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Ezekiel 23

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1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying,

2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

3 and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

4 The names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbors,

6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

7 She bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

8 Neither has she left her prostitution since [the days of] Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her.

9 Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

10 These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which were more than the prostitution of her sister.

12 She doted on the Assyrians, governors and rulers, [her] neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.

14 She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

15 dressed with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

16 As soon as she saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

17 The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

18 So she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.

19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.

20 She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of your youth.

22 Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:

23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

24 They shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.

25 I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels.

27 Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution [brought] from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated;

29 and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.

30 These things shall be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.

31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand.

32 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much.

33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.

34 You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.

35 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.

36 Yahweh said moreover to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare to them their abominations.

37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through [the fire] to them to be devoured.

38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

40 Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments,

41 and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.

42 The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of them [twain], and beautiful crowns on their heads.

43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she [with them].

44 They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.

45 Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed.

47 The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

49 They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6432

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6432. 'The blessings of the breasts' means with affections for goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the breasts' as affections for goodness and truth. 'The breasts' means those affections because the breasts communicate with the generative organs, and for that reason they too belong to the province of conjugial love (regarding that province see 5050-5062). Now conjugial love corresponds to the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth (for conjugial love comes down from that marriage, see 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803, 3132, 4434, 4835, 6179), and therefore 'the breasts' means affections for goodness and truth. In addition they derive that meaning from the fact that the breasts are what feed infants and so mean, through the affection that goes with breast-feeding, conjugial love when joined to the love of offspring.

[2] The same affections are also meant by 'the breasts' in Isaiah,

You will suck the milk of nations, and the breasts of kings you will suck. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron silver. Isaiah 60:16-17.

'Sucking the breasts of kings' stands for good obtained from truth, for by 'kings' truths are meant, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148. 'The milk of nations' and 'the breasts of kings' plainly mean some profoundly spiritual matter, for those words would otherwise be meaningless. The fact that goodness and truth are meant is clear from the words that follow, which are 'Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron silver'; for 'bronze' is natural good, 425, 1551, and 'gold' celestial good, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658; 'iron' is natural truth, 425, 426, and 'silver' spiritual truth, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112.

[3] In Ezekiel,

As regards increase, I gave you to be like the seed of the field, out of which you grew up and matured and reached full beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Ezekiel 16:7.

This refers to Jerusalem, which here means the Ancient spiritual Church. 'Breasts that were formed' stands for interior affections for goodness and truth, 'your hair had grown for exterior affections belonging to the natural - 'hair' being the natural as regards truth, see 3301, 5247, 5569-5573. These words plainly contain a spiritual sense which is not visible in the letter, for without that sense why would it say of Jerusalem that its breasts were formed and its hair had grown?

[4] In the same prophet,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom; there their breasts were squeezed, and there they contemplated their virgin busts. Ezekiel 23:2-3, 8, 21.

This passage in Ezekiel states that the two women are Jerusalem and Samaria, by whom Churches are meant in the internal sense. The statement that in their youth they committed whoredom with Egypt means that they falsified the truths of the Church by their use of factual knowledge - 'committing whoredom' is falsifying truths, see 2466, 4865, and 'Egypt' is factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5700, 5702. Consequently 'their breasts were squeezed' stands for affections for goodness and truth that became perverted through falsifications. The fact that the women's whoredom and the squeezing of their breasts mean such things can be seen by those who are prepared to look into what is meant in the description of those women.

[5] In Hosea,

Contend with your mother, let her remove her whoredoms from her sight, 1 and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Hosea 2:1, 3.

'Mother' here stands for the Church, 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 4257, 5581, whoredoms' for falsifications of truth, 2466, 4865, 'adulteries' for adulterations of good, 2466, 2729, 3399. Consequently 'adulteries from between her breasts' stands for adulterated affections for goodness and truth, 'stripping naked' for depriving of all truth, 1073, 4958, 5437, 'making like a wilderness, setting like a dry land, and slaying with thirst' for the annihilation of all truth.

[6] In the same prophet,

Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. Hosea 9:14.

'Dry breasts' stands for affections for neither truth nor good. In Isaiah,

O women without anxiety, stand still, hear My voice; O confident daughters, perceive My speech with your ears. Strip and make yourself bare, and gird [sackcloth] around your waist 2 - people beating themselves on their breasts for the fields of unmixed wine, and the fruitful vine. Isaiah 32:9, 11-12.

