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以西結書 16:49

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49 看哪,你妹妹所多瑪的罪孽是這樣:他和他的眾女都心驕氣傲,糧食飽足,大享安逸,並沒有扶助困苦和窮乏人的

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属天的奥秘 # 5621

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5621. “蜡, 没药” 表内层属世层的良善之真理. 这从 “蜡” 和 “没药” 的含义清楚可知: “蜡”, 即此处的香蜡, 是指良善之真理, 如下文所述; “没药” 也是指源于良善的真理 (参看4748节). 之所以表示内层属世层的良善之真理, 是因为这些香料比乳香和蜂蜜更纯粹, 因此其次被提及. 事实上, 在圣言中, 这类物质是照着次序被列举的. 但此处所说的 “蜡” 不是指普通的蜡, 而是指香蜡, 如苏合香. 原文中所用的词就表示这种蜡, 这个词也表示香料. 由此可见为何这种香蜡表示良善之真理; 因为所有香料闻起来都很香甜, 故在内义上表示源于良善的真理.

这一点从以下事实可以看出来: 在天上, 源于良善的真理和世上的香物一样感觉令人愉快. 而且当天使的感知转化为气味时 (主若乐意, 这种事经常发生), 它们闻起来就像香料和鲜花发出的芳香. 这就是为何乳香和香由芳香物质复合而成, 发挥神圣的功用; 这也是为何芳香物质会与膏油调和在一起. 人若不知道这些做法背后的原因就在于天上的人所感知到的事物, 就会以为这些做法被吩咐, 纯粹是为了使外在敬拜蒙悦纳; 但在这种情况下, 它们里面丝毫没有天堂之物, 或神圣之物, 因而这类宗教习俗没有任何神性事物在里面. 关于这些事, 可参看前面的说明: 乳香和香, 以及用于膏油的芳香物质是属灵和属天事物的代表 (4748节); 信与爱的气场会转化为怡人的气味, 因而是怡人的香甜气息; 而且香味表示源于爱之良善的信之真理 (1514, 1517-1519, 4628节).

  
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Thanks to our friends at swedenborgwork.com for their permission to use this translation on the New Christian Bible Study site. ( 衷心感谢”史威登堡著作中文网”许可我们使用该中文译文)

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Arcana Coelestia # 10236

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10236. 'And its pedestal from bronze' means good on the last level of the natural, which is that of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pedestal' of the laver, containing the water for washing, as the last level of the natural degree, which is called the level of the senses; and from the meaning of 'bronze' as good, dealt with above in 10235. The reason why 'the pedestal' means the last level of the natural, which is called the external level of the senses, is that 'the laver' which is above means the natural degree, in which purification takes place, and therefore that which is below means that which occupies the lowest, that is, the last place, which is the external level of the senses within a person. The natural degree within a person has an external level, a middle level, and an internal level. The external level of the natural degree is that which comes in contact with the world and is called the external level of the senses; the internal level of the natural degree is that which comes in contact with the internal man residing in heaven; and the middle level of the natural degree links the two together, for where an external and an internal exist there must be a middle linking them together. The human mind has a natural degree containing external, middle, and internal levels, see 4009, 4570, 5118, 5126, 5649, 9215.

[2] Strictly speaking, the level of the senses forming the last and lowest of the natural degree should be taken to mean that which is called the flesh and perishes when a person dies, thus that which has enabled the person to function in the world, namely the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. It may be recognized that the senses exist on the ground-level so to speak of a person's life, forming the terminus and base on which it rests; for they open out directly onto the world, and through them the world comes in and heaven goes out. These senses the human being shares with animals. But an external aspect of the senses which the human being does not share so much with them, though still an external aspect of the senses, is the deposit in the human memory of impressions received from the world, consisting solely of worldly, bodily, earthly images. The person whose thought and reasoning are based on these alone and not on more internal ideas is called a sensory-minded person. This level of the senses remains with a person after death, though it becomes dormant. It is the external level of the senses that is meant, strictly speaking, by 'the pedestal'.

