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以西結書 36

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1 人子啊,你要對以色列發預言以色列哪,要耶和華的

2 耶和華如此:因仇敵:阿哈!這永久的山岡都歸我們為業了!

3 所以要發預言耶和華如此:因為敵人使你荒涼,四圍吞吃,好叫你歸與其餘的外邦人為業,並且多嘴多的人提起你來,百姓也你有臭名。

4 故此,以色列耶和華的。大小岡、水溝谷、荒廢之地、被棄之城,為四圍其餘的外邦人所佔據、所譏刺的,

5 耶和華對你們如此:我真發憤恨如,責備那其餘的外邦人以東的眾人。他們快樂滿懷,心存恨惡,將我的歸自己為業,又看為被棄的掠物。

6 所以,你要指著以色列預言,對大小岡、水溝耶和華如此:我發憤恨和忿怒,因你們曾受外邦人羞辱

7 所以我起誓:你們四圍的外邦人總要擔當自己的羞辱。這是耶和華的。

8 以色列哪,你必發枝條,為我的民以色列結果子,因為他們快要到。

9 看哪,我是幫助你的,也必向你意,使你得以耕種。

10 我必使以色列的人數在你上面增多,城邑有人居住,荒場再被建造

11 我必使人和牲畜在你上面加增;他們必生養眾多。我要使你照舊有人居住,並要賜福與你比先前更多,你就知道我是耶和華

12 我必使人,就是我的民以色列,行在你上面。他們必得你為業;你也不再使他們喪子。

13 耶和華如此:因為人對你:你是吞吃人的,又使國民喪子,

14 所以耶和華:你必不再吞人,也不再使國民喪子。

15 我使你不再見各國的羞辱,不再受萬民的辱罵,也不再使國民絆跌。這是耶和華的。

16 耶和華的又臨到我說:

17 人子啊,以色列在本地的時候,在行動作為上玷污那地。他們的行為在我面前,好像正在經期的婦人那樣污穢

18 所以我因他們在那上流人的血,又因他們以偶像玷污那,就把我的忿怒傾在他們身上。

19 我將他們分散在列國,四散在列邦,按他們的行動作為懲罰他們。

20 他們到了所去的列國,就使我的名被褻瀆;因為人談論他們,這是耶和華的民,是從耶和華的的。

21 我卻顧惜我的名,就是以色列家在所到的列國中所褻瀆的。

22 所以,你要對以色列耶和華如此以色列家啊,我行這事不是為你們,乃是為我的名,就是在你們到的列國中所褻瀆的。

23 我要使我的名顯為;這名在列國中已被褻瀆,就是你們在他們中間所褻瀆的。我在他們眼前,在你們身上顯為的時候,他們就知道我是耶和華。這是耶和華的。

24 我必從各國收取你們,從列邦聚集你們,引導你們歸回本

25 我必用清灑在你們身上,你們就潔淨了。我要潔淨你們,使你們脫離一切的污穢,棄掉一切的偶像

26 我也要賜你們一個新,將新靈放在你們裡面,又從你們的體中除掉,賜你們

27 我必將我的靈放在你們裡面,使你們順從我的律例,謹守遵行我的典章。

28 你們必在我所賜你們列祖之。你們要作我的子民,我要作你們的

29 我必你們脫離一切的污穢,也必命五穀豐登,不使你們遭遇饑荒。

30 我必使樹木多結果子,田地多出土產,好叫你們不再因饑荒受外邦人的譏誚。

31 那時,你們必追想你們的惡行和你們不善的作為,就因你們的罪孽和可憎的事厭惡自己。

32 耶和華:你們要知道,我這樣行不是為你們。以色列家啊,當為自己的行為抱愧蒙羞。

33 耶和華如此:我潔淨你們,使你們脫離一切罪孽的日子,必使城邑有人居住,荒場再被建造

34 過路的人雖看為荒廢之,現今這荒廢之仍得耕種。

35 他們必:這先前為荒廢之,現在成如伊甸園;這荒廢淒涼、毀壞的城邑現在堅固有人居住

36 那時,在你們四圍其餘的外邦人知道我─耶和華修造那毀壞之處,培植那荒廢之地。我─耶和華說過,也必成就。

37 耶和華如此:我要加增以色列家的人數,多如羊群。他們必為這事向我求問,我要給他們成就。

38 耶路撒冷在守節作祭物所獻的羊群怎樣多,照樣,荒涼的城邑必被人充滿。他們就知道我是耶和華

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 1082

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1082. And shall eat her flesh, signifies rejection of its evils, which are adulterated goods, and then the manifestation that they were without any good. This is evident from the signification of "flesh," as being the good of the Word and of the church, and in the contrary sense the evil thereof. Here "flesh" means evils, which are adulterated goods. Also from the signification of "to eat," as being to consume, but here to reject wholly, because this is said of the Reformed, who have rejected the works or goods of Babylon, which consist especially in gifts to the idols of their saints, to their sepulchers, also to monasteries, and to the monks themselves, given as offerings for various expiations. It follows that the same words mean also the manifestation that they were without any good, for when spurious and meritorious goods are rejected, which are signified by the "flesh that they should eat," it is then manifest that they are without any good.

[2] "Flesh" has various significations in the Word. It signifies what is man's own [proprium], thus either his good or evil, and from this it signifies the whole man. But in the highest sense it signifies the Lord's Divine Human, and particularly the Divine good of the Divine love that proceeds from Him. That "flesh" signifies the Divine Human as to the good of love is evident in John:

Jesus said, I am the living bread, which cometh down out of heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, strove one with another, saying, How can this one give His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood ye shall not have life in yourselves. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven (John 6:51-58).

