241. Verse 18. I counsel thee, signifies the means of reformation of those who are in the doctrine of faith alone. This is evident from what now follows, for the reformation of those who are in that doctrine is now treated of; therefore "I counsel thee" implies precepts as to how such must live that they may be reformed and thus saved.

1306. That 'a tower' means worship of self is clear from the meaning of 'a tower'. It is worship of self when a person sets himself up above everybody else even to the point of his being worshipped. Consequently self-love, which is pride and arrogance, is called height, loftiness, and exaltedness, and everything high is used to describe it, as in Isaiah,

The eyes of man's (homo) loftiness will be humbled, and the height of men (vir) brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted on that day, for the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, and against everyone that is lifted up. and he will be humbled, and against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan, and against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower and against every fortified wall. Isaiah 2:11-18.

This refers to self-love, described by the cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, and tower that are high and exalted.

[2] In the same prophet,

There will be brooks, streams of water, on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Isaiah 30:25.

Here likewise 'tower' stands for self-love and for exaltedness in worship. In the same prophet,

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans! This people was not. Asshur founded her in tziim. ¹ They will erect their watch-towers; they will raise up her palaces, he will make her into a ruin. Isaiah 23:13.

This refers to Tyre and laying it waste. 'Watch-towers', a different expression from 'towers', stands for resulting delusions. In Ezekiel,

I will cause many nations to come up against Tyre, and they will break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock. Ezekiel 26:3-4.

Here likewise 'towers' has the same meaning.

[3] The reason why self-love in worship, or worship of self, is called 'a tower' is that 'a city' means doctrine, as shown already in 402, and cities in former times were fortified by towers with watchmen in them. Towers were also placed on their borders, and they were therefore called towers for watchmen, 2 Kings 9:17; 17:9; 18:8, and watchtowers, Isaiah 23:13. In addition, when the Lord's Church is compared to a vineyard, things of worship and also the preservation of it are compared to a winepress and to 'a tower in the vineyard', as is clear in Isaiah 5:1-2; Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1.

각주:

7353. 'And they will rise up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber' means that they will fill the mind, all the way through to its more internal parts. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as a person's mind, dealt with in 3538, 4973, 5023; and from the meaning of 'bedchamber' as the more internal parts of the mind. The reason why 'bedchamber' means the more internal parts of the mind is that it is a more internal part of the house. The more internal parts are meant by 'chambers', and those that are even more internal by 'bedchambers', in the following places: In Isaiah,

Go away, O people, enter your bedchambers, and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself, so to speak, for a little moment, until the anger passes over. Isaiah 26:20.

In Ezekiel,

He said to me, Have you not seen, son of man, what the elders of the house ¹ of Israel do in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol? Ezekiel 8:12.

In Moses,

Outside the sword will bereave and out of the chambers terror. Deuteronomy 31:25.

In the second Book of Kings,

Elisha the prophet, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bed chamber. 2 Kings 6:12.

The ancients compared a person's mind to a house, and the inward parts of a person to chambers. The human mind is indeed like a house, for the things it contains are virtually as distinct from one another as the chambers within a house. Those at the centre are the inmost parts of the mind, while those to the sides are the more external parts there. The ancients compared the latter to forecourts, and the parts which were outside but adjoining parts more internal they compared to porticos.

각주: