Bible

 

Daniel 11

Studie

   

1 `And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, my standing [is] for a strengthener, and for a stronghold to him;

2 and, now, truth I declare to thee, Lo, yet three kings are standing for Persia, and the fourth doth become far richer than all, and according to his strength by his riches he stirreth up the whole, with the kingdom of Javan.

3 And a mighty king hath stood, and he hath ruled a great dominion, and hath done according to his will;

4 and according to his standing is his kingdom broken, and divided to the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion that he ruled, for his kingdom is plucked up -- and for others apart from these.

5 `And a king of the south -- even of his princes -- doth become strong, and doth prevail against him, and hath ruled; a great dominion [is] his dominion.

6 `And at the end of years they do join themselves together, and a daughter of the king of the south doth come in unto the king of the north to do upright things; and she doth not retain the power of the arm; and he doth not stand, nor his arm; and she is given up, she, and those bringing her in, and her child, and he who is strengthening her in [these] times.

7 `And [one] hath stood up from a branch of her roots, [in] his station, and he cometh in unto the bulwark, yea, he cometh into a stronghold of the king of the south, and hath wrought against them, and hath done mightily;

8 and also their gods, with their princes, with their desirable vessels of silver and gold, into captivity he bringeth [into] Egypt; and he doth stand more years than the king of the north.

9 `And the king of the south hath come into the kingdom, and turned back unto his own land;

10 and his sons stir themselves up, and have gathered a multitude of great forces, and he hath certainly come in, and overflowed, and passed through, and he turneth back, and they stir themselves up unto his stronghold.

11 And the king of the south doth become embittered, and hath gone forth and fought with him, with the king of the north, and hath caused a great multitude to stand, and the multitude hath been given into his hand,

12 and he hath carried away the multitude, his heart is high, and he hath caused myriads to fall, and he doth not become strong.

13 `And the king of the north hath turned back, and hath caused a multitude to stand, greater than the first, and at the end of the times a second time he doth certainly come in with a great force, and with much substance;

14 and in those times many do stand up against the king of the south, and sons of the destroyers of thy people do lift themselves up to establish the vision -- and they have stumbled.

15 `And the king of the north cometh in, and poureth out a mount, and hath captured fenced cities; and the arms of the south do not stand, nor the people of his choice, yea, there is no power to stand.

16 And he who is coming unto him doth according to his will, and there is none standing before him; and he standeth in the desirable land, and [it is] wholly in his hand.

17 And he setteth his face to go in with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he hath wrought, and the daughter of women he giveth to him, to corrupt her; and she doth not stand, nor is for him.

18 `And he turneth back his face to the isles, and hath captured many; and a prince hath caused his reproach of himself to cease; without his reproach he turneth [it] back to him.

19 And he turneth back his face to the strongholds of his land, and hath stumbled and fallen, and is not found.

20 `And stood up on his station hath [one] causing an exactor to pass over the honour of the kingdom, and in a few days he is destroyed, and not in anger, nor in battle.

21 `And stood up on his station hath a despicable one, and they have not given unto him the honour of the kingdom, and he hath come in quietly, and hath strengthened the kingdom by flatteries.

22 And the arms of the flood are overflowed from before him, and are broken; and also the leader of the covenant.

23 And after they join themselves unto him, he worketh deceit, and hath increased, and hath been strong by a few of the nation.

24 Peaceably even into the fertile places of the province He cometh, and he hath done that which his fathers did not, nor his fathers' fathers; prey, and spoil, and substance, to them he scattereth, and against fenced places he deviseth his devices, even for a time.

25 `And he stirreth up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great force, and the king of the south stirreth himself up to battle with a very great and mighty force, and standeth not, for they devise devices against him,

26 and those eating his portion of food destroy him, and his force overfloweth, and fallen have many wounded.

27 `And both of the kings' hearts [are] to do evil, and at one table they speak lies, and it doth not prosper, for yet the end [is] at a time appointed.

28 And he turneth back [to] his land with great substance, and his heart [is] against the holy covenant, and he hath wrought, and turned back to his land.

29 At the appointed time he turneth back, and hath come against the south, and it is not as the former, and as the latter.

30 And ships of Chittim have come in against him, and he hath been pained, and hath turned back, and hath been insolent toward the holy covenant, and hath wrought, and turned back, and he understandeth concerning those forsaking the holy covenant.

31 And strong ones out of him stand up, and have polluted the sanctuary, the stronghold, and have turned aside the continual [sacrifice], and appointed the desolating abomination.

32 And those acting wickedly [against] the covenant, he defileth by flatteries; and the people knowing their God are strong, and have wrought.

33 And the teachers of the people give understanding to many; and they have stumbled by sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil -- days.

34 And in their stumbling, they are helped -- a little help, and joined to them have been many with flatteries.

35 And some of the teachers do stumble for refining by them, and for purifying, and for making white -- till the end of the time, for [it is] yet for a time appointed.

36 `And the king hath done according to his will, and exalteth himself, and magnifieth himself against every god, and against the God of gods he speaketh wonderful things, and hath prospered till the indignation hath been completed, for that which is determined hath been done.

37 And unto the God of his fathers he doth not attend, nor to the desire of women, yea, to any God he doth not attend, for against all he magnifieth himself.

38 And to the god of strongholds, on his station, he giveth honour; yea, to a god whom his fathers knew not he giveth honour, with gold, and with silver, and with precious stone, and with desirable things.

39 And he hath dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he hath acknowledged; he multiplieth honour, and hath caused them to rule over many, and the ground he apportioneth at a price.

40 `And at the time of the end, push himself forward with him doth a king of the south, and storm against him doth a king of the north, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he hath come in to the lands, and hath overflowed, and passed over,

41 and hath come into the desirable land, and many do stumble, and these escape from his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon.

