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Daniel 4

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1 Kong Nebukadnezar til alle Folk: der bor på hele Jorden: Fred være med eder i rigt Mål!

2 De Tegn og Undere, den højeste Gud har øvet imod mig, finder jeg for godt at kundgøre.

3 Hvor store er dog hans Tegn, hvor vældige dog hans Undere! Hans ige er et evigt ige, hans Herredømme fra Slægt til Slægt.

4 Jeg, Nebukadnezar, levede tryg i mit Slot og livsglad i mit Palads.

5 Men da skuede jeg et Drømmesyn, og det slog mig med ædsel, og Tankebilleder på mit Leje og mit Hoveds Syner forfærdede mig.

6 Derfor påbød jeg, at alle Babels Vismænd skulde føres frem for mig, for at de skulde tyde mig Drømmen.

7 Så kom Drømmetyderne, Manerne, Kaldæerne og Stjernetyderne ind, og jeg sagde dem Drømmen, men de kunde ikke tyde mig den.

8 Men til sidst trådte Daniel, som har fået Navnet Beltsazzar efter min Guds Navn, og i hvem hellige Guders Ånd er, frem for mig, og jeg sagde ham Drømmen:

9 Beltsazzar, du Øverste for Drømmetyderne, i hvem jeg ved, at hellige Guders Ånd er, og hvem ingen Hemmelighed er for svar! Hør, hvad jeg så i Drømme, og tyd mig det!

10 Dette var mit Hoveds Syner på mit Leje: Jeg skuede, og se, et Træ stod midt på Jorden, og det var såre højt.

11 Træet voksede og blev vældigt, dets Top nåede Himmelen, og det sås til Jordens Ende;

12 dets Løv var fagert, dets Frugter mange, så der var Føde til alle derpå; under det fandt Markens Dyr Skygge, i dets Grene boede Himmelens Fugle, og alt Kød fik Næring deraf.

13 Og videre skuede jeg i mit Hoveds Syner på mit Leje, og se, en Vægter, en Hellig, kom ned fra Himmelen.

14 Han råbte med høj øst: "Fæld Træet, hug Grenene af, afriv Løvet og spred Frugterne; Dyrene skal fly fra deres Bo derunder og Fuglene fra dets Grene!

15 Dog skal I lade Stubben med ødderne blive i Jorden, men bundet med en Kæde af Jern og kobber i Markens Græs; af Himmelens Dug skal han vædes, og som Dyrene skal han æde Markens Urter;

16 hans Menneskehjerte skal fratages ham og et Dyrehjerte gives ham, og syv Tider skal gå hen over ham.

17 Således er det fastsat ved Vægternes åd, og ved de Helliges Bud er Sagen afgjort, for at de levende må sande, at den Højeste er Herre over Menneskenes ige og kan give det, til hvem han vil, og ophøje den ringeste blandt Menneskene til Hersker over det!"

18 Det var dette Drømmesyn, som jeg, Kong Nebukadnezar, skuede, og du, Beltsazzar, tyd mig det! Thi ingen af mit iges Vismænd kan tyde mig det; du derimod evner det, thi i dig bor hellige Guders Ånd.

19 Så stod Daniel, som havde fået Navnet Beltsazzar, en Stund rædselslagen, og hans Tanker forfærdede ham. Men Kongen tog til Orde og sagde: Beltsazzar, lad ikke Drømmen og dens Udtydning forfærde dig!" Men Beltsazzar svarede: "Herre, måtte drømmen gælde dine Fjender og dens Udtydning dine Avindsmænd!

20 Det Træ, du så, og som voksede og blev vældigt, så Toppen nåede Himmelen og det sås over hele Jorden,

21 hvis Løv var fagert, og hvis Frugter var mange, det, som alle fik Næring af, under hvilket Markens Dyr fandt Bo, og i hvis Grene Himmelens Fugle byggede ede,

22 det er dig selv, o Konge, som er blevet stor og mægtig, hvis Storhed er vokset, så den når Himmelen, og hvis Herredømme rækker til Jordens Ende.

