4171. “被野兽撕裂的, 我没有带来给你” 表那良善所具有的邪恶并非因祂的过错. 这从 “被野兽撕裂” 的含义清楚可知, “被野兽撕裂” 是指别人所造成的死亡, 因而是指非他过错的邪恶. 人所具有的邪恶有许多来源. 第一个来源在于遗传, 从祖父辈和曾祖父辈到父辈, 再从父辈传到他这里, 邪恶在父辈里面就已经堆积如山了. 第二个来源在于他自己实际造作的, 也就是说, 在于人通过邪恶的生活为自己所获得的. 这邪恶部分地由他从遗传, 如同从邪恶的海洋所得来并付诸实践的东西组成, 部分地由他在此之上为自己大量添加的东西组成. 这就是人给自己所获得的自我. 人将其变成自己的这种实际邪恶也有各种来源, 不过通常有两种: 第一种是他从别人那里, 但非因自己的过错而得来的东西; 第二种是他自愿, 因而通过自己的过错而得来的东西. 在圣言中, “被 (野兽) 撕裂的” 就表示人从别人那里, 非因自己的过错而得来的东西; 而 “(动物) 尸体或尸首” 则表示人自愿, 因而通过自己的过错而得来的东西.

正因如此, 无论在古教会还是犹太人当中, 他们都禁止吃自死的, 也就是动物尸体, 以及被 (野兽) 撒裂的. 以下经文就有这项禁令:

凡吃自死的, 或是被野兽撕裂的灵魂, 无论是本地人, 是寄居的, 必不洁净到晚上, 都要洗衣服, 用水洗身, 到了晚上, 才为洁净. 但他若不洗衣服, 也不洗身, 就必担当他的罪孽. (利未记 17:15-16)

又:

自死的或是被野兽撕裂的, 他不可吃, 因此污秽自己. 我是耶和华. (利未记 22:8)

“被 (野兽) 撕裂的” 表示出于虚假的邪恶, 是由林中撕裂的野兽所指的恶人造成的; 因为在圣言中, 凡在地狱者都好比野兽. 出埃及记:

你们要归我作圣洁的人; 因此, 田间被野兽撕裂的肉, 你们不可吃, 要丢给狗. (出埃及记 22:31)

以西结书:

先知对耶和华说, 我的灵魂素来未曾被玷污, 从幼年到如今没有吃过自死的, 或被野兽撕裂的, 那可憎的肉也未曾入我的口. (以西结书 4:14)

又:

无论是鸟是兽, 凡自死的或是撕裂的, 祭司都不可吃. (以西结书 44:31)

这论及主的国度, 新地就在那里.

从这些经文可以看出, “被 (野兽) 撕裂的” 在内义上是什么意思; 为了使这一点显得更清楚, 我们举个例子. 某人过着良善的生活, 也就是出于愿意别人好而向他行善. 假如这人允许自己被陷入邪恶的人说服, 从而相信良善的生活无助于救恩, 因为所有人都生在罪中, 没有人能凭自己意愿良善, 因而行出良善. 假如他由此允许自己被这一观念说服: 所提供的得救方法就是那被称为信的; 因此人凭着信得救, 无需过良善的生活, 即便在临终的那一刻接受信也可以. 如果过着良善生活的这个人允许自己被这样的观念说服, 然后不再关心生活, 甚至蔑视它, 就可以说他 “被 (野兽) 撕裂了”; 因为 “被撕裂” 论及虚假被引入的良善, 那良善由此就不再活着了.

再以婚姻为例, 如果有人一开始将婚姻视为天上的制度, 但后来他 (或许还有他的配偶) 允许自己被说服相信, 婚姻的设立纯粹是为了这个世界的秩序, 为了抚养和照料孩子, 以及继承财产. 另外, 他还允许自己被说服相信, 婚姻的纽带无非一种契约, 若对方同意, 任意一方都可终止或放宽这个契约. 一旦接受了这些观念, 对于婚姻, 他就不再视为天上的事了. 假如这一切导致放荡, 那么后果就是所谓的 “被撕裂”. 其它例子也一样.

恶人就是那 “撕裂” 者, 他们通过基于外在事物的推理而这样做, 而内在事物由于生活的邪恶而无法被引入外在事物. 这一事实从以下经文可以看出来, 耶利米书:

林中的狮子必害死尊大的人, 野地的豺狼必灭绝他们, 豹子要在城外窥伺他们, 凡出城的必被撕碎; 因为他们的罪过极多, 背道的事也加增了. (耶利米书 5:5-6)

阿摩司书:

以东拿剑追赶兄弟, 毁尽怜悯, 他的怒气不断撕裂, 他永怀忿怒. (阿摩司书 1:11)

5798. 'And do not let your anger burn against your servant' means lest he turn away. This is clear from the meaning of 'anger' as a turning away or aversion, dealt with in 5034; for one who is angry turns away. He does not think as the other person does; rather, in the state he is in, his thought is contrary to the other's. This meaning of 'anger' as a turning away is evident from many places in the Word, especially from those where anger or wrath, meaning a turning away, is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord. Not that Jehovah or the Lord ever turns away but that man does so; and when man turns away it appears to him as if the Lord does so since he is not heard. The Word speaks in keeping with the appearance. In addition, since 'anger' is a turning away, it is also a hostility towards what is good and true on the part of those who have turned away. On the part however of those who have not turned away 'anger' is not hostility but repugnance, because it is an aversion to what is evil and false.

