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Ezekiel 27

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1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying:

2 And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre,

3 and say unto Tyre: O thou that art situate at the entries of the sea, and traffickest with the peoples in many isles, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty.

4 Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

5 They made all thy double boards of cypress-trees of Senir; they took cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

6 Of the oaks of Bashan did they make thine oars; they made thy benches of ivory, inlaid in box-wood, out of the isles of Chittim.

7 Byssus with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, to serve thee for a banner; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning.

8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy wise men, O Tyre, who were in thee, were thy pilots.

9 The elders of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee repairing thy leaks; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee, to barter with thee.

10 Persia and Lud and Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged shield and helmet in thee; they gave splendour to thee.

11 The children of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were on thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they made thy beauty perfect.

12 Tarshish dealt with thee by reason of the abundance of all substance; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they furnished thy markets.

13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers: they bartered with thee the persons of men, and vessels of bronze.

14 They of the house of Togarmah furnished thy markets with horses, and horsemen, and mules.

15 The children of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they rendered in payment horns of ivory, and ebony.

16 Syria dealt with thee for the multitude of thy handiworks: they traded in thy markets with carbuncles, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and corals, and rubies.

17 Judah and the land of Israel were thy traffickers: they bartered with thee wheat of Minnith, and sweet cakes, and honey, and oil, and balm.

18 Damascus dealt with thee because of the multitude of thy handiworks, by reason of the abundance of all substance, with wine of Helbon, and white wool.

19 Vedan and Javan of Uzal traded in thy markets: wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy traffic.

20 Dedan was thy trafficker in precious riding-cloths.

21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were the merchants of thy hand: in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these did they trade with thee.

22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were thy traffickers: they furnished thy markets with all the choice spices, and with all precious stones and gold.

23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with thee:

24 these traded with thee in sumptuous clothes, in wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests full of variegated stuffs, bound with cords and made of cedar-wood, amongst thy merchandise.

25 The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy traffic; and thou wast replenished, and highly honoured, in the heart of the seas.

26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the seas.

27 Thy substance, and thy markets, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, they that repair thy leaks, and they that barter with thee, and all thy men of war that are in thee, along with all thine assemblage which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy fall.

28 The open places shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land,

30 and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly; and they shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in ashes.

31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.

32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, [saying,] Who is like Tyre, like her that is destroyed in the midst of the sea?

33 When thy wares went forth over the seas, thou filledst many peoples; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the abundance of thy substance and of thy merchandise.

34 In the time [when] thou art broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thine assemblage in the midst of thee have fallen.

35 All the inhabitants of the isles are amazed at thee, and their kings are horribly afraid, [their] countenance is troubled.

36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9688

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9688. 'The work of an embroiderer' means things that belong to factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the work of an embroiderer', or embroidery, as factual knowledge. A large number of places in the Word speak of that which has been embroidered and of embroidery, and in every case factual knowledge is meant by it. The reason for this goes back to representatives in the next life; there garments embroidered in various ways are seen, and by these garments truths on the level of factual knowledge are meant.

[2] Truths on the level of factual knowledge differ from those on the level of the understanding in the same way as outward things differ from inward ones, or as the natural level with a person differs from the spiritual. Facts serve the understanding as objects from which it may deduce truths; for the power of understanding is the internal or spiritual man's power of sight, and known facts are its objects in the external or natural man. These facts are meant by 'the work of an embroiderer' whereas that power of understanding is meant by 'the work of a designer', 9598, for designing is a function of the understanding, and embroidering a function of the knowledge and skill employed by the understanding. This explains why the objects within the dwelling-place, which were signs meaning inner realities, were the work of a designer, such as the curtains that formed it, verse 1, and the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies, verse 31. But the objects which were signs meaning outer realities were the work of an embroiderer, such as the screen in place of a tent door, and the screen in place of a gate of the court, Exodus 38:18, and also the girdle, Exodus 39:29, 'the girdle' being what is external linking everything internal, 'the court' being the lowest part of heaven, and 'the tent door' the place where there is an exit from the middle heaven into the lowest.

[3] The fact that 'embroidery' and that which has been 'embroidered' mean factual knowledge belonging to the external or natural man is clear from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks; [they exchanged for your wares] chrysoprase and purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen. The merchants of Sheba [came] with balls of violet and with embroidered work. Ezekiel 27:7, 16, 24.

This refers to Tyre, by which those in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant, and in the abstract sense those cognitions themselves, 1201. 'Fine linen with embroidery' means truth on the level of factual knowledge, for 'fine linen' means truth from a celestial origin, 5319, 9469, and 'embroidery' is factual knowledge. This also is the reason why it says that it came from Egypt - for 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7779 (end), 9391 - and also from Syria and from Sheba, since cognitions of truth and good are meant by 'Syria', 1232, 1234, 3051, 3249, 3664, 3680, 4112, and in like manner by 'Sheba', 1171, 3240. Cognitions of truth and good constitute the Church's factual knowledge. Anybody endowed with the ability to think intelligently and weigh things up can see that in these verses from Ezekiel one should not understand embroidery, fine linen, violet, or purple, but that these commodities mean things such as are worthy of mention in the Word, namely spiritual realities that belong to heaven and the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the princes of the sea will step down from upon their thrones, and will cast away their robes and will strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with tremblings. Ezekiel 26:16.

This too refers to Tyre. 'The princes of the sea' are the first and foremost known facts, which are called dogmas, 'princes' meaning things which are first and foremost, see 1482, 2089, 5044, and 'the sea' factual knowledge in general 28, 2850. 'Robes' are external truths, 'embroidered' are truths on the level of factual knowledge, which too are external ones. For the meaning of 'garments' as truths, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 6918, 9093, 9158, 9212, 9216.

[5] In the same prophet,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shod you with badger; I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver; and your garments were fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. But you took your embroidered garments and covered the images, with which you committed whoredom. 1 Ezekiel 16:10, 13, 18.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Church is meant. 'Embroidered garments' stands for truths on the level of factual knowledge. 'Covering the images, with which she committed whoredom' stands for giving strength to falsities, for 'committing whoredom' means perverting truths by bringing them into contact with falsities or with evils. Is there anyone who cannot see that since these verses describe Jerusalem 'fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth' are not used to mean fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth? Yet what they really mean the Christian world does not seek to know, because it supposes that heavenly and spiritual matters in the Word reside in its literal sense; the more internal contents of the Word it calls mystical, but has no interest in them.

[6] In the same prophet,

A great eagle with great wings, with long pinions, full of feathers, 2 which had embroidery ... Ezekiel 17:3.

This refers to the house of Israel, which means the spiritual Church; and this Church is called 'an eagle' by virtue of its perception of truth, 3901, 8764, 'which had embroidery' standing for its possession of factual knowledge. In David,

All glorious is the king's daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings; in an embroidered [robe] she will be led to the king. Psalms 45:13-14.

'The king's daughter' stands for an affection for truth, 'an embroidered [robe]' for factual knowledge of truth. In the Book of Judges,

Will they not divide the spoil, ... the spoil of colours for Sisera, the spoil of colours of embroidered work, embroiderers' colour - on the necks of the spoil? 3 Judges 5:30.

In this verse, which is part of the Song of Deborah and Barak, 'embroidered [work]' stands for factual knowledge belonging to the natural man.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Here verse 18 of Ezekiel 16 has become confused with the preceding verse 17.

2. literally, A great eagle, great with wings, long with pinions, and full with feathers,

3. The meaning in the Hebrew of this verse is very obscure. The Latin rendering by Sebastian Schmidt, which Swedenborg relies on here, is literal and equally difficult to make sense of.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.