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Ezekiel 32

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1 And it came about in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, make a song of grief for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, Young lion of the nations, destruction has come on you; and you were like a sea-beast in the seas, sending out bursts of water, troubling the waters with your feet, making their streams dirty.

3 This is what the Lord has said: My net will be stretched out over you, and I will take you up in my fishing-net.

4 And I will let you be stretched on the land; I will send you out violently into the open field; I will let all the birds of heaven come to rest on you and will make the beasts of all the earth full of you.

5 And I will put your flesh on the mountains, and make the valleys full of your blood.

6 And the land will be watered with your blood, and the waterways will be full of you.

7 And when I put out your life, the heaven will be covered and its stars made dark; I will let the sun be covered with a cloud and the moon will not give her light.

8 All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you, and put dark night on your land, says the Lord.

9 And the hearts of numbers of peoples will be troubled, when I send your prisoners among the nations, into a country which is strange to you.

10 And I will make a number of peoples overcome with wonder at you, and their kings will be full of fear because of you, when my sword is waved before them: they will be shaking every minute, every man fearing for his life, in the day of your fall.

11 For this is what the Lord has said: The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you.

12 I will let the swords of the strong be the cause of the fall of your people; all of them men to be feared among the nations: and they will make waste the pride of Egypt, and all its people will come to destruction.

13 And I will put an end to all her beasts which are by the great waters, and they will never again be troubled by the foot of man or by the feet of beasts.

14 Then I will make their waters clear and their rivers will be flowing like oil, says the Lord.

15 When I make Egypt an unpeopled waste, cutting off from the land all the things in it; when I send punishment on all those living in it, then it will be clear to them that I am the Lord.

16 It is a song of grief, and people will give voice to it, the daughters of the nations will give voice to it, even for Egypt and all her people, says the Lord.

17 And in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, let your voice be loud in sorrow for the people of Egypt and send them down, even you and the daughters of the nations; I will send them down into the lowest parts of the earth, with those who go down into the underworld.

19 Are you more beautiful than any? go down, and take your rest among those without circumcision,

20 Among those who have been put to the sword: they will give a resting-place with them to all their people.

21 The strong among the great ones will say to him from the underworld, Are you more beautiful than any? go down, you and your helpers, and take your rest among those without circumcision, and those who have been put to the sword.

22 There is Asshur and all her army, round about her last resting-place: all of them put to death by the sword:

23 Whose resting-places are in the inmost parts of the underworld, who were a cause of fear in the land of the living.

24 There is Elam and all her people, round about her last resting-place: all of them put to death by the sword, who have gone down without circumcision into the lowest parts of the earth, who were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld:

25 They have made a bed for her among the dead, and all her people are round about her resting-place: all of them without circumcision, put to death with the sword; for they were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld: they have been given a place among those who have been put to the sword.

26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her people, round about her last resting-place: all of them without circumcision, put to death by the sword; for they were a cause of fear in the land of the living.

27 And they have been put to rest with the fighting men who came to their end in days long past, who went down to the underworld with their instruments of war, placing their swords under their heads, and their body-covers are over their bones; for their strength was a cause of fear in the land of the living.

28 But you will have your bed among those without circumcision, and will be put to rest with those who have been put to death with the sword.

29 There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who have been given a resting-place with those who were put to the sword: they will be resting among those without circumcision, even with those who go down to the underworld.

30 There are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who have gone down with those who have been put to the sword: they are shamed on account of all the fear caused by their strength; they are resting there without circumcision, among those who have been put to the sword, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld.

31 Pharaoh will see them and be comforted on account of all his people: even Pharaoh and all his army, put to death by the sword, says the Lord.

32 For he put his fear in the land of the living: and he will be put to rest among those without circumcision, with those who have been put to death with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord.

