Bible

 

Ezekiel 6

Studie

   

1 Og Herrens ord kom til mig således:

2 Menneskesøn, vend dit Ansigt mod Israels Bjerge, profeter imod dem

3 og sig: Israels Bjerge, hør den Herre HE ENs Ord! Så siger den Herre HE EN til Bjergene og Højene, til Kløfterne og Dalene: Se, jeg sender Sværd over eder og tilintetgør eders Offerhøje.

4 Eders Altre skal ødelægges, eders Solstøtter sønderbrydes, og eders dræbte lader jeg segne foran eders Afgudsbilleder;

5 jeg kaster Israeliternes Lig hen for deres Afgudsbilleder og strør eders Ben rundt om eders Altre.

6 Overalt hvor I bor, skal Byerne lægges øde og Offerhøjene gå til Grunde, for at eders Altre kan lægges øde og gå til Grunde, eders Afudsbilleder sønderbrydes og udryddes, eders Solstøtter hugges om og eders Værker tilintetgøres.

7 Mandefald skal ske iblandt eder, og I skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

8 Men en est lader jeg blive tilbage, idet nogle af eder undslipper fra Sværdet blandt Folkene, når I spredes i Landene,

9 og de undslupne skal komme mig i Hu blandt Folkene, hvor de er Fanger; jeg sønderbryder deres bolerske Hjerter, som faldt fra mig, og deres bolerske Øjne, som hang ved deres Afgudsbilleder; og de skal væmmes ved sig selv over alt det onde, de har gjort, over alle deres Vederstyggeligheder.

10 Og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN; det var ikke tomme Ord, når jeg talede om at gøre den Ulykke på dem.

11 siger den Herre HE EN: Slå Hænderne sammen, stamp med Foden og råb Ve over alle Israels Huses grimme Vederstyggeligheder! De skal falde for Sværd, Hunger og Pest.

12 Den, som er langt borte, skal af Pest; den, som er nær, skal falde for Sværd; og den, som levnes og reddes, skal af Hunger; således udtømmer jeg min Vrede over dem.

13 De skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, når deres dræbte ligger midt iblandt deres Afgudsbilleder rundt om deres Altre på hver høj Bakke, på alle Bjergenes Tinder, under hvert grønt Træ og hver løvrig Eg, der, hvor de opsendte liflig Duft til deres Afgudsbilleder.

14 Jeg udrækker Hånden imod dem og gør Landet øde og tomt lige fra Ørkenen til ibla, overalt hvor de bor; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 459

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 962  
  

459. And idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood. This symbolically means that thus they engage in worship founded on nothing but falsities.

Idols in the Word symbolize falsities in worship, and therefore worshiping them symbolizes worship founded on falsities. Worshiping idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, then, symbolizes worship founded on falsities of every kind, and when taken in combination, worship founded on nothing but falsities. Moreover, the materials, figures, and garments of the idols among ancient peoples represented the falsities of religion on which they founded their worship. Idols of gold symbolized falsities regarding matters pertaining to God; idols of silver, falsities regarding matters pertaining to the spirit; idols of brass, falsities regarding charity; idols of stone, falsities regarding faith; and idols of wood, falsities regarding good works.

All of these falsities are held by people who do not repent, that is, who do not refrain from evils as being sins against God.

[2] Idols, which were carved and cast images, have this symbolic meaning in the spiritual sense in the following passages:

Everyone has been made stupid by knowledge; every metalsmith is has been put to shame by a carved image; for his cast image is a falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. (Jeremiah 10:14-15; 51:17-18)

(Carved images are) the work of the hands of the workman... They do not speak... They are both foolish and stupid; the wood is a worthless teacher... They are all the work of skillful men. (Jeremiah 10:3-5, 8-10)

What profit is the carved image, that its maker has carved it, ...and a teacher of lies, that the maker of the lie trusts in it...? ...in it there is no breath. (Habakkuk 2:18-19)

In that day a man will cast away to the moles and bats his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship... (Isaiah 2:18, 20)

...they made for themselves cast images of their silver, idols according to their skill, all of it the work of craftsmen. (Hosea 13:2)

I will sprinkle clean water on you, that you may be cleansed... from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. (Ezekiel 36:25)

Clean waters are truths; idols are falsities in worship.

You shall judge unclean the covering of your graven images of silver, and the attire of your cast images of gold. You will throw them away as a menstrual cloth; you will call it excrement. (Isaiah 30:22)

[3] Falsities in religion and thus in worship are precisely what are symbolically meant by the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone that Belshazzar, king of Babylon, praised (i.e., worshiped) when with his great men, wives and concubines he drank wine from the vessels of gold and silver taken from the temple in Jerusalem, on which account he was driven from mankind and became as a beast (Daniel 5:1-5ff.).

And so also in many other places, as in Isaiah 10:10-11; 21:9; 31:7; 40:19-20; 41:29; 42:17; 48:5, Leviticus 26:30.

Properly speaking, idols symbolize falsities in worship springing from people's own intelligence. How a person fashions them and afterward adapts them so that they appear to be true is fully described in Isaiah 44:9-20.

  
/ 962  
  

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

Bible

 

Isaiah 41

Studie

   

1 "Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let's meet together for judgment.

2 Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

3 He pursues them, and passes by safely, Even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

4 Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he."

5 The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come.

6 Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, "Be strong!"

7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

8 "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,

9 You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;'

10 Don't you be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

11 Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.

12 You will seek them, and won't find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing.

13 For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Don't be afraid. I will help you.'

14 Don't be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you," says Yahweh, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15 Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.

16 You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

19 I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set fir trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;

20 that they may see, know, consider, and understand together, that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 Produce your cause," says Yahweh. "Bring forth your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob.

22 "Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen. declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.

23 Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.

24 Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

25 "I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name; and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

26 Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And before, that we may say, 'He is right?' Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.

27 I am the first to say to Zion, 'Behold, look at them;' and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.

28 When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

29 Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.