5620. “一点乳香, 一点蜂蜜” 表外层属世层的良善之真理及其快乐. 这从 “乳香” 的含义清楚可知, “乳香” 是指良善之真理, 或源于良善的真理 (参看4748节). “乳香” 之所以具有这种含义, 是因为它属于香膏, 以及芳香物质. 芳香物质表示诸如属源于良善的真理的那类事物, 当这些物质还具有油膏的性质, 因而在它们的成分中有油质时, 更是如此; 因为 “油” 表示良善 (886, 3728, 4582节). 这乳香是芳香的 (参看创世记 37:25); 因此, 在原文, 这个词表示香膏. 显然, 它是软膏状的, 或油腻的. 由此可见, “乳香” 表示存在于属世层, 在此存在于外层属世层中的良善之真理, 因为经上首先提到 “乳香”, 然后又加上 “蜂蜜”, “蜂蜜” 表示那里的快乐. “蜂蜜” 之所以表示快乐, 是因为它是甜的, 自然界中的一切甜蜜皆对应于灵界中的某种快乐或愉悦. 之所以说它的快乐, 也就是存在于外层属世层中源于良善的真理之快乐, 是因为一切真理, 尤其一切良善之真理都有自己的快乐. 但这快乐源于对这类真理, 因而对它们所提供的功用的一种情感.

“蜂蜜” 表示快乐, 这一事实也可从圣言的其它经文看出来, 如以赛亚书:

必有童女怀孕生子, 给祂起名叫以马内利 (就是神与我们同在的意思). 到祂晓得弃恶择善的时候, 祂必吃奶油与蜂蜜. (以赛亚书 7:14-15)

这论及主; “奶油” 表示属天之物, “蜂蜜” 表示源于属天之物的东西.

同一先知书:

后来因为出的奶多, 他就得吃奶油; 在地中间所剩的人都要吃奶油与蜂蜜. (以赛亚书 7:22)

这论及主的国; “奶” 表示属灵良善; “奶油” 表示属天良善; “蜂蜜” 表示源于这些的事物, 即幸福, 快乐和愉悦.

以西结书:

这样, 你就妆饰了金银, 穿的是细麻衣和丝绸并绣花衣; 吃的是细面, 蜂蜜并油. 你也极其美貌, 发达到了王国的尊荣. 又将我赐给你的细面, 油和蜂蜜都摆在他们面前为馨香之气. (以西结书 16:13, 19)

这论及耶路撒冷, 耶路撒冷表示属灵教会, 经上描述了它在古人当中是什么样, 后来变成什么样; 它 “妆饰了金银” 表示妆饰了属天和属灵的良善和真理; 它 “穿的是细麻衣和丝绸并绣花衣” 表示存在于理性层和属世层的那两个部分中的真理; “细面” 表示属灵之物; “蜂蜜” 表示它的怡人; “油” 表示它的良善. 谁都能看出, 所有这些各自都表示诸如属于天堂的那类事物.

同一先知书:

犹大和以色列地的人都与你交易; 他们用米匿的麦子, 饼, 蜜, 油, 乳香兑换你的货物. (以西结书 27:17)

这论及推罗, 推罗表示属灵教会, 即就对良善与真理的认知而言, 它起初是什么样, 后来变成什么样 (1201节). “蜂蜜” 在此也表示从对认识并学习属天和属灵的良善和真理的情感那里所获得的愉悦和快乐.

摩西五经:

耶和华使他乘驾地的高处, 得吃田间的土产; 又使他从磐石中咂蜜, 从火石中吸油. (申命记 32:13)

这也论及古代的属灵教会; “从磐石中咂蜜” 表示从含有真理在里面的记忆知识中所得的快乐.

诗篇:

我必拿肥美的麦子给他们吃, 又拿从磐石出的蜂蜜叫他们饱足. (诗篇 81:16)

“拿从磐石出的蜂蜜叫他们饱足” 表示从信之真理中所获得的快乐, 或充满来自信之真理的快乐.

申命记:

耶和华领你进入美地, 那地有流水的河, 有从山谷中流出的泉, 源; 那地有小麦, 大麦, 葡萄树, 无花果树, 石榴树; 那地有橄榄树和蜜. (申命记 8:7-8)

这论及迦南地; 在内义上论及主在天上的国度. “那地有橄榄树和蜜” 表示属灵良善及其愉悦.

