9470. “母山羊毛” 表由此而来的良善, 也就是说, 来自相爱之良善的良善.

“母山羊毛” 之所以表示这种良善, 是因为 “母山羊” 表示外在人或属世人中的纯真之良善 (参看3519, 7840节);

“羊毛” 表示属于该良善的真理. 然而, 由于此处所表示的是良善, 而非真理, 所以原文其实没有说 “母山羊毛”, 只说 “母山羊”, 在其它地方也是这种情况, 如下列出埃及记的经文:

凡手艺精巧的妇女把所纺的蓝色, 紫色, 染过两次的朱红色线和细麻都拿了来. 凡有智慧心里受感的妇女就纺母山羊.(出埃及记 35:25, 26)

“纺母山羊” 表示由母山羊毛所织成的东西.

“羊毛” 表示来自一个属天源头的真理, 这真理本身是良善, 这一点从圣言中提到它的经文明显看出来, 如何西阿书:

他们的母亲行了淫乱. 她说, 我要随从我所爱的, 我的饼, 水, 羊毛, 麻都是他们给的. 因此, 到了收割的时候, 我必回来收回我的五谷, 也必将我的羊毛和麻夺回来.(何西阿书 2:5, 9)

此处论述的是一个败坏的教会, 它在此被称为 “母亲”; 经上所说的与她行淫乱的 “所爱的” 是指那些扭曲良善和真理的人;

“饼和水” 表示爱的内在良善和信的内在真理;

“羊毛” 和 “麻” 所表相同, 不过是外在的.

但以理书:

我观看, 直到宝座设立, 上头坐着亘古常在者, 祂的衣服洁白如雪, 头发如纯净的羊毛.(但以理书 7:9)

这论及就一切信之真理而言已经荒废, 然后又被主恢复的教会;

“宝座设立” 表示它已完全荒废;

“亘古常在者” 是指属天良善方面的主, 就是诸如存在于上古教会中的属天良善, 上古教会是一个属天教会. 在圣言中, 属天良善被称为 “亘古”,

“洁白如雪” 的衣服表示它的外在真理;

“如纯净羊毛” 的头发表示它的外在良善. 类似的话出现在启示录:

七灯台中间有一位好像人子. 祂的头与发皆白, 如白羊毛, 如雪.(启示录 1:13, 14)

这种真理本身是良善, 因为它是属天良善的外在形式; 在这些经文中,

“羊毛” 也表示这种真理:

大马色人就拿黑本酒和察哈尔羊毛与你交易.(以西结书 27:18)

以赛亚书:

你们的罪虽像染过两次的, 必变白如雪; 虽红如朱红, 必如羊毛.(以赛亚书 1:18)

由于亚伦的衣服代表诸如属于主的属灵国度的那类事物, 因而代表属于真理的属灵事物, 所以他的 “圣衣” 是亚麻布, 而不是羊毛制成的; 因为 “亚麻布” 是指属灵真理, 而 “羊毛” 是指属天真理, 相比之下, 这真理是良善. 因此, 经上在以西结书中说:

祭司利未人撒督的子孙, 他们进内院门必穿亚麻衣; 羊毛必不临到他们身上. 他们头上要戴细麻布裹头巾, 腰穿细麻布裤子.(以西结书 44:15, 17, 18)

亚伦的衣服不是由羊毛, 而是由亚麻布制成的, 这一点从利未记 (16:4, 32) 清楚看出来.

由此可见,

“亚麻布” 表示属灵真理, 也就是信之良善的真理; 而 “羊毛” 表示属天真理, 也就是爱之良善的真理. 由于那些被赋予后一种真理的人无法被赋予前一种真理, 故经上规定不可穿羊毛, 亚麻布搀杂做的衣服 (申命记 22:11). 属天之物和属灵之物之间就存在这种区别, 这二者无法在同一个人里面在一起 (参看9277节所引用的地方).