   

Komentář

 

Forces

  

Forces denote the power of truth.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 6343, 6344)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 6343

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6343. 'You are my might' means that through faith comes the power which good possesses. This is clear from the representation of Reuben, to whom 'you' refers here, as faith in the understanding, referred to immediately above in 6342; and from the meaning of 'might' as the power which good possesses. As regards power - the power to think and will, perceive, do what is good, believe, dispel falsities and evils - it comes wholly from good through truth, good being its primary source and truth merely the channel through which it comes, 3563, 4931, 5623. The reason the power that good possesses is meant is that 'might' means that power, whereas 'strength' means the power of truth. Thus it is that 'the beginning of my strength', which comes next, means the initial power that truth possesses; for the word used in the original language to express 'strength' has reference in the Word to truth, whereas the word used to express 'might' has reference to good.

[2] The fact that the Word is holy, extremely holy in its inner senses, is plainly evident from the consideration that the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of goodness and truth, thus heaven itself, is present within every detail of the Word. In the inmost sense every detail embodies the marriage of the Lord's Divine Human with His kingdom and Church; indeed the theme in the highest sense of all is the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human within the Lord. These extremely holy subjects contained in every detail of the Word are a plain indication that the Word has come down from the Divine. The truth of all this may be recognized from the consideration that where good is spoken of, so too is truth, and where what is internal is spoken of, so too is what is external. Also, there are expressions which always mean good, those which always mean truth, and those which mean both - both good and truth. Or if they do not mean them directly, they are nevertheless used with reference to them or else imply them. And such reference of those expressions to good and truth or their meaning them directly shows that every detail, as has been stated, embodies the marriage of goodness and truth, which is the heavenly marriage, and that the inmost and highest sense holds the Divine marriage which exists in the Lord, thus holds the Lord Himself, within it.

[3] All this reveals itself in every part of the Word, yet not plainly except in those places where the repetition of some matter occurs that is no more than a change of words, as in the present chapter, where Reuben is dealt with,

You are my might, and the beginning of my strength.

Also,

Excelling in eminence and excelling in worth.

Here 'might' is used in reference to good, and 'strength' to truth; 'excelling in eminence' is used in reference to truth, and 'excelling in worth' to good. Likewise in the next verse regarding Reuben,

You went up to your father's bed; at that time you profaned it - he went up to my couch.

Similarly further on, where Simeon and Levi are dealt with,

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Verse 7.

Here 'anger' means a turning away from good and 'wrath' a turning away from truth. 'Jacob' is the external aspect of the Church and 'Israel' the internal aspect of it. Then where Judah is dealt with,

Your brothers will praise you; your father's sons will bow down to you. Verse 8.

Further on,

He binds his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. Verse 11.

Where Zebulun is dealt with,

He will dwell at the haven of the seas, and he will be at the haven of ships. Verse 13.

Where Dan is dealt with,

He will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path. Verse 17.

[4] Similar examples occur frequently in the Psalms and among the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Babel will not be dwelt in ever again, it will not be lived in even from generation to generation. Its time is near and about to come, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:20, 22.

In the same prophet,

Search from above in the Book of Jehovah, and read: None of these will be missing, not one will not be left longing for its mate; 1 for He has commanded with His mouth, and His Spirit has gathered them. The Same has cast the lot for them, and His hand has distributed to them by means of a measuring rod. Even for ever they will possess it, from generation to generation they will dwell in it. Isaiah 34:16-17.

More examples may be found in a thousand other places. Anyone who does not know that expressions are used in the Word to mean spiritual and celestial realities, and that some are used to refer to good but others to truth, will inevitably think that such usages are no more than repetitions that serve solely as fillers and so are in themselves meaningless. Thus it is that people who think ill of the Word also add this to the arguments they use in vilifying it. Yet utterly Divine things are concealed within those repetitions; that is to say, the heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself, and the Divine Marriage, which is the Lord Himself, are concealed in them. This [highest] sense is 'the glory' in which the Lord is present, while the literal sense is 'the cloud' in which that glory is present, Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27. See Preface to Genesis 18, and also 5922.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, not one will be desiring the other

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