1172. “底但” 表对存在于仪式中的低级属天事物的认知. 这从以下圣言经文明显可知, 以西结书:

底但人与你交易, 许多海岛作你手下的商人; 以象牙角和乌木作送给你的贡物. (以西结书 27:15)

“象牙角和乌木” 表构成敬拜形式或仪式的外在良善. 同一先知书:

底但人用马车的斗篷与你交易. 亚拉伯人和基达的一切首领都作你的客商. (以西结书 27:20, 21)

此处 “马车的斗篷” 同样表外在良善, 或仪式的良善. 耶利米书:

他们的智慧变得腐朽不堪. 底但的居民哪, 要转身逃跑, 住在深密处. (耶利米书 49:7, 8)

此处, “底但” 的准确意义表没有发自内心对主的内在敬拜或爱慕的仪式, 论到这仪式, 经上说他们 “要转身逃跑, 住在深密处”. 从上述经文明显可知: “古实的儿子” 表对属灵事物的认知; “拉玛的儿子” 表对属天事物的认知.

5374. 'To buy [grain]' means a making one's own. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as acquiring to oneself and so making one's own. Spiritually, acquiring and making one's own is effected by means of good and truth, to which the acquisition and ownership that are achieved in the world by the payment of silver and gold correspond; for in the spiritual sense 'silver' is truth, and 'gold' is good. Consequently 'buying' means a making one's own, as it also does in the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! And come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1

Also in Jeremiah 13:1-2, 11. In Matthew,

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man (homo) finds and hides, and in his joy he goes and sells whatever he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader seeking fine pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46.

And in the same gospel,

The wise virgins said to the foolish ones, Go to those who sell and buy oil for yourselves. While they were going to buy, the Bridegroom came. Matthew 25:9-10.

[2] Because 'buying' meant a making one's own, a clear distinction is made in the Word between things bought with silver and those acquired in some other way. Slaves bought with silver were so to speak the buyer's own, and were like 'those born in the house, but in a lower degree. This also explains why the two are mentioned together in various places, as in the command in Genesis 17:3, 'He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your silver must be circumcised', or as in Leviticus 22:11, 'If a priest buys a person ¹ - a buying with silver - [this person] and one who is born in his house shall eat of his bread'. From this one may see what is meant in the Word by 'the redeemed of Jehovah', ² namely those who have acquired good and truth, thus those to whom things that are the Lord's have been made over as their own.

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