10199. “香料作的香” 表乐意垂听并接受. 这从 “香” 和 “香料” 的含义清楚可知: “香” 是指主乐意垂听并接受源于爱与仁的敬拜的一切 (参看10177节); “香料” 是指带来愉悦的事物. “香料” 因其香味而表示带来愉悦的事物, 因为 “气味” 表示感知, 故香味表示对带来愉悦之物的感知, 而臭味则表示对带来不悦之物的感知. 人以嗅, 味, 视, 听, 触等感觉器官所感知到的一切都表示与爱之良善和信之真理有关的属灵事物. 因此, “嗅觉” 表示对源于爱之良善的内层真理的感知; “味觉” 表示对知道并变得智慧的感知和情感; “视觉” 表示对信之真理的理解; “听觉” 表示由信之良善和顺从所产生的感知; “触觉” 一般表示赋予, 传递并被接受.

它们具有这些含义的原因在于, 一切外在感官知觉皆源于属理解力和意愿的内在感官知觉, 因而在人里面源于信之真理和爱之良善, 因为这些构成人类心智里面的理解力和意愿. 然而, 本属于人的理解力和意愿的内在感觉并没有外在感觉所拥有的那种感觉, 但当它们流入时, 却能转化为外在感觉. 事实上, 人通过外在感觉器官所感知到的一切事物都是从内在事物流入的, 因为一切流注所取的路径都是从内在事物到外在事物, 而不是反过来, 诸如物质流注 (即从自然界进入灵界的流注) 这样的事根本不存在, 只有从灵界进入自然界的流注. 属于理解力和意愿的人的内在能力存在于灵界, 属于身体感官的人的外在能力则存在于自然界. 由此也清楚可知何为对应及其性质.

一般来说, 嗅觉对应于在某个事物的性质方面的感知 (参看1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 10054节); 味觉对应于对知道并变得智慧的感知和情感 (3502, 4791-4805节); 视觉对应于对信之真理的理解 (3863, 4403-4421, 4567, 5114, 5400, 6805节); 听觉对应于对信之良善的感知, 并对应于顺从 (3869, 4652-4660, 7216, 8361, 9311, 9926节); 触觉表示赋予, 传递并被接受 (10130节).

由此明显可知, “香料” 表示诸如带着愉悦被感知到的那类事物, 就是源于爱与仁的那类事物, 尤表内层真理, 因为它们就源于这些东西, 这一点从以下圣言经文清楚看出来; 以赛亚书:

必有臭烂代替香料, 撕裂代替腰带, 光秃代替美发. (以赛亚书 3:24)

此处论述的主题是锡安的女子, 她们表示属天教会, 属天教会拥有源于对主之爱的良善的内层真理; “香料” 在此表示内层真理; “臭烂” 表示内层真理的缺乏; “腰带” 表示结合; “撕裂” 表示关联和秩序的解除; “美发” 表示记忆真理, 也就是外层真理或外在人的真理; “光秃” 表示这真理的缺乏. “腰带” 表示结合和纽带, 以确保一切事物被保持在关联之中, 从而关注一个目的 (参看9828节); “美发” 表示记忆真理 (2831节); “光秃” 表示这真理的缺乏 (9960节).

以西结书:

有一大鹰, 翅膀大, 来到黎巴嫩, 从它那里折去香柏树的嫩枝, 叼到迦南地; 他把嫩枝的顶端放在香料商的城中. (以西结书 17:3, 4)

就内义而言, 此处论述的主题是一个属灵教会的开始和成长, 以及后来它的堕落和结束. “有一大鹰, 翅膀大” 表示该教会所拥有的内层真理 (3901, 8764节); “翅膀” 表示它的外层真理 (8764, 9514节); “黎巴嫩” 是指这个教会; 那里的 “香柏树” 是指属灵教会的真理; “香料商的城” 是指内层真理的教义所在的地方, 在圣言中, “城” 表示教义 (402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493节); 它凭其内层真理而被称为 “香料商的城”.

同一先知书:

示巴和拉玛的商人用各类上好的香料, 各类的宝石和黄金进行交易. (以西结书 27:22)

此处论述的主题是推罗, 推罗表示良善与真理的认知或知识方面的教会. “商人” 是指那些拥有这些认知或知识并传达它们的人; “示巴和拉玛” 是指那些处于属天和属灵事物的认知或知识的人; “上好的香料” 是指凭内层真理带来愉悦之物; “宝石” 是指这些真理本身; “黄金” 是指它们的良善. “推罗” 表示良善与真理的内在认知或知识方面的教会, 在抽象意义上表示这些认知或知识本身 (参看1201节); “商人” 是指那些拥有这些知识并传达它们的人 (2967, 4453节); “示巴和拉玛” 是指那些处于属天和属灵事物的认知或知识的人 (1171, 3240节); “宝石” 是指内层真理 (9863, 9865, 9873, 9874节); “黄金” 是指它的良善 (参看9874, 9881节提到的地方).

由此可见, 示巴女王带着驮有香料, 黄金, 宝石的骆驼来到耶路撒冷拜见所罗门 (列王纪上 10:1, 2), 以及东方智者向新生的耶稣献上 “黄金, 乳香, 没药” (马太福音 2:11) 代表什么. 由于 “香料” 表示内层真理, 因而表示那些带来愉悦的事物, 所以香和膏油 (对此, 本章将进一步予以论述) 都散发着香料的香味.

