Ezekiel 7
1
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD to the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3
Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send my anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thy abominations.
4
And my eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
5
Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6
An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
7
The morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish my anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thy abominations.
9
And my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thy abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
10
Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
11
Violence hath risen into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12
The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is concerning the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
14
They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof:
15
The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
20
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
23
Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled.
25
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26
Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.
27
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Arcana Coelestia # 2383
2383. That 'they struck with blindness' means that they were filled with falsities is clear from the meaning of 'blindness'. In the Word blindness is used in reference to people who are immersed in falsity, and also to people who have no knowledge of the truth. Both kinds of people are called blind, though who are meant in any one place becomes clear from the train of thought, especially that in the internal sense. That those immersed in falsity are called 'blind' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark. Isaiah 56:10.
'Blind watchmen' stands for those who, because of reasoning, are immersed in falsity. In the same prophet,
We look for light, and, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind. Isaiah 59:9-10,
In Jeremiah,
They went astray blind in the streets; they defiled themselves with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lamentations 4:14.
This stands for the fact that all truths have been defiled, 'streets' standing for truths in which they have gone astray, 2336.
[2] In Zechariah,
On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. Every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zechariah 12:4.
Here and elsewhere in the Word 'a horse' stands for what has to do with the understanding. This is why it is said that the horse would be struck with panic, and [every] horse of the peoples with blindness, that is, it would be filled with falsities.
[3] In John,
For judgement I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, but that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees heard these words and said, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see', therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41.
Here the blind in both senses are referred to, that is to say, those who are immersed in falsity and those who have no knowledge of truth. With those inside the Church who know what the truth is, 'blindness' is falsity; but with those who do not know what the truth is, as with those outside the Church, 'blindness' is having no knowledge of the truth. The latter are blameless.
[4] In the same gospel,
He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and I heal them. John 12:40; Isaiah 6:9-11.
The meaning here is that it would be better for falsities to exist with them than truths, for they lead a life of evil and if they received instruction in truths they would not only continue to falsify them but would also pollute them with evils. They would do so for the same reason that the men of Sodom were struck with blindness, that is, matters of doctrine were filled with falsities. Why this is done has been shown in 301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2426.
[5] Because 'blind' meant that which was false, therefore people were not allowed in the Jewish representative Church to sacrifice anything blind, Leviticus 22:22; Deuteronomy 15:21; Malachi 1:8. Also any priest who was blind was forbidden to approach and offer on the altar, Leviticus 21:18, 21.
[6] That 'blindness' is used in reference to those, like gentiles, who have no knowledge of the truth, is clear in Isaiah,
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the Book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18.
'The blind' stands for people who have no knowledge of the truth, chiefly those who are outside the Church. In the same prophet,
Bring forth the blind people and they will have eyes; and the deaf, and they will have ears. Isaiah 43:8.
This refers to the Church of the gentiles. In the same prophet,
I will lead the blind in a way they do not know; I will turn the darkness before them into light. Isaiah 42:16.
[7] In the same prophet,
I will give You to be a light of the people, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of the dungeon, from the prison-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.
This refers to the Lord's Coming and the fact that at that time people who had no knowledge of truth were to receive instruction. For those immersed in falsity do not allow themselves to receive such instruction, for they know the truth but have set themselves against it and have turned the light of truth into darkness which is not dispelled. In Luke,
The householder said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind. Luke 14:21.
This refers to the Lord's kingdom. Not those who are literally poor, maimed, lame, and blind are meant but those who are so in the spiritual sense.
[8] In the same gospel,
Jesus said that they were to report to John: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Luke 7:22.
According to the sense of the letter nobody else is meant by the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor than those who were so physically, for such cures did take place, that is to say, the blind received sight, the deaf hearing, lepers were restored to health, and the dead to life.
[9] But in the internal sense the same people are meant as are referred to in
Isaiah,
Then will be opened the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf will be opened; then will the lame man leap like a hart, and the dumb man sing with his tongue. Isaiah 35:5-6.
This refers to the Lord's Coming and a new Church at that time called the Church of the gentiles who are described as being blind, deaf, lame, and dumb; they were so called as regards their doctrine and life. For it should be recognized that all the miracles which the Lord performed always embodied such matters and therefore meant the things which the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor are used to mean in the internal sense. Consequently the Lord's miracles were Divine, as also those performed in Egypt, in the wilderness, and all the rest described in the Word, had been. This is an arcanum.
