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Ezekiel 38

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1 And the word of Jehovah was unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face to Gog, the land of Magog, the chief, the head of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 and say, Thus says the Lord Jehovih*; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief, the head of Meshech and Tubal:

4 and I will turn· thee ·back, and put hooks into thy cheeks, and I will bring· thee ·out, and all thy host, horses and horsemen, all of them perfectly clothed, an assembly of many with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Put with them; all of them with shield and helmet;

6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north flanks, and all his bands; and many people with thee.

7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thine assembly that are assembled unto thee, and be thou for a guard to them.

8 After many days thou shalt be visited; in the later years thou shalt come to the land that is returned from the sword, and is brought·​·together out·​·of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been continually wasted; but she is brought·​·out from the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.

9 And thou shalt go·​·up as vastation, thou shalt come, as a cloud to cover the land thou shalt be, thou, and all thy bands, and many peoples with thee.

10 Thus says the Lord Jehovih: It shall be, in that day that the words come·​·up in thy heart, and thou shalt think an evil thought;

11 and thou shalt say, I will go·​·up on the land of the countryside; I will come to those who are quiet, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling with no walls, and there are no bars and doors for them,

12 to spoil for spoil, and to plunder for plunder; to return thy hand on the wastes that are dwelt·​·in, and to the people gathered from the nations, who have worked with livestock and substance, who dwell upon the navel* of the land.

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish, and all her young·​·lions, shall say to thee, Art thou come to spoil a spoil? hast thou assembled thine assembly to plunder a plunder, to lift silver and gold, to take livestock and substance, to spoil a great spoil?

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus says the Lord Jehovih; In that day when My people of Israel dwells securely, shalt thou not know it?

15 And thou shalt come from thy place out·​·of the north flanks, thou, and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great assembly, and a host of many:

16 and thou shalt come·​·up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against My land, in·​·order·​·that the nations may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus says the Lord Jehovih: Art thou he of whom I have spoken in ancient days by the hand of My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring thee against them?

18 And it shall be in that day, in the day Gog shall come against the ground of Israel, says the Lord Jehovih, that My fury shall go·​·up in My anger.

19 And in My zeal, in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great quaking upon the ground of Israel;

20 and the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the heavens, and the animals of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the ground, and all of man who is upon the face of the ground, shall quake before My face, and the mountains shall be broken·​·down, and the stairs shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the earth.

21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, says the Lord Jehovih; a man’s sword shall be against his brother.

22 And I will judge against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great·​·hail stones, fire and sulfur.

23 And I will magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Apocalypse Revealed # 399

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399. And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood. This symbolizes falsity springing from a hellish love, destroying goodness and truth and falsifying the Word.

Hail symbolizes falsity destroying goodness and truth. Fire symbolizes hellish love. And blood symbolizes the falsification of truth.

The reason that hail symbolizes falsity destroying goodness and truth will be seen below. To be shown that fire is love in both senses, heavenly and hellish, see no. 468; and that blood is the Lord's Divine truth, which is also the Word, and in an opposite sense, the Word falsified, no. 379.

When these are assembled into a single meaning, it is apparent that "hail and fire followed, mingled with blood," symbolizes falsity springing from a hellish love, destroying goodness and truth and falsifying the Word.

This is the symbolic meaning because these are the kinds of things that appear in the spiritual world when the atmosphere of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom dips down from heaven into societies where there are falsities springing from hellish love and these are used to falsify the Word.

[2] Hail and fire together have the same symbolism in the following places:

From the brightness before Him, ...clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire... ...the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And He sent out His (many) arrows and scattered them... (Psalms 18:12-14)

I will dispute... with pestilence and blood, and I will rain down on (them)...hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (Ezekiel 38:22)

Then Jehovah will cause His... voice to be heard..., with the flame of a devouring fire... and hailstones. (Isaiah 30:30)

He made their rain hail, a flaming fire in their land..., and splintered the trees of their border. (Psalms 105:32-33)

He smote their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with heavy hail, and... their cattle with burning coals... He sent in the wrath of His anger... an incursion of evil angels. (Psalms 78:47-49)

The latter passages refer to Egypt, of whom we read in the books of Moses the following:

Moses stretched out his rod... and Jehovah sent voices and hail... And there was hail and fire together proceeding in the midst of heavy hail... And the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. (Exodus 9:23-35)

All the miracles done in Egypt symbolized those evils and falsities, springing from a hellish love, that existed in the Egyptians, each miracle symbolizing some evil and falsity. For the church with them had been representational, as it was in many Asiatic kingdoms, but one that became idolatrous and given to sorcery. The Red Sea symbolizes hell, in which the Egyptians finally perished.

[3] The hailstones which killed many more of the enemy than the sword in Joshua 10:11 have a similar symbolism. So, too, hail in the following passages:

Woe to the crown of pride... ...strong is the Lord, like an inundation of hail... The hail overturns the refuge of lies... (Isaiah 28:1-2, 17)

It will hail until it flattens the forest... (Isaiah 32:19)

The temple of God was opened in heaven..., and there were lightnings, voices, and thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19)

And great hail with the weight of a talent fell from heaven upon men. (Revelation 16:21)

...have you seen the treasuries of hail, which have been reserved... for the day of battle and war? (Job 38:22-23)

Say to those who plaster the unsuitable that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, in which you, hailstones, shall fall. (Ezekiel 13:11)

To plaster the unsuitable is to defend falsity so that it appears as true. Consequently people who do this are called hailstones.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.