23 Og når Kongen så, at en Vægter, en Hellig, steg ned fra Himmelen og bød: Fæld Træet og ødelæg det! Dog skal I lade Stubben med ødderne blive i Jorden, men bundet med en Kæde af Jern og kobber i Markens Græs; af Himmelens Dug skal han vædes, og med Markens Dyr skal han dele Lod, indtil syv Tider er gået hen over ham

24 så betyder det, o Konge, og det er den Højestes åd, som er udgået over min Herre Kongen:

25 Du skal udstødes af Menneskenes Samfund og bo hlandt Markens Dyr; Urter skal du have til Føde som Kvæget, og af Himmelens Dug skal du vædes; og syv Tider skal gå hen over dig, til du skønner, at den Højeste er Herre over Menneskenes ige og kan give det, til hvem han vil.

26 Men når der blev givet Påbud om at levne Træets Stub med ødderne, så betyder det, at dit ige atter skal blive dit, så snart du skønner, at Himmelen har Magten.

27 Derfor, o Konge, lad mit åd være dig til Behag. Gør Ende på dine Synder med etfærd og på dine Misgerninger med Barmhjertighed mod de fattige, om din Lykke måske kunde vare!"

28 Alt dette ramte nu Kong Nebukadnezar.

29 Tolv Måneder senere, da Kongen vandrede på Taget af det kongelige Palads i Babel,

30 udbrød han: "Er dette ikke det store Babel, som jeg byggede til Kongesæde ved min vældige Magt, min Herlighed til Ære?"

31 Men før Kongen endnu havde talt ud, lød en øst fra Himmelen: "Det gives dig til Kende, Kong Nebukadnezar, at dit Kongedømme er taget fra dig!

32 Af Menneskenes Samfund skal du udstødes og bo blandt Markens Dyr; Urter skal du have til Føde som Kvæget; og syv Tider skal gå hen over dig, til du skønner, at den Højeste er Herre over Menneskenes ige og kan give det, til hvem han vil!"

33 I samme Stund fuldbyrdedes Ordet på Nebukadnezar; han blev udstødt af Menneskenes Samfund og åd Græs som Kvæget, og hans Legeme vædedes af Himmelens Dug, til hans Hår blev langt som Ørnefjer og hans Negle som Fuglekløer.

34 Men da Tiden var omme, løftede jeg, Nebukadnezar, mine Øjne til Himmelen og fik min forstand igen, og jeg priste den Højeste og lovede og ærede ham, som lever evindelig, hvis Herredømme er evigt, og hvis ige står fra Slægt til Slægt.

35 Alle, som bor på Jorden, er for intet at regne; han handler efter sit Tykke med Himmelens Hær og med dem, som bor på Jorden, og ingen kan holde hans Hånd tilbage og sige til ham: "Hvad gør du?"

36 I samme Stund fik jeg min Forstand igen; jeg fik også min Herlighed og Glans igen, mit ige til Ære; mine ådsherrer og Stormænd søgte mig, jeg blev genindsat i mit ige, og endnu større Magt blev mig givet.

37 Nu lover, ophøjer og ærer jeg, Nebukadnezar, Himmelens Konge: Alle hans Gerninger er Sandhed, hans Veje etfærd, og han kan ydmyge dem, som vandrer i Hovmod.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

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Apocalypse Revealed # 47

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47. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. (1:14) This symbolizes the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom in first things and last.

A person's head symbolizes everything connected with his life, and everything connected with a person's life has some relation to love and wisdom. A head consequently symbolizes both wisdom and love. However, because there is no love without its wisdom, nor wisdom without its love, therefore it is the love accompanying wisdom that is meant by a head; and when describing the Lord, it is the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom. But on the symbolism of the head in the Word, more will be seen in nos. 538 and 568 below.

Since a head means both love and wisdom in their first forms, it follows accordingly that hair means love and wisdom in their final forms. And because the hair mentioned here describes the Son of Man, who is the Lord in relation to the Word, His hair symbolizes the Divine good connected with love, and the Divine truth connected with wisdom, in the outmost expressions of the Word - the outmost expressions of the Word being those contained in its literal sense.

