8
I idući mimo tebe pogledah te, i gle, godine ti behu godine za ljubljenje; i raširih skut svoj na te, i pokrih golotinju tvoju, i zakleh ti se i učinih veru s tobom, govori Gospod Gospod, i ti posta moja.
Jezekilj 16:8
Arcana Coelestia # 2913
2913. 'And spoke to the sons of Heth, saying' means those with whom a new spiritual Church was to exist. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Heth' and of Hittite. Many were the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan who are mentioned one by one in various places in the Word, among them the Hittites, see Genesis 15:20; Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 11:1, 3; 12:8; 24:11; 1 Kings 9:20; and elsewhere. Most of them belonged to the Ancient Church which was spread through many lands, including the land of Canaan, see 1238, 2385. All who belonged to that Church acknowledged charity as the chief thing, and everything they taught was about charity or life. People who cultivated teachings about faith were called Canaanites and were separate from the rest of the inhabitants in the land of Canaan, Numbers 13:29 - see 1062, 1063, 1076.
[2] The Hittites belonged among those in the land of Canaan who were more acceptable. This is also made clear by the fact that Abraham, and subsequently Isaac and Jacob, dwelt among them and had a burial-place there, and also by the fact that they treated Abraham with greatest respect, as is quite clear from what is recorded about them in this chapter, especially verses 5-6, 10-11, 14-15. Since they were an upright nation they therefore represent and mean the spiritual Church, or the truth of the Church. But it happened that like all the others who belonged to the Ancient Church the Hittites fell away in the course of time from charity or good that goes with faith; and this explains why later on they mean the falsity of the Church, as in Ezekiel 16:3, 45, and elsewhere. Yet the Hittites did belong among those who were more honourable, as may be seen from the fact that David had Hittites with him, such as Ahimelech, 1 Samuel 26:6, and Uriah, who was a Hittite, 2 Samuel 11:3, 6, 17, 21 - by whose wife Bathsheba David begot Solomon, 2 Samuel 12:24. 'Heth' means exterior cognitions that have regard to life and which constitute the external truths of the spiritual Church, 1 see 1203.
[3] The subject in the present verse is a new Church which the Lord establishes when the previous one breathes its last, and in the verses which follow the subject is the reception of faith among those people. The subject is not some particular Church among the sons of Heth but in general the re-establishment by the Lord of a spiritual Church after its predecessor fades away and approaches its end. The sons of Heth are simply those who represent and carry a spiritual meaning. Please see what has been stated already about Churches in the following places:
In course of time a Church goes into decline and decay, 494, 501, 1327, 2422.
It departs from charity, and brings forth evils and falsities, 1834, 1835.
At that point the Church is said to be vastated and made desolate, 407-411, 2243.
The Church is established among gentiles; the reason why, 1366.
Within a Church undergoing vastation something of the Church is always preserved as a nucleus, 468, 637, 931, 2422.
If the Church did not exist in the world the human race would perish, ibid.
The Church is like the heart and lungs in that vast body, of which every member of the human race is a part, 637, 931, 2054, 2853.
The nature of the spiritual Church, 765, 2669.
Charity constitutes the Church, not faith separated from charity, 809, 916.
If all possessed charity the Church would be one even though they differ in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship, 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385.
All people on earth who belong to the Lord's Church, though they are scattered throughout the entire world, still so to speak make a single whole, as is the case in heaven, 2853.
Every Church is internal and external, and both together constitute a single Church, 409, 1083, 1098, 1100, 1242.
The external Church is valueless if there is no internal Church, 1795.
The Church is compared to the rise and the setting of the sun, to the seasons of the year, and also to the periods of the day, 1837.
The Last Judgement is the final period of the Church, 900, 931, 1850, 2117, 2118.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Or, reading what Swedenborg has in his rough draft the truths of the external spiritual Church
Joshua 24
1
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2
Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.
3
I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
4
I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5
"'I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out.
6
I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.
7
When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness many days.
8
"'I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.
9
Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;
10
but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11
"'You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.
12
I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.
13
I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn't build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn't plant.'
14
"Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.
15
If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."
16
The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods;
17
for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.
18
Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God."
19
Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.
20
If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good."
21
The people said to Joshua, "No; but we will serve Yahweh."
22
Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him." They said, "We are witnesses."
23
"Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel."
24
The people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice."
25
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.
27
Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of Yahweh which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God."
28
So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
29
It happened after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
30
They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
31
Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.
32
They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33
Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
