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Isaiah 38

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1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,

3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;

8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

   

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Explanation of Isaiah 38

By Rev. John H. Smithson

THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 38

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation)

1. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus says Jehovah, Give charge concerning your house; for you art dying, and shalt not live.

VERSE 1. As to "sickness" and "disease", see Chapter 1:6, 7, the Exposition.

Unto death. - By "death" and by the "dead" are signified those who are in evils and thence in falsities. Apocalypse Explained 899.

They who either pervert, or extinguish, or reject in themselves the Good which is of Love and the Truth which is of Faith, have not life in themselves; for life, which is from the Divine, consists in willing what is Good and in believing what is True. But they who do not will what is Good, but what is evil, or believe not what is True, but what is false, have a principle contrary to life; this principle. contrary to life is hell, and is called "death", and persons of this description are called "dead." That the life of Love and of Faith is called " life", and - likewise "eternal life", and that they who have it in themselves are called "living men"; and that what is contrary to life is called "death", - and likewise" death eternal", and that persons of this description are called "dead men", is manifest from many passages in the Word, and amongst others from John 8:21, 24, 51. Arcana Coelestia 7494.

You art dying. - [To denote that the Israelitish church was approaching to its end, or to its consummation.]

2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah.

Verse 2. [It does not appear that Swedenborg has quoted this verse, but the spiritual signification, we submit, is the following: In the literal sense, by "turning the face to the wall in prayer", is implied retirement to "pray in secret", and undisturbed by those in the same apartment. But in the spiritual sense, according to correspondences, we apprehend that the idea involved in "turning the face to the wall" is to pray from the letter of the Word, and with "the face turned to it" signifies with the interiors of the mind imbued with its spirit and its life; for the "wall", both of the king's house, of the temple, and of Jerusalem, signifies the literal sense of the Word. (Arcana Coelestia 811, 1307, 1311)

All prayer, to be effective, should be full of "the life and spirit" of the Word, and expressed, as much as possible, in the language or literal sense of the Word; for the literal sense, being divine, has power to open heaven even unto the Lord Himself which is signified by Jehovah's saying "I have heard your prayer", etc. verse 5.]

3. And he said, I beseech You, O Jehovah, remember how I have walked before You in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in Thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept exceedingly.

Verses 3, 5. Hezekiah wept exceedingly, - I have seen your tears.

- As to "weeping" and "tears", see Chapter 25:8, the Exposition.

4. Wherefore the word of Jehovah came unto Isaiah, saying,

Verse 4. That the prophets were in one state when in vision, and in another state when they revealed the Word of Jehovah, see Chapter 1:1, the Exposition.

5. Go, and say unto Hezekiah, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears: behold, I will add unto your days fifteen years.

Verse 5. I have heard your prayer.

- As to "prayers" and "worship", see Chapter 18:7, also Chapter 1:11-19, the Exposition.

6. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.

Verse 6. That to "deliver out of the hand of the king of Assyria", is to deliver the members of the church from the influence and bondage of negative and false reasonings respecting the Truths of the Word, see Chapter 10:5, 7, 8, 24, 26; 30:31, 32; 36:1, the Exposition.

7. And this shall be the sign unto you from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this word which He has spoken:

8. Behold, I will bring back the shadow of the degrees, by which the sun is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. And the sun returned ten degrees, on the degrees [or sun-dial] by which it had gone down,

