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Ezekiel 17

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1 HE ENs Ord kom til mig således:

2 Menneskesøn, fremsæt en Gåde og tal i Lignelse til Israels Slægt;

3 sig: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Den store Ørn med vældigt Vingefang, lange Vinger, tæt Fjederham og brogede Farver kom til Libanon og tog Cederens Top;

4 Spidsen af dens Skud brød den af, bragte den til et Kræmmerland og satte den i en Handelsby.

5 Så tog den en Plante der i Landet og plantede den i en Sædemark ved rigeligt Vand...",

6 for at den skulde vokse og blive en yppig, lavstammet Vinstok, hvis anker skulde vende sig til den, og hvis ødder skulde blive under den. Og den blev en Vinstok, som skød Grene og bredte sine Kviste.

7 Men der var en anden stor Ørn med vældigt Vingefang og rig Fjederham; og se, Vinstokken bøjede sine ødder imod den og strakte sine anker hen til den, for at den skulde give den mere Vand end Bedet, den stod i.

8 På en frugtbar Mark ved rigeligt Vand var den plantet for at skyde Grene, bære Frugt og blive en herlig Vinstok.

9 Sig derfor: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Mon det lykkes den? Mon den første Ørn ikke rykker dens ødder op og afriver dens Frugt, så alle de friske Skud tørres hen? Der skal jo ingen kraftig Arm eller mange Folk til at rive den løs fra oden.

10 Se, den er plantet, men mon det lykkes den? Mon den ikke, så snart Østenvinden når den, hentørres i Bedet, den voksede i?

11 Og HE ENs Ord kom til mig således:

12 Sig til den genstridige Slægt: Ved I ikke, hvad dette betyder? Sig: Babels Konge kom til Jerusalem, tog Kongen og Fyrsterne og førte dem med hjem til Babel.

13 Derpå tog han entling af kongehuset og sluttede Pagt med ham og lod ham aflægge Ed. Landets Stormænd tog han dog med,

14 for at iget skulde holdes nede og ikke hovmode sig, men holde hans Pagt, at den måtte stå fast.

15 Men han faldt fra og sendte sine Bud til Ægypten, for at de skulde give ham Heste og Folk i Mængde. Mon det lykkes ham? Mon den, der bærer sig således ad, slipper godt derfra? Skal den, der bryder en Pagt, slippe fra det?

16 Så sandt jeg lever, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN: Hvor den Konge bor, som gjorde ham til Konge, hvis Ed han lod hånt om, og hvis Pagt han brød, der hos ham i Babel skal han .

17 Og Farao skal ikke hjælpe ham i Krigen med en stor Hær eller en talrig Skare, når der opkastes Stormvold og bygges Belejringstårne til Undergang for mange Mennesker.

18 Thi han lod hånt om Eden og brød Pagten trods givet Håndslag; alt dette gjorde han; han skal ikke undslippe!

19 Sig derfor: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Så sandt jeg lever: Min Ed, som han lod hånt om, og min Pagt, som han brød, vil jeg visselig lade komme over hans Hoved!

20 Jeg breder mit Net over ham, så han fanges i mit Garn, og jeg bringer ham til Babel for der at gå i ette med ham for den Troløshed, han viste mig.

21 Alle hans udvalgte Folk i alle hans Hære skal falde for Sværd, og de, der er til est, spredes for alle Vinde; og I skal kende, at jeg, HE EN, har talet.

22 siger den Herre HE EN: Så tager jeg selv en Gren af Cederens Top, af dens Skuds Spidser bryder jeg en tynd Kvist og planter den på et højt, knejsende Bjerg.

23 Israels høje Bjerg vil jeg plante den, og den skal skyde Grene og bære Løv og blive en herlig Ceder. Under den skal alle vingede Fugle bygge, i dens Grenes Skygge skal de bo.

