Arcana Coelestia # 8211
8211. 'And so it was in the morning watch' means a state of thick darkness and perdition for those steeped in falsity arising from evil, and a state of enlightenment and salvation for those guided by truth springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the morning watch' as a state of enlightenment and salvation, and in the contrary sense as a state of thick darkness and perdition. The reason why 'the morning watch' has this meaning is that states of faith and love in the next life are like the times of day in the world. That is to say, they are like morning, midday, evening, and night; and these therefore also correspond to those states, 2788, 5672, 5862, 6110. The states also change in almost the same ways. Whenever change takes place morning, and in particular twilight, is an end and a beginning; for night comes to an end and day begins. In that state to which morning corresponds the good begin to be enlightened in matters of faith and to grow warmer in aspects of charity. The opposite also takes place, for then the evil begin to be overshadowed by falsities and to be chilled by evils. Consequently morning for the latter is a state of thick darkness and perdition, but for the former a state of enlightenment and salvation.
[2] These states in heaven are what give rise to the states of light and heat on earth, and also the states of thick darkness and cold, which come round in turn each year and each day. Whatever arises in the natural world has its origin and cause in those things that arise in the spiritual world; for to be sure the whole natural order is nothing other than a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, 3483, 4939, 5173, 5962. And this is the reason for correspondences. Variations of light and shade on earth, also of heat and cold, are indeed attributable to the sun, that is to say, to its different heights in the sky each year and each day, and in different parts of the earth. Yet these causes, which are proximate ones and exist in the natural world, were created in accordance with those things that exist in the spiritual world. The latter are the prior efficient causes from which the former, their posterior causes, arise in the natural world. For nothing in a state of order can ever exist on a natural level if its cause and origin do not lead back to a spiritual level, that is, to the Divine operating through that level.
[3] Since 'the morning' means the beginning of enlightenment and salvation in respect of the good, and the beginning of thick darkness and perdition in respect of the evil, it therefore says here that in the morning watch Jehovah looked out onto the camp of the Egyptians and troubled it, and then that He took off the wheels of the chariots, and overturned them into the middle of the sea, while on the other hand He saved the children of Israel. All this now makes plain what is meant in the spiritual sense by the following texts in the Word: In Isaiah,
In the day you will cause your plant to grow, and in the morning your seed to flourish. Isaiah 17:11.
In the same prophet,
Around evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is no more. Isaiah 17:14.
In the same prophet,
O Jehovah, be their arm every morning, also our salvation in the time of distress. Isaiah 33:2.
In Ezekiel,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih, An evil, a single evil; behold, it has come. An end has come, the end has come; the morning has come on you, O inhabitant of the land, a day of tumult is near. Ezekiel 7:5-7.
In Hosea,
Thus He did to you, O Bethel, 1 on account of your great wickedness; 2 in the morning the king of Israel will surely be cut off. Hosea 10:15
In David,
Cause me to hear Your mercy in the morning; deliver me from my enemies, O Jehovah. Psalms 143:8-9.
Also in Genesis 19:15 and following verses, stating that when dawn ascended the Lord saved Lot and rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.
[4] Since 'morning' means a state of enlightenment and salvation of the good, and a state of thick darkness and perdition of the evil, 'morning' also means the time of the last judgement, when those governed by good are to be saved and those ruled by evil will perish. It consequently means the end of a former Church and the beginning of a new Church, which are meant by a last judgement in the Word, 900, 931, 1733, 1850, 2117-2133, 3353, 4057, 4535. This is the meaning of 'morning' in Daniel,
He said to me, Up to the evening [when it is becoming] morning two thousand three hundred times, and then the sanctuary will be made correct. Daniel 8:14.
And in Zephaniah,
Jehovah ... in the morning, in the morning He will bring His judgement to light; He will not fail. I will cut off nations, and their towers 3 will be devastated. Zephaniah 3:5-6.
Also in Isaiah,
One was calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night. If you are inquiring, inquire, return, come. Isaiah 21:11-12.
In these places 'morning' stands for the Lord's Coming, and for enlightenment and salvation then, and so has reference to a new Church. 'Night' stands for the state of mankind and the Church then, that they are steeped in utter falsities arising from evil.
[5] The term 'the morning watch' is used because the night was divided into watches, the last of the night and the first of the day being the morning watch. The watchmen were on top of the walls, looking to see whether an enemy was coming and declaring what they saw by shouting it out. In the internal representative sense they are used to mean the Lord, and His keeping watch to mean constant presence and protection, 7989, as in David,
Your watchman will not slumber; behold, the watchman of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah is your watchman; Jehovah is your shade on your right hand. By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon in the night. Jehovah will guard you from all evil; He will guard your soul. Psalms 121:3-7.
'Watchmen' is used in addition to mean prophets and priests, consequently the Word, in Isaiah,
Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen; all day and all night they will not be silent, calling Jehovah to mind. Isaiah 62:6.
And in Jeremiah,
It is a day [when] the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, Arise in order that we may go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God. Jeremiah 31:6.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. The Latin here possibly means Thus he [Shalmanezer] did to you, O Bethel or even Thus Bethel did to you.
2. literally, on account of the wickedness of your wickedness
3. literally, angles or corners
Matthew 21
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When they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
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saying to them, "Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.
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If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and immediately he will send them."
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All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
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"Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
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The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,
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and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.
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A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.
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The multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
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When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
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The multitudes said, "This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
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Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers' tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.
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He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers!"
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The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
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But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of David!" they were indignant,
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and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes. Did you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?'"
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He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
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Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
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Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, "Let there be no fruit from you forever!" Immediately the fig tree withered away.
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When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
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Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would be done.
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All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
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When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?"
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Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
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The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?" They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
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But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet."
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They answered Jesus, and said, "We don't know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
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But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.'
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He answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind, and went.
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He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, 'I go, sir,' but he didn't go.
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Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you.
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For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
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"Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
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When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
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The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
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Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
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But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
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But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and seize his inheritance.'
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So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
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When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
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They told him, "He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season."
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Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?'
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"Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit.
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He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust."
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When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.
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When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
