79. 영적 의미로 간음은 말씀의 선을 변질시키고 말씀의 진리를 위화(僞化)하는 것임은, 다음 구절들을 볼 때 확실해진다.

자기 음행때문에 분노의 포도주를 모든 민족에게 마시게 한 바빌론(요한계시록 14:8)

천사가 나에게 "많은 물 위에 앉은 엄청난 탕녀가 받을 심판을 보여주겠다. 세상의 왕들이 그 여자와 더불어 놀아났고"(요한계시록 17:1-2)

음란으로 세상을 망친 그 엄청난 탕녀를 하나님이 심판하셨다(요한계시록 19:2).

음란이 바빌론과 연결되어 언급된 것은, 바빌론은 주님의 신적 권능을 자기들 것으로 사취한 사람들, 그리고 말씀을 변질시키고 위화 함으로써 말씀을 모독한 사람들을 의미하기 때문이다. 그래서 바빌론은 "온 땅의 탕녀들과 흉측한 것들의 어미(요한계시록 17:5)"라 불린다.

예레미야 등 예언서에서도 음행은 위와 같은 것을 의미한다.

나는 예루살렘 선지자들 중에도 망측한 일을 보았다. 그들은 간음하며 거짓 속에 행하고(레위기 23:14)

에스겔에 이런 구절이 있다.

두 여인이 있었다. 그들은 한 어미의 딸이었다. 그들은 이집트에 있을 적에 놀아났었다. 소녀적부터 놀아났었다. 하나는 내 사람이었을 때 외간 남자들과 놀아났다. 그 이웃 아시리아인들과 연애하여 … 음행하고 … 이집트에 있을 때부터 바람을 피우던 그 버릇을 버리지 않았다. 다른 하나는 이보다 더 부패한 여자였다. 그의 언니보다 더 간음이 심하였고 점점 더 심해졌다. 그 여자는 칼데아 사람을 연애하여 … 바빌론 사람이 와서 연애하는 침상에 올라 음란으로 그를 더럽히고(에스겔 23:2-17)

이것은 이스라엘 교회와 유다 교회를 말한다. 여기서 그 둘을 한 어미의 딸이라 불렸다. 그들의 음행은, 말씀의 순수성을 변질시키고 허위로 만든 것을 의미한다. 말씀에서 이집트는 지식을 의미하고 아시리아는 논리성을, 칼데아는 진리의 모독을, 바빌론은 선의 모독을 의미하기 때문에, 그 두 여인이 이들 나라와 음행을 했다고 한 것이다.

예루살렘에 대해서도 역시 같은 말을 하셨다. 예루살렘은 교리의 측면에서 본 교회를 의미한다. 에스겔을 보자.

예루살렘 너는 네 아름다움을 믿고 명성을 인해 네 몸을 팔았으며 지나가는 아무나와 음란을 행하며 …육체가 큰 네 이웃 나라 이집트 사람들과 음란하게 행하며 너의 음행이 심해지고 …그러고도 부족하여 너는 아시리아 사람들에게 몸을 팔았다. 그렇다, 너는 그들에게 몸을 팔았다 … 장사하는 땅 칼데아에까지 네 음행을 늘려갔다 … 남편 대신에 타인을 맞아들인 부정한 아내로구나. 창녀도 사례를 받는다. 그러나 너는 오히려 네 정부들에게 선물을 주는구나 … 그들을 사방에서 끌어들이기 위해. 그러니 오 창녀야 너는 야훼의 말씀을 들어라(에스겔 16:15, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35).

예루살렘이 교회를 의미한다는 것은 62, 63에서 볼 수 있을 것이다.

음행도 위와 같은 것을 의미한다는 것은 다음 성경 구절들에 나온다.

이사야 23:17-18; 57:3; 예레미야 3:2, 6, 8-9; 5:1, 7; 13:27; 29:23; 미가 1:7:; 나훔 3:4; 호세아 4:10-11; 레위기 20:5; 민수기 14:33; 15:39 등이다.

같은 이유로 주님은 유태민족을 "간음하는 세대"(마태복음 12:39; 16:4; 마가복음 8:38)라고 하셨다.

