Arcana Coelestia # 6075
6075. 'Both we and our fathers' means that this was so since the time of the ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'fathers' as those who belonged to the ancient Churches, dealt with in 6050. In the Word there are many places referring to the Jews and Israelites in which their fathers are spoken of in a praiseworthy manner. People who confine themselves to the sense of the letter do not take 'fathers in those places to mean anybody other than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also the sons of Jacob. But in the internal sense 'fathers', in a good sense, is used to mean not them but those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and those who belonged to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood. Members of both were called 'fathers' because the Church came down from them and things of the Church were derived from them.
[2] 'Fathers' is used in Moses to mean those belonging to the Ancient Churches,
Your fathers Jehovah delighted to love, and He chose their seed after them. Deuteronomy 10:15.
And in the same author,
Remember the days of old, understand the Years of generation after generation. When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel. But when Jeshurun became fat he forsook God. They sacrifice to demons, to gods [whom they do not know, to new ones] that have come from near by and that your fathers did not fear. 1 Deuteronomy 32:7-8, 15, 17.
These words appear in the prophetical Song of Moses, in which verses 7-15 refer to the Ancient Church and Verses 15-44 to the descendants of Jacob. The state of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood is meant by 'the days of old', and the state of the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood by 'the years of generation after generation'. Their state of good is meant by 'an inheritance which the Most High gave to the nations', and their state of truth by 'the Most High separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel', which 'number', being 'twelve', means all the truths of faith in their entirety, see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913. From this it is evident that 'fathers' means those who belonged to the ancient Churches. A similar meaning exists in the following places:
In Isaiah,
Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire. Isaiah 64:11.
In Jeremiah,
Did not your father eat and drink, yet execute judgement and righteousness? Then all went well for him. Jeremiah 22:15.
In the same prophet,
They have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness and the hope of their fathers. Jeremiah 50:7.
In David,
O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us the work You worked in their days, in the days of old. Psalms 44:1.
'Fathers' is used in the same way in Daniel 11:14, 37-38. The fact that those who belonged to the ancient Churches are meant in these places by 'fathers' is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is seen only from the internal sense in which the Church, its forms of good, and its truths are the subject. Furthermore the Church itself - being the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of goodness and truth - is called 'father' in the Word in respect to goodness and 'mother' in respect to truth, 3707, 5581.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. The Latin means know but the Hebrew means fear.
Nahum 3
1
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robberies; the prey departeth not;
2
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots.
3
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
4
Because of the multitude of the lewd deeds of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her lewd deeds, and families through her witchcrafts.
5
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will remove thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.
7
And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her; whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8
Art thou better than populous No, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters around it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9
Cush and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10
Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11
Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
12
All thy strong holds shall be like fig-trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
14
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.
15
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts.
16
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth away.
17
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which settle in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
18
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
19
There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the fame of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
