圣经文本

 

弥迦书第1章

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1 犹大约坦、亚哈斯、希西家在位的时候,摩利沙人弥迦得耶和华的默示,论撒玛利亚耶路撒冷

2 万民哪,你们都要和其上所有的,也都要侧耳而耶和华从他的殿要见证你们的不是。

3 看哪,耶和华出了他的居所,降临步行处。

4 在他以必消化,诸必崩裂,如蜡化在中,如坡。

5 这都因雅各过,以色列家的恶。雅各过在哪里呢?岂不是在撒玛利亚麽?犹大的邱坛在哪里呢?岂不是在耶路撒冷麽?

6 所以我必使撒玛利亚变为田野的乱堆,又作为种葡萄之处;也必将她的石头倒在谷中,露出根基来。

7 她一切雕刻的偶像必被打碎;她所得的财物必被烧;所有的偶像我必毁灭;因为是从妓女雇价所聚来的,後必归为妓女的雇价。

8 先知说:因此我必大声哀号,赤脚露体而行;又要呼号如野狗,哀鸣如鸵鸟。

9 因为撒玛利亚的伤痕无法医治,延及犹大耶路撒冷我民的城

10 不要在迦特报告这事,总不要哭泣;我在伯亚弗拉滚於灰尘之中。

11 沙斐的居民哪,你们要赤身蒙羞过去。撒南的居民不敢出来。伯以薛人的哀哭使你们无处可站。

12 玛律的居民心甚忧急,切望得处,因为灾祸从耶和华那里临到耶路撒冷的城

13 拉吉的居民哪,要用快马套车;锡安民(原文是女子)的由你而起;以色列人过在你那里显出。

14 犹大啊,你要将礼物送摩利设迦特。亚革悉的众族必用诡诈待以色列

15 玛利沙的居民哪,我必使那夺取你的到你这里;以色列的尊贵人(原文是荣耀)必到亚杜兰。

16 犹大啊,要为你所喜爱的儿女剪除你的头发,使头光,要大大地光,如同,因为他们都被掳去离开你。

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Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(参考: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)

圣经文本

 

Genesis第35章

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1 God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."

2 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments.

3 Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."

4 They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

7 He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.

9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him.

10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel.

11 God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.

12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land."

13 God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.

14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.

15 Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him "Bethel."

16 They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor.

17 When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son."

18 It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

19 Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).

20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

21 Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22 It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali.

26 The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

27 Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners.

28 The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.

29 Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.