9. The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered from his sickness:

Verses 7, 8. This sign was given to king Hezekiah for a testification that the Lord would "defend him and Jerusalem from the king of Assyria", as it is said in verse 6 of this chapter, by which "king" was signified the rational principle perverted, destroying all things of the church; wherefore by this "sign", in like manner, was represented the New Church, which was to be established by the Lord; but, in this case, that the time which was told to Ahaz, just above, should be further protracted. By "the retraction of the shadow which was gone down on the degrees of Ahaz", is signified the protraction of the time before it should take place. "The degrees [of the sun-dial] of Ahaz " signify the time until the advent of the Lord, and the shadow" denotes the progression of time from the rising to the setting: by its being "drawn backward ten degrees", is signified the prolongation of the time as yet by several years, for "ten" signify several or more; and by the "sun" which should go back, is signified the advent of the Lord. But this is to be further illustrated. The advent of the Lord took place when the Jewish church was at an end, that is, when there was not any Good and Truth therein remaining; this is understood by "when iniquity was consummated", and also by "the fulness of time" in which the Lord was to come. The entire time of the duration of the Jewish church was represented by "the degrees [on the sun-dial] of Ahaz"; the beginning thereof by the "first degree", which is when the sun is in its rising, and the end thereof by the "last degree" in the setting. Hence it is evident that by the "retraction" of the shade, from the setting towards the rising, is understood the prolongation of that time. The reason why this came to pass on "the degrees [of the sun-dial] of Ahaz", was, because Ahaz was a wicked king, and had profaned the holy things of the church, wherefore, if his successors had done in like manner, the end of the church would have been brought on shortly; but as Hezekiah was an upright king, the time was prolonged, for thereby the iniquity of that nation did not so soon arrive at its consummation, that is, at its end. Apocalypse Explained 706.

10. I said, when my days were about to be cut off, I am going to the gates of hell; I am numbered as to the residue of my years!

Verse 10. These are the words of Hezekiah the king, when he was sick; and by "numbered." is signified explored and concluded. That to "number" and be "numbered" have a different signification, in the spiritual sense of the Word, to that which appears in the letter, or the natural sense, may also appear from this circumstance, that with the angels of heaven numbers and measures have no place in their spiritual ideas, that is, they cannot think from numeration or mensuration, but from the quality of a thing, which thought of theirs falls into numbers and measures when it descends thence into a natural sphere; and yet the Word is written for angels as well as for man. Wherefore the angels, by "numbers" and by "numbering" in the Word, perceive the quality of the thing treated of, whilst men understand numbers and numbering. This may still further appear from this consideration, that every "number" in the Word signifies somewhat of thing or state. Apocalypse Explained 453. See also Apocalypse Revealed 364, and as to "numbering", Chapter 22:9, 10, the Exposition.

11. I said, I shall not see Jah, - Jah in the land of the living! I shall no longer behold man with the inhabitants of the world!

12. My age is departed, and is removed from me like a shepherd's tent: I have cut off, like a weaver, my life: He will cut me off from the loom: from day even unto night will You consume me.

Verse 11. Inasmuch as the "land" signifies the church, and where the "earth" or "land" is, there is heaven, it is therefore called "the earth or land of the living", and "the earth or land of life", as in the above words, and also in Ezekiel:

"Who caused terror in the land of the living", etc., (Ezekiel 32:23-27)

It is also called "the land of life" in David:

"Unless I had believed to see good in the land of life." (Psalm 27:13) Apocalypse Explained 304.

As to the meaning of "Jah", in relation to Jehovah or the Lord, see Chapter 12:2, the Exposition.

13. I quieted myself until morning; as a lion did He break all my bones: from day even unto night will You consume me.

Verse 13. To "break the bones" is to destroy Truths from the Divine, which are the ultimates in order, upon which interior goods and truths rest, and by which they are supported; which ultimates, if destroyed, all things built upon them fall to the ground. Ultimate truths in order are the truths of the literal sense of the Word, in which are the truths of the internal sense, upon which they are supported as columns upon their bases. Arcana Coelestia 9163.

14. Like the crane, or the swallow, did I twitter; I moaned like the dove: mine eyes failed [with looking] upward. O Jehovah, I am oppressed; be You surety for me.

