13
അങ്ങനെ മോശെ തന്റെ വടി മിസ്രയീംദേശത്തിന്മേല് നീട്ടി; യഹോവ അന്നു പകല് മുഴുവനും രാത്രിമുഴുവനും ദേശത്തിന്മേല് കിഴക്കന് കാറ്റു അടിപ്പിച്ചു; പ്രഭാതം ആയപ്പോള് കിഴക്കന് കാറ്റു വെട്ടുക്കിളിയെ കൊണ്ടുവന്നു.
പുറപ്പാടു് 10:13
Apocalypse Revealed # 505
505. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days. (11:9) This symbolizes all those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church, namely, an acknowledgment of the Lord and of works in accordance with the Ten Commandments.
Peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations mean all those of the Protestant Reformed who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices owing to their faith alone. Peoples symbolize people caught up in doctrinal falsities (no. 483), tribes the falsities and evils in the church (no. 349), tongues a confession and acceptance of these (no. 483), and nations people caught up in evil practices (no. 483). Therefore the four together symbolize all those individually and collectively who were or who would be of such a character, thus all those who were in that great city and all those like them who would later come from the world.
The bodies that they would see, those of the two witnesses, symbolize the two essential elements of the New Church, as said in no. 501 above. That they would see them means, symbolically, when they have heard and later hear about them, since it is bodies that are said to be seen, and the two essential elements that are heard.
Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning, namely, at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one.
Putting all these things together now into a single meaning, it is apparent that "those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days" has, in the spiritual sense, the symbolic meaning stated above.
Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning because a day symbolizes a state, the number three symbolizes something completed to the end, and a half symbolizes a new beginning. For three and half days have the same symbolic meaning as a week, six days of which symbolize something completed to the end, and the seventh day something holy. That is because the number three and a half is one half of seven, and seven days constitute a week; and a number doubled or divided has the same symbolic meaning.
[2] That the number three symbolizes something completed, thus something completed to the end, can be seen from the following accounts in the Word:
That Isaiah was to go naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:3).
That Jehovah called three times to Samuel, and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and that the third time Eli understood (1 Samuel 3:1-8).
That Elijah stretched himself out three times on the widow's son (1 Kings 17:21).
That Elijah ordered that water be poured on the burnt sacrifice three times (1 Kings 18:34).
That Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33).
That Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times (Matthew 26:34).
That the Lord asked Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17).
That Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).
That Jesus said He would destroy the Temple and in three days build it (Matthew 26:61, John 2:19)
That Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44).
That Jesus rose on the third day (Matthew 28:1ff.).
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 16:14; Hosea 6:2; Exodus 3:18; 10:22-23; 19:1, 11, 15-16, 18; Leviticus 19:23-25; Numbers 19:11-22; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 19:2-4; 26:12; Joshua 1:11; 3:2; 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41; 2 Samuel 24:11-13; Daniel 10:1-3; Mark 12:2, 4-6; Luke 20:12; 13:32-33.
Seven, like three, symbolizes something full and complete, but seven is predicated of holy things, while three is predicated of things not holy.
Luke 14
1
It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.
2
Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.
3
Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
4
But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.
5
He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"
6
They couldn't answer him regarding these things.
7
He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
8
"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,
9
and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
10
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
12
He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
13
But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;
14
and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."
15
When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"
16
But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
17
He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'
18
They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
19
"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'
20
"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'
21
"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
22
"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
23
"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24
For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
25
Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,
26
"If anyone comes to me, and doesn't disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple.
27
Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.
28
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
29
Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,
30
saying, 'This man began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'
31
Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.
33
So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.
34
Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
35
It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
