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Ezekiel 16:38

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38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

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Arcana Coelestia # 8904

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8904. 'You shall not commit adultery' means that what belongs to teachings about faith and charity must not be perverted, thus that the Word must not be used to lend support to falsities and evils, also that the laws of order must not be turned upside down. This is clear from the meaning of 'committing adultery' 1 and 'committing whoredom.' In the internal or spiritual sense they mean perverting the forms of good and falsifying the truths that belong to teachings about faith and charity. And since these things are meant by 'committing adultery', using the Word to lend support to evils and falsities is also meant, since the Word constitutes the most genuine teachings about faith and charity, and truth and good there are perverted when used to support falsities and evils. Scarcely anyone at the present day knows that these things are meant 'by committing adultery' in the spiritual sense, because few people within the Church at the present day know what the spiritual realm is and how it differs from the natural. And scarcely anyone knows of the correspondence that exists between the two, which indeed is such that an image of the one presents itself in the other, that is, the spiritual realm is represented in the natural. Consequently the spiritual exists as a soul and the natural as its body, so that through influx and the joining together that results they constitute a single entity, just as the internal man, also called the spiritual man, and the external man, also referred to as the natural man, make one in a person who has been regenerated.

[2] Since people nowadays are ignorant of such matters they cannot know what else 'committing adultery' means beyond unlawful bodily coupling. Because people nowadays are ignorant of these matters, as has been said, let the reason be stated here why 'committing adultery' in the spiritual sense means perverting what belongs to teachings about faith and charity, that is, adulterating forms of good and falsifying truths. That reason, which is deeply hidden at the present day, is that conjugial love descends from the marriage of goodness and truth, called the heavenly marriage. The love existing between goodness and truth in heaven flows in from the Lord and changes into conjugial love on earth; and this happens through correspondence. This explains why the falsification of truth is meant by 'whoredom' in the internal sense, and the perversion of good by 'adultery'. It also explains why those who are not governed by the goodness and truth of faith cannot have genuine conjugial love within them, and why those who experience the delight of life in adulterous relationships can no longer receive anything of faith. I have heard it said by angels that as soon as anyone commits adultery on earth and takes delight in doing so, heaven is closed to him, that is, he refuses to receive any longer from there anything of faith or charity. The reason why at the present day in countries where the Church exists very many people make light of adulterous relationships is that the Church is at its end, and so there is no longer any faith because there is no charity; for the one corresponds to the other. Where no faith exists there is falsity instead of truth and evil instead of good; and from this flows attitudes in which adultery is no longer considered to be an offence. For when heaven has been closed with a person such attitudes flow in from hell. See what has been stated and shown previously on these matters in 2727-2759, 4434, 4835, 4837.

[3] The meaning of 'committing adultery' in the internal or spiritual sense as falsifying and perverting the truths and forms of the good of faith and charity, and therefore also lending support to falsity and evil by using statements in the Word wrongly, becomes clear from individual places in the Word in which 'committing adultery' and 'committing whoredom' are mentioned. That meaning will be plainly evident from places quoted below, as in Ezekiel,

Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations. You committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male; you committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. And you committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, since you were insatiable; with them you indeed committed whoredom and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this. An adulterous woman - though subject to her husband, she takes strangers. To all harlots [men] make payments; but you have made payments to all your lovers, and have bribed them to come to you from all around for your whorings. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. I will judge you with the judgements of adulteresses and of shedders of blood. Ezekiel 16:1ff.

