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Ezechiele 39

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1 E tu, figliuol d’uomo, profetizza contro Gog, e di’: Così parla il Signore, l’Eterno: Eccomi da te, o Gog, principe sovrano di Mescec e di Tubal!

2 Io ti menerò via, ti spingerò innanzi, ti farò salire dalle estremità del settentrione e ti condurrò sui monti d’Israele;

3 butterò giù l’arco dalla tua mano sinistra, e ti farò cadere le frecce dalla destra.

4 Tu cadrai sui monti d’Israele, tu con tutte le tue schiere e coi popoli che saranno teco; ti darò in pasto agli uccelli rapaci, agli uccelli d’ogni specie, e alle bestie de’ campi.

5 Tu cadrai sulla faccia de’ campi, poiché io ho parlato, dice il Signore, l’Eterno.

6 E manderò il fuoco su Magog e su quelli che abitano sicuri nelle isole; e conosceranno che io sono l’Eterno.

7 E farò conoscere il mio nome santo in mezzo al mio popolo d’Israele, e non lascerò più profanare il mio nome santo; e le nazioni conosceranno che io sono l’Eterno, il santo in Israele.

8 Ecco, la cosa sta per avvenire, si effettuerà, dice il Signore, l’Eterno; questo è il giorno di cui io ho parlato.

9 E gli abitanti delle città d’Israele usciranno e faranno de’ fuochi, bruciando armi, scudi, targhe, archi, frecce, picche e lance; e ne faranno del fuoco per sette anni;

10 non porteranno legna dai campi, e non ne taglieranno nelle foreste; giacché faran del fuoco con quelle armi; e spoglieranno quelli che li spogliavano, e prederanno quelli che li predavano, dice il Signore, l’Eterno.

11 In quel giorno, io darò a Gog un luogo che gli servirà di sepoltura in Israele, la Valle de’ viandanti, a oriente del mare; e quel sepolcro chiuderà la via ai viandanti; quivi sarà sepolto Gog con tutta la sua moltitudine; e quel luogo sarà chiamato la Valle d’Hamon-Gog.

12 La casa d’Israele li sotterrerà per purificare il paese; e ciò durerà sette mesi.

13 Tutto il popolo del paese li sotterrerà; e per questo ei salirà in fama il giorno in cui mi glorificherò, dice il Signore, l’Eterno.

14 E metteranno da parte degli uomini i quali percorreranno del continuo il paese a sotterrare, con l’aiuto de’ viandanti, i corpi che saran rimasti sul suolo del paese, per purificarlo; alla fine dei sette mesi faranno questa ricerca.

15 E quando i viandanti passeranno per il paese, chiunque di loro vedrà delle ossa umane, rizzerà lì vicino un segnale, finché i seppellitori non li abbiano sotterrate nella Valle di Hamon-Gog.

16 E Hamonah sarà pure il nome di una città. E così purificheranno il paese.

17 E tu, figliuol d’uomo, così parla il Signore, l’Eterno: Di’ agli uccelli d’ogni specie e a tutte le bestie dei campi: Riunitevi, e venite! Raccoglietevi da tutte le parti attorno al banchetto del sacrificio che sto per immolare per voi, del gran sacrificio sui monti d’Israele! Voi mangerete carne e berrete sangue.

18 Mangerete carne di prodi e berrete sangue di principi della terra: montoni, agnelli, capri, giovenchi, tutti quanti ingrassati in Basan.

19 Mangerete del grasso a sazietà, e berrete del sangue fino a inebriarvi, al banchetto del sacrificio che io immolerò per voi;

20 e alla mia mensa sarete saziati di carne di cavalli e di bestie da tiro, di prodi e di guerrieri d’ogni sorta, dice il Signore, l’Eterno.

21 E io manifesterò la mia gloria fra le nazioni, e tutte le nazioni vedranno il giudizio che io eseguirò, e la mia mano che metterò su loro.

22 E da quel giorno in poi la casa d’Israele conoscerà che io sono l’Eterno, il suo Dio;

23 e le nazioni conosceranno che la casa d’Israele è stata menata in cattività a motivo della sua iniquità, perché m’era stata infedele; ond’io ho nascosto a loro la mia faccia, e li ho dati in mano de’ loro nemici; e tutti quanti son caduti per la spada.

24 Io li ho trattati secondo la loro impurità e secondo le loro trasgressioni, e ho nascosto loro la mia faccia.

25 Perciò, così parla il Signore, l’Eterno: Ora io farò tornare Giacobbe dalla cattività, e avrò pietà di tutta la casa d’Israele, e sarò geloso del mio santo nome.

26 Ed essi avran finito di portare il loro obbrobrio e la pena di tutte le infedeltà che hanno commesse contro di me, quando dimoreranno al sicuro nel loro paese, e non vi sarà più alcun che li spaventi;

27 quando li ricondurrò di fra i popoli e li raccoglierò dai paesi de’ loro nemici, e mi santificherò in loro in presenza di molte nazioni;

28 ed essi conosceranno che io sono l’Eterno, il loro Dio, quando, dopo averli fatti andare in cattività fra le nazioni, li avrò raccolti nel loro paese; e non lascerò più là più alcuno d’essi;

29 e non nasconderò più loro la mia faccia, perché avrò sparso il mio spirito sulla casa d’Israele, dice il Signore, l’Eterno".

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10033

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10033. Since the present chapter deals with the sacrifice and the burnt offering through which Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priestly office a little more will be stated regarding the blood and the fat. All the blood of a sacrifice or of a burnt offering had to be poured out at the altar and all the fat had to be burned on the altar, as the statutes and laws in Leviticus relating to burnt offerings and sacrifices make clear. The reason why this was done to the blood and fat was that the blood meant Divine Truth and the fat Divine Good. The fact that the blood meant Divine Truth is clear from what has been shown regarding 'blood' in 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, and that the fat meant Divine Good is clear from what has been shown in 5943.