It is clearly evident that "flesh" here means the own [proprium] of the Lord's Divine Human, which is the Divine good of the Divine love, and is that which is called in the Holy Supper the body. (That the "body" there, that is, the "flesh," is the Divine good, and the "blood" is the Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 329.) And as "bread and wine" have the same signification as "flesh and blood," "bread" meaning the Divine good, and "wine" the Divine truth, therefore these were commanded in place of flesh and blood.

[3] Divine good from the Lord was signified also by the flesh of the sacrifices that Aaron, his sons, and those who sacrificed, and others who were clean, might eat:

And that this was holy (may be seen in Exodus 12:7-9, 29:31-34; Leviticus 7:15-21; 8:31; Deuteronomy 12:27; 16:4);

Consequently if an unclean person ate of that flesh he would be cut off from his people (Leviticus 7:21).

That those sacrifices were called bread (Leviticus 22:6-7).

That that flesh was called the flesh of holiness (Jeremiah 11:15; Haggai 2:12),

And the flesh of the offering, which was to be upon the table in the Lord's kingdom (Ezekiel 40:43).

The Lord's Divine Human is also called "flesh" in John:

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14).

[4] That "flesh" signified also the good with man can be seen from the following passages. In Ezekiel:

I will give them one heart, and I will give a new spirit in the midst of you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).

"Heart of flesh" means the will and love of good. In David:

O God, Thou art my God, in the morning I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee; my flesh longeth for Thee in a land of drought and weariness without waters (Psalms 63:1).

In the same:

My soul longeth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God (Psalms 84:2).

The "flesh" that longeth for Jehovah, and that crieth out unto the living God, signifies man as to good of the will, for the "flesh" of man corresponds to the good or evil of his will, and the "blood" to the truth or falsity of his understanding; here "flesh" means the good of the will, because it longeth for Jehovah and crieth out unto God.

[5] In Job:

I have known my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He shall rise upon the dust; and afterwards these things shall be encompassed by my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-27).

To see God from one's flesh signifies from one's own voluntary made new by the Lord, and thus good. In Ezekiel:

Upon the bones seen in the midst of the valley, I will put sinews, and I will cause flesh to come up upon them, and I will cover them with skin, and I will give spirit unto them that they may live (Ezekiel 37:6, 8).

Here, too, "flesh" signifies what is one's own [proprium] of the will made new by the Lord, and thus good. What "bones" and the rest signify here may be seen above (n. 418, 419, 665). In Revelation:

Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, small and great (Revelation 19:17-18; Ezekiel 39:17-19).

That "flesh" here does not mean flesh but goods of every kind, is clearly evident.

[6] But on the other hand, that "flesh" signifies man's own voluntary, which regarded in itself is evil, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isaiah 9:20).

In the same:

I will feed thine oppressors with their own flesh (Isaiah 49:26).

In Jeremiah:

I will feed you with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every man the flesh of his companion (Jeremiah 19:9).

In Zechariah:

The rest shall eat everyone the flesh of another (Zechariah 11:9).

In Moses:

I will chastise you sevenfold for your sins, and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters (Leviticus 26:28-29).

[7] In Jeremiah:

Cursed is the man who trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm (Jeremiah 17:5).

Here "flesh" signifies what is man's own [proprium] which in itself is evil; to appropriate this to oneself is signified by eating and feeding upon it. Again, "flesh" signifies what is man's own [proprium] in Matthew:

Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee (Matthew 16:17).

In John:

As many as received, to them gave He power to become sons of God, who were born, not from bloods nor from the will of the flesh, but from God (John 1:12-13).

In Ezekiel:

Jerusalem committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt her neighbors, great in flesh (Ezekiel 16:26).

In Isaiah:

Egypt is man and not God, and his horses are flesh and not spirit (Isaiah 31:3).

In John:

It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing (John 6:63).

In the same:

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is begotten of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6).

In David:

God remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and returneth not (Psalms 78:39).

The evil of man's will, which is what is his own [proprium] from birth is what is signified in these passages by "flesh"; also by:

The flesh that the sons of Israel lusted after in the desert, and on account of which they were smitten with a great plague, and from which the place was called graves of lust (Numbers 11:4-34).

Moreover, in the Word the expression "all flesh" is frequently used as meaning every man (as in Genesis 6:12, 13, 17, 19; Isaiah 40:5, 6; 49:26; 66:16, 23, 24; Jeremiah 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ezekiel 20:48, 21:4, 5; and elsewhere).

(Continuation respecting the Word)

[8] The spiritual by influx presents what is correspondent to itself in the natural, in order that the end may become a cause, and the cause become an effect, and thus the end through the cause may present itself in the effect as visible and sensible. This trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, is given from creation in every heaven. The end is the good of love, the cause is truth from that good, and the effect is use. That which produces is love, and the product therefrom is of love from good by means of truth. The final products, which are in our world, are various, as numerous as the objects are in its three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral. All products are correspondences.

[9] As this trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists in each heaven, there must be in each heaven products that are correspondences, and which in form and aspect are like the objects in the three kingdoms of our earth; from which it is clear that each heaven is like our earth in external appearance, differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may consist of effects in which are a cause and an end, or may consist of uses, in which truth is the cause and good is the end and love is that which produces, it must needs consist of correspondences; and from this it follows that the Word in each heaven is like the Word in our world, differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. What this difference is shall be told elsewhere.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.