[4] Is there anyone who cannot see that falsifications of truth and adulterations of good are meant here by 'acts of whoredom'? And is there anyone who can understand a single word here unless he knows that such things are meant by 'whoredom', and also unless he knows what is meant by 'the sons of Egypt', 'the sons of Asshur', and 'Chaldea', with whom Jerusalem is said to have committed whoredom? Jerusalem, it is obvious, did not literally commit whoredom with those actual peoples; therefore what the things in this passage mean in the internal sense must be stated. 'Jerusalem' is used to mean the perverted Church, 'its garments' here being truths that are perverted; and therefore falsities that are accepted are meant by 'high places variously coloured'. 'The sons of Egypt' are factual knowledge, 'the sons of Asshur' are reasoning, and 'Chaldea' is the profanation of truth. For truths are meant by 'garments', see 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6918; and worship is meant by 'high places', so that the worship of falsity is meant here by 'high places variously coloured', 796. 'Vessels for adornment. made out of gold and silver' are cognitions or knowledge of good and truth - 'vessels' being cognitions, 3068, 3079; 'gold' being good, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917; and 'silver' the truth of good, 1551, 2048, 2954, 5658 'figures of the male' means appearances and likenesses of truth, 2046; 'the sons and daughters whom they had borne' are the truths and forms of good which they perverted, 'sons' being truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, and 'daughters' forms of good, 489, 2362, 3024. 'The sons of Egypt' are factual knowledge, by means of which the perversion is brought about, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588 (end), 4749, 4964, 4967, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7296, 7779, 7926; 'Asshur' is reasoning, which by means of factual knowledge has brought about the perversion of the truths of faith and the adulteration of forms of the good of faith, 119, 1186. 'Multiplying whoredom even as far as the land of Chaldea' is even to the profanation of truth, 'Chaldea' being the profanation of truth, 1368. From all this it is evident why the expressions 'adulterous woman' and 'harlot' are used.

[5] Something similar is said about 'Babylon', in the Book of Revelation,

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and with the wine of whose whoredom the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. Babylon the great was the mother of whores and of the abominations of the earth. Revelation 17:1-2, 5; 14:8; 18:3.

'Babylon' is those who pervert the Church's truths and forms of good for the sake of their own dominion and gain, perverting them to the point of profanation, as is clear from the meaning of 'Babel' in 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326, 1327 (end). This explains why Babylon is called 'a harlot' and 'the mother of whores'. People who know nothing about the internal sense will think that 'the kings of the earth who have committed whoredom with her' means kings on earth or kingdoms. Neither kings nor kingdoms are meant however, but the Church's truths of faith; and 'to commit whoredom' with these is to pervert them. For the meaning of 'kings' as the truths of faith, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148; and 'the earth' as the Church, 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732. 'The inhabitants of the earth have become drunk with the wine of whoredom' means that those within the Church have been carried away into errors and insane ideas by falsities arising from evil. For 'being made drunk' is being led into errors by false reasonings and wrong interpretations of the Word, 1072, and 'wine' is falsity arising from evil, 6377, so that 'the wine of whoredom' is falsity resulting from the perversion of truth; and 'the earth', as shown just above, is the Church. She is said 'to be seated on many waters' because she rests on falsities; for 'waters' in the genuine sense are truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, 729, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568.

[6] The fact that 'committing adultery' and 'committing whoredom' mean perverting the Church's forms of good and its truths is also quite clear from the following words elsewhere in Ezekiel,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours - clothed in purple, governors and leaders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them, the choicest of all the sons of Asshur. But her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they had lain with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her acts of whoredom more than her sister 's acts of whoredom; she desired the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom, when she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted in vermilion. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came also to her, into her love-bed; they defiled her through their whoredom. Yet she multiplied her acts of whoredom when she remembered the days of her youth, in which she committed whoredom in the land of Egypt. She desired them more than their concubines did. Ezekiel 23:1ff.

Here also no one can fail to see that 'acts of whoredom' is used to mean spiritual acts of whoredom, that is, perversions of the good and falsifications of the truth which the Church possesses, and also that what the internal sense contains does not become evident unless one knows what is meant by 'the sons of Egypt', 'the Assyrians' or 'sons of Asshur', 'Chaldea', and 'Babel'. Those nations are plainly not the meaning but such things as belong to falsity; for the inhabitants of Samaria and Jerusalem did not literally commit whoredom with them. But what 'Egypt', 'Asshur', 'Chaldea', and 'Babel' mean has been shown and may be seen just above.