Verse 14. [These words, which depict a state of distress and alarm, signify temptations, and especially as to the intellectual life signified by the "crane", the "swallow", and the "dove" distress. The "swallow" corresponds to natural Truth, (Apocalypse Explained 391) or to Truth from the Word in the natural mind; the "crane" corresponds, we apprehend, to Truth in the spiritual, and the "dove" to Truth in the celestial degree. Thus the entire mind, as to its intellectual life, is described as to temptations, when Good from the Lord is being united to Truth in the life, which is regeneration. Whilst in these states of oppression and temptation, the Lord is our only "surety", safety, and comfort.]

15. What shall I say? he has both spoken unto me, and He Himself has done it: I will go humbly all my years on account of the bitterness of my soul.

16. O Lord, by these [Your words] men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit: so will You recover me, and make me to live.

Verse 15. The "soul" here signifies the life of man's spirit, which is called his spiritual life. Apocalypse Explained 750. [See also in the same number the seven different significations which the term "soul" (anima) has in the Word.]

17. Behold, instead of peace there was bitterness to me, [yea] bitterness: You have, in love, delivered my soul from the pit of, destruction; for You have cast behind Your back all my sins.

Verse 17. You have cast behind Your back all my sins.

- [When sins are removed by repentance, they are, as it were, "cast behind the Lord's back", that is, not seen by Him: but when not repented of, and thereby removed, they are said to be "before Him, and in the light of His countenance." (Psalm 90:8). See True Christian Religion 510, 611-614.]

18. For hell cannot praise You; death cannot celebrate You; they that go down into the pit shall not hope in Your truth:

Verses 18, 19. From this passage it may appear what is signified by the "dead", namely, they who have not in themselves the the life of heaven, consequently, who are in evils, and thence in falsities. That in this passage "death" denotes damnation, and "life" salvation, is manifest. Forasmuch as "death" is damnation, it is also hell; wherefore hell, in the Word, is commonly called "death", as in the above words. Apocalypse Explained 186.

19. The living, the living, he shall praise You, as I do this day: the father to the sons shall make known Your truth.

Verse 19. Jehovah, in the Word of the Old Testament, calls Himself "THE ALIVE" and "THE LIVInG" because He alone lives; for He is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and these are Life. That there is but one only Life, which is God, and that angels and men are recipients of life from Him, has been shown by many things in the work entitled "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom." Jehovah calls Himself "THE ALIVE" and "THE LIVInG" in Isaiah 38:18, 19; Jeremiah 5:2; 12:16; 16:14, 15.

The Lord also, as to His Divine Humanity, is Life, because the Father and He are one; wherefore He says,

"As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself." (John 5:26)

"Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life." (John 11:25)

"Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life", (John 14:6)

"In the beginning was the Word, and God was the Word; in Him was Life; and the Word became flesh." (John 1:1-4, 14)

Because the Lord alone is Life, it follows that from Him alone is Life, wherefore He says,

"Because I live, you shall live also." (John 14:19) Apocalypse Revealed 58.

20. Jehovah was for my salvation: therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah.

Verse 20. "Stringed instruments" are attributed to the spiritual things, and "wind instruments" to the celestial things of faith. Arcana Coelestia 418-420.

21. For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it bruised upon the boil, that he may live.

Verse 21. ["Figs" from correspondence, signify the natural good of man conjoined with the spiritual good, or the good of the natural or external man derived from the good of the spiritual or internal man, and thus from the Lord. It is this good which heals a man of his spiritual diseases and restores him to spiritual health. Hence it was from this spiritual signification of a "lump of figs" that Isaiah said, "Let them lay it bruised upon the boil of Hezekiah, that he may live"; whereas the good of the natural man, separate from the good of the spiritual man, is in itself evil, because it is only good in appearance, assumed by the natural man for the sake of self and of the world. At the period of Judgment this good is dispersed as "the fig falling off from the tree:" (Isaiah 34:4)

See also Jeremiah 8:13, 29:17, where it is said, "I will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil; "for there is nothing so vile as good assumed for the purpose of concealing evil and of carrying out its designs. See also Matthew 11:18-21, where "the barren fig-tree" is described, which, at the Lord's rebuke, "withered away", to show that the good of the natural man, separate from the spiritual man, "withers away" at the time of Judgment, and leaves him to his own condemnation. Apocalypse Revealed 334; Apocalypse Explained 403.]

22. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah ?

Verse 22. As to the meaning of a "sign", and the difference between a "sign" and a "miracle" or wonder, see Chapter 8:18. Exposition. In respect to the "house" or "temple of Jehovah", and its important signification, see Chapter 6:1, the Exposition.

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Isaiah Chapter 38

1. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus says Jehovah, Give charge concerning your house; for you art dying, and shalt not live.

2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah.

3. And he said, I beseech You, O Jehovah, remember how I have walked before You in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in Thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept exceedingly.

4. Wherefore the word of Jehovah came unto Isaiah, saying,

5. Go, and say unto Hezekiah, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears: behold, I will add unto your days fifteen years.

6. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.

7. And this shall be the sign unto you from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this word which He has spoken:

8. Behold, I will bring back the shadow of the degrees, by which the sun is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. And the sun returned ten degrees, on the degrees [or sun-dial] by which it had gone down,

9. The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered from his sickness:

10. I said, when my days were about to be cut off, I am going to the gates of hell; I am numbered as to the residue of my years!

11. I said, I shall not see Jah, - Jah in the land of the living! I shall no longer behold man with the inhabitants of the world!

12. My age is departed, and is removed from me like a shepherd's tent: I have cut off, like a weaver, my life: He will cut me off from the loom: from day even unto night will You consume me.

13. I quieted myself until morning; as a lion did He break all my bones: from day even unto night will You consume me.

14. Like the crane, or the swallow, did I twitter; I moaned like the dove: mine eyes failed [with looking] upward. O Jehovah, I am oppressed; be You surety for me.

15. What shall I say? he has both spoken unto me, and He Himself has done it: I will go humbly all my years on account of the bitterness of my soul.

16: O Lord, by these [Your words] men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit: so will You recover me, and make me to live.

17. Behold, instead of peace there was bitterness to me, [yea] bitterness: You have, in love, delivered my soul from the pit of, destruction; for You have cast behind Your back all my sins.

18. For hell cannot praise You; death cannot celebrate You; they that go down into the pit shall not hope in Your truth:

19. The living, the living, he shall praise You, as I do this day: the father to the sons shall make known Your truth.

20. Jehovah was for my salvation: therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah.

21. For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it bruised upon the boil, that he may live.

22. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jebovah ?

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Apocalypse Explained # 585

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585. And repented not of the works of their hands, signifies who did not actually turn themselves away from such things as are from self [proprium]. This is evident from the signification of "to repent," as being to turn oneself away actually from evil (of which presently) and from the signification of "the works of their hands," as being such things as man thinks, wills, and does, from self [proprium]. That this is the signification of "the works of their hands," will appear from the passages in the Word that follow, also from this, that works are things of the will, and of the understanding therefrom, or of love and of faith therefrom (See above, n. 98); also that "hands" signify power, and "their hands" self-power, thus whatever with man comes forth from self.

[2] In respect to man's self it is to be known that it is nothing but evil and falsity therefrom; the voluntary self [proprium voluntarium] is evil, and the intellectual self therefrom [proprium intellectuale] is falsity. This self man derives mainly from parents, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, in a long series back, so that at length the hereditary, which is his self, is nothing but evil gradually heaped up and condensed. For every man is born into two diabolical loves, the love of self and the love of the world, from which loves all evils and all falsities therefrom pour forth as from their own fountains; and as man is born into these loves he is also born into evils of every kind (respecting which more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.65-83).