由于同样的原因, 迦南地被称为 “流奶与蜜之地” (民数记 13:27; 14:8; 申命记 26:9, 15; 27:3; 耶利米书 11:5; 32:22; 以西结书 20:6). 就这些经文的内义而言, 如前所述, “迦南地” 表示主的国度; “流奶” 表示丰盛的属天-属灵事物; “流蜜” 表示从这些所得的丰盛的幸福和快乐.

诗篇:

耶和华的典章真实, 全然公义. 都比金子且比极多的精金可羡慕; 比蜜且比蜂房滴下的甘甜. (诗篇 19:9-10)

“耶和华的典章” 表示神性真理; “比蜜且比蜂房滴下的甘甜” 表示从良善所得的快乐和从真理所得的愉悦. 又:

你的言语在我上颚何等甘美, 在我口中比蜜更甜! (诗篇 119:103)

此处意思也一样:

在摩西五经, 雅各的后代在旷野所得, 以之为食物的吗哪被描述如下:

这吗哪就像芫荽的种子, 白色; 它的滋味如同搀蜜的薄饼. (出埃及记 16:31)

“吗哪” 因表示经由天堂从主而降的神性真理, 故而表示主自己的神性人身, 如祂自己在约翰福音 (6:51, 58) 所教导的. 因为主的神性人身就是一切为神性的真理所来自的源头; 事实上, 所指的就是一切为神性的真理. 正因如此, 就赋予快乐和愉悦的吗哪的滋味而言, 经上描述它 “如同搀蜜的薄饼”. “滋味” 表示良善的快乐和真理的愉悦 (参看3502节).

由于和以利亚 (2762, 5247节) 一样, 施洗约翰也代表圣言方面的主, 圣言是地上的神性真理, 所以他是那在主之前 “先来的以利亚” (玛拉基书 4:5; 马太福音 17:10-12; 马可福音 9:11-13; 路加福音 1:17); 因此, 他的衣服和食物都是有意义的符号. 它们在马太福音中被描述如下:

这约翰身穿骆驼毛的衣服, 腰束皮带, 他的食物是蝗虫, 野蜜. (马太福音 3:4; 马可福音 1:6)

“骆驼毛的衣服” 显示了就圣言字义的真理而言, 圣言是什么样. 字义, 即属世之义就是内义有一件衣服; 因为 “毛” 和 “骆驼” 都表示属世之物; “食物是蝗虫, 野蜜” 显示了就圣言字义的良善而言, 圣言是什么样; “野蜜” 表示这良善的快乐.

就外在意义而言, 以西结书中的 “蜜” 也描述了神性真理的快乐:

他对我说, 人子啊, 要吃我所赐给你的这书卷, 充满你的肚腹. 我就吃了, 口中觉得其甜如蜜. (以西结书 3:3)

启示录:

天使对我说, 你拿着吃尽了, 便叫你肚子发苦, 然而在你口中要甜如蜜. 我从天使手中把小书卷接过来, 吃尽了, 在我口中果然甜如蜜, 及至吃完了, 肚子觉得发苦了. 他对我说, 你必在许多人民, 民族, 方言, 君王面前再说预言. (启示录 10:9-11)

以西结书中的 “书卷” 和启示录中的 “小书卷” 表示神性真理. 味道 “甜如蜜” 表示就外在形式而言, 这书卷令人快乐; 因为神性真理就像圣言, 在外在形式或字义上是令人快乐的, 因为这字义或外在形式允许各人以适合各人的任何方式来理解和诠释它. 但内义不允许这样, 这一点由它的苦味来表示; 因为内义揭示人内在的样子. 外在意义之所以令人快乐, 是因为如前所述, 人能以适合他的任何方式来解释其中的事物. 包含在外在意义中的真理都是总体真理, 并且在添加限定它们的具体真理, 以及添加限定具体真理的细节真理之前, 一直是总体真理. 外在意义也充满快乐, 因为它是属世的, 藏有属灵之物在自己里面. 此外, 它也必须充满快乐, 以便人能接受它, 也就是被引入其中, 而不是被吓阻在门槛处.