[7] From the following passages also it is clear that 'whoredoms' and 'adulteries' in the internal sense are falsifications and perversions of goodness and truth, thus adulterations of them, as in Hosea,

Contend with your mother, contend, since she is not My wife, and I am not her husband, in order that she may remove her whoredoms from her sight, 2 and her adulteries from between her breasts. I will not have mercy on her children, for they are children of whoredoms, because their mother committed whoredom saying, I will go after my lovers giving [me] my bread, and my water, and my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink. But I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree, about which she has said, These are my harlot's reward that my lovers have given me. Hosea 2:2-12

'Mother' in the internal sense here means the Church, 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581, 8897, and so does 'wife', 252, 253, 409, 749, 770; but she is said 'not to be a wife' because she is steeped in perverted truths, that is, in falsities. 'Children' or 'sons' are the Church's truths, in this instance falsities since they are called 'children of whoredoms', 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257. What 'bread', 'water', 'wool', and 'flax' mean, also 'oil' and 'drink', and 'vine' and 'fig tree' too, has been shown in their own places. In these it has been shown that they are forms of the good of love and charity, and also forms of the good and the truths of faith, interior and exterior; but that in the contrary sense they are evils and falsities, since forms of good become evils and truths become falsities when they are perverted. What 'bread' means, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 8410; 'water', 739, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568; 'flax' 7601; 'oil', 886, 3728, 4582; 'drink', 3069, 3168, 3772, 8562; 'vine', 1069, 5113, 6376; and 'fig tree', 4231, 5113. 'Harlot's reward' is falsity contained in religious teachings which they try to palm off as truth.

[8] In the same prophet,

My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their rod gives them a reply, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have committed whoredom beneath their god. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, therefore your daughters commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall I not punish 3 your daughters because they commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery? For the men themselves divide with whores and sacrifice with cult-prostitutes. If you commit whoredom, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty. Hosea 4:11 f

'Committing whoredom beneath their god' stands for perverting truth; for 'god' in the internal sense means truth and in the contrary sense falsity, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 4295, 4402, 4544, 7010, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8867. 'Mountains' and 'hills' are types of love, at this point self-love and love of the world, 795, 796, 1691, 2722, 6435; 'a piece of wood' which is 'inquired of' is the good associated with the delight belonging to some desire or other, 643; and 'a rod which gives a reply' is the illusory power that one's own understanding seems to provide, 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 7011, 7026. Since truths are meant in the genuine sense by 'gods' and falsities in the contrary sense falsifying truths and adulterating forms of good is meant by they went whoring after foreign gods - after baal, after Molech, after idols, Leviticus 20:5; Ezekiel 6:9; and elsewhere.

[9] From all this one may now recognize what is meant by 'adultery' and 'whoredom' in the following places: In Isaiah,

Draw nearer, sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer, and [of her who] committed whoredom. Whom are you mocking? 4 Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not those born of transgression, the seed of deceit, who inflamed yourselves among the gods under every green tree? Isaiah 57:3-5.

In the same prophet,

It will happen at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, so that she may return to her harlot 's reward and may commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the world. Isaiah 23:17-18.

In Jeremiah,

And a man has put away his wife, and she has gone from him and become another man's .., .. you 5 have committed whoredom with many partners. You have profaned the land with your nets of whoredom and with your wickedness. Have you not seen what estranged Israel has done? Going up onto every high mountain and under every green tree, you have committed whoredom there. Also her treacherous sister Judah, she also has gone and committed whoredom, so much so that with the voice of her whoredom she has profaned the land; she has committed adultery with stone and wood. Jeremiah 3:1-10.

In the same prophet,

This is your lot, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in a lie. Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the wickedness of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field - I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Jeremiah 13:25, 27.

In the same prophet,

Against the prophets: The land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. For both prophet and priest practice hypocrisy. In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible obstinacy, in their committing adultery and walking in a lie; they strengthen the hands of the evil. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of Jehovah. Jeremiah 23:9-10ff.

In the same prophet,

They have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their companions' wives, and have lyingly spoken in My name a word which I did not command them. Jeremiah 29:23.

[10] From these places it is plainly evident that 'committing adultery' means explaining and perverting the truths of the Word because of self-centred desires, that is, the proprium, thus as self-love and love of the world dictate; it is therefore speaking lies, that is, falsities, as is explicitly stated. In addition to those places, in Hosea,

Do not rejoice, O Israel, for you have committed whoredom under your God - you have taken delight in a harlot's reward on every threshing-floor. Hosea 9:1.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah spoke to Hosea, Go, take yourself a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms; for the land has committed great whoredom by forsaking Jehovah. 6 Hosea 1:2.

In Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood, 7 because of the multitude of the acts of whoredom of a harlot with goodly grace, the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations through her acts of whoredom, and of families through her sorceries. Nahum 3:1, 4.