1326. That 'therefore He called the name of it Babel' means such worship, namely that meant by 'Babel', is clear from what has been stated so far - about worship which inwardly contains self-love and therefore everything that is filthy and unholy. Self-love is nothing else than the proprium, and how filthy and unholy this is becomes clear from what has been shown already about the proprium in 210, 215. From philautia, ¹ that is, from self-love or the proprium, flow all evils, such as those of hatred, revenge, cruelty, adultery, deceit, hypocrisy, and irreligion. Consequently when self-love or the proprium is present in worship, such evils are present too - but the particular kind of evils and their intensity being determined by the extent and nature of what flows from that self-love. This is the origin of all profanation in worship. The fact of the matter is that insofar as self-love or the proprium introduces itself into worship, internal worship departs, that is, internal worship ceases to exist. Internal worship consists in the affection for good and in the acknowledgement of truth, but to the extent that self-love or the proprium intrudes or enters in, the affection for good and the acknowledgement of truth depart or go away. Holiness cannot possibly co-exist with unholiness, any more than heaven can with hell. Instead one must depart from the other. Such is the state and proper order existing in the Lord's kingdom. This is the reason why among the kind of people whose worship is called 'Babel' no internal worship exists, but instead something dead and indeed inwardly corpse-like is worshipped. This shows what their external worship which is inwardly such is like.

[2] That such worship is 'Babel' is clear from many parts of the Word where Babel is described, as in Daniel, where the description of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel saw in a dream - whose head was gold, breast and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay - means that true worship finally deteriorated into the kind of worship called 'Babel', and therefore also a stone cut out of the rock smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, Daniel 2:31-33, 44-45. The statue of gold which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel set up, and which people were to adore, had no other meaning, Daniel 3:1-end. The same applies to the description of the king of Babel with his nobles drinking wine from the vessels of gold that had come from the Temple in Jerusalem, of their praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone, and of writing therefore appearing on the wall, Daniel 5:1-end; to the description of Darius the Mede commanding that he be adored instead of God, Daniel 6:1-end; and to that of the beasts seen by Daniel in a dream, Daniel 7:1-end, as well as to that of the beasts and Babel in John's Revelation.

[3] That such worship was meant and represented is quite clear not only in Daniel and John but also in the Prophets: in Isaiah,

Their faces were faces of flames; the stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give their light The sun is darkened in its coming up and the moon does not shed its light Tziim lie down there, and their houses are full of ochim, and daughters of the owl dwell there, and satyrs dance there, and iim answer in its palaces, and dragons in its halls of pleasure. Isaiah 13:8, 10, 21-22

This refers to Babel and describes the internal aspect of such worship by 'faces of flames', which are evil desires; by 'the stars', which are truths of faith, 'not giving their light'; by 'the sun', which is holy love, 'being darkened'; by 'the moon', which is the truth of faith, 'not shedding its light'; by 'tziim, ochim, daughters of the owl, satyrs, dim, and dragons', which are the more interior aspects of worship. For such things belong to self-love or the proprium. This also is why Babel in John is called 'the mother of whoredoms and abominations', Revelation 17:5; and in the same book,

A dwelling-place of demons, ² and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.

From these places it is evident that when such things are within, it is impossible for any good or truth of faith to be there, and that to the extent that those things enter in, the goods which are the objects of affection, and the truths of faith, depart. They are also called in Isaiah 21:9 'the graven images of the gods of Babel'.

[4] That it is self-love or the proprium which lies within their worship, or that it is worship of self, is quite clear in Isaiah,

Prophesy this parable against the king of Babel, You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the cloud, I will make myself like the Most High. But you will be brought down to hell. Isaiah 14:4, 13-15.

Here, it is plain, Babel means the person who wishes to be worshipped as a god, that is, worship of self is meant.

[5] In the same prophet,

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You trusted in your wickedness, you said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray; you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. Isaiah 47:1, 10.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth; and I will stretch out My hand over you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you into a mountain of burning. Though Babel rise up into the heavens, and though she fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me those who lay waste will come to her. Jeremiah 51:25, 53.

This again shows that 'Babel' is worship of self.

[6] The fact that such people have no light of truth, but only total darkness, that is, that they do not possess the truth of faith, is described in Jeremiah,

The word which Jehovah spoke against Babel, against the land of the Chaldeans, There will come up upon her a nation from the north, which will make her land a desolation, and none will dwell in it; both man and beast will scatter themselves, they will go away. Jeremiah 50:1, 3.

'The north' stands for thick darkness, or absence of truth. 'No man and no beast' stands for the absence of good. For more about Babel, see at verse 28 ³ below, where Chaldea is referred to.

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