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2 Samuel 7

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1 And it cometh to pass, when the king sat in his house, and Jehovah hath given rest to him round about, from all his enemies,

2 that the king saith unto Nathan the prophet, `See, I pray thee, I am dwelling in a house of cedars, and the ark of God is dwelling in the midst of the curtain.'

3 And Nathan saith unto the king, `All that [is] in thine heart -- go, do, for Jehovah [is] with thee.'

4 And it cometh to pass in that night, that the word of Jehovah is unto Nathan, saying,

5 `Go, and thou hast said unto My servant, unto David, Thus said Jehovah, Dost thou build for Me a house for My dwelling in?

6 for I have not dwelt in a house even from the day of My bringing up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, even unto this day, and am walking up and down in a tent and in a tabernacle.

7 During all [the time] that I have walked up and down among all the sons of Israel, a word have I spoken with one of the tribes of Israel which I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, `Why have ye not built to Me a house of cedars?

8 and now, thus dost thou say to My servant, to David: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, I have taken thee from the comely place, from after the flock, to be leader over My people, over Israel;

9 and I am with thee whithersoever thou hast gone, and I cut off all thine enemies from thy presence, and have made for thee a great name, as the name of the great ones who [are] in the earth,

10 and I have appointed a place for My people, for Israel, and have planted it, and it hath tabernacled in its place, and it is not troubled any more, and the sons of perverseness do not add to afflict it any more, as in the beginning,

11 even from the day that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and I have given rest to thee from all thine enemies, and Jehovah hath declared to thee that Jehovah doth make for thee a house.

12 `When thy days are full, and thou hast lain with thy fathers, then I have raised up thy seed after thee which goeth out from thy bowels, and have established his kingdom;

13 He doth build a house for My Name, and I have established the throne of his kingdom unto the age.

14 I am to him for a father, and he is to Me for a son; whom in his dealings perversely I have even reproved with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons of Adam,

15 and My kindness doth not turn aside from him, as I turned it aside from Saul, whom I turned aside from before thee,

16 and stedfast [is] thy house and thy kingdom unto the age before thee, thy throne is established unto the age.'

17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so spake Nathan unto David.

18 And king David cometh in and sitteth before Jehovah, and saith, `Who [am] I, Lord Jehovah? and what my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?

19 And yet this [is] little in Thine eyes, Lord Jehovah, and Thou dost speak also concerning the house of Thy servant afar off; and this [is] the law of the Man, Lord Jehovah.

20 And what doth David add more to speak unto Thee? and Thou, Thou hast known Thy servant, Lord Jehovah.

21 Because of Thy word, and according to Thy heart, Thou hast done all this greatness, to cause Thy servant to know [it].

22 Therefore Thou hast been great, Jehovah God, for there is none like Thee, and there is no God save Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

23 `And who [is] as Thy people, as Israel -- one nation in the earth, whom God hath gone to redeem to Him for a people, and to make for Him a name -- and to do for you the greatness -- even fearful things for Thy land, at the presence of Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed to Thee out of Egypt -- [among the] nations and their gods?

24 Yea, Thou dost establish to Thee Thy people Israel, to Thee for a people unto the age, and Thou, Jehovah, hast been to them for God.

25 `And now, Jehovah God, the word which Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant, and concerning his house, establish unto the age, and do as Thou hast spoken;

26 And Thy Name is great unto the age, saying, Jehovah of Hosts [is] God over Israel, and the house of Thy servant David is established before Thee,

27 For Thou, Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Thou hast uncovered the ear of Thy servant, saying, A house I build for thee, therefore hath Thy servant found his heart to pray unto Thee this prayer;

28 And now, Lord Jehovah, Thou [art] God Himself, and Thy words are truth, and Thou speakest unto Thy servant this goodness,

29 And now, begin and bless the house of Thy servant, to be unto the age before Thee, for Thou, Lord Jehovah, hast spoken, and by Thy blessing is the house of Thy servant blessed -- to the age.'