24 Og alle Markens Træer skal kende, at jeg, HE EN, nedbøjer det høje Træ og ophøjer det lave, udtørrer det friske Træ og lader det tørre blomstre. Jeg, HE EN, har talt og grebet ind.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 759

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759. "And the merchants of the earth have become rich owing to the potencies of her delights." This symbolizes the greater and lower in rank in the Roman Catholic hierarchy who by their dominion over sacred things strive for Divine majesty and superregal glory, who continually seek to establish it by multiplying the number of monasteries and possessions under their control, and by collecting and accumulating the world's treasures without end, and who thus procure for themselves physical and natural delights and gratifications by claiming for themselves a celestial and spiritual dominion.

The merchants of Babylon can only mean the greater and lower in rank in their church hierarchy, because in verse 23 of this chapter we are told that they are the great men of the earth. And the potencies of her delights with which they have become rich can only mean the dogmas that are the means by which they acquire for themselves dominion over people's souls, and so also over their possessions and wealth. People know that they collect these without end and swell their treasuries with them, and also that they make merchandise of the sanctities of the church, by selling salvation, for example, or heaven, in exchange for offerings and gifts made to monasteries and their saints and images, or in exchange for masses, indulgences and various dispensations.

[2] Who cannot see that if the papal dominion had not been broken at the time of the Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholics would have scraped together the possessions and wealth of all the kingdoms in the whole of Europe? And that then they would have made themselves the sole lords, and everyone else their servants? Do they not have the greatest part of their wealth from preceding centuries when they had power over emperors and kings, whom they could excommunicate and depose if they did not obey? And do they not still have annual incomes that are immense, and treasuries full of gold, silver, and precious stones?

The same barbarous lust for dominion is still lodged in the hearts of many of them, and is restrained only by a fear of its loss if it should extend beyond accepted limits.

Of what use, however, are such great incomes, treasures and possessions to them, other than to be delighted by them, to pride themselves on having them, and to establish their dominion to eternity?

It can be seen from this what is here symbolized by merchants of the earth who have become rich owing to the potencies of Babylon's delights.

They are called merchants also in Isaiah:

(The inhabitants of Babylon) are as stubble. Fire has burned them; they do not deliver their soul from the power of the flame... Such are... your merchants from your youth. (Isaiah 47:14-15)

[3] In the Word, to be a merchant or trader means, symbolically, to be engaged in procuring for oneself spiritual riches, which are concepts of truth and goodness, and in an opposite sense, concepts of falsity and evil, and to use the first to gain heaven, and the second to gain the world. For that reason the Lord likened the kingdom of heaven to a merchant seeking beautiful pearls (Matthew 13:45-46), and the people in the church to servants who were given talents with which to trade and gain more (Matthew 25:14-30), or who were given ten minas with which to likewise trade and gain more (Luke 19:12-26).

Moreover, because Tyre symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and goodness, therefore the whole of chapter twenty-seven in Ezekiel has trading and gain as its subject, and we are told concerning Tyre:

In your wisdom and your understanding you have gained... for yourself... gold and silver into your treasuries; and by the great wisdom in your trading you have increased your riches... (Ezekiel 28:4-5)

And elsewhere:

...Tyre... has been laid waste..., whose merchants are princes, and its traders the honorable of the earth. (Isaiah 23:1, 8)

Also, the corrupt church among Jews in the land of Canaan is called the land of trade (Ezekiel 16:3, 29; 21:30; 29:14).

  
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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.

Komentář

 

Know

  

Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases -- when it is connected to ideas or objects -- its spiritual meaning and natural meaning are essentially the same. When the Bible talks about people knowing each other and especially when it talks about the Lord knowing people, the meaning has more to do with the states of love within people than it does with any factual knowledge. This makes sense if you think about it. When we really "know" somebody, what we mean is that we know what kind of person they are, what their motivations are, what they love, what they hate, what makes them tick. Those things are far more important than knowing their parents' names, where they were born or what year they graduated from school. Most often then, especially applied to people, "knowing" has to do with the perceptions we have about other people's loves and the conjunction that can exist between those with similar loves, not just a collection of facts.