Bible

 

Ezechiël 38:9

Studie

       

9 Dan zult gij optrekken, gij zult aankomen als een onstuimige verwoesting, gij zult zijn als een wolk, om het land te bedekken; gij en al uw benden, en vele volken met u.

Komentář

 

Field

  
The Sower, by Vincent van Gogh

A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start, take root, and grow. When you have a desire to be a good person and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?", "What should I do?", "What can I do?". You look for ideas, concepts, direction. Once you figure out something you want to do or a change you want to make in yourself, you seek specific knowledge. If you want to volunteer at a food pantry, say, you'd need to know whom to call, when they need help, where to go, what to bring. Armed with that knowhow, you're ready to get to work. That process could be compared to food production. You start with a field -- which is that desire to be good. Then you plant seeds -- those ideas and concepts. Those seeds sprout into plants -- the specific facts and knowledge needed for the task (easily seen in the food pantry example, but also true with deeper tasks like "being more tolerant of my co-workers" or "taking more time for prayer," or "consciously being a more loving spouse"). Finally, those plants produce food -- the actual good thing that you go and do. The Writings also say that in a number of cases a "field" represents the doctrine, or teachings, of the church. This sounds markedly different. The desire for good is emotional, a drive, a wanting; doctrine is a set of ideas. But for a church to be true, its doctrine must be centered on a desire for good, and must lead people toward doing what is good. So sound doctrine is actually closely bound up with the desire for good.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8201

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

8201. 'And Jehovah caused the sea to go away by a strong east wind' means the agent through which falsity was dispersed. This is clear from the meaning of 'causing to go away' as dispersing; from the meaning of 'the sea' as falsity, 'the sea' here meaning its waters, which are falsities, see 8137, 8138; and from the meaning of 'an east wind' as the agent of destruction, dealt with in 7679, here of the destruction of falsity, thus of the dispersing of it.

  
/ 10837  
  

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