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 7770

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7770. 'And let them ask, a man from his companion and a woman from her companion, vessels of silver and vessels of gold' means that factual knowledge of truth and of good must be removed from the evil who have belonged to the Church and be assigned to the good who belong to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'vessels of silver and vessels of gold' as factual knowledge of truth and of good, 'silver' being truth and 'gold' good, see 1551, 1552, 2954, 5658, 6112, and 'vessels' factual knowledge, 3068, 3079. That knowledge is referred to as vessels of truth and good because it contains them. The assumption is made that the facts which people know about truth or about good are the truths of faith themselves or the forms of the good of faith themselves. But they are not. Affections for truth and good are what compose faith; those affections flow into known facts, which are the appropriate vessels for them. Asking them from the Egyptians is, it is self-evident, taking them away and assigning them to oneself. This is why previously in Chapter 3:22 it says that they were to plunder the Egyptians, and subsequently in Chapter 12:36 that they despoiled them. The reason why it says that 'a man was to ask from his companion and a woman from her companion' is that 'a man' has reference to and also means truth and 'a woman' has reference to and also means good.

[2] The implications of all this may be seen at the explanation of Exodus 3:21-22 in 6914, 6917. That explanation shows that the factual knowledge itself of truth and of good which have been in the possession of those belonging to the Church who have been acquainted with the arcana of faith and yet have led a life of evil are transferred to those who belong to the spiritual Church. How the transfer is effected, see 6914. These things are meant by the Lord's words in Matthew,

The Lord said to him who went away and hid the talent in the earth, Take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents, for to everyone who has, it will be given, so that he may have in abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Cast the useless servant into outer darkness. Matthew 25:25, 28-30; Luke 19:24-26.

And similar words in the same gospel,

To him who has, it will be given, so that he may have abundantly; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:24-25.

[3] The reason for the transfer is that the knowledge or cognitions of goodness and truth which the evil possess are applied to evil purposes, whereas the cognitions of goodness and truth that the good possess are applied to good purposes. The cognitions are the same, but the purposes to which any one person applies them gives them their specific character. Such cognitions may be compared to worldly wealth, which one person devotes to good purposes, and another to bad ones, so that the character of any one person's wealth depends on the purposes to which he devotes it. This also shows that the same cognitions, like the same wealth, which the evil have possessed can pass into the possession of the good and serve good purposes. From all this one may now recognize what is represented when it says that the children of Israel were commanded to ask from the Egyptians vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and in so doing to despoil and plunder them. Such a despoilment or plundering would never have been commanded by Jehovah if such things had not been represented in the spiritual world.

[4] Things like these are what are meant in Isaiah,

At length the merchandise of Tyre and its harlot's wages will be holy to Jehovah, it will not be hoarded or held back; but its merchandise will be for those that dwell before Jehovah to eat to their satiety, and for him who covers himself with what is ancient. Isaiah 23:18.

This refers to 'Tyre', which means cognitions of goodness and truth, 1201. 'Merchandise' and 'harlot's wages' are cognitions applied to evil purposes. Their being given to the good who will apply them to good purposes is meant by 'its merchandise will be for those that dwell before Jehovah to eat to satiety, [and] for him who covers himself with what is ancient'.

[5] Also in Micah,

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze, in order that you may crush many peoples. And I devoted their gain to Jehovah, and their riches to the Lord of the whole earth. Micah 4:13.

'Crushing many peoples' stands for devastating them. 'The gain' which was devoted to Jehovah and the Lord of the whole earth is cognitions of truth and goodness. Something similar is implied in 2 Samuel 8:11-12, where it says that David consecrated to Jehovah the silver and gold which he had taken from the nations he had subdued, from the Syrians, from Moab, from the children of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadad Ezer; and in 1 Kings 7:51, that Solomon put among the treasures of Jehovah's house the things consecrated by his father.

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