[2] The idea that the hair of the Son of Man or the Lord symbolizes the Word in this sense may seem absurd, but still it is the truth. This can be seen from passages in the Word that we cited in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 35 and 49. We showed there as well that Nazirites in the Israelite Church represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, which is its literal sense, as a nazir in Hebrew is a hair or head of hair. 1 That is why the power of Samson, who was a Nazirite from the womb, lay in his hair. The Divine truth similarly has power in the literal sense of the Word, as may be seen in the aforementioned Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 37-49.

For the same reason, too, the high priest and his sons were strictly forbidden to shave their heads.

For that reason as well, forty-two of the boys who called Elisha a baldhead were torn apart by two she-bears. Like Elijah, Elisha represented the Lord in relation to the Word. A baldhead symbolizes the Word without its outmost expression, which, as said, is its literal sense, and she-bears symbolize this sense of the Word divorced from its inner meaning. Those who so divorce it, moreover, appear in the spiritual world as bears, though only at a distance. It is apparent from this why what happened to the boys happened as it did.

It was, therefore, also the highest disgrace and a mark of extreme mourning to inflict baldness.

[3] Accordingly, when the Israelite nation had completely perverted the literal sense of the Word, this lamentation over them was composed:

Her Nazirites were whiter than snow, brighter white than milk... Darker than blackness is their form. They go unrecognized in the streets. (Lamentations 4:7-8)

Furthermore:

Every head was made bald, and every shoulder shaved bare. (Ezekiel 29:18)

Shame will be on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

So similarly Isaiah 15:2, Jeremiah 48:37, Amos 8:10.

Because the children of Israel by falsities completely dissipated the literal sense of the Word, therefore the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent this by shaving his head with a razor and burning a third part with fire, striking a third part with a sword, and scattering a third part to the wind, and by gathering a small amount in his skirts, to cast it, too, afterward into the fire (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[4] Therefore it is also said in Micah:

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. (Micah 1:16)

The precious children are the church's genuine truths from the Word.

Moreover, because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, represented Babylon's falsification of the Word and destruction of every truth there, it accordingly came to pass that his hair grew like eagles' feathers (Daniel 4:33).

Since the hair symbolized that holy component of the Word, therefore it is said of Nazirites that they were not to shave the hair of their head, because it was the consecration of God upon their head (Numbers 6:1-21). And therefore it was decreed that the high priest and his sons were not to shave their heads, lest they die and the whole house of Israel be angered (Leviticus 10:6).

[5] Now, because hair symbolizes Divine truth in its outmost expressions, which in the church is the Word in its literal sense, therefore something similar is said also of the Ancient of Days in Daniel:

I watched till the thrones were thrown down, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. (Daniel 7:9)

That the Ancient of Days is the Lord is clearly apparent in Micah:

You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from antiquity, from days of old. (Micah 5:2)

And in Isaiah, where He is called Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).

[6] From these passages and many others - too many to cite - it can be seen that the head and hair of the Son of Man, which were like wool, as white as snow, mean the Divine expression of love and wisdom in first things and last. And because the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it follows that the Word, too, is meant in its first elements and last. Why else should it be that the Lord here in the book of Revelation and the Ancient of Days in Daniel are described even in respect to their hair?

That hair symbolizes the literal sense of the Word is clearly apparent from people in the spiritual world. Those who have scorned the literal sense of the Word appear bald there, and conversely, those who have loved the literal sense of the Word appear possessed of handsome hair.

The head and hair are described as being like wool and like snow because wool symbolizes goodness in outmost expressions, and snow symbolizes truth in outward expressions - as is the case also in Isaiah 1:18 2 - inasmuch as wool comes from sheep, which symbolize the goodness of charity, and snow comes from water, which symbolizes truths of faith.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Hebrew נָזִיר (nazir) fundamentally means "one consecrated" or "one set apart;" but as a condition of the Nazirite vow was to let the hair grow, by extension a cognate word נֵזֶר (nezer) came to mean also the hair of a Nazirite's consecration, and by analogy, a woman's long hair.

2. "Come now, and let us reason together," says Jehovah. "Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.