127. Internal Meaning of Ezekiel, Chapter 4
Representation of the perverted church in the church. (2)
1-2 He should represent the falsities of the church, and the church besieged by them. (2)
3 He should represent the hardness of their heart, from which it is that they have no fear; (2)
4-8 he should also represent the church besieged by falsities of evil and evils of falsity. (2)
9-16 He should represent the falsification and adulteration of the sense of the letter of the Word, (2)
1
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2
And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7
Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8
And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11
Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13
And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14
Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
16
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
Table of Subjects 1
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1. The Lord's advent.
2. The successive vastation of the church.
3. The church totally devastated, and its rejection.
4. The rejection of the Lord by the church.
5. Temptations of the Lord in general.
6. Temptation even to despair.
7. The combats of the Lord with the hells.
8. Victory over them, or their subjugation.
9. The passion of the cross.
10. The glorification of the Human of the Lord, or its union with the Divine.
11. A new church in place of the former.
12. A new church together with a new heaven.
13. The state of humiliation before the Father.
14. 2
15. A last judgment by the Lord.
16. Celebration and worship of the Lord.
17. Redemption and salvation by the Lord.
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Editor's Introduction: In this work, Emanuel Swedenborg outlined the internal meaning of all the Prophetical Books, from Isaiah to Malachi, and the Psalms, and then the first 16 chapters of Genesis. It provides a survey of the inner meaning of a substantial portion of the Old Testament, in one place.
This work was written by Swedenborg in Latin, in 1761. It was translated from Latin into English by Rev. J. E. Schreck, and this translation was published by the Swedenborg Foundation, in New York, in 1900. This modified version of Schreck's 1900 translation does not update the text; instead just modifying numbering and formatting for clarity of use online.
Each chapter of each book of the Prophets has one corresponding numbered section in Swedenborg's explanation of its inner meaning, or internal sense. Swedenborg listed the verses that relate to each outlined point. We have added hyperlinks to the verse references, shown to the left of each outlined point. The Psalms and initial chapters of Genesis are treated in a similar fashion.
This work was not published by Swedenborg, but it is consistent with other more detailed treatments made in his published works. For example, Swedenborg refers to this work in Doctrine of the Lord 37.
Readers may also find these comparisons useful:
- No. 124 of this work, explaining Ezekiel 1, with The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 97,
- Nos. 161, 162, explaining Ezekiel 38, and 39, with Apocalypse Revealed 859,
- No. 236, explaining Zechariah 4, with Apocalypse Revealed 43, and
- Nos. 244-246 of this work, explaining Zechariah 12, 13, 14, with Apocalypse Revealed 707.
In the manuscript, at the beginning, Swedenborg wrote out a list of works that he intended to write and publish. While it's clearly related to the project of outlining the internal meaning of the Prophets, Psalms, and historical parts of the Word, it seems to be an independent list. We reproduce Rev. Schreck's translation of that list here:
"To Be Published:
1. Concerning the Lord.
2. Concerning the Sacred Scripture or concerning the Word of the Lord.
3. All things of religion and of the worship of God in one complex in the Decalogue.
4. Concerning Faith.
5. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine Providence.
6. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine omnipotence and omniscience, and concerning infinity and eternity.
7. Angelic wisdom concerning life.
8. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine love and Divine wisdom."
脚注:
1. In the original Latin manuscript, Swedenborg cross-referred the outlined internal sense to a more general Table of Subjects, shown above. In the following passages, those references are shown in parentheses, e.g. (3) would refer to subject number 3 above. We received the Latin text for this "front matter" from the Heavenly Doctrines Publishing Foundation.
2. Editor's Note (Schreck): No. 14 is crossed out by Swedenborg in his MS., and is never referred to in the text. It reads, "The state of unition with His Divine," which is the same as No. 10.
Doctrine of the Lord 3 for an outline of a similar set of themes that form the internal sense of the prophetical books.
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