内层真理是指那些已经成为人生命和情感的一部分, 因而从内在存在于他里面的真理, 而不是指仅存留在记忆中, 没有成为人生命的一部分的真理. 相对于其它真理, 这些真理被称为外在真理, 因为它们并没有铭刻在此人的生命中, 只存留在他的记忆里. 它们居于外在人, 非居于内在人. 铭刻在一个人生命中的信之真理存在于意愿中, 那些在意愿里的事物都存在于内在人中. 因为内在人通过信之真理被打开, 与天堂的联系也是通过信之真理实现的. 由此明显可知, 与一个人同在的内层真理就是源于爱与仁之良善的真理. 无论你说意愿, 还是说爱, 都是一回事, 因为构成人意愿的东西构成他的爱. 因此, 铭刻在人的生命中, 被称为内层真理的真理就是那些铭刻在他的爱中, 因而铭刻在意愿中的真理, 后来当它们进入言行时, 就会从意愿中出来.

因为天堂 (已经打开的内在人就在天堂中) 不是直接流入真理, 而是通过爱之良善间接流入. 但当内在人关闭时, 天堂就无法进入, 因为那里没有任何接受它的爱之良善. 因此, 对那些内在人尚未通过源于爱与仁之良善的真理而打开的人来说, 地狱与邪恶所产生的虚假就流入进来, 无论有多少信之真理, 甚至内层真理仅居于外在人, 也就是只存留在记忆中. 由此可见 “香料” 所表示的带来愉悦的内层真理是什么意思, 即: 它们是指那些源于爱与仁之良善的真理.

2520. 'And he said, Lord, will You kill even a righteous nation?' means, Would the good and truth of doctrine be done away with? This is clear from the meaning of 'nation' as good, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 1416. And because the words 'a righteous nation' refer to 'the nation of Abimelech', who means the doctrine of faith, they are used here to mean both good and truth, since both are the subject matter of doctrine.

[2] The fact that these words were uttered from a zeal that went with an affection or love towards the whole human race may be evident to anyone. Such love was directing the Lord's thoughts even when He had not yet put off the human from the mother. And although He perceived from the Divine that the doctrine of faith had a wholly celestial origin, nevertheless in order that the needs of the human race, which does not receive anything of which it cannot form some idea from its own rational thought, might be met, it is therefore said, 'Will You kill even a righteous nation?' meaning, Would the good and truth of doctrine be done away with? The fact that a person does not receive anything of which he cannot form some idea from his rational thought may be seen from the ideas which a person entertains regarding Divine arcana. The latter always have some idea attached to them that is derived from worldly objects or things analogous to worldly objects by which they are retained in the memory and reproduced in thought. For without ideas derived from worldly objects a person is unable to engage in thought. If therefore truths from a Divine origin were presented naked they would never be accepted because they would go far beyond his range of understanding, and so beyond his faith as well, most of all in the case of those whose worship is external.

[3] Let the following examples illustrate this: The Divine itself cannot reside in anything except that which is Divine, and so only in the Lord's Divine Human, and with man through His Human. If the rational were consulted it would say that the Divine itself can reside in the human of anyone. Again nothing holy exists which does not proceed from the Lord, and so from the Divine, which is one. If the rational were consulted it would say that what is holy may also spring from other sources.

[4] Again, man does not live from himself, do good from himself, believe the truth from himself, or indeed think from himself. The good and truth that he does or believes come from the Lord, but the evil and falsity come from hell. And what is more, hell - that is, those who are in hell - do not think from themselves but, in the same way as man, are recipients of the Lord's good and truth. If the rational were consulted it would reject all those ideas because it would not comprehend them. It would also reject the idea that nobody is rewarded on account of the good he does and of the truth he teaches. And it would reject the idea that what is external does not accomplish anything, only what is internal, insofar as the affection for good is present in the doing of good, and insofar as from this the affection for truth is present in the teaching of truth, and insofar as the things are not done from oneself. So also with a thousand other examples that could be given.

[5] Such being the nature of the human rational, the Word therefore uses expressions that accord with man's capacity to understand, and also with his inherent disposition. And this explains why the internal sense of the Word is different from its literal sense. This becomes quite clear from the Old Testament Word where most things are stated in ways that accord with the capacity to understand and the inherent disposition of the people who lived in those times. As a consequence little, indeed scarcely anything, is mentioned there about the life after death, about eternal salvation, and about the internal man. Indeed the character of the Jewish and Israelitish people with whom the Church existed at that time was such that if these matters had been disclosed to them they would not only have failed to understand them but would also have ridiculed them. If similarly it had been disclosed to them that the Messiah or Christ was going to come and save their souls for ever, this too they would have rejected as something of no importance, as also becomes clear from the same nation today. And it is so still that if what is internal or spiritual is mentioned in their presence, and the fact that the Messiah is not going to be a very great earthly king, they laugh at it.

[6] This was the reason why the Lord sometimes spoke in the way the Prophets had spoken and expressed all else by means of parables, as He Himself states in Matthew,

Jesus said, I speak to them in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matthew 13:13.

'Those who see' and 'those who hear' are those inside the Church who, though they see and hear, nevertheless do not understand. And in John,

He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and are converted and I heal them. John 12:40.

Their being 'converted' and being 'healed' implies that even so they would subsequently reject and in so doing profane, which entails eternal condemnation, see 301-303, 582, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426. Nevertheless the Lord in many places disclosed the interior things of the Word, but solely for the benefit of the wise.