'Daughters' stands for affections, 2362, 3024, 3963, 'being stripped bare' for being deprived of truth, 1073, 4958, 5433, 'girding [sackcloth] around one's waist' for suffering grief over good that has been lost, 'beating on breasts' for suffering grief over the good of truth that has been lost. Since these things are meant, it also says 'for the fields of unmixed wine, and the fruitful vine'; for 'the field' is the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3766, and 'vine' is the spiritual Church, and therefore the good of truth, 5113, 6375, 6376.

[7] In the Book of Revelation,

I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe, and surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts. Revelation 1:12-13.

'Golden lampstands' are truths of good, 'the Son of Man' is Divine Truth, 'surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts' the good of love. Anyone may deduce from the holiness of the Word that the things John saw concealed within themselves realities such as belong to the Lord's kingdom and His Church; for what holiness would there be in making predictions about kingdoms in the world? From this one may recognize that they are heavenly things that are meant by 'lampstands' and by 'the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe, and surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts'.

[8] In Luke,

A certain woman lifted up her voice out of the crowd; 3 she said about Jesus, Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts that You sucked. But Jesus said, Rather than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Luke 11:27-28.

The Lord's reply shows what 'blessed is the womb' and what 'the breasts' mean - 'those who hear the Word of God and keep it', thus affections for truth which exist with those who hear the Word or God, and affections for good which exist with those who keep it, that is, put it into practice.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, faces

2. literally, upon your loins

3. literally, the people

  
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Arcana Coelestia # 4434

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4434. 'And his soul clung to Dinah, [the daughter of Jacob]' means the inclination to be joined to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the soul clinging' as an inclination. It is evident that an inclination to be joined is meant because things connected with conjugial love imply in the internal sense the joining together of truth and good, and of good and truth. The reason why things connected with conjugial love imply in the internal sense that spiritual joining together is that conjugial love has its origin in the marriage of truth and good and of good and truth, see 2618, 2727-2729, 2737, 2803, 3132. Consequently the adulteration of good is meant by an act of adultery, and the falsification of truth by an act of whoredom described in the Word, 2466, 2729, 2750, 3399. From these considerations it may be seen that all the details mentioned in this chapter concerning Shechem and Dinah mean nothing else in the internal sense than the joining of truth, represented by 'Shechem', to the affection for truth, represented by 'Dinah', so that the words 'his soul clung to Dinah' mean the inclination to be joined to this affection.

[2] Since the subject in the whole of this chapter is Shechem's love towards Dinah and how he sought to make her his wife, and since things connected with conjugial love mean spiritual joining together, let it now be established from the Word that marriages and things that have a connection with marriages do not imply anything else: In John,

Let us be glad and exult, and let us give glory to Him, for the time of the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Wife has made herself ready. Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7, 9.

In the same book,

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. One of the seven angels spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. He carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Revelation 21:2, 9-10.

It is quite evident that betrothal and marriage in these places mean nothing other than the joining of the Lord to the Church, which is effected by means of truth and good. For 'the holy city' and 'the new Jerusalem' mean nothing other than the Church - 'city' meaning the truth of the Church, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual Church, 402, 2117, 3654.

[3] In Malachi,

Judah has acted faithlessly, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, for he loved and married the daughter of a foreign god. Jehovah was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have acted faithlessly. Malachi 2:11, 14-15.

'Loving and marrying the daughter of a foreign god' means joining oneself to falsity instead of truth, which is 'the wife of one's youth'.

[4] In Ezekiel,

You took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them so as to be devoured. Was the matter of your acts of whoredom a small one? You are your mother's daughter who loathes her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their sons. Ezekiel 16:20, 45.

This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem which, because they were the product of evils and falsities, are described in this chapter by means of the kind of things that are the direct opposite of marriages, that is to say, acts of adultery and of whoredom. 'The husbands' whom they loathed are goods, 'the sons' truths, and 'the daughters' the affections for these.

