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Jeremiah 24

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1 Jehovah shewed me, and behold, two baskets of figs, set before the temple of Jehovah, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive from Jerusalem, Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the craftsmen and smiths, and had brought them to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness.

3 And Jehovah said unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good Figs very good; and the bad very bad, which cannot be eaten for badness.

4 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

5 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard for good them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans;

6 and I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.

7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, surely, thus saith Jehovah: So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 And I will give them over to be driven hither and thither unto all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them;

10 and I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

   

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Before

  
Photo by Jenny Stein

In most cases, the meaning of "before" is pretty straightforward, both as a way of assessing relative time, and in its use meaning "in someone's presence." It takes on a deeper significance, though, when used in connection with the Lord. To be "before" the Lord means not just in His presence, but also receiving the desire for good and the understanding of truth from Him, and living according to them. And when used as an assessment of time in connection with the Lord, "before" means "from eternity," and refers to a spiritual state rather than time as we experience it.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 366, 617; Arcana Coelestia 6983, 8439, 9888)

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Arcana Coelestia # 6983

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6983. 'Neither since yesterday, nor since the day before' means that he has lacked it - the gift of speech - from eternity. This is clear from the meaning of 'since yesterday and since the day before' as from eternity. The reason why 'since yesterday and since the day before' means from eternity is that a period of time is meant by these words, in particular past time; but time spoken of in connection with the Lord or the Divine does not mean a period of time but what is eternal. There are two things proper to the natural order which have no existence in heaven, and even less in the Divine, namely space and time. For their non-existence in heaven and the existence of states instead - states of being instead of 'space', and states of coming-into-being or manifestation instead of 'time' - see 2625, 3938; and for the fact that areas of space and periods of time in heaven are states, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3387, 3404, 3827, 4321, 4814, 4882, 4901, 4916, 5605, 6110. But within the Divine which is above the heavens the absence of space and time is even more complete; for not even states exist within Him. Instead of space there is what is infinite, and instead of time what is eternal. These two are what periods of time or areas of space in the world correspond to, and are what states of being and of coming-into-being in the heavens correspond to.

[2] The fact that in the Word 'yesterday' and 'the day before' do not mean yesterday and the day before but past time in general is clear from places where those words are used, as in Joshua,

The waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went as yesterday [and] the day before 1 over all its banks. Joshua 4:18.

In the first Book of Samuel,

It happened, when all who knew Saul from yesterday and the day before 2 saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets . . . 1 Samuel 10:11.

In the second Book of Samuel,

The tribes of Israel said to David, Both yesterday and the day before, 3 when Saul was king over us, you were the one bringing Israel out and back. 2 Samuel 5:1-2.

In these places and elsewhere 'yesterday [and] the day before' stands for previously or past time. Now since 'yesterday and the day before' means time past, and the subject in the highest sense is the Lord, who in respect of the Divine Law or Divine Truth is represented by 'Moses', it is evident that 'since yesterday and since the day before' means from eternity. Eternity, meant by 'yesterday', is described in David as follows,

A thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalms 90:4.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, as yesterday three days ago

2. literally, from yesterday and three days ago

3. literally, Both yesterday and three days ago

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