[3] Because man, in respect to his self is such, means have been given by the Divine mercy of the Lord, by which man can be withdrawn from his self; these means are given in the Word; and when man cooperates with these means, that is, when he thinks and speaks, wills and acts, from the Divine Word, he is kept by the Lord in things Divine, and is thus withheld from self; and when this continues there is formed with man by the Lord as it were a new self, both voluntary and intellectual, which is wholly separated from man's self; thus man becomes as it were created anew, and this is what is called his reformation and regeneration by truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. (Respecting this see also The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the article on Remission of Sins, n.159-172; and on Regeneration, n. 173-186.) To repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, because every man is such as his life is, and the life of man consists mainly in willing and consequent doing; and from this it follows that repentance which is merely of the thought and of the lips, and not at the same time of the will and of action therefrom, is not repentance, for then the life remains the same afterwards as it was before. This makes evident that to repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, and to enter upon a new life (on this see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.159-172).

[4] That "the works of the hands" signify such things as man thinks, wills, and does from self, can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Jeremiah:

Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you; yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, that ye might provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands, for evil to you. Many nations and great kings shall make them to serve; that I may recompense them according to their work and according to the doing of their hands (Jeremiah 25:6, 7, 14).

"The work and doing of the hands" means in the nearest sense their molten images and idols; but in the spiritual sense the "work of the hands" signifies all the evil and falsity that are from self-love and self-intelligence. "Molten images and idols" which are called "the work of the hands" have a like signification, as will be seen in what follows, where the signification of "idols" is given. As man's self [proprium] is nothing but evil, thus is opposed to the Divine, it is said, "Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you;" "to provoke God to anger" signifies to be opposed to Him, which is the source of evil to man; and because all evils and falsities are from man's self [proprium], it is said, "Many nations and great kings make them to serve," which signifies that evils from which are falsities, and falsities from which are evils, will take possession of them; "many nations" meaning evils from which are falsities, and "great kings" falsities from which are evils.

[5] In the same:

The sons of Israel have provoked Me to anger by the work of their hands (Jeremiah 32:30).

And in the same:

Ye provoke Me to anger by the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt (4 Jeremiah 44:8).

"The works of their hands" mean here in the spiritual sense worship from falsities of doctrine which are from self-intelligence; such worship is signified by "burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt;" for "to burn incense" signifies worship; "other gods" signify falsities of doctrine, and the "land of Egypt" signifies the natural in which man's self [proprium] has its seat, and thus whence self-intelligence comes. Thus is this Word understood in heaven.

[6] In the same:

I will speak with them My judgments upon all their wickedness, that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, and have bowed themselves down to the works of their own hands (Jeremiah 1:16).

Here also "to burn incense to other gods" signifies worship from the falsities of doctrine, and "to bow themselves down to the works of their own hands" signifies worship from such things as are from self-intelligence; that this is from self [proprium] and not from the Divine is signified by "that they have forsaken Me."

[7] In Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall see the Holy One of Israel, and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he shall not see that which his fingers have made (Isaiah 17:7, 8).

This is said of the Lord's coming and of a new church at that time. "The Maker to whom a man shall then look" means the Lord in relation to Divine good, and "the Holy One of Israel whom his eyes shall see" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth. The "altars, which are the work of hands, and which the fingers have made, to which a man shall not look," signify worship from evils and the consequent falsities of doctrine that are from self-intelligence. So these words mean that everything of doctrine will be from the Lord and not from man's self [proprium], which is the case when man is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, when he loves truth itself because it is truth, and not for the most part because it gives him reputation and a name.

[8] In the same:

Jehovah gave the gods of the kings of Assyria to the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone (Isaiah 37:19).

"The gods of the kings of Assyria" signify the reasonings from falsities and evils, which are in accord with man's self [proprium]; wherefore they are called "the work of man's hands;" "wood and stone," that is, idols of wood and stone, signify the evils and falsities of religion and of doctrine that are from self [proprium].

[9] In the same:

In that day they shall reject everyone the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your hands have made for you, a sin; and then shall the Assyrian fall (Isaiah 31:7, 8).

This describes the establishment of the church; and the "idols of silver and the idols of gold, which in that day they shall reject" signify the falsities and evils of religion and of worship which they call truths and goods; and because the falsities and evils of religion and of worship are from self-intelligence it is said, "which your hands have made for you;" that there shall then be no reasonings from such things is signified by "then shall the Assyrian fall."

