. to understand and obey God. So, too, we can recognize God’s messages and begin to obey them in our lives. (See Apocalypse Explained 14.)

The literal story seems to suggest that the Lord would punish Eli and his sons for the wrongs they had done. However, Swedenborg’s Writings teach that the truth is that the Lord never destroys, or is even angry. Instead, evil distances a person from the Lord’s protection and that leaves them vulnerable to the destruction that comes from the evil itself. (See Arcana Coelestia 588.)

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Genesis 26:1-33

Дослідження

      

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

2 Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.

3 Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,

5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

6 Isaac lived in Gerar.

7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."

8 It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.

9 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

10 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"

11 Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."

12 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.

13 The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.

14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.

15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.

16 Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."

17 Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

18 Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

19 Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

21 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.

22 He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

23 He went up from there to Beersheba.

24 Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."

25 He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.

27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"

28 They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,

29 that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."

30 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32 It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."

33 He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.