以賽亞書 24
1
看哪,耶和華使地空虛,變為荒涼;又翻轉大地,將居民分散。
2
那時百姓怎樣,祭司也怎樣;僕人怎樣,主人也怎樣;婢女怎樣,主母也怎樣;買物的怎樣,賣物的也怎樣;放債的怎樣,借債的也怎樣;取利的怎樣,出利的也怎樣。
5
地被其上的居民污穢;因為他們犯了律法,廢了律例,背了永約。
6
所以,地被咒詛吞滅;住在其上的顯為有罪。地上的居民被火焚燒,剩下的人稀少。
11
在街上因酒有悲歎的聲音;一切喜樂變為昏暗;地上的歡樂歸於無有。
13
在地上的萬民中,必像打過的橄欖樹,又像已摘的葡萄所剩無幾。
14
這些人要高聲歡呼;他們為耶和華的威嚴,從海那裡揚起聲來。
15
因此,你們要在東方榮耀耶和華;在眾海島榮耀耶和華─以色列神的名。
16
我們聽見從地極有人歌唱,說:榮耀歸於義人。我卻說:我消滅了!我消滅了,我有禍了!詭詐的行詭詐;詭詐的大行詭詐。
18
躲避恐懼聲音的必墜入陷坑;從陷坑上來的必被網羅纏住;因為天上的窗戶都開了,地的根基也震動了。
20
地要東倒西歪,好像醉酒的人;又搖來搖去,好像吊床。罪過在其上沉重,必然塌陷,不能復起。
21
到那日,耶和華在高處必懲罰高處的眾軍,在地上必懲罰地上的列王。
Arcana Coelestia # 2187
2187. 'And they ate' means communication in this manner. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, and also being joined together, as is also evident from the Word. The injunction that Aaron, and his sons the Levites, and also the people were to eat the consecrated elements of the sacrifices in a holy place meant nothing other than the communication, conjunction, and making one's own, as stated above in 2177, at the point where Leviticus 6:16-17, is referred to. For it was celestial and spiritual food that was meant by the consecrated elements, and thus making that food their own by eating those elements. These consecrated elements were those parts of the sacrifices which were not burned on the altar but were eaten either by the priests or by the people who brought the offering, as becomes clear from very many places where the sacrifices are the subject. The consecrated elements that were to be eaten by the priests are referred to in Exodus 29:32-33; Leviticus 6:16, 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Numbers 18:9-11; and those to be eaten by the people, in Leviticus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere. And that those who were unclean were not to eat of them is referred to in Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:4-7. These ritual feasts took place in a holy place near the altar, either at the gate or in the court outside the tent. And they meant nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and making of celestial goods one's own, for those feasts represented celestial food. For what celestial food is, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. And all those consecrated elements were called 'bread', for the meaning of which see above in 2165. Something similar was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the loaves of the presence, or the shewbread, in a holy place, Leviticus 24:9.
[2] The reason for the law given to the Nazirite that during the days of his Naziriteship he was forbidden to eat anything that is produced from the grape - from which wine is made - from pips even to skin, Numbers 6:4, is that the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such as is not willing even to mention spiritual things, see Volume One, in 202, 337, 880 (end), 1647. And because 'wine' and 'the grape', and also whatever came from the grape, meant that which is spiritual, the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat of them, that is, to have any communication with spiritual things, to join himself to them, or to make them his own.
[3] Something similar is meant by 'eating' in Isaiah,
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:1-2.
And also what is said in John,
To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.
'The tree of life' is the celestial itself, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself since He is the source of everything celestial, that is, of all love and charity. Thus 'eating from the tree of life' is the same as feeding on the Lord; and 'feeding on the Lord' is being endowed with love and charity, thus with those things that belong to heavenly life, as the Lord Himself declares in John,
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. He who feeds on Me will live through Me. John 6:51, 57. But they said, This is a hard saying. Jesus said however, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:60, 63.
From this it is evident what is meant by 'eating' in the Holy Supper, Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20 - having communication, being joined together, and making one's own.
[4] From this it is also plain what is meant by the Lord's statement that
Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matthew 8:11.
The Lord did not mean that they were going to feast with these three in the kingdom of God but that they were to enjoy the celestial goods meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is to say, they were to enjoy the inmost celestial goods of love, meant by -Abraham'; also a lower type of goods, which are intermediate, as those are which belong to the rational, meant by 'Isaac'; and a still lower type of goods which are celestial-natural, such as occur in the first heaven, meant by 'Jacob'. These are the things which constitute the internal sense of these words. That such things are meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, see 1893, and wherever else they are the subject. For whether one speaks of enjoying those celestial things, or whether one speaks of enjoying the Lord, whom they represent, it amounts to the same since the Lord is the source of all those things, and the Lord is their All in all.