374. That 'the voice of blood' ¹ means violence done to charity is clear from many places in the Word where 'voice' stands for everything that accuses, and 'blood' for all sin, especially hatred. For anyone who hates his brother murders him in his own heart, as the Lord teaches,

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills will be liable to judgement. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement. Whoever indeed says to his brother, Raca! will be liable to the Sanhedrin. And whoever says You fool! will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. Matthew 5:21-22.

These sayings denote degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity; and though a person does not actually commit murder, the intention to do so is still there, and by whatever possible method. It is external restraints alone which prevent murder actually being committed. And this is why all hatred is called blood, as in Jeremiah,

How well you direct Your way in the quest for love! Yes, in your skirts the blood of needy innocent souls is found. Jeremiah 2:33-34.

[2] And since hatred is meant by blood, so is every kind of wickedness, for hatred is the source of all wickedness, as in Hosea,

Perjuring, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they commit robbery, and blood' has followed on blood. ¹ Therefore the land will mourn and every inhabitant will anguish. Hosea 4:2-3.

And in Ezekiel,

Will you judge the city of blood' and declare to her all her abominations? A City that sheds blood' in the midst of her. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty. Ezekiel 22:2-4, 6, 9.

This is referring to the lack of compassion. In the same prophet,

The land is full of the judgement of blood, ¹ and the city is full of violence. Ezekiel 7:23.

And in Jeremiah,

For the sins of the prophets of Jerusalem, the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous, they wander blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood. Lamentations 4:13-14.

In Isaiah,

When the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and wiped away from its midst the blood ¹ of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Isaiah 4:4.

In the same prophet,

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Isaiah 59:3.

In Ezekiel,

I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood, ¹ and I said to you, Live in your blood ¹ I indeed said to you, Live in your blood. ¹ Ezekiel 16:6, 22.

This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem, which are called 'blood' ¹ . Lack of compassion, and hatred, in the last times a real so described as blood in Revelation 16:3-4. The plural 'bloods' is used because all forms of iniquity and abomination well up out of hatred, just as all forms of good and holiness do out of love. Anyone therefore who hates his neighbour would murder him if he could, and he does do so in whatever way he can. That is to say, he does him violence, which is strictly the meaning here of 'voice of blood'. ¹

Poznámky pod čarou:

9473. 'Oil for the light' means internal good present within mutual love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'oil' as the good of love, dealt with in 886, 4582, 4638; and from the meaning of 'the light' as mutual love and charity. 'The light' is mutual love by virtue of the flame by which that love is meant, and it is charity by virtue of the heat and light from the flame. For spiritual heat is the good of charity, and spiritual light is the truth of faith.

[2] A brief statement must be made here about what internal good present within mutual love and within charity is. Nothing comes into being by itself, only from what is prior to itself, as is indeed so with truth and good. Anything from which something else comes into being is the internal; and the something else brought into being is the external of this internal. The situation with all things that come into being is without exception like that of cause and effect, in that no effect can be brought into being without an efficient cause; for the efficient cause is the internal of the effect, while the effect is the external of that cause. The situation with them is also like that of endeavour and motion, in that no motion can be brought into being without the endeavour; the motion depends so much on the endeavour that the instant the endeavour ceases to exist the motion ceases to exist. Consequently the internal of the motion is the endeavour or moving force. The situation is very similar to that of endeavour in the mind, which is the will, and motion in the body, which is action, in that no action can come into being without the will; the action depends so much on the will that the instant the will ceases to function the action ceases. Consequently the internal of the action is the will. From all this it is evident that in all things without exception there must be an internal if they are to come into being and then remain in being, and that without the internal they are not anything.

[3] The situation is the same as this with the good of love; unless it has internal good within it, it is not good. The internal good within the good of faith is the good of charity, which is spiritual good, whereas the internal good within the good of charity is the good of mutual love, which is external celestial good. But the internal good within the good of mutual love is the good of love to the Lord, which is also the good of innocence. This good is internal celestial good. The internal good however within the good of love to the Lord, that is, within the good of innocence, is the actual good that is Divine, emanating from the Lord's Divine Human, and so is the Lord Himself. This good must be present within all other good if it is to be good; therefore no kind of good can exist unless its internal springs from the good that is Divine. Unless its internal springs from this it is not good but evil; for then it originates in the person himself, and that which emanates from the person is evil. This is so because in all the good he does the person has himself and also the world in view, and so not the Lord, nor heaven. If the Lord and heaven do enter into his thinking, they are for him only means that serve him in the attainment of personal position and gain. Those good deeds of his therefore are like white-washed sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful but inwardly are full of dead people's bones and of all uncleanness, Matthew 23:27, 29.