Bibliorum

 

ကမ္ဘာ ဦး 14

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1 ထိုရောအခါ၊ ရှိနာမင်းကြီး အံရဖေလ၊ ဧလာသာမင်းကြီးအာရုတ်၊ ဧလံမင်းကြီးခေဒေါရလောမာ၊ ဂေါအိမ်မင်းကြီးတိဒလတို့သည်၊

2 သောဒုံမင်းကြီးဗေရ၊ ဂေါမောရမင်းကြီး ဗိရရှ၊ အာဓမာမင်းကြီးရှိနပ်၊ ဇေဘိုင်မင်းကြီး ရှေမဘာ၊ ဗေလာမင်းကြီးတို့နှင့် စစ်တိုက်ကြ၏။ ဗေလပြည်ကား၊ ဇောရအမည်လည်းရှိသတည်း။

3 ထိုပြည်ရှိသမျှတို့သည်၊ သောဒုံအိုင်ဖြစ်သော စိဒ္ဒိမ်ချိုင့်တွင် နီးစပ်လျက်ရှိကြ၏။

4 တဆယ်နှစ်နှစ်ပတ်လုံး ခေဒေါရလောမာမင်းကြီးထံ ကျွန်ခံပြီးလျှင်၊ တဆယ်သုံးနှစ်မြောက်သောအခါ ပုန်ကန်ကြ၏။

5 တဆယ်လေးနှစ်မြောက်လျှင်၊ ခေဒေါရလောမာမင်းသည်၊ မိမိဘက်ကနေသော မင်းကြီးတို့နှင့် တကွလာ၍၊ အာရှတရုတ်ကာနိမ်မြို့၌၊ ရေဖိမ်လူများကို၎င်း၊ ဟာမမြို့၌ ဇူဇိမ်လူ များကို၎င်း၊ ကိရယသိမ်ချိုင့်၌ ဧမိမ်လူများကို၎င်း၊

6 စိရတောင်ပေါ်မှာဟောရိလူများကို၎င်း လုပ်ကြံ၍၊ တောနားမှာရှိသော ဧလပါရန်မြို့တိုင်အောင် လိုက်ကြ၏။

7 တဖန်ပြန်လာ၍၊ ကာဒေရှပြည်၊ အင်မိရှပတ်မြို့သို့ ရောက်ပြီးလျှင်၊ အာမလက်ပြည်ရှိသမျှကို၎င်း၊ ဟာဇဇုန္တမာမြို့၌နေသော အာမောရိလူများကို၎င်း လုပ်ကြံကြ၏။

8 ထိုအခါ သောဒုံမင်းကြီး၊ ဂေါမောရ မင်းကြီး၊ အာဓမာမင်းကြီး၊ ဇေဘိုင်မင်းကြီး၊ ဇောရတည်း ဟူသော ဗေလာမင်းကြီးတို့သည် ချီထွက်၍ စိဒ္ဒိမ်ချိုင့်၌ စစ်ပြိုင်ကြ၏။

9 ထိုသို့ ဧလံမင်းကြီး ခေဒေါရလောမာ၊ ဂေါအိမ် မင်းကြီးတိဒလ၊ ရှိနာမင်းကြီး အံရဖေလ၊ ဧလာသာ မင်းကြီး အာရုတ်တည်းဟူသော၊ မင်းကြီးလေးပါးနှင့်၊ မင်းကြီးငါးပါးတို့သည် စစ်ပြိုင်ကြ၏။

10 စိဒ္ဒိမ်ချိုင့်၌ ရေညှိအကျိအချွဲနှင့် ပြည့်သော တွင်းများ ရှိ၏။ သောဒုံမင်းကြီး၊ဂေါမောရမင်းကြီးတို့သည် ပြေး၍ ထိုတွင်းများ၌ ကျလေ၏။ ကြွင်းသောသူတို့သည် တောင်သို့ပြေးကြ၏။

11 အောင်သောမင်းတို့သည်၊ သောဒုံမြို့နှင့် ဂေါမောရမြို့၌ ရှိသမျှသော ဥစ္စာနှင့် မြို့ရိက္ခာ ရှိသမျှတို့ကို ယူ၍သွားကြ၏။

12 သောဒုံမြို့နေသော အာဗြံအစ်ကိုသား လောတနှင် သူ၏ဥစ္စာတို့ကိုလည်း သိမ်းယူ၍သွား၏။

13 ထိုဘေးမှ လွတ်၍ ပြေးသော သူတယောက်သည်၊ ဟေဗြဲလူ အာဗြံနှင့်မိဿဟာယဖွဲ့သောသူ၊ ဧရှ ကောလနှင့် အာနေရ၏အစ်ကို အာမောရိလူမံရေ၏ သပိတ်တောနားမှာ နေသော အာဗြံထံသို့ ရောက်၍၊ သိတင်းကြားပြောလေ၏။

