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Daniel 6

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1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be in all the kingdom;

2 and over these, three presidents -- of whom Daniel was one -- to whom these satraps should render account, and that the king should suffer no loss.

3 Now this Daniel surpassed the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to appoint him over the whole realm.

4 Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel with respect to the kingdom; but they could not find any pretext or fault; inasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

5 Then said these men, We shall not find any pretext against this Daniel, unless we find [it] against him touching the law of his God.

6 Then these presidents and satraps came in a body to the king, and said thus unto him: King Darius, live for ever!

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

9 Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

11 But those men came in a body, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

12 Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree: Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [anything] of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

13 Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

15 Then these men came in a body unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will save thee.

17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his nobles, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were concubines brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king arose with the light at break of day, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

20 And when he came near unto the den, he cried with a mournful voice unto Daniel: the king spoke and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God whom thou servest continually been able to save thee from the lions?

21 Then Daniel spoke unto the king, O king, live for ever!

22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

23 Thereupon was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces ere they came to the bottom of the den.

25 Then king Darius wrote unto all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you.

26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

27 He saveth and delivereth, and he worketh signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth: who hath saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 1063

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1063. Verse 10. And they are seven kings, signifies the truths of the Word falsified and profaned by such. This is evident from the signification of "kings," as being the truths of the Word (See n. 29, 31, 625, 1034); also from the mention of "seven," which has reference to what is holy, and in the contrary sense to what is profane; therefore "seven kings" signify the truths of the Word falsified and profaned. "Seven kings" have this signification because the "seven mountains" just mentioned signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned. For in the Word where good is treated of truth is also treated of, because of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth in all the particulars of it (See above, n. 238, 660, 775).

[2] One who does not know that in the Word "kings" signify truths can by no means know what is meant by "kings" in many passages in the Word, as in Daniel where it is said:

The heads and the horns of the beasts are kings or kingdoms (Daniel 7:17, 24; also in Revelation 16:12, 14; 18:3; 19:19; 21:24).

And in this chapter:

The seven heads are seven kings; the five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And the beast that was and is not is the eighth king, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition. And the ten horns are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom; and other things that follow (Revelation 17:10-12).

For if kings were here meant by "kings" it could not possibly be divined by any conjecture what these expressions mean. But when it is known that "kings" signify the truths of the Word and thus the truths of the church, the meaning is plainly evident. Moreover, by the numbers so many truths are not to be understood, but such truths as are signified by the number in the spiritual sense. For if seven truths were signified by the "seven kings," and five truths by "the five kings who have fallen," and ten truths by the "ten kings" and as many "horns," from all this no spiritual sense could in any way result; therefore it must be altogether known that all numbers signify in the Word the qualities of the things which are described.

(Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation)

[3] In this kind of profanation are those especially who read the Word and know about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are all things holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot be profaned. That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what is holy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it. From this it follows that those do not belong to this kind of profanation who do not read the Word and do not approach the Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who know nothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles. Those who belong to this kind of profanation appear after death at first with a face of human color, around which float many wandering stars; and those of them that had been leaders sometimes appear shining about the mouth. But as they are brought into the light of heaven, the stars and the shining of the mouth vanish, and the color of the face is changed to black, and likewise their garments. But the blackness of these profaners draws something from blue, as the blackness of the other kind of profaners draws something from red, for the reason that the latter profane the goods of the Word and of the church, while the others profane the truths of the Word and of the church. For red derives from the sun its signification of good, while blue derives from the sky its signification of truth.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

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Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture # 50

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50. The Church’s Doctrine Must Be Drawn from the Word’s Literal Sense and Verified by It

In the preceding section we showed that in its literal sense the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power. And because the Lord embodies the Word — inasmuch as He is the totality of the Word — it follows that the Lord is most present in that sense, and that He teaches and enlightens a person in the light of it.

This, however, needs to be demonstrated according to the following outline:

1. The Word is not understood apart from doctrine.

2. Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense.

3. However, Divine truth, of which doctrine ought to consist, is apparent only to people who are enlightened by the Lord.

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