主复活后当着门徒的面所吃的 “蜜房和烧鱼” 也表示圣言的外在意义, “鱼” 表示与外在意义有关的真理, “蜜房” 表示它的愉悦; 对此, 我们在路加福音中读到:

耶稣就说, 你们这里有什么吃的没有? 他们便给祂一片烧鱼和一块蜜房, 祂接过来, 在他们面前吃了. (路加福音 24:41-43)

由于鱼和蜜房表示这些事物, 所以主对他们说:

这些就是我从前与你们同在之时对你们所讲的话, 就是: 摩西的律法, 先知的书和诗篇上所记的关于我的话都必须应验. (路加福音 24:44)

表面上看, 所表示的不是这类事物, 因为他们有一片烧鱼和一块蜜房似乎是很偶然的. 而事实上, 他们拥有这些东西是天意; 不仅这一点, 而且圣言中所提到的其它一切最小的事都是天意. 由于所表示的是这类事物, 所以主论到圣言说, 它里面所记的是关于祂自己的事. 然而, 旧约字义中所记关于主的事极少; 但包含在其内义中的一切都与主有关; 圣言的神圣性便由此而来. 这就是主说 “摩西的律法, 先知的书和诗篇上所记的关于我的话都必须应验” 所表示的.

由此可见 “蜂蜜” 表示从良善与真理, 也就是从对它们的情感所得的快乐, 尤其表示外在快乐, 因而表示外层属世层的快乐. 由于这快乐具有这样的性质: 它是从世界经由感官得来的, 因而包含大量源于尘世之爱的事物在里面, 所以人们被禁止在素祭中使用蜂蜜. 这一点在利未记中说明如下:

凡献给耶和华的素祭都不可发酵, 因为你们不可烧一点酵, 一点蜜, 当作火祭献给耶和华. (利未记 2:11)

“蜜” 表示这种外在快乐, 它因包含某种尘世之爱的东西在里面, 故类似于酵母, 因此被禁止. 至于 “酵” 或 “发酵” 是什么意思, 可参看前文 (2342节).

4459. 'Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully means evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the representation of 'Shechem' as truth among the Ancients, or what amounts to the same, truth from the ancient Divine stock, dealt with in 4399, 4454; from the representation of 'Hamor' as the good from which that truth sprang, dealt with in 4399, 4431, 4447, 4454; and from the meaning of 'deceit' as evil thought and intention. In general deceit implies evil against another and against what he says and does, for the thought and intention of the one who is deceitful is different from that of the other person, as is also clear from the outcome of events described in this chapter. From this it is evident that 'the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully' means evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good of the Church among the Ancients.

[2] The sons of Jacob, that is, his descendants, could have none but an evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good belonging to the internal man, because they were interested in external things devoid of internal, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433. They saw no value at all in internal things, and therefore utterly despised them. Such is also the nature of that nation at the present day, and so it is of all who are interested only in external things. People who are interested only in external things do not even know what it is to be interested in internal things, since they have no knowledge of what is internal. If anyone in their presence mentions that which is internal they either endorse the existence of it because they know from doctrine of its existence, though that endorsement is attributable to their deceit, or else they deny the existence of it with their lips as they do in their hearts. For they do not go further than the experiences of the senses of the external man, and as a consequence do not believe in any life after death. Nor do they believe any resurrection to be possible apart from their rising again in the physical body. That being so, they are allowed to have these thoughts concerning the resurrection, or else they would not have any at all. For they centre the whole of life in the body, not knowing that the life of their body flows from the life of their spirit which lives after death. People who are interested only in external things cannot possibly have any faith, for external things with them annihilate all thought concerning internal ones, and consequently all belief in them.

[3] Since this kind of ignorance reigns at the present day, an explanation needs to be given of what it is to be interested in external things devoid of internal. All people who are devoid of conscience are interested only in external things, for the internal man reveals itself through conscience. Anyone is devoid of conscience if he thinks and does what is true and good not for the sake of what is true and good but for the sake of his own personal position and gain, and also merely because he fears the law and fears for his own life. For if reputation, position, gain, and life were not endangered he would plunge without conscience into every unmentionable act. This is quite evident from those in the next life who were such during their lifetime. Because interior things are laid bare in that life those people are constantly endeavouring to destroy others, on account of which they are in hell, where they are held in bonds in a spiritual manner.