14 အာဗြံသည် မိမိ အစ်ကိုသားကို ဘမ်းသွား ကြောင်းကိုကြားလျှင်၊ မိမိအိမ်၌ ဘွား၍ သွန်သင်သော လူသုံးရာတဆယ်ရှစ်ယောက်တို့ကို စီရင်၍၊ ဒန်မြို့ တိုင်အောင်လိုက်လေ၏။

15 ဉ့်အခါ၊ မိမိလူတို့ကိုခွဲ၍ တိုက်စေသဖြင့်၊ လုပ်ကြံပြီးလျှင်၊ ဒမာသက်မြို့မြောက်ဘက် ဟောဘမြို့ တိုင်အောင်လိုက်ပြန်လေ၏။

16 ရန်သူတို့သိမ်းသွားသော ဥစ္စာရှိသမျှကို၎င်း၊ မိမိအစ်ကိုသား လောတနှင့် သူ၏ဥစ္စာကို၎င်း၊ မိန်းမများ နှင့် လူများကို၎င်း၊ တဖန်ဆောင်ယူခဲ့လေ၏။

17 ခေဒေါရ လောမာနှင့်၊ သူ့ဘက်ကနေသော မင်းကြီးတို့ကို လုပ်ကြံရာမှ အာဗြံပြန်လာသောအခါ၊ သောဒုံမင်းကြီးသည် ခရီးဦးကြိုပြုခြင်းငှါ ရှာဝေချိုင့် တည်းဟူသော မင်းကြီးချိုင့်သို့ ထွက်သွား၏။

18 အမြင့်ဆုံးသော ဘုရားသခင်၏ ယဇ်ပုရောဟိတ်ဖြစ်သော၊ ရှာလင်မင်းကြီး မေလခိဇေဒက်သည်လည်း၊ မုန့်နှင့် စပျစ်ရည်ကို ဆောင်ခဲ့ပြီးလျှင်၊

19 ကောင်းကင်မြေကြီးရှင်၊ အမြင့်ဆုံးသော ဘုရားသခင်သည် အာဗြံအား ကောင်းကြီးပေးတော်မူပါစေ သောဟု၊ အာဗြံကို ကောင်းကြီးပေး၍၊

20 သင်၏ ရန်သူတို့ကို သင်၏လက်၌ အပ်နှံတော်မူသော အမြင့်ဆုံးသော ဘုရားသခင်လည်း မင်္ဂလာ ရှိတော်မူစေသတည်းဟု မြွက်ဆို၏။ အာဗြံသည်လည်း ဥစ္စာရှိသမျှတို့ကို၊ ထိုမင်းအား ဆယ်ဘို့ထဘို့ လှူလေ၏။

21 သောဒုံမင်းကြီးကလည်း၊ လူတို့ကို ကျွန်ုပ်အား ပြန်ပေးပါ၊ ဥစ္စာတို့ကိုကား၊ ကိုယ်တိုင်ယူပါလော့ဟု အာဗြံအား ပြောလိုလျှင်၊

22-24 အာဗြံက၊ မင်းကြီးသည် အာဗြံကို ငါရတတ်စေပြီဟု ပြောစရာမရှိစေခြင်းငှါ လုလင်တို့သည် စားပြီး သော အရာကို၎င်း၊ ကျွန်ုပ်နှင့်အတူ လိုက်လာသောသူ၊ အာနေရ၊ ဧရှကောလ၊ မံရေတို့သည် မိမိတို့ အဘို့ကို ယူစေခြင်းငှါ အခွင့်ပေးသဖြင့်၊ သူတို့ယူသော အဘို့ကို၎င်း၊ ထား၍၊ မင်းကြီး၏ဥစ္စာ၊ အပ်ခြည်တမျှင်ဖြစ်စေ ခြေနင်းကြိုးတပင်ဖြစ်စေ၊ တစုံတခုကိုမျှ ငါမယူဟု ကောင်းကင်မြေကြီးရှင်၊ အမြင့်ဆုံးသော ဘုရားသခင် ထာဝရဘုရားရှေ့တော်၌၊ ကျွန်ုပ်သည်လက်ကိုချီ၍ အဓိဌာန်ပြုပါပြီဟု၊ သောဒုံမင်းကြီးအားပြောဆိုလေ၏။

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