Jeremiah 6
1
Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.
2
I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate woman.
3
The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand.
4
Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are grown longer.
5
Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.
6
For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her.
7
As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity and stripes are continually before me.
8
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.
9
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer into the basket.
10
To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: behold the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and and they will not receive it.
11
Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient and he that is full of days.
12
And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch for my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
13
For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit.
14
And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, Peace: and there was no Peace.
15
They were confounded, because they commmitted abomination: yea, rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how to blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.
16
Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see and ask for the old paths which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: we will not walk.
17
And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.
18
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great things I will do to them.
19
Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and they have cast away my law.
20
To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21
Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall, neighbor and kinsman shall perish.
22
Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.
23
They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion.
24
We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labor.
25
Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side.
26
Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27
I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt know and prove their way.
28
All of these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they are brass and iron: they are all corrupted.
29
The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.
30
Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.
Arcana Coelestia # 10329
10329. 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, belonging to the tribe of Judah' means those in whom the good of love is present, among whom the Church is to be established. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling by name' as choosing such persons, that is to say, ones who are suitable, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Bezalel' as those in whom the good of love is present. The reason why these are represented here by Bezalel is that he came from the tribe of Judah, and this tribe means those in whom celestial good is present, which is the good of love to the Lord, and in the abstract sense, without reference to persons, it means the good of celestial love. For this meaning of Judah and his tribe, see 3654, 3881, 6363, 6364, 8770. But what Uri and Hur, Bezalel's father and grandfather, represent is clear from the manner in which celestial good is begotten. It is begotten by teachings that present what is true and good on a celestial level. So those teachings are meant by these two men, 'Hur' representing teachings that present the truth, see 9424.
[2] People who keep their minds fixed solely on the literal sense of the Word, which they do more resolutely in the historical sections than in the prophetical parts, may be astonished when they are told that such things are meant by the names of those two men; but people who are acquainted with the essential nature of the Word will not be astonished. For in every detail the Word has a spiritual content. Within the actual names of persons and places that are mentioned in the Word there would be nothing spiritual if they did not serve to mean things of the Church and of heaven; for those things are spiritual. From this it follows that the two names used here likewise mean spiritual things.
Names in the Word serve to mean spiritual things or realities, see 1224, 1264, 1888, 4442, 5095, 5225, 6516.
Names do not pass into heaven, only the realities meant by them, 1876, 10216, 10282.
[3] The reason why 'calling by name' in the spiritual sense means choosing such persons as are suitable is that the word 'name' considered without reference to an actual person means the essential nature of something, as becomes clear from places in the Word in which 'name' occurs.
'Name' means the essential nature of something, see 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3004-3011, 3421, 6674, 6887, 8274, 8882, 9310.
The verb 'call' without the noun 'name' has a similar meaning, 3421, 3659, while 'calling by name' means choosing, 8773.
[4] Two men are named here who were called by Jehovah to carry out the work that Moses was commanded on Mount Sinai - Bezalel from the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab from the tribe of Dan. 'Bezalel' means those in whom the good of celestial love is present, 'Aholiab' those in whom the good and truth of faith exist. Those in whom the good of celestial love is present are in the inmost part of heaven and the Church, whereas those in whom the good and truth of faith exist are in the last and lowest part of them. Thus these two men mean all persons in their entirety among whom the Church may be established; for the first and the last, or the inmost and the outermost, mean all persons or all things. For the subject in what immediately follows is the Church that is to be established; and this is why these two, by whom are meant all among whom the Church could be established, are mentioned by name. For the meaning of the first and the last as all persons and all things, see 10044; and for that of Aholiab from the tribe of Dan as those in whom the good of faith exists, and so who are in the last and lowest part of heaven or the Church, see in what follows below.
From all this it now evident that 'I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, belonging to the tribe of Judah' means those in whom the good of love is present, among whom the Church is to be established.