4067. 'And behold, he was not at all friendly towards him as before' means that towards the good meant by 'Jacob' the state was completely altered; yet nothing had been taken away from that good, for it possessed what was its own as it had done previously, apart from its link with [the intermediate good]. This becomes clear from the statement that 'he was not at all friendly towards him as before' meaning that the state had altered completely towards Jacob, that is, towards the good meant by 'Jacob'; and from what was said previously [in 30:31] about nothing being received from Laban, that is, from the good meant by 'Laban'. Rather it possessed what was its own as it had done previously.

[2] To enable people to understand the way in which goods and truths exist with a person, something scarcely known by anyone must be revealed. It is indeed known and acknowledged that all good and all truth come from the Lord; and some also acknowledge the existence of influx, the nature of which however remains unknown to man. Now because no knowledge exists, at least no acknowledgement in the heart, of the truth that around man spirits and angels are present and that the internal man dwells in the midst of these and is thereby governed by the Lord, there is little belief in that truth even when it is spoken about. Countless communities exist in the next life, and these are arranged and set in order by the Lord according to all the genera of good and truth; also communities that are the complete opposite, according to all the genera of evil and falsity. They are so arranged and set in order that no genus of good or truth exists, nor any species of that genus, nor even any specific difference, which does not have [a link with] such angelic communities, that is, to which angelic communities do not correspond. Nor on the other hand does any genus of evil or falsity exist, or any species of that genus, or even any specific difference, to which communities of devils do not correspond. Interiorly, that is, as regards his thoughts and affections, everyone is within a community of such angels or devils, although he is not actually aware of it. Everything that a person thinks and wills originates there, so much so that if the communities of spirits or angels in which he dwells were taken away from him, he would instantly cease to have any thought or will at all; indeed he would instantly fall down completely dead. Such is the nature of man's state of being, though he believes that he himself is the originator of all he thinks and wills, and that neither hell nor heaven exists, or that hell is far removed from him, and heaven too.

[3] What is more, the good present with a person seems to him to be something that is a simple or single whole, but in fact it is something so complex, consisting of so many varying features, that he cannot possibly explore even so much as its general ones. And the same applies to the evil present with a person. But as is the good present with a person, so is the community of angels present with him; and as is the evil present with a person, so is the community of evil spirits present with him. A person chooses certain communities for himself, that is, he places himself within one of these; for like is brought into association with like. For example, one who is grasping chooses for himself communities of like-minded spirits who are motivated by his kind of desire; one who loves himself pre-eminently and despises others chooses for himself others who are like himself; while one who takes delight in acts of revenge chooses for himself such as delight in these; and so on with everyone else. Those spirits are in communication with hell, with man in the midst of them and utterly under their control, so much so that he is not under his own jurisdiction but under theirs, although he imagines from the delight he experiences, and so from the freedom he has, that he is in control of himself. But one who is not grasping, or one who does not love himself pre-eminently and does not despise others, or one who does not take delight in acts of revenge, dwells in a community of like-minded angels and through them is led by the Lord, and indeed by means of freedom to everything good and true to which he allows himself to be led. And as he allows himself to be led to good which is more interior and more perfect, so he is conveyed to more interior and more perfect angelic communities. His changes of state are nothing else than changes of communities. The truth of this is evident to me from continuing experience which has lasted for several years now, from which it has become something as ordinary and everyday for me as any ordinary everyday thing experienced by anyone since he was a young child.

[4] These considerations now make clear the situation with the regeneration of man, and with the intermediate delights and forms of good by which a person is conveyed by the Lord from the state of the old man to that of the new, that is to say, it is effected by means of angelic communities and by changes of those communities. Intermediate forms of good and delight are nothing else than such communities, with which the Lord brings man into contact so that by means of them he may be introduced to spiritual and celestial kinds of good and truth. Once he has been conveyed to these, those communities are separated, and more interior and more perfect ones become linked to him. Nothing else than this is understood by the intermediate good meant by 'Laban', and nothing else by the separation of that good, which is the subject of the present chapter.