[2] As regards 'anger' meaning hostility, this has been shown in 3614. It also means a turning away, and punishment too, when people are hostile towards what is good and true, as is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

Woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity. They will fall beneath the bound and beneath the slain; but in all this His anger will not be turned back. Woe to Asshur, the rod of My anger. Against a hypocritical nation I will send him, and against the people of [My] wrath I will command him. He does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right. Isaiah 10:1, 4-7.

'Anger' and 'wrath' stand for a turning away and hostility on man's side, a condition in which punishment and not being heard seem to him like anger. And as these exist on man's side, the words 'woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity', 'he does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right' are used.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jehovah together with the vessels of His anger [comes] to destroy the whole land. Behold, the day of Jehovah ¹ comes - cruel, with indignation, wrath, and anger - to make the earth a ruin, so that He may destroy its sinners from it. I will make heaven quake, and the earth will quake out of its place, at the wrath of Jehovah

Zebaoth and in the day of His fierce anger. Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13.

'Heaven' and 'the earth' here stand for the Church, which had turned away from truth and goodness. Because it had done this a description of the laying waste and destruction of it owing to the indignation, anger, and wrath of Jehovah appears here, though the truth of the matter is the complete opposite. That is to say, the person ruled by evil is the one who is filled with indignation, anger, and wrath, in addition to which he sets himself against what is good and true. The attribution to Jehovah of punishment which comes as a result of evil is due to the appearance. Various places elsewhere in the Word call the final period of the Church and its destruction 'the day of Jehovah's anger'.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the stick of those who have dominion. He will strike the peoples in a rage, with an incurable stroke, He who with anger rules the nations. Isaiah 14:5-6.

Much the same applies here. It is like a criminal punished by the law; he attributes the evil of a punishment to the king or judge, not to himself. In the same prophet,

Jacob and Israel, because these were unwilling to walk in Jehovah's ways and did not hear His law, He poured out upon him the wrath of His anger, and the violence of battle. Isaiah 42:24-25.

In Jeremiah,

I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, and in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation. Lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn and fail to be quenched because of the wickedness of your works.

Here 'fury', 'anger', and 'great indignation' are nothing other than the evils of a punishment because of a turning away from and a hostility towards what is good and true.

[5] It is in origin a Divine law that all evil carries punishment with it; and surprising though it may be, in, the next life evil and punishment are inseparable. For as soon as a hellish spirit does anything exceptionally bad other spirits, ones who administer punishments, become present and punish him without their having been alerted by anyone else. The fact that the evil of a punishment is caused by turning away is self-evident, for the expression 'because of the wickedness of your works' is used. In David,

He let loose on them the wrath of His anger, indignation, and rage, and distress, and a mission of evil angels. He opened a way for His anger, He did not spare their soul from death. Psalms 78:49-50.

See also Isaiah 30:27, 30; Isaiah 34:2; 47:3, 6; 54:8; 57:17; 63:6; 66:15; Jeremiah 4:8; 7:20; 15:14; 33:5; Ezekiel 5:13, 17; Deuteronomy 9:11-19; 29:20-24; Revelation 14:9-10; 15:7. In these places too 'wrath', 'anger', 'indignation', and 'rage' stand for a turning away, hostility, and consequent punishment.

[6] The reason why punishment due to a turning away and hostility is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord and is called anger, wrath, and rage residing with Him is that the nation descended from Jacob had to be confined solely to the external representatives of the Church. They could not be confined to these except through fear and dread of Jehovah and unless they had believed that in His anger and wrath He would do evil to them. People who are concerned solely with external things and nothing internal cannot be led in any other way to perform external observances, since no sense of obligation is present with them interiorly. This is also the situation with simple persons in the Church. The only idea they can grasp, based on the appearance, is that God is angry when someone does what is evil. Yet anyone may see, if he stops to reflect, that no anger at all, still less any rage, resides with Jehovah or the Lord, since He is mercy itself, is goodness itself, and is infinitely beyond wishing evil on anyone. Neither does a person possessing charity towards the neighbour do evil to anyone; and as this is true of every angel, how much more must it be true of the Lord Himself? But the situation in the next life is as follows: Because of the newcomers there the Lord is constantly reordering heaven and its communities, imparting bliss and happiness to them.

[7] But when that bliss and happiness passes into the communities opposite (for in the next life all the communities of heaven have communities opposite them in hell, which is what provides equilibrium) and those communities feel a change taking place from heaven's presence, they are filled with anger and wrath. They rush into doing evil and at the same time bring on themselves the evils of their punishment. Furthermore, when evil spirits or genii come near the light of heaven they start to experience pain and torment, 4225, 4226. This they attribute to heaven, and consequently to the Lord; but in actual fact they bring the torment on themselves since evil suffers torment whenever it comes near good. From all this it is evident that the Lord is the source of nothing but good and that all evil originates in those people themselves who turn away, stand in opposition, and attack. This arcanum enables one to see what the situation really is.

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