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Ezekiel 27

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1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre:

3 And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre, thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty,

4 And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built thee, have perfected thy beauty:

5 With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks: they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.

6 They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from the islands of Italy.

7 Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were made thy covering.

8 The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers : thy wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots.

9 The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the sea, and their mariners were thy factors.

10 The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy ornament.

11 The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about: the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy walls round about: they perfected thy beauty.

12 The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead.

13 Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants: they brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass.

14 From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules to thy market.

15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony.

16 The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy works, they set forth precious stones, and purple, and broidered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.

17 Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil, and rosin in thy fairs.

18 The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy works, in the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour.

19 Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.

20 The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.

21 Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rants, and kids.

22 The sellers of Saba, and Reema, they were thy merchants: with all the best spices, and precious stones, and gold, which they set forth in thy market.

23 Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and Chelmad sold to thee.

24 They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy merchandise.

25 The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise : and thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the sea.

26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.

27 Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy mariners, and thy pilots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy people: thy men of war also, that were in thee, with all thy multitude that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the day of thy ruin.

28 Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.

29 And all that handled the oar shall come down from their ships: the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land:

30 And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice, and shall cry bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads, and shall be sprinkled with ashes.

31 And they shall shave themselves bald for thee, and shall be girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping.

32 And they shall take up a mournful song for thee, and snail lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is become silent in the midst of the sea?

33 Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill many people: which by the multitude of thy riches, and of thy people didst enrich the kings of the earth.

34 Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom of the waters, and all the multitude that was in the midst of thee is fallen.

35 All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their countenance.

36 The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #1171

Studere hoc loco

  
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1171. 'The sons of Raamah' similarly means those who had no internal worship but cognitions of faith, in the mere possession of which they made religion consist; and 'Sheba and Dedan' are nations with whom they existed and by these same nations cognitions themselves are meant in the internal sense. This is evident from the places in the Prophets given below, and from the following in David concerning Seba, Sheba, and Raamah,

The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring a gift, and the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer a present; and all kings will fall down before Him. Psalms 72:10-11.

This refers to the Lord, His kingdom, and the celestial Church. Anyone may see that here 'gift' and 'present' mean types of worship, though exactly which types of worship, and the nature of them, cannot be known unless it is known what 'Tarshish and the islands' and 'Sheba and Seba' are used to mean. The fact that 'Tarshish and the islands' is used to mean forms of external worship corresponding to internal has been shown already, from which it follows that 'Sheba and Seba' is used to mean forms of internal worship - 'Sheba' the celestial things of worship, and 'Seba' the spiritual.

[2] In Isaiah,

I gave Egypt as your expiation, Cush and Seba in place of you. Isaiah 43:3.

Here 'Cush and Seba' stands for the spiritual things of faith. In the same prophet,

The labour of Egypt, and the wares of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you. Isaiah 45:14.

'The labour of Egypt' stands for knowledge, 'the wares of Cush and the Sabeans' for cognitions of spiritual things which serve people who believe in the Lord.

[3] In the same prophet,

A drove of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah. The whole Rock of Arabia will be gathered to you. Isaiah 60:6-7.

Here 'Sheba' is used to mean celestial things and the spiritual things deriving from these, described as 'gold and frankincense', which, as now explained, are 'the praises of Jehovah', that is, internal worship.

[4] In Ezekiel,

The traders of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traders in the best of every spice, and in every precious stone, and they gave gold for your resources. Ezekiel 27:22-23.

This refers to Tyre. What 'Sheba and Raamah' means is clear from the commodities in which they are said to have traded - spices, precious stones, and gold. 'Spices' in the internal sense are charity, 'precious stones' are faith deriving from charity, and 'gold' is love to the Lord, all of which are the celestial things meant by 'Sheba'. Strictly, 'Sheba' means the cognitions of those things - and this is why they are here called 'merchandise' - with which those who become members of the Church are endowed, for without cognitions no one is able to become a member of the Church.

[5] Similar things were represented by the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon and brought him spices, gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:1-3, and also by the wise men from the east who came to Jesus at His birth, and who fell down and worshipped Him, and who opened their treasures, and offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Matthew 2:1, 11. These gifts meant celestial, spiritual, and natural good. In Jeremiah,

To what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba, and best sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable. Jeremiah 6:20.

Here also it is evident that 'Sheba' stands for cognitions and adoration, meant by 'frankincense and sweet cane', though here they are those things devoid of charity, which are not pleasing.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.