[10] In Jeremiah:

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner; his 1 garment is hyacinthine and purple; they are all the work of the wise (Jeremiah 10:9).

This describes the falsity and evil of religion and of worship which are confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word. "Silver spread into plates from Tarshish" signifies the truths of the Word in that sense; and "gold from Uphaz" signifies the good of the Word in that sense; and because those falsities and evils are from self-intelligence they are called "the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner;" the truth of good also and the good of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity, which are from self-intelligence, are confirmed and as it were invested, are signified by "his garment is hyacinthine and purple, they are all the work of the wise."

[11] Moreover, the work of the workman, the artificer, and the mechanic," signifies in the Word whatever of doctrine, religion, and worship is from self-intelligence. This is why the altar, and also the temple, were built, by command, of whole stones, and not hewn by any workman or artificer. Respecting the altar it is thus said in Moses:

If thou makest to Me an altar of stones thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou move a tool upon it thou wilt profane it (Exodus 20:25).

And in Joshua:

Joshua built an altar unto the God of Israel in Mount Ebal, an altar of whole stones, on which no one had moved iron (Joshua 8:30, 31).

And respecting the temple, in the first book of Kings:

The temple at Jerusalem was built of stone, whole as it was brought; for there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building (1 Kings 6:7).

The altar, and afterwards the temple, were the chief representatives of the Lord in relation to Divine good and Divine truth, therefore "the stones of which they were built" signified the truths of doctrine, of religion and of worship; "stones" signifying in the Word truths. That nothing of self-intelligence must approach the truths of doctrine and thus worship, and consequently be in it, was represented by the stones of which the temple and the altar were built, being whole, and not hewn; for such is the signification of "the work of the workman and of the artificer;" "tool," also "hammer" and "axe" and "iron," in general, signify truth in its ultimate, and such truth is falsified chiefly by man's self, for this truth is the same as the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word.

[12] Thus much respecting the signification of "the works of man's hands;" but where "works of the hands" are attributed in the Word to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, they signify the reformed or regenerated man, also the church, and in particular the doctrine of truth and good of the church. This is the signification of "the works of the hands" in the following passages. In David:

The works of the hands of Jehovah are verity and judgment (Psalms 111:7).

In the same:

Jehovah will perfect for me; O Jehovah, Thy mercy is forever; neglect not the works of Thine own hands (Psalms 138:8).

In Isaiah:

Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the shoot of My plants, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified (Isaiah 60:21).

In the same:

O Jehovah, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hands (Isaiah 64:8).

In the same:

Woe unto him that striveth with his Former! A potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its potter, What makest thou? or thy work, Hath he no hands? Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and thy 2 Former, They have asked Me signs respecting My sons, and respecting the work of My hands they command Me (Isaiah 45:9, 11).

That here "Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, the Former," means the Lord, is evident from what follows in verse 13; and "the work of His hands" means a man regenerated by Him, thus the man of the church.

[13] In the same:

Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isaiah 19:25).

"Egypt" here signifies the natural, "Assyria" the rational, and "Israel" the spiritual; and "Assyria" is called "the work of Jehovah's hands" because the rational is what is reformed in man, for it is the rational that receives truths and goods, and from this the natural; the spiritual is what regenerates, that is, the Lord by spiritual influx; in a word, the rational is the medium between the spiritual and the natural, and the spiritual, which regenerates, flows in through the rational into the natural, and thus the natural is regenerated. In Moses:

Bless, O Jehovah, his strength, and accept the work of his hands (Deuteronomy 33:11).

This is said of Levi, who signifies the good of charity, and in the highest sense the Lord in respect to that good; reformation by means of it is meant by "the work of his hands."

სქოლიოები:

1. Latin has "his," the Hebrew "their," as also found in AE 587; AC 1551, 9466.

2. Latin has "thy," the Hebrew "his," as also found in AE 706; AC 88, 878.

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