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Deuteronomy 11

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1 Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway.

2 And know ye this day: for [I speak] not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm,

3 and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4 and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day;

5 and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place;

6 and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel:

7 but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did.

8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it;

9 and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;

11 but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, [and] drinketh water of the rain of heaven,

12 a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil.

15 And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full.

16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you.

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates;

21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

22 For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23 then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border.

25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

27 the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day;

28 and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

29 And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

31 For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.

   

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Way of the tree of life

  

'The way of the tree of life,' as in Genesis 3:21, signifies admission to the Lord, which people have from the Word.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 239; Genesis 3:24)

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Apocalypse Revealed # 239

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239. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures. This symbolizes the Word of the Lord from the firsts of it in its lasts, and its protections.

I know people will be surprised at my saying that the four living creatures symbolize the Word. This is nevertheless their symbolic meaning, as we will later show.

The four living creatures here are the same as the cherubim in Ezekiel. In chapter 1 there they are called likewise living creatures, but cherubim in chapter 10, and they were, as here, a lion, an ox, a human being, and an eagle. 1

In the Hebrew there they are called hayyoth, 2 a word which indeed means creatures, but one derived from hayyoh, 3 meaning life, from which the name of Adam's wife, Hawwah, 4 also was derived (Genesis 3:20). In Ezekiel a creature is also called hayyah, so that these creatures can be called living ones.

It does not matter that the Word is described by creatures, since the Lord Himself is sometimes called in the Word a lion, and often a lamb, and people possessing charity from the Lord are called sheep. Moreover, an understanding of the Word, too, is in subsequent chapters called a horse.

It is apparent that these living creatures or cherubim symbolize the Word from the fact that they were seen in the midst of the throne and around the throne. The Lord was in the midst of the throne, and because the Lord embodies the Word, it could not appear elsewhere. They were also seen around the throne, because they were seen in the angelic heaven, where the Word exists also.

[2] The fact that cherubim symbolize the Word and its protection is something we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 97, , where we said the following:

...the literal sense of the Word is a protection for the genuine truths which lie within; and the protection consists in the fact that the literal sense can be turned this way or that, (or) explained in accordance with one's comprehension, and yet without harming or violating the Word's inner meaning. For it does no harm for the literal sense to be interpreted differently by different people. But harm is done if the Divine truths that lie within are distorted, for this does violence to the Word.

The literal sense protects this from happening, and it does so in the case of people caught up in falsities derived from their religion, who do not defend those falsities; for they do not inflict any violence.

This protection is symbolized by the cherubim and also described by them in the Word. The same protection is symbolized by the cherubim which, after Adam and his wife were cast out of the Garden of Eden, were placed at its entrance, regarding which we read the following:

(When) Jehovah God... drove out the man..., He caused cherubim to dwell at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:23-24)

The cherubim symbolize a protection. The way to the tree of life symbolizes an entryway to the Lord, which people have through the Word. The flaming sword which turned every way symbolizes Divine truth in outmost expressions, which is like the Word in its literal sense, which can (as we said) be turned in the way stated.

[3] The cherubim of gold positioned on either end of the mercy seat which was on top of the ark (Exodus 25:18-21) have the same meaning. Because this is what the cherubim symbolized, therefore Jehovah spoke with Moses from between them (Exodus 25:22; 30:6, 36, Numbers 7:89)....

This, too, was what the cherubim on the curtains of the Tabernacle and on the veil in it symbolized (Exodus 26:1, 31). For the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle represented the outmost elements of heaven and the church, thus also the outmost expressions of the Word.

This was also what the cherubim inside the temple at Jerusalem symbolized (1 Kings 6:23-28), and what the cherubim carved on the walls and doors of the temple symbolized (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35). Likewise the cherubim in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20)....

[4] Since cherubim symbolized a protection to prevent a direct approach to the Lord and heaven and to Divine truth such as it is inwardly in the Word, so that people must approach indirectly through its outward expressions, therefore the following is said of the king of Tyre:

You, the seal of the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, were in Eden, the garden...; every precious stone was your covering... You were the cherub, the spreader of a covering... I destroyed you, O covering cherub, in the midst of fiery stones. (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16)

Tyre symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and goodness, and therefore its king symbolizes the Word where those concepts are found and from which they are drawn. It is apparent that here he symbolizes the Word in its outmost expression, which is its literal meaning, and the cherub, its protection, for the passage says, "You, the seal of the measure," "every precious stone was your covering," "You were the cherub, the spreader of a covering." The precious stones mentioned here as well symbolize the truths in the Word's literal sense (no. 231).

[5] Since cherubim symbolize Divine truth in outmost expressions as a protection, therefore we are told in the book of Psalms:

...O Shepherd of Israel..., You who sit upon the cherubim, shine forth! (Psalms 80:1)

Jehovah..., sitting upon the cherubim. (Psalms 99:1)

(Jehovah) bowed the heavens and came down... And He rode upon cherubim... (Psalms 18:9-10)

To ride upon cherubim, to sit on them and be seated on them is to do so upon the outmost meaning of the Word.

The Divine truth in the Word and its character is described by cherubim in the first, ninth and tenth chapters in Ezekiel. But inasmuch as no one can know what the particulars of their description symbolize except one to whom the spiritual meaning has been disclosed, and inasmuch as this meaning has been disclosed to me, we will relate briefly what is symbolized by each of the particulars mentioned regarding the four creatures or cherubim in the first chapter in Ezekiel. They are as follows:

[6] The outward Divine atmosphere of the Word is described in verse 4.

It is represented as human in verse 5; as conjoined with spiritual and celestial qualities in verse 6.

The character of the natural component of the Word is described in verse 7.

The character of the spiritual and celestial components of the Word conjoined with the natural one, in verses 8-9.

The Divine love of the celestial, spiritual and natural goodness and truth present in it, separately and together, in verses 10-11.

Their looking to a single end, in verse 12.

The atmosphere of the Word emanating from the Lord's Divine goodness and truth, which give the Word life, in verses 13-14.

The doctrine of goodness and truth present in the Word and emanating from the Word, in verses 15-21.

The Lord's Divinity transcending it and present in it, in verses 22-23; and emanating from it, in verses 24-25.

The Lord's transcending the heavens, in verse 26.

His possessing Divine love and wisdom, in verses 27-28.

These are the symbolic meanings in summary form.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. See Ezekiel 1:10; 10:14, 22.

2. חַיּוֹת

3. חָיָה

4. חַוָּה

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.