[4] To enable anyone to have a fuller knowledge of what is meant by an interest in external things, and what by an interest in internal ones; to enable him to know also that people who are interested only in external things cannot have any conception of what internal ones are and so cannot feel any affection for them (for nobody feels any affection for things of which he has no conception) let the following, for example, be considered. One who is least in heaven is the greatest, one who is humble is exalted, and also one who is poor and needy is rich and affluent. People who are interested only in external things cannot have any conception of these matters, for they think that the least cannot possibly be the greatest, nor the humble be the exalted, and that the poor cannot possibly be rich or the needy affluent. Yet this is precisely how it is in heaven. And because they cannot have any conception of these matters they are consequently unable to feel any affection for them; and when they reflect on them from the point of view of the bodily and worldly things which interest them they feel an aversion to them. How it is in heaven they do not know at all, and as long as they are interested only in external things they do not wish to know, nor indeed are they capable of knowing. For in heaven one who knows, acknowledges, and believes in his heart that is, with affection - that none of his power is self-derived, but that all the power he has comes from the Lord, is called the least. Yet he is the greatest because his power comes from the Lord. Similarly so with one who is humble yet exalted; for one who is humble, acknowledging and believing from affection that he has no self-derived power at all, nor any self-derived intelligence and wisdom, nor any goodness and truth, has power, an intelligent understanding of truth, and a wise discernment of good, conferred on him by the Lord more than on others. And likewise so with the poor and the needy being rich and affluent; for he is called poor and needy who believes in his heart and with affection that nothing he possesses begins in himself, nor does anything he knows and is wise in, nor does anything he has power in. In heaven he is rich and is affluent, the Lord granting him total wealth since he is wiser and richer than all others and lives in most magnificent palaces, 1116, 1626, 1627, and among the treasures constituting all the riches of heaven.

[5] Take as another example someone who is interested only in external things. Such a person cannot have any conception at all that heavenly joy consists in loving the neighbour more than himself and the Lord above all things, and that happiness depends on the amount and the quality of that love. For one interested only in external things loves himself more than his neighbour, and if he does love others it is because they show him favour; and so he loves them for a selfish reason - and he therefore loves himself in them and them in himself. A person like this cannot know what loving others more than himself is; indeed he does not wish to know, and is incapable of knowing. Consequently when told that heaven consists in such love, 548, he is repelled by the idea. Hence those who have been like this during their lifetime are unable to draw near any heavenly community; and when they do draw near, because they feel repelled by it, they cast themselves down headlong into hell.

[6] Because few at the present day know what it is to be interested in external things and what it is to be interested in internal ones, and because the majority believe that those interested in internal things cannot be interested in external ones, and vice versa, let one further example be introduced to illustrate the matter. Take the nourishment of the body and the nourishment of the soul. A person who is interested in merely external pleasures takes care of his own skin, gratifies his stomach, likes to live sumptuously, and finds that the choicest food and drink yields him the highest pleasure. A person however who is interested in internal things also takes delight in those same pleasures, but his governing affection is to nourish the body with pleasurable foods so that it may be healthy, the end in view being a healthy mind in a healthy body. His primary concern is health of mind, for which health of the body serves as a means. One who is a spiritual man does not stop there but regards health of mind or of the soul as the means provided to acquire intelligence and wisdom, not for the sake of reputation, position, or gain, but for the sake of the life after death. And one who is spiritual in a more interior degree regards intelligence and wisdom as a mediate end enabling him to serve as a useful member in the Lord's kingdom; while one who is celestial regards the same as that which enables him to serve the Lord. To him bodily food is a means to the enjoyment of spiritual food; and spiritual food is a means to the enjoyment of celestial food. And because they ought to serve in this manner those foods also correspond, and are therefore called foods. From these examples one may see what is meant by being interested only in external things and what by being interested in internal ones.

[7] The Jewish and Israelite nation, which is the subject in this chapter in the internal historical sense, apart from those who have died as children, are for the most part such. They more than all others are interested in external things, for they are governed by avarice. Those who do not love profit and gain for the sake of any use, only for the sake of gold and silver, and who focus the whole delight of life in those possessions, dwell in the outermost or lowest places, since they are entirely earthly things which they love. But those loving gold and silver because of some use these may serve are people who rise above earthly things, in accordance with that use. The use itself which a person loves is what gives direction to his life and marks him off from others, an evil use making him like one in hell and a good use like one in heaven. It is not indeed the use itself that does so but the love behind it, for everyone's life is inherent in his love.