圣经文本

 

Deuteronomy第8章

学习

   

1 You shall observe to do all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers.

2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.

3 He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn't know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live.

4 Your clothing didn't grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.

5 You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you.

6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;

9 a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.

10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you.

11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day:

12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein;

13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, [in which were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn't know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end:

17 and [lest] you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth."

18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.

19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you wouldn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#2913

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

2913. 'And spoke to the sons of Heth, saying' means those with whom a new spiritual Church was to exist. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Heth' and of Hittite. Many were the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan who are mentioned one by one in various places in the Word, among them the Hittites, see Genesis 15:20; Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 11:1, 3; 12:8; 24:11; 1 Kings 9:20; and elsewhere. Most of them belonged to the Ancient Church which was spread through many lands, including the land of Canaan, see 1238, 2385. All who belonged to that Church acknowledged charity as the chief thing, and everything they taught was about charity or life. People who cultivated teachings about faith were called Canaanites and were separate from the rest of the inhabitants in the land of Canaan, Numbers 13:29 - see 1062, 1063, 1076.

[2] The Hittites belonged among those in the land of Canaan who were more acceptable. This is also made clear by the fact that Abraham, and subsequently Isaac and Jacob, dwelt among them and had a burial-place there, and also by the fact that they treated Abraham with greatest respect, as is quite clear from what is recorded about them in this chapter, especially verses 5-6, 10-11, 14-15. Since they were an upright nation they therefore represent and mean the spiritual Church, or the truth of the Church. But it happened that like all the others who belonged to the Ancient Church the Hittites fell away in the course of time from charity or good that goes with faith; and this explains why later on they mean the falsity of the Church, as in Ezekiel 16:3, 45, and elsewhere. Yet the Hittites did belong among those who were more honourable, as may be seen from the fact that David had Hittites with him, such as Ahimelech, 1 Samuel 26:6, and Uriah, who was a Hittite, 2 Samuel 11:3, 6, 17, 21 - by whose wife Bathsheba David begot Solomon, 2 Samuel 12:24. 'Heth' means exterior cognitions that have regard to life and which constitute the external truths of the spiritual Church, 1 see 1203.

[3] The subject in the present verse is a new Church which the Lord establishes when the previous one breathes its last, and in the verses which follow the subject is the reception of faith among those people. The subject is not some particular Church among the sons of Heth but in general the re-establishment by the Lord of a spiritual Church after its predecessor fades away and approaches its end. The sons of Heth are simply those who represent and carry a spiritual meaning. Please see what has been stated already about Churches in the following places:

In course of time a Church goes into decline and decay, 494, 501, 1327, 2422.

It departs from charity, and brings forth evils and falsities, 1834, 1835.

At that point the Church is said to be vastated and made desolate, 407-411, 2243.

The Church is established among gentiles; the reason why, 1366.

Within a Church undergoing vastation something of the Church is always preserved as a nucleus, 468, 637, 931, 2422.

If the Church did not exist in the world the human race would perish, ibid.

The Church is like the heart and lungs in that vast body, of which every member of the human race is a part, 637, 931, 2054, 2853.

The nature of the spiritual Church, 765, 2669.

Charity constitutes the Church, not faith separated from charity, 809, 916.

If all possessed charity the Church would be one even though they differ in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship, 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385.

All people on earth who belong to the Lord's Church, though they are scattered throughout the entire world, still so to speak make a single whole, as is the case in heaven, 2853.

Every Church is internal and external, and both together constitute a single Church, 409, 1083, 1098, 1100, 1242.

The external Church is valueless if there is no internal Church, 1795.

The Church is compared to the rise and the setting of the sun, to the seasons of the year, and also to the periods of the day, 1837.

The Last Judgement is the final period of the Church, 900, 931, 1850, 2117, 2118.

脚注:

1. Or, reading what Swedenborg has in his rough draft the truths of the external spiritual Church

  
/10837  
  

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