In Moses,

Your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and will bear your acts of whoredom; according to the number of days in which you explored the land, each day for a year. You shall bear your iniquities forty years. Numbers 14:33-34

[11] Because falsifications of truth and adulterations of good corresponded to acts of whoredom in the land, adulterers received the death penalty, Leviticus 20:10; and the daughter of a priest, if she profaned herself by committing whoredom was to be burned with fire, Leviticus 21:9; also no daughter in Israel was to be exposed to whoredom, Leviticus 19:29. In like manner one who was illegitimate was not to come into the assembly of Jehovah, down to the tenth generation of his descendants, Deuteronomy 23:2; and a harlot's reward was not to be brought into the house of Jehovah because it was an abomination, Deuteronomy 23:18, 19.

[12] All this now shows fully what 'committing adultery' means - that in the external sense it means committing acts of adultery; in the internal representative sense it means worshipping idols and other gods by means of the kinds of things the Church possesses, consequently acts outwardly and inwardly idolatrous; but in the internal spiritual sense it means adulterations of good and perversions of truth. All this shows plainly why it is that adulterous actions are intrinsically disgusting and called abominations; that is to say, they are such because they correspond to the marriage of evil and falsity, which is the hellish marriage. It also shows conversely why genuine marriages are holy - that they are such because they correspond to the marriage of goodness and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. Indeed genuine conjugial love descends from the marriage of goodness and truth, and so from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven. But adulterous love springs from the marriage of falsity and evil, and so from hell, that is, from the devil.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Swedenborg Here mentions two words - adulterari and moechari - each of which describes committing adultery and is so rendered in Scriptural quotations in this paragraph.

2. literally, faces

3. literally, visit

4. literally, Against whom do you delight yourselves?

5. The Latin means she but the Hebrew means you, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse

6. literally, from [being] after Jehovah

7. lit bloods

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 3901

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3901. The reason why the final state of the Church is compared to eagles gathered together where there is a carcass or body is that 'eagles' means man's rational ideas. When used in reference to forms of good 'eagles' means true rational ideas, but when used in reference to forms of evil 'eagles' means false rational ideas, or reasonings. 'Birds' in general means a person's thoughts, and in both the genuine and the contrary senses, 40, 745, 776, 866, 991, 3219; and each species has some individual meaning, 'eagles' meaning rational ideas because they are high-flyers and sharp-sighted. This meaning may be seen from many places in the Word, from which let the following be brought forward to confirm it. First, places where true rational ideas are meant: in Moses,

Jehovah found His people [Jacob] in a wilderness land and in the emptiness, the howling, the lonely place He encompassed him, instructed him, and kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, takes one, carries it on its wings. Deuteronomy 32:10-11.

That which is described here and compared to the eagle is instruction in the truths and goods of faith. The actual process up to the point when a person becomes rational and spiritual is what this description and comparison contains. All comparisons in the Word are made by means of meaningful signs, in this case by 'the eagle', which means the rational.

[2] In the same author,

Jehovah said to Moses, You have seen the things which I did to the Egyptians, and I bore you on eagles' wings so that I might bring you to Myself. Exodus 19:3-4.

Here the meaning is similar. In Isaiah,

Those who await Jehovah will be renewed with strength; they will mount up with strong wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31.

'Being renewed with strength' stands for growth in the willing of good, 'mounting up with strong wings like eagles' for growth in the understanding of truth, and so growth of the rational. Here, as elsewhere, dual expressions are used to present the subject, the first of a pair involving good which belongs to the will, the second truth which belongs to the understanding. 'Running and not being weary' and 'walking and not fainting' are similar dual expressions.

[3] In Ezekiel,

Speak a parable about the house of Israel, and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, A great eagle with long pinions, full of feathers, in its embroidery, came on Lebanon and took a twig of the cedar. He carried it into a land of trade, he placed it in a city of perfumers. It sprouted and became a spreading vine. There was another great eagle with great wings and full of feathers, towards which, behold, this vine directed its roots, and sent out its branches towards it to water it from the beds of its young plants in a good field, by many waters. But it will be laid waste. He sent his ambassadors to Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Ezekiel 17:2-9, 15.

The eagle mentioned first stands for the rational enlightened by the Divine, the eagle mentioned second for the rational originating in the proprium, subsequently perverted by means of reasonings based on sensory evidence and factual knowledge - 'Egypt' standing for factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and 'horses' for understanding resulting from all this, 2761, 2762, 3217.

