6281. As regards the verb 'to redeem', its proper meaning is to restore to oneself and to take to oneself what was previously one's own; and it is used when slavery, death, or evil is involved. When it is slavery, people who have become slaves are meant, in the spiritual sense those enslaved to hell; when it is death, people in a state of damnation are meant; and when it is evil, as in the present context, people in hell are meant, since the evil from which the angel redeemed the speaker is hell, 6279. Because the Lord delivered mankind from those evils through having made the Human within Himself Divine, His Divine Human is the One in the Word who is called the Redeemer, as in Isaiah,

I am helping you, said Jehovah, and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:14.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One. Isaiah 49:7, 26.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He will be called, Isaiah 54:5.

In these places a distinction is made between the Divine itself, called Jehovah, and the Divine Human, referred to as the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

[2] Yet Jehovah Himself within His Divine Human is the Redeemer, as is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and I am the last, and besides Me there is no God. Isaiah 44:6.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, I am Jehovah your God, who is teaching you. Isaiah 48:17.

In the same prophet,

You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. Isaiah 63:16.

In David,

Jehovah who has redeemed your ¹ life from the pit. Psalms 103:4.

[3] From these places too it is evident that no one else but the Lord is meant in the Word by 'Jehovah', 1743, 1736, 2921, 3035, 5667, and that 'Jehovah the Redeemer' is His Divine Human. Here also is the reason why those who have been redeemed are called 'the Redeemed of Jehovah' in Isaiah,

Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and the recompense of His work before Him. They will call them, The Holy People, the Redeemed of Jehovah. Isaiah 62:11, 12.

It is quite plain that the Lord is the reason why they are called 'the Redeemed of Jehovah', for the words 'Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him' have reference to the Lord's Coming. See in addition Isaiah 43:1; 52:2-3; 63:4, 9; Hosea 13:14; Exodus 6:6; 15:13; Job 19:25, where it is evident that redemption has reference to slavery, death, and evil.

Poznámky pod čarou:

8871. 'Which are in the heavens above, and which are on the earth beneath' means which exist in spiritual light' and which exist in natural light. This is clear from the meaning of 'a likeness of those things which are in the heavens above' as the things which are visible to the eye in spiritual light, all of which are connected with goodness and truth, and so are aspects of faith, charity towards the neighbour, and love to the Lord (feigning and simulating these virtues is meant by 'making a likeness of those things which are in the heavens above'); and from the meaning of 'a likeness of those things which are on the earth beneath' as the things which are visible to the eye in natural light, which are the kind that belong to goodness and truth on the level of people's public life and on that of their private life. Feigning and simulating these virtues is 'making a likeness of those things which are on the earth beneath'. The sense of the letter implies objects seen in the sky, such as the sun, moon, and stars, and objects seen on earth, such as various kinds of living creatures, both flying ones and those that walk or creep. But the internal sense implies the kinds of things that are meant spiritually by those objects, all of which are connected with goodness and truth, as stated above.

[2] Further description of these matters is contained in the following words in Moses,

... lest you make for yourselves a graven image in the form of any likeness, the figure of a male or a female, the figure of any beast which is on the earth, the figure of any winged bird which flies under heaven, the figure of any creeping thing on the earth, of a fish which is in the waters under the earth; and lest perhaps you lift your eyes to heaven and you look at the sun and moon and stars, all the host of heaven, and you are drawn away and bow down to them and serve them. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of Jehovah your God which He has made with you, and you make for yourselves a graven image of any figure. For Jehovah your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. When you beget children and children's children, and grow old in the land, and corrupt yourselves and make a graven image of any figure, I call heaven and earth today as witnesses against you, that you will altogether perish quickly from upon the land. Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, where you will serve gods, the work of man 's hands - wood and stone. Deuteronomy 4:16-19, 23-28.

[3] The chief reason why making a likeness of anything in the heavens or on the earth was so strictly forbidden was that this people descended from Jacob were most prone to worshipping external objects. The reason for that proneness was that they had no wish to know anything whatever about the internal aspects of the Church, which are those of faith and love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbour. If therefore they had been allowed to make likenesses of things they would have bowed down to them and worshipped them as gods. This is plainly evident from the golden calf which they made for themselves in the midst of so many miracles, and also from their frequent apostasy, when they forsook the worship of God for idolatrous worship. Nevertheless such actions by them are not meant in the internal sense but the things which have been explained above.