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Esekiel 27

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1 Og Herrens ord kom til mig, og det lød så:

2 Og du menneskesønn! Stem i en klagesang over Tyrus!

3 Si til Tyrus, som bor ved havets innløp, som handler med folkene på mange kyster: Så sier Herren, Israels Gud: Tyrus! du sier: Jeg er fullkommen i skjønnhet.

4 Midt i havet er dine landemerker; dine bygningsmenn gjorde din skjønnhet fullkommen.

5 Av cypresser fra Senir bygget de begge dine plankesider; sedrer fra Libanon hentet de for å gjøre mast på dig.

6 Av eker fra Basan gjorde de dine årer; dine rorbenker gjorde de av elfenben innlagt i buksbom fra Kittims øer.

7 Fint utsydd lin fra Egypten var det du foldet ut som ditt flagg; blått og purpurrødt tøi fra Elisa-øene var ditt soltelt.

8 Folk fra Sidon og Arvad var dine rorskarer; de kloke menn som fantes hos dig, Tyrus, var dine styrmenn.

9 Gebals eldste og dets kloke menn var hos dig og bøtte dine brøst; alle havets skib og sjøfolk var hos dig og handlet med dig.

10 Menn fra Persia og Lud og Put gjorde krigstjeneste i din hær; skjold og hjelm hengte de op i dig, de gav dig glans.

11 Arvads sønner stod med din egen hær på dine murer rundt omkring og djerve menn på dine tårn; sine skjold hengte de op på dine murer rundt omkring; de gjorde din skjønnhet fullkommen.

12 Tarsis handlet med dig fordi du var rik på alle slags gods; med sølv, jern, tinn og bly betalte de dine varer.

13 Javan, Tubal og Mesek var dine kremmere; med mennesker* og kobberkar betalte de dine varer. / {* d.e. træler.}

14 Togarma-folket betalte dine varer med vognhester og ridehester og mulesler.

15 Dedans sønner var dine kremmere; mange kystland mottok varer av din hånd, elfenben og ibenholt gav de dig til betaling.

16 Syria handlet med dig fordi du var rik på alle slags kunstarbeider; med karfunkler, purpur og utsydd tøi og fint lin og koraller og rubiner betalte de dine varer.

17 Juda og Israels land var dine kremmere; med hvete fra Minnit og søte kaker og honning og olje og balsam betalte de dine varer.

18 Damaskus handlet med dig fordi du var rik på alle slags kunstarbeider, på allslags gods; de kom med vin fra Helbon og hvit ull.

19 Vedan og Javan fra Usal betalte dine varer, så skinnende jern, kassia og kalmus kom i din handel.

20 Dedan handlet med dig med dekkener til å ride på.

21 Arabia og alle Kedars fyrster mottok varer av din hånd; med lam og værer og bukker handlet de med dig.

22 Sjebas og amas kremmere var dine kremmere; med beste slag av allehånde velluktende urter og med allehånde kostbare stener og gull betalte de dine varer.

23 Karan og Kanne og Eden, Sjebas kremmere, Assur og Kilmad handlet med dig;

24 de handlet med dig med prektige klær, med kapper av purpurfarvede og utsydde tøier og med hele skatter av tvunnet, mangefarvet garn, med tvunne og sterke snorer på ditt marked.

25 Tarsis-skib var dine karavaner, de drev din handel, og du blev fylt og overmåte rik, der du lå midt ute i havet.

26 På store vann førte dine rorskarer dig ut - østenvinden knuser dig midt i havet.

27 Ditt gods og dine varer, din handel, dine sjøfolk og dine styrmenn, de som bøter dine brøst, og de som driver din handel, alle de krigsmenn du har hos dig, og hele det mannskap du har ombord, skal falle midt ute i havet på den dag du faller.

28 Ved lyden av dine styrmenns skrik skal dine marker beve.

29 Og de skal stige ut av sine skib, alle de som sitter ved årene, sjøfolkene og alle styrmenn på havet; de skal gå i land.

30 De skal bryte ut i jammerrop over dig, og de skal kaste støv på sine hoder og velte sig i asken.

31 De skal rake sig skallet for din skyld og binde sekk om sig, og de skal gråte over dig i bitter sorg, med bitter veklage.

32 I sin jammer skal de stemme i en klagesang over dig og si: Hvem er lik Tyrus, den stad som nu er blitt taus, der den ligger midt ute i havet?

33 Da dine varer kom inn fra havene, mettet du mange folkeslag; med alt ditt gods og alle dine varer gjorde du jordens konger rike.