[5] In Isaiah,

Sing, O barren one that did not bear; resound with singing and cry out for joy, O one that has not been in travail, for the sons of her that is desolate will be more than the sons of her that is married. You will not remember any more the reproach of your widowhood, for your Maker is your Husband, 1 Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. For Jehovah has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth when she is put away, said your God. All your sons are taught by Jehovah, and much is the peace of your sons. Isaiah 54:1, 4-6, 13.

Since 'a marriage' means the joining together of truth and good and of good and truth, one may see what is meant by husband and wife, sons and daughters, widows, women who have been put away, and by bearing, giving birth, being desolate, and being barren; for all these expressions have some connection with marriage. The meaning in the spiritual sense of each of these expressions has been shown many times in the explanatory sections.

[6] In the same prophet,

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. You will no more be called Deserted, but your land will be named Married, for Jehovah will take His pleasure in you, and your land will be married. Forasmuch as a young man will marry a virgin, your sons will marry you; and there will be the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:1, 4-5.

Anyone unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word may suppose that such imagery in the Word is simply an employment of comparisons like many of those used in everyday speech, and that this is the reason why the Church is compared to a daughter, a virgin, and a wife, and so why matters of faith and charity are compared to things which have some connection with marriage. But in the Word everything is representative of that which is spiritual or celestial, and it is a real correspondence; for the Word has come down from heaven, and because it has come down from there it is in origin something Divinely celestial and spiritual, to which everything in the sense of the letter corresponds. Consequently things connected with the heavenly marriage, which is good and truth joined together, pass into those that correspond to them, and so into those which have some connection with marriages on earth.

[7] This also explains why the Lord likened the kingdom of heaven - that is, His kingdom in heaven and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church - to a certain king, who arranged a wedding for his son and invited many to it, Matthew 22:2 and following verses, and also to ten virgins who took lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom, Matthew 25:1 and following verses. The Lord also referred to those who belong to the Church as 'the sons of the wedding',

Jesus said, Can the sons of the wedding mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Matthew 9:15.

[8] For the same reasons the affection for good and the affection for truth are called 'the joy and gladness of a bridegroom and bride', for heavenly joy is the product of those affections and resides within them, as in Isaiah,

Your sons will marry you; and there will be the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, Jehovah your God will rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5.

In Jeremiah,

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that say, Give thanks 2 to Jehovah, for Jehovah is good. Jeremiah 33:11.

In the same prophet,

I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will turn into a waste. Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

And in John,

The light of a lamp will not shine in Babylon any more, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will not be heard in it any more. Revelation 18:23.

[9] Since marriages on earth correspond through truly conjugial love to the heavenly marriage which is that of good and truth, the laws laid down in the Word concerning betrothals and marriages correspond completely to the spiritual laws of the heavenly marriage, such as the law that men were to marry one wife only, Mark 10:2-8; Luke 16:18; for in the case of the heavenly marriage the situation is that no good can be joined to any but its own truth, or truth to any but its own good. If joined to any truth other than its own, good could not possibly be held together but would be torn apart and so would perish. In the spiritual Church 'wife' (uxor) represents good and 'man' (vir) represents truth, but in the celestial Church 'husband' (maritus) represents good and 'wife' (uxor) truth. Furthermore - and this is an arcanum - they not only represent those things but also in actual fact correspond to them.

[10] The laws also concerning marriages which have been laid down in the Old Testament have in a similar way a correspondence with the laws of the heavenly marriage, such as those in Exodus 21:7-11; 22:15-16, 17; 34:16; Numbers 36:6; Deuteronomy 7:3-4; 22:28-29; and also the laws about the forbidden degrees of affinity, Leviticus 18:6-20. In the Lord's Divine mercy these will be dealt with individually in some other place. The fact that the degrees and laws of marriages have their origin in the laws of truth and good which belong to the heavenly marriage and with which they correlate is evident in Ezekiel,

The priests the Levites shall not take as wives for themselves a widow or a woman that has been put away, but virgins from the seed of the house of Israel; only a widow who is the widow of a priest may they take. Ezekiel 44:22.

This refers to the holy city, the new Jerusalem, and to the heavenly Canaan which clearly mean the Lord's kingdom and His Church. Consequently 'the Levites' do not mean Levites, nor do 'a widow and a woman who has been put away' mean a widow and one put away, but the kind of things they correspond to.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. In both the Latin and the original Hebrew the words meaning Maker and Husband are plural at this point.

2. literally, Confess

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