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Ezekiel 34:22
Arcana Coelestia # 666
666. 'A covenant' means nothing other than regeneration and the things that constitute regeneration. This becomes clear from many places in the Word where the Lord Himself is called 'the Covenant', for it is He alone who regenerates, to whom a regenerated person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. That the Lord is the Covenant itself is clear in Isaiah,
I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, taking You by the hand and keeping You, and I will give You for a Covenant of the people, a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.
Here 'a Covenant' stands for the Lord, and 'the light of the nations' is faith. Similarly in Isaiah 49:6, 8. In Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the Angel of the Covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who will endure the day of His coming? Malachi 3:1-2.
Here the Lord is called 'the Angel of the Covenant'. In Exodus 31:16 the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant because it means the Lord Himself. It also means the celestial man who has been regenerated by Him.
[2] The Lord being the Covenant itself, it is clear that what constitutes the covenant is everything that joins a person to the Lord, that is to say, love and faith and the things that belong to love and faith. In fact these are the Lord's and the Lord is within them, and so the Covenant itself exists within these, where they are received. These things do not exist except with someone who has been regenerated, with whom anything at all that is the Regenerator's, or the Lord's, constitutes the covenant, or is the covenant. As in Isaiah,
My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isaiah 54:10.
Here 'mercy and covenant of peace' means the Lord and things that are the Lord's. In the same prophet,
Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live, and I will make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the peoples. Isaiah 55:3-4.
Here 'David' stands for the Lord. 'The eternal covenant' exists in and acts through those qualities that are the Lord's, which are meant by 'coming to Him' and 'hearing so that your soul may live'.
[3] In Jeremiah,
I will give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all their days, for their own good and that of their sons after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear into their heart. Jeremiah 31:39, 40.
This stands for those who are to be regenerated, and also for those things with someone regenerate which are 'one heart and one way', namely charity and faith, which belong to the Lord and so to the covenant. In the same prophet,
Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.
This is an explicit statement of what constitutes the covenant - love and faith in the Lord, which will be present with him who is to be regenerated.
[4] In the same prophet love is called the covenant far the day, and faith the covenant for the night, Jeremiah 33:20. In Ezekiel,
I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in the midst of them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:24-25.
This clearly refers to regeneration. 'David' stands for the Lord. In the same prophet,
David will be their prince for ever. I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Ezekiel 37:25-26.
This similarly refers to regeneration. 'David' and 'the sanctuary' stand for the Lord. In the same prophet,
I entered into a covenant with you, and you were Mine. And I washed you with water and washed away your blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:8-9, 11.
This clearly stands for regeneration. In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 1 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.
This stands for regeneration. 'Wild animals of the field' stands for things of the will, 'birds of the air' 1 for those of the understanding. In David,
He sent redemption to His people, He commanded His covenant for ever. Psalms 111:9.
This stands for regeneration. This is called 'a covenant' because it is something given and received.
[5] People however who have not been regenerated - or what amounts to the same, who focus worship on things that are external and who set up and worship as gods both themselves and everything they desire and think - are referred to, because they separate themselves from the Lord, as 'rendering the covenant invalid', as in Jeremiah,
They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and bowed down to other gods and served them. Jeremiah 22:9.
In Moses,
He who transgressed the covenant by serving other gods, the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, was to be stoned. Deuteronomy 17:2 and following verses.
'The sun' stands for self-love, 'the moon' for false assumptions, 'the host of heaven' for falsities themselves. From this it is now clear what 'the Ark of the covenant' is, containing the testimony or covenant, namely the Lord Himself; what 'the Book of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:4-7, 34:27; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; what 'the Blood of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:6, 8; who alone is the Regenerator. Hence 'a covenant' is regeneration itself.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)
Exodus 32
1
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him."
2
Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me."
3
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4
He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
5
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh."
6
They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7
Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
8
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"
9
Yahweh said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10
Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation."
11
Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, "Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12
Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?' Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
13
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
14
Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15
Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16
The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.
17
When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is the noise of war in the camp."
18
He said, "It isn't the voice of those who shout for victory, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear."
19
It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
20
He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21
Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?"
22
Aaron said, "Don't let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23
For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.'
24
I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off:' so they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
25
When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies),
26
then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on Yahweh's side, come to me!" All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27
He said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'"
28
The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29
Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on you a blessing this day."
30
It happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin."
31
Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
32
Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written."
33
Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34
Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin."
35
Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