34 Nu, da du er knust og er sunket i havets dyp, er dine varer og hele ditt mannskap gått til grunne med dig.

35 Alle de som bor i kystlandene, skal forferdes over dig, og deres konger skal gyse med redsel i sine ansikter.

36 Kjøbmennene rundt om blandt folkene skal spotte over dig: En redsel er du blitt, og du er blitt borte - for evig tid.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9688

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9688. 'The work of an embroiderer' means things that belong to factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the work of an embroiderer', or embroidery, as factual knowledge. A large number of places in the Word speak of that which has been embroidered and of embroidery, and in every case factual knowledge is meant by it. The reason for this goes back to representatives in the next life; there garments embroidered in various ways are seen, and by these garments truths on the level of factual knowledge are meant.

[2] Truths on the level of factual knowledge differ from those on the level of the understanding in the same way as outward things differ from inward ones, or as the natural level with a person differs from the spiritual. Facts serve the understanding as objects from which it may deduce truths; for the power of understanding is the internal or spiritual man's power of sight, and known facts are its objects in the external or natural man. These facts are meant by 'the work of an embroiderer' whereas that power of understanding is meant by 'the work of a designer', 9598, for designing is a function of the understanding, and embroidering a function of the knowledge and skill employed by the understanding. This explains why the objects within the dwelling-place, which were signs meaning inner realities, were the work of a designer, such as the curtains that formed it, verse 1, and the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies, verse 31. But the objects which were signs meaning outer realities were the work of an embroiderer, such as the screen in place of a tent door, and the screen in place of a gate of the court, Exodus 38:18, and also the girdle, Exodus 39:29, 'the girdle' being what is external linking everything internal, 'the court' being the lowest part of heaven, and 'the tent door' the place where there is an exit from the middle heaven into the lowest.

[3] The fact that 'embroidery' and that which has been 'embroidered' mean factual knowledge belonging to the external or natural man is clear from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks; [they exchanged for your wares] chrysoprase and purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen. The merchants of Sheba [came] with balls of violet and with embroidered work. Ezekiel 27:7, 16, 24.

This refers to Tyre, by which those in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant, and in the abstract sense those cognitions themselves, 1201. 'Fine linen with embroidery' means truth on the level of factual knowledge, for 'fine linen' means truth from a celestial origin, 5319, 9469, and 'embroidery' is factual knowledge. This also is the reason why it says that it came from Egypt - for 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7779 (end), 9391 - and also from Syria and from Sheba, since cognitions of truth and good are meant by 'Syria', 1232, 1234, 3051, 3249, 3664, 3680, 4112, and in like manner by 'Sheba', 1171, 3240. Cognitions of truth and good constitute the Church's factual knowledge. Anybody endowed with the ability to think intelligently and weigh things up can see that in these verses from Ezekiel one should not understand embroidery, fine linen, violet, or purple, but that these commodities mean things such as are worthy of mention in the Word, namely spiritual realities that belong to heaven and the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the princes of the sea will step down from upon their thrones, and will cast away their robes and will strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with tremblings. Ezekiel 26:16.

This too refers to Tyre. 'The princes of the sea' are the first and foremost known facts, which are called dogmas, 'princes' meaning things which are first and foremost, see 1482, 2089, 5044, and 'the sea' factual knowledge in general 28, 2850. 'Robes' are external truths, 'embroidered' are truths on the level of factual knowledge, which too are external ones. For the meaning of 'garments' as truths, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 6918, 9093, 9158, 9212, 9216.

[5] In the same prophet,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shod you with badger; I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver; and your garments were fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. But you took your embroidered garments and covered the images, with which you committed whoredom. 1 Ezekiel 16:10, 13, 18.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Church is meant. 'Embroidered garments' stands for truths on the level of factual knowledge. 'Covering the images, with which she committed whoredom' stands for giving strength to falsities, for 'committing whoredom' means perverting truths by bringing them into contact with falsities or with evils. Is there anyone who cannot see that since these verses describe Jerusalem 'fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth' are not used to mean fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth? Yet what they really mean the Christian world does not seek to know, because it supposes that heavenly and spiritual matters in the Word reside in its literal sense; the more internal contents of the Word it calls mystical, but has no interest in them.

[6] In the same prophet,

A great eagle with great wings, with long pinions, full of feathers, 2 which had embroidery ... Ezekiel 17:3.

This refers to the house of Israel, which means the spiritual Church; and this Church is called 'an eagle' by virtue of its perception of truth, 3901, 8764, 'which had embroidery' standing for its possession of factual knowledge. In David,

All glorious is the king's daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings; in an embroidered [robe] she will be led to the king. Psalms 45:13-14.

