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Ezekiel 23

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1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

10 These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.

12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,

14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

15 Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:

16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

22 There, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.

24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated:

29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.

40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,

41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.

42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?

44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.

45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.

47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1368

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1368. That 'Ur of the Chaldeans' means external worship containing falsities is clear from the meaning of 'the Chaldeans' in the Word. At verse 9 above it has been shown that 'Babel' means worship which interiorly contains evils, whereas 'Chaldea' means worship which interiorly contains falsities. Consequently Babel means worship which inwardly contains no trace of good and Chaldea worship which inwardly contains no trace of truth. Worship which inwardly contains no trace of good and no trace of truth is worship which interiorly contains what is unholy and idolatrous. That such worship is meant in the Word by 'Chaldea' becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans! This people is not. Asshur founded her in the tziim. They will erect their watch-towers, they will raise up her palaces; he will make her into a ruin. Isaiah 23:13.

'The land of the Chaldeans who are not a people' stands for falsities, 'Asshur founded' for reasonings, 'watch-towers' for delusions. In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent into Babel and have broken down all the bars, and the Chaldeans in whose ships there is shouting. Isaiah 43:14.

'Babel' stands for worship which interiorly contains evil, 'the Chaldeans' for worship which interiorly contains falsity. 'Ships' means cognitions of truth that have been perverted.

[2] In the same prophet, sit in silence and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for no more will they call you the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with My people, I rendered My heritage unholy, and I gave them into your hand These two things will come to you suddenly in one day - loss of children and widowhood. In full measure they will come upon you on account of the multitude of your sorceries, and on account of the greatness of your enchantments. Isaiah 47:5-6, 9.

Here it is evident that 'Chaldea' means profanation of truth and is called 'sorceries and enchantments'. In the same prophet,

Go away out of Babel, flee from the Chaldeans. Isaiah 48:20.

This stands for flight from profaning good and truth in worship. In Ezekiel,

Make known to Jerusalem her abominations; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur. Hence you multiplied your whoredom even into the land of Chaldea. Ezekiel 16:2-3, 26, 28-29.

This refers to the Jewish Church in particular. 'The sons of Egypt' stands for facts, 'the sons of Asshur' for reasonings, 'the land of Chaldea into which it multiplied its whoredom' for the profanation of truth.

Anyone may see that Egypt, Asshur, and Chaldea are not used to mean countries, and that no other kind of whoredom is being referred to.

[3] In the same prophet,

Oholah committed whoredom and doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbours. And she did not give up her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt. She added to her acts of whoredom. And she saw men; it was portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans painted in vermilion, girded with belts on their loins, with dyed flowing turbans on their heads, all of them leaders in appearance, the likeness of the sons of Babel, the Chaldeans, the land of their nativity. She loved them passionately as soon as she set eyes on them and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The sons of Babel defiled her by means of their acts of whoredom. Ezekiel 23:5, 8, 14-17.

Here 'the Chaldeans', called 'the sons of Babel', stands for truths that have been profaned in worship. 'Oholah' stands for the spiritual Church which is called 'Samaria'. 1

In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching into the breadths of the earth, to possess habitations that are not its own. A dreadful and terrible nation; and from itself proceeds its judgement and its pride. Its horses are swifter than leopards, and sharper than the evening wolves. Its horsemen spread out, and its horsemen come from afar. They fly in like an eagle hastening to devour. The whole [nation] comes for violence; the panting desire of its face 2 is set towards the east. Habakkuk 1:6, 9.

Here the Chaldean nation is described by means of many representatives meaning the circumstances in which truth is profaned in worship.

A further description of Babel and Chaldea is given in two whole chapters - in Jeremiah 50, 51 - where it is plainly evident what they both mean. There Babel plainly means in worship the profanation of celestial things and Chaldea the profanation of spiritual things. From these considerations it is now clear what is meant by 'Ur of the Chaldeans', that it is external worship which interiorly contains what is unholy and idolatrous. I have also been allowed to learn from these people themselves that their worship was such.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1Ezekiel 23:4 identifies Oholah with Samaria.

2. literally, faces

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