[3] The nature of this level of the senses was represented by the pedestals of the ten lavers which were placed next to the temple. These pedestals are described as follows,

Solomon made ten pedestals from bronze. Four cubits was the length of each pedestal, and four cubits the breadth; three cubits was the height. On the panels 1 which were between the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubs, and on the frames in like manner above. In addition each pedestal had four wheels, and boards of bronze 2 ; but its four corners had shoulders 3 . Under a laver there were shoulders 3 of cast [bronze]. The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel; their axles 4 , and their rims 5 , and their tires, and their spokes were all of cast [bronze]. After this manner he made the ten pedestals. They were all of one casting, one measure, one symmetry. Therefore he made ten lavers from bronze; each laver contained forty baths, four cubits was each laver. 1 Kings 7:27-39.

[4] Here representative objects serve to describe the nature of the external level of the senses in a person, and in particular protection provided by the Lord to prevent a person from entering from the sensory level of his mind, thus from the world, into things of heaven or the Church. To do so is contrary to Divine order. For the world cannot enter into heaven, but heaven can into the world, which happens when the Lord coming by way of heaven flows into a person by means of the Word and resides in him, and so enlightens, teaches, and leads him. The fact that entering from the world into the things of heaven is contrary to Divine order may be recognized from the consideration that those who enter into them from the sensory level of their mind, thus who do so from factual knowledge derived from the world, have no belief at all.

[5] Protection against this is meant by 'lions, oxen, and cherubs'. By 'lions' protection to prevent truths from entering is meant, for lions are truths in their power, 6367, 6369, and by 'oxen' protection to prevent forms of good from entering, for oxen are forms of good in their power, 2781. By 'cherubs' the Lord's protection against such an occurrence is meant, see 308, 9509; and by 'the shoulders' of which also mention is made power and resistance are meant, see 1085, 4931-4937, 9836. By 'the chariot-like wheels' the ability to be made wise when everything enters from heaven is meant, for in this way everything moves on according to order, 'chariot wheels' being the ability to move on, thus to learn, 8215, 9872, and chariots being doctrinal teachings which heaven and the Church possess, 5321, 8215.

[6] What a sensory-minded person is must again be stated briefly. A person is called sensory-minded whose thought is based solely on such ideas in the memory as are derived from the world and whose mind cannot be raised to more internal levels. Such is the situation with those in particular who have no belief at all in heaven or in the Deity because they do not see them; for they trust solely in the senses, and what they do not perceive through these is not thought by them to have any existence. Such people come near to having a mind no different from that of animals, which too are led solely by their external senses. They are still wily and clever in action and reasoning, but they do not see truth in its own light. In former times such people were referred to as serpents of the tree of knowledge. Most of the hellish crew are of that sort. But what a sensory-minded person is and what the sensory level of the mind is, see the places referred to in 9331(end), and also 9726, 9730, 9731, 9922(end), 9996; and what it is to be raised above or drawn away from the level of the senses, the places referred to in 9922(end).

[7] Good on the level of the senses, meant by 'a pedestal made from bronze', is an expression which denotes the pleasure and delight that influence thought and imagination based solely on such things as are earthly, bodily, and worldly. It is distinguishable from other kinds of delight by the fact that it sees no other purposes to be served apart from those indulging the self or benefiting the self. For the sensory-minded person is steeped in self-love and love of the world, and the delights that are his go with those loves. And since the loves of a sensory-minded person are such as these, it is evident that he is cleverer than others in reasoning and in doing things for the sake of gain and position. For his body is burning with the fire of that love, and that fire produces a light that is called natural illumination. And when this light flares into brightness the light of heaven which belongs to the interior man is altogether blotted out. So it is that because the things belonging to the light of heaven are in thick darkness they are said not to exist. It is different in the case of those whose actions are burning with the fire of heaven and whose thoughts are lit by the light from it. All this shows what should be understood by good on the level of the senses, meant by the pedestal of the laver made from bronze.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, enclosing pieces

2. The rare Hebrew word here is usually taken to mean axles.

3. i.e. supports

4. literally, hands

5. literally, backs

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