'The king's daughter' stands for an affection for truth, 'an embroidered [robe]' for factual knowledge of truth. In the Book of Judges,

Will they not divide the spoil, ... the spoil of colours for Sisera, the spoil of colours of embroidered work, embroiderers' colour - on the necks of the spoil? 3 Judges 5:30.

In this verse, which is part of the Song of Deborah and Barak, 'embroidered [work]' stands for factual knowledge belonging to the natural man.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Here verse 18 of Ezekiel 16 has become confused with the preceding verse 17.

2. literally, A great eagle, great with wings, long with pinions, and full with feathers,

3. The meaning in the Hebrew of this verse is very obscure. The Latin rendering by Sebastian Schmidt, which Swedenborg relies on here, is literal and equally difficult to make sense of.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 7779

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7779. 'From Pharaoh's firstborn who is to sit on his throne' means falsified truths of faith that occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of 'firstborn' as faith, dealt with in 352, 2435, 6344, 7035; from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge in general perverting the Church's truths, dealt with in 6015, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, so that 'Pharaoh's firstborn' is faith consisting of such truths, that is, faith consisting of falsified truths of faith; and from the meaning of 'throne' as the rule of truth, and in the contrary sense the rule of falsity, dealt with in 5313. The fact that 'Pharaoh's firstborn who is to sit on his throne' means falsified truths of faith that occupy the first place is evident from the use of the words 'even to the firstborn of the servant-girl who is behind the mill', which mean falsified truths of faith that occupy the very last place; besides which the king's son means that which is primary since the king is the head.

[2] Falsified truths occupying the first place are those which are taken to be essential truths, such as these: Faith saves a person irrespective of the life he has been leading; it saves a person in the final hour of his life; he is at that point pure and free from sins, which means that these are removed in an instant like dirt on the hands by water. Those falsified truths posit that faith does exist without charity, that so far as a person's salvation is concerned it does not matter what kind of life he leads, and also that a person who is a devil can become an angel of God in an instant. Such notions and others like them are the falsified truths occupying the first place; those that are immediately derived from them occupy the second place; and those which are remotely derived from them occupy the last place. For every truth has a long wide-ranging sequence of derivations, some of which are in a direct line from it, some at an angle, while those that merely touch on that truth stand on the outermost edges.

[3] The fact that such notions and others like them are falsified truths of faith is very plain to see. Does anyone who thinks properly not know that the life of faith makes a person spiritual, not faith except to the extent that it has been integrated into his life? A person's life is his love, and what he loves, that he wills and intends; and what he wills and intends, that he does. This is the essential nature (esse) of the person, not what he knows, or what he thinks but does not will. That essential nature of a person cannot possibly be changed into a different one by his thinking about mediation and salvation, only by new birth, which is being effected throughout a large part of his life. For he must be conceived, be born, and mature anew; and this is not effected by thinking and speaking, but by willing and acting.

[4] These matters have been stated because 'Pharaoh's firstborn' and 'the firstborn of the Egyptians' mean faith separated from charity, which - as has been shown in what has gone before - is not faith but the knowledge of such things as constitute faith. The reason why 'the firstborn of the Egyptians' represented that kind of faith is that the Egyptians, more than all others who constituted the representative Church after the time of the Flood, possessed a knowledge of the religious observances of the Church, 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004. At that time all ceremonies were representative of spiritual realities in heaven. The Egyptians had a greater knowledge of these than all others had; but in course of time they began to love merely their knowledge of them. They now began to think, as one finds at the present day, that the Church consisted entirely in knowing the kinds of things that have to do with the Church, and no longer in a charitable life. Thus they turned the whole order of the Church upside down; and once this had been turned upside down truths which are called the truths of faith were inevitably falsified. For if truths are applied in ways contrary to Divine order - as happens when they are applied to evils, or in the case of the Egyptians to acts of magic - they are no longer truths with those people but acquire from the evils to which they are applied the nature of falsities.

[5] Let the calf-worship among Egyptians serve to illustrate this. They knew what a calf represented, namely the good of charity. As long as they knew this and had this in mind, then when they saw calves, or when they prepared calves at charitable feasts, such as the ancients held, or later on when calves were used in sacrifices, they thought in a way that was sane and at the same time in company with the angels in heaven since a calf is for them the good of charity. But when they began to make calves of gold, place them in their temples, and worship them, they thought in an insane manner and at the same time in company with the hells. In that way they turned a true representative into a false one.

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