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Ezekiel 36

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1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto mountains of Israel, and thou hast said, O mountains of Israel, hear a word of Jehovah.

2 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy said against you, Aha, and the high places of old for a possession have been to us,

3 therefore, prophesy, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because, of desolating, And of swallowing you up from round about, For your being a possession to the remnant of the nations, And ye are taken up on the tip of the tongue, And [are] an evil report of the people.

4 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, Hear a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah, to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, And to wastes that [are] desolate, And to cities that are forsaken, That have been for a prey, And for a scorn, to the remnant of the nations who [are] round about.

5 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Have I not, in the fire of My jealousy, Spoken against the remnant of the nations, And against Edom -- all of it, Who gave My land to themselves for a possession, With the joy of the whole heart -- with despite of soul, For the sake of casting it out for a prey?

6 Therefore, prophesy concerning the ground of Israel, And thou hast said to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I, in My jealousy, and in My fury, I have spoken, Because the shame of nations ye have borne.

7 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I -- I have lifted up My hand, Do not -- the nations who [are] with you from round about -- they their own shame bear?

8 And ye, O mountains of Israel, Your branch ye give out, and your fruits ye bear for My people Israel, For they have drawn near to come.

9 For, lo, I [am] for you, and have turned to you, And ye have been tilled and sown.

10 And I have multiplied on you men, All the house of Israel -- all of it, And the cities have been inhabited, And the wastes are built.

11 And I have multiplied on you man and beast, And they have multiplied and been fruitful, And I have caused you to dwell according to your former states, And I have done better than at your beginnings, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.

12 And I have caused man to walk over you, -- My people Israel, And they possess thee, and thou hast been to them for an inheritance, And thou dost add no more to bereave them.

13 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because they are saying to you: A devourer of men [art] thou, And a bereaver of thy nations thou hast been,

14 Therefore, man thou devourest no more, And thy nations thou causest not to stumble any more, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15 And I proclaim not unto thee any more the shame of the nations, And the reproach of peoples thou bearest no more, And thy nations stumble not any more, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

16 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

17 `Son of man, The house of Israel are dwelling on their land, And they defile it by their way and by their doings, As the uncleanness of a separated one hath their way been before Me.

18 And I do pour out My fury upon them For the blood that they shed on the land, And with their idols they have defiled it.

19 And I scatter them among nations, And they are spread through lands, According to their way, and according to their doings, I have judged them.

20 And one goeth in unto the nations whither they have gone, And they pollute My holy name by saying to them, The people of Jehovah [are] these, And from His land they have gone forth.

21 And I have pity on My holy name, That the house of Israel have polluted among nations whither they have gone in.

22 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Not for your sake am I working, O house of Israel, But -- for My holy name, That ye have polluted among nations whither ye have gone in.

23 And I have sanctified My great name, That is profaned among nations, That ye have polluted in your midst, And known have the nations that I [am] Jehovah, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes.

24 And I have taken you out of the nations, And have gathered you out of all the lands, And I have brought you in unto your land,

25 And I have sprinkled over you clean water, And ye have been clean; From all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I do cleanse you.

26 And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.

27 And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep, and have done them.

28 And ye have dwelt in the land that I have given to your fathers, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I -- I am to you for God.

29 And I have saved you from all your uncleannesses, And I have called unto the corn, and multiplied it, And I have put no famine upon you.

30 And I have multiplied the fruit of the tree, And the increase of the field, So that ye receive not any more a reproach of famine among nations.

31 And ye have remembered your ways that [are] evil, And your doings that [are] not good, And have been loathsome in your own faces, For your iniquities, and for your abominations.

32 Not for your sake am I working, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Be it known to you, Be ashamed and confounded, because of your ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of My cleansing you from all your iniquities, I have caused the cities to be inhabited, And the wastes have been built,

34 And the desolate land is tilled, Instead of which it was a desolation before the eyes of every passer by,

35 And they have said: This land, that was desolated, Hath been as the garden of Eden, And the cities -- the wasted, And the desolated, and the broken down, Fenced places have remained.

36 And known have the nations who are left round about you, That I Jehovah have built the thrown down, I have planted the desolated: I Jehovah have spoken, and I have done [it].

37 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Yet this I am required, By the house of Israel to do to them, I multiply them as a flock of men,

38 As a flock of holy ones, as a flock of Jerusalem, In her appointed seasons, So are the waste cities full of flocks of men, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah!'

   

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True Christianity # 705

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705. Passages in the Word that mention these four things - flesh, blood, bread, and wine - show that they mean the spiritual and heavenly things to which they correspond.

For example, we can see from the following passages that flesh in the Word means something spiritual and heavenly.

Come and gather for the feast of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and those who ride on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slaves, small and great. (Revelation 19:17-18)

And in Ezekiel,

Gather yourselves from all sides to my sacrificial meal, which I will sacrifice for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, so that you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the leaders of the earth. At my sacrificial meal, you will eat fat until you are full and you will drink blood until you are drunk. You will be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with the mighty and all the men of war. This is how I will present my glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17-21)

Surely everyone sees that in the passages just quoted flesh does not mean flesh and blood does not mean blood; they mean things that are spiritual and heavenly that correspond to them. Otherwise what else would these be but astoundingly nonsensical statements? Are people really going to eat the flesh of kings and commanders, the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and those who ride on them? Are they really going to be filled up at the table by eating horses, chariots, the mighty, and all the men of war? Are they really going to drink the blood of the leaders of the earth, and drink blood until they are drunk? Clearly, these statements concern the Lord's Holy Supper, as we can tell because of the mention of "the feast of the great God" and "a great sacrificial meal. "

[2] Since all things that are spiritual and heavenly relate exclusively to goodness and truth, it follows that flesh means good action that relates to goodwill and blood means truth that relates to faith. On the highest level, these words mean the divine goodness of the Lord's love and the divine truth of the Lord's wisdom.

In the following passage in Ezekiel, flesh again means spiritual goodness.

I will give them one heart, and I will create a new spirit within you. I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26)

In the Word, "heart" means love. Therefore a heart of flesh means a love for what is good.

The passages cited below on the meaning of bread and wine [707-708] make it clearer still that flesh and blood mean spiritual goodness and spiritual truth, since the Lord indicates that his flesh is bread and his blood is wine that we drink from a cup.

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