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1 Samuel 5

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1 Ja Philistealaiset ottivat Jumalan arkin ja veivät sen EbenEtseristä Asdodiin,

2 Ja veivät sen sisälle Dagonin huoneesen ja asettivat sen Dagonin rinnalle.

3 Ja Asdodilaiset nousivat toisena päivänä varhain, ja katso, Dagon makasi suullansa maassa Herran arkin edessä; mutta he ottivat Dagonin ja nostivat entiselle siallensa.

4 Ja he nousivat toisena huomenna, ja katso, Dagon makasi suullansa maassa Herran arkin edessä, mutta Dagonin pää ja molemmat hänen kätensä olivat poikki hakattuina kynnyksellä, ja muu ruumis vain oli jälellä.

5 Sentähden Dagonin papit ja kaikki jotka Dagonin huoneesen menevät, ei astu Dagonin kynnykselle Asdodissa tähän päivään asti.

6 Mutta Herran käsi oli raskas Asdodilaisten päällä ja hävitti heidät, ja löi Asdodin ja kaiken ympäristön ajoksilla.

7 Kuin Asdodin miehet näkivät niin olevan, sanoivat he: älkäämme antako Israelin Jumalan arkin olla meidän tykönämme; sillä hänen kätensä on juuri raskas meitä ja jumalaamme Dagonia vastaan.

8 Ja he lähettivät ja kutsuivat kaikki Philistealaisten päämiehet tykönsä kokoon, ja sanoivat: mitä me teemme Israelin Jumalan arkille? He vastasivat: antakaat kantaa Israelin Jumalan arkki Gatin ympäri; ja he kantoivat Israelin Jumalan arkin ympäri.

9 Ja kuin he sen kantoivat, nousi suuri kapina kaupungissa Herran käden kautta, ja hän löi kaupungin miehet sekä pienet että suuret; ja he saivat salaiset kivut salaisiin paikkoihinsa.

10 Niin he lähettivät Jumalan arkin Ekroniin. Kuin Jumalan arkki tuli Ekroniin, huusivat Ekronilaiset ja sanoivat: he ovat vetäneet Israelin Jumalan arkin minun tyköni, surmataksensa minua ja minun kansaani.

11 Niin lähettivät he ja kutsuivat kaikki Philistealaisten päämiehet kokoon, ja sanoivat: lähettäkäät Israelin Jumalan arkki siallensa jälleen, ettei hän surmaisi minua ja minun kansaani; sillä kaikessa kaupungissa oli suuri kapina kuoleman tähden, ja Jumalan käsi oli siellä sangen raskas.

12 Ja ihmiset, jotka ei kuolleet, olivat lyödyt salaisissa paikoissansa, niin että huuto meni kaupungista ylös taivaasen.

   


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

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Exploring the Meaning of 1 Samuel 5

За Garry Walsh

The Philistines had the captured Ark of the Covenant. They took it deep into their own territory to a temple in the city of Ashdod. The temple was dedicated to their god Dagon who was half man and half fish.

Early the next morning, the people of Ashdod found that the statue of Dagon had fallen on its face before the Ark. They set it back up. The next morning they found it fallen again, this time with the hands and head broken off. So, the Philistines were afraid, and moved the Ark to another city and then another. Each time the people in and around the cities were struck down by “tumors.” A more accurate translation is that they suffered severe hemorrhoids. These were so serious that many people died.

Swedenborg writes that these hemorrhoids represent earthly loves, “which are unclean when they are separated from spiritual loves.” 1 Samuel 6 describes how these cities were also suddenly infested with rodents, and this represents the “destruction of the church by distortions of the truth.” (See Divine Providence 326 [11, 12])

Both afflictions represent a separation of faith and charity, two important parts of spiritual life. Swedenborg talks about how the Philistines represent people with whom faith has been separated from charity. (See Arcana Coelestia 1197 and Doctrine of Faith 49.) Note here, as elsewhere, that we should not directly connect any group of people to the positive or negative things that they represent spiritually. This means that we should not assume that the Philistines were any more guilty of separating faith from charity than any other group of people. We should instead think about how in this particular story, they represent the challenge we all face to not separate faith and charity. We need to live our faith for it to be real.

The statue of Dagon, representing faith without charity, fell on its face and was destroyed in front of the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Ten Commandments. This is an illustration of the power of the Lord’s Divine Word when we live by it. Our faith can’t only be a belief in the Lord’s Word, or just an intellectual acknowledgement of His Commandments. It is a function of a life led based on these commandments. Belief without a good life, faith without charity, is destructive - on an individual level and on a collective level. We see this symbolically represented in the destruction of the statue of Dagon.

The way the statue was destroyed is symbolic of faith separate from charity, too. For example, hands generally symbolize power, and the ability to put things into action, whether they be good or bad. (See Arcana Coelestia 878.) The hands were cut off of the statue of Dagon just as faith without action, or charity has no power.

This further drives home the message that faith and charity must go together, if we are to keep our covenant with the Lord.

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Exodus 7

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1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

2 You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3 I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them."

6 Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'"

10 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

12 For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13 Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

14 Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he goes out to the water; and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

16 You shall tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:" and behold, until now you haven't listened.

17 Thus says Yahweh, "In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18 The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

19 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21 The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart.

24 All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn't drink of the water of the river.

25 Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.