[4] In Daniel,

A vision of Daniel. Four beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion, but had eagle's wings. I watched it until its wings were torn away and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on its feet like a human being; and the heart of a human being was given to it. Daniel 7:3-4.

That which is described by 'a lion which had eagle's wings' is the first state of the Church, 'eagle's wings' in this case meaning rational ideas originating in the proprium. And when these had been removed, rational ideas and desires in the will which had a Divine origin were given to it. These are meant by the lifting up of the eagle from the ground and the standing of it on its feet like a human being, and the gift to it of the heart of a human being.

[5] In Ezekiel,

As for the likeness of the faces of the four living creatures or cherubs, each of the four had the face of a human being, and the face of a lion on the right side; and each of the four the face of an ox on the left side; and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10.

Their wheels were called Galgal; and each one had four faces - the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 10:13-14.

In John,

Around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a human being, the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Revelation 4:7.

Clearly, those living creatures that were seen mean Divine arcana, as consequently does the likeness of their faces. But exactly which arcana are meant cannot be known unless one knows what 'lion', 'calf', 'human being', and 'eagle' mean in the internal sense. It is evident that 'the face of an eagle' means vigilance and therefore providence, for the cherubs who were represented by the living creatures in Ezekiel mean the Lord's providence which guards against anyone entering the mysteries of faith from himself and his own rationality as the starting point, see 308. This also shows that when 'an eagle' is used in reference to a human being the rational is meant in the internal sense. It has this meaning because an eagle is a high-flyer and from its more exalted position has a wide view of things below.

[6] In Job,

Is it through your intelligence that the hawk flies up and spreads its wings towards the south? Is it at your command 1 that the eagle lifts itself up and makes its nest up high? Job 39:26-27.

In this verse it is evident that 'the eagle' means reason which is an attribute of intelligence. This was what 'eagle' meant in the Ancient Church, for the Book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, 3540 (end). In fact the writing of almost all the books of that period involved the use of meaningful signs, but with the passage of time meaningful signs have been so eclipsed that it is not even known that 'birds' in general means thoughts, even though these are referred to many times in the Word and in those places quite clearly is meant something different from birds.

[7] As regards 'the eagle' in the contrary sense meaning rational ideas that are not true, and so are false, this is evident from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah will raise up above you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, as an eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation. Deuteronomy 28:49-50.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, he comes up [like] clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we have been laid waste! Jeremiah 4:13.

In the same prophet,

Your bragging has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill; because, like the eagle, you have made your nest up high, I will cast you down from there. Behold, he mounts up and flies like an eagle, and spreads his wings over Bozrah; and the heart of the powerful men of Edom has become on that day like the heart of a woman in distress. Jeremiah 49:16, 22.

In the same prophet,

Our pursuers were swifter than eagles; they pursued us over the mountains, they laid in wait for us in the wilderness. Lamentations 4:19.

In Micah,

Make yourself bald, and shave your head for the children of your delight; extend your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. Micah 1:16.

In Obadiah,

If you raise yourself up like the eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there. Obad. verse 4.

In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and headlong nation, marching into the breadths of the earth, to inherit habitations that are not its own. Its horses are swifter than leopards. 2 Its horsemen will come from afar. They will fly in like an eagle hastening to devour. Habakkuk 1:6, 8.

[8] In all these places 'eagles' means falsity that has been introduced through reasonings - the delusions of the senses and external appearances being the source of that falsity. 'The Chaldeans' referred to in the last of the Prophets quoted means people who outwardly are holy but inwardly are under the influence of falsity, see 1368, and these like Babel are those who lay waste the Church, 1367. 'The breadths of the earth' means truths (the vastation of which is meant by 'marching into the breadths of the earth') see 3433, 3434, and 'horses' their intellectual concepts, which are similar, 2761, 2762, 3217. What is meant by 'an eagle hastening to devour' is clear from all this, namely a hastening to make man desolate of truths, for the desolation of the Church is the subject in these verses. Comparisons are made with eagles, but as has been stated, comparisons in the Word are made by means of meaningful signs. From all this one may now see what is meant by the comparison with the eagles which will be gathered together where the carcass is.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, mouth

2. The Latin means eagles, but the Hebrew means leopards, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

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