42 `And he sendeth forth his hand upon the lands, and the land of Egypt is not for an escape;

43 and he hath ruled over treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt, and Lubim and Cushim [are] at his steps.

44 `And reports trouble him out of the east and out of the north, and he hath gone forth in great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction;

45 and he planteth the tents of his palace between the seas and the holy desirable mountain, and hath come unto his end, and there is no helper to him.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Explained # 810

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 1232  
  

810. Verse 10. If anyone shall lead into captivity he shall go into captivity, signifies that those who have shut out others from truths are shut out from the Divine truths in the Word. This is evident from the signification of "captivity," as being to shut out from truths, here by reasonings from the natural man, for this is the spiritual captivity that is meant by "captivity" in the internal sense. (That this is what is meant in the Word by "captivity" will be seen in the following article.) Thence it is clear that "to lead into captivity" signifies to shut out others from truths; and "to go into captivity" signifies to be also shut out from truths. Here "to lead into captivity" signifies to shut out others from truths by reasonings from the natural man, because "the beast of the dragon," which is here treated of, means those who separate faith from life, and confirm that separation by reasonings from the natural man (See above, n. 773).

[2] Before proving from the Word that "captivity" signifies spiritual captivity, which is a shutting out from truths from the Word, I will first take up what was considered above (in article n. 805, which those who separate faith from life confirm by reasonings, and thus shut out others from truths; and in this way I will exhibit to view how they pervert truths and thence falsify the Word. It is to be known that those who are in truths can say the same things as those who are not in truths; for the latter prove the separation of faith from good works by the same passages of the Word as are used by the former to prove the conjunction of faith with good works. For the same expression may be used by two persons who disagree, and yet the perception be different; and it is the perception of a thing that causes it to be true or false. I have heard lovers of falsities speak in quite a similar way as those who were anxious to speak truths, and yet the latter were in truths and the former were in falsities, since they understood in a different way the things they expressed in a similar way, and according to their understanding they explained the passages from the Word; consequently by the one such passages were falsified, and by the other verified. For the truth in man is not a matter of speech, but of his perception; and this is why those who attempt to preach from the Word appear to be in truths, and yet when the same preach from doctrine about faith alone, redemption, the imputation of the Lord's merit, and the like, they are in falsities. This may be illustrated by a thousand examples. In a word, it is the perception and not the speaking from the Word that falsifies. This is meant by these words of the Lord:

Then two men shall be in the field; one shall be taken, the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding; one shall be taken, the other shall be left (Matthew 24:40, 41).

To be "in the field" signifies to be within the church, "to grind" signifies to investigate and learn truths from the Word; and one who investigates and learns truths is meant by "the one grinding that is taken," while he who falsifies truths is meant by "the one grinding that is left." To illustrate this let us consider again how propitiation by the blood of the Son, the bearing of iniquities by the Lord, the imputation of His merit, intercession, redemption, and salvation out of mercy, also trust and confidence, and so on, are understood by such persons.

[3] As to propitiation by the blood of the Son, those who are in truths do not think about it as those do who are in falsities. Those who are in truths perceive by the propitiation by the blood of the Son that those who approach the Lord and pray to Him from the truths that are in the Word are received compassionately and are heard. "The Lord's blood" signifies not only the passion of His cross, but also the Divine truth of the Lord that is in the Word; for by the passion of the cross the Lord subjugated the hells; and this is meant by His "conquering death and rising victorious," as the leaders of the church say when they speak from the Word. By the passion of the cross the Lord also glorified His Human, and by this He keeps the hells forever subjugated. "The mercy-seat" that was over the ark of the Testimony, upon which cherubs were engraved, has the same signification. How those who are in truths understand the bearing of iniquities by the Lord has been shown above n. 805.

[4] To those who are in truths the imputation of the Lord's merit means simply an entreaty to the Lord that He will have mercy (who endured such cruel sufferings in order to redeem and save men, who would otherwise have perished in eternal death). The Lord's merit means that by His own power He saved those who believe in Him, and who do what He has commanded. This merit cannot be imputed, but it can be prayed for. Intercession means the perpetual remembrance of man by the Lord. Trust and confidence mean trust and confidence in the Lord that out of pure mercy He will teach man the way and lead him to heaven. Thence it is also clear what is meant by redemption.

[5] From this it can now be seen that the things presented above n. 805 do not mean, to those who are in truths from the Word, anything done by the Lord with the Father, but with Himself. For, as has been said above, God is one and not three, and the trinity is in the Lord; consequently when the Lord is approached the Father and the Holy Spirit are at the same time approached. From this it can also be seen that "to lead into captivity" signifies to shut out from Divine truths in the Word. For those who hold the doctrine of three persons in the Divinity, and who separate faith from its life, which is good works, shut out others from the understanding of truth in the Word. For they explain all things in it according to their doctrine; and what they cannot explain they falsify. Moreover, the Divine which is in the Lord, and which is of the Lord Himself, they ascribe to the Divine of the Father, and thus do not approach the Lord; and because they do this, either by reasonings or by an explanation of the truths of the Word foreign to them, they shut out from the truth the people who believe that everything that is said about Divine things is above human comprehension; this is signified by "leading into captivity." That they themselves "go into captivity," that is, shut themselves out from the Divine truths in the Word, is evident from all things of their doctrine, in that while the things they speak are true as to statement they are not true in the way they understand them. This, too, has been testified to me by the state of such in the spiritual world, where it was found, when they were examined, that they were in mere falsities, and consequently could never be brought by the Lord into any heavenly intelligence.

  
/ 1232  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.