[2] That 'blood' means Divine Truth is perfectly clear in Ezekiel,

Gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat till you are glutted, and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse, chariot, the mighty, and every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-22.

Anyone can see that 'blood' is not used to mean blood here, for it states that they were going to drink the blood of the princes of the earth, doing so till they were drunk, and also that they were going to eat fat till they were glutted, and then that they would be glutted with horse and chariot. From these statements it is evident that 'blood' is used to mean something other than blood, 'the princes of the earth' to mean something other than princes of the earth, and also 'fat' as well as 'horse and chariot' something other than fat, or horse and chariot. What is meant however none can know except through the internal sense. This shows that 'blood' means Divine Truth, 'the princes of the earth' the Church's primary or leading truths, 'fat' Divine Good, 'horse' the internal sense of the Word, and 'chariot' actual doctrinal teachings derived from there.

'Blood' means Divine Truth; this is clear from the places referred to above.

'The princes of the earth' means primary truths, 5044.

'The earth' means the Church, 9325.

'Horse' means the internal sense of the Word, 2760-2762.

'Chariot' means doctrinal teachings, 5321, 8215.

[3] From all this it is now evident what the meaning is of the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will have no life in yourselves. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:53-56.

'Flesh' means Divine Good, see 3813, 7850, 9127; and 'the Son of Man' whose flesh they were to eat and blood they were to drink means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, 9807.

[4] But the fact that 'fat' means Divine Good is clear in Isaiah,

Jehovah will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things. Isaiah 25:6.

In the same prophet,

Attend [diligently] to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:2.

And in Jeremiah,

I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:14.

From these quotations it becomes clear why all the fat of a sacrifice was burned on the altar and why all the blood was poured out at the side of it.

[5] Because blood and fat were signs of those Divine Entities the Israelite people were totally forbidden to eat fat or blood, as is clear in Moses,

[This shall be] a perpetual statute throughout your generations: You shall eat no fat and no blood. Leviticus 3:17.

In the same author,

You shall eat no fat, neither of ox, nor sheep, nor she-goat. Everyone who eats fat from a beast, from one that is offered as a fire-offering to Jehovah, that soul eating it will be cut off from his peoples. Leviticus 7:23, 25.

And again in the same author,

Whoever eats any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 17:10-14; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-25.

[6] The reason why eating blood and fat was so strictly forbidden was that eating them represented the profanation of Divine Truth and Divine Good. For the Israelite and Jewish nation was interested in outward forms but not their inner substance, so that in their faith and love there was no Divine Truth nor any Divine Good; and their worship was external devoid of these. This was because they were ruled by self-love and love of the world more than other nations; consequently they were steeped in evils gushing out of those loves, these evils being contempt for others, enmity, hatred, vengeance, brutality, and cruelty. This also was the reason why internal truths were not revealed to them, for if these had been revealed that nation would have inevitably profaned them. Such was the character of that nation, as may be seen in the places referred to in 9320(end), 9380. Therefore they would have represented profanation if they had eaten blood and fat; for whatever was established among them was representative of the interior things of the Church and heaven.

[7] From these considerations it is even more evident what the meaning is of the words in Ezekiel 39:17-22, dealt with above, stating that they would eat fat till they were glutted and drink blood, the blood of the princes of the earth, till they were drunk. That is to say, the meaning is that when inner virtues were opened up, those with whom these virtues existed, that is, faith in and love to the Lord, would have Divine Truth and Divine Good imparted to them as their own, as happened among gentile nations when the Lord came into the world. Therefore also those words go on to say, Thus will I set My glory among the nations, 'glory' meaning Divine Truth emanating from the Lord as it exists in heaven, 9429, and 'the nations' meaning all who are governed by good, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, 8771, 9256.

[8] This the Lord Himself corroborates, in His declaration that His flesh was truly food and His blood was truly drink, and whoever ate His flesh and drank His blood would abide in Him, and He in that person, John 6:55-56, and also in His institution of the Holy Supper, in which they were to eat His flesh and to drink His blood, Matthew 26:26-29, by which receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from Him and making them their own was meant. Receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from the Lord and making them their own is possible only with those who acknowledge the Lord's Divinity, for this is the first and most essential of all matters of belief within the Church. To no others can the way to heaven be opened, because the whole of heaven assents to that belief, and therefore Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, meant here by 'blood', cannot be imparted to them. Therefore let anyone who is within the Church beware of refusing to believe in the Lord and also His Divinity; for heaven is closed and hell opened to that refusal. For those people are separated from the Lord, and so are separated from heaven, where the Lord's Divinity is the All in all since it composes heaven. And when heaven has been closed, knowledge of the truths of faith derived from the Word and from the teachings of the Church indeed exists, but not a particle of faith that is real faith because real faith comes from above, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven.

[9] The Lord spoke in this manner, that is to say, He called the Divine Good emanating from Himself His flesh, and the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good His blood, because the Word, which sprang from Him, was His Divinity filling the whole of heaven. Such a Word must manifest itself through the use of correspondences, as a result of which it is representative and carries a spiritual meaning in every single part; for in this and no other way could it link members of the Church to angels in heaven. For when people in the world understand the Word according to its literal meaning angels understand it according to its inner meaning. Thus instead of the Lord's flesh they understand Divine Good, and instead of His blood they understand Divine Truth, both emanating from the Lord. As a consequence that which is holy flows in by way of the Word.

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