Apocalypse Revealed # 757
757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.
Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:
Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)
I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)
And in Jeremiah:
...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)
It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:
In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)
The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)
Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).
[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:
Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)
In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)
...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)
I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)
There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)
I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)
Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)
[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.
Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)
And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.
That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.
2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.
3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14
Luke 15:4-32
4
"Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
5
When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6
When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
7
I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8
Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?
9
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.'
10
Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
11
He said, "A certain man had two sons.
12
The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them.
13
Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
14
When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
15
He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
16
He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
17
But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!
18
I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.
19
I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants."'
20
"He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21
The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22
"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
23
Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;
24
for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.
25
"Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26
He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.
27
He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.'
28
But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.
29
But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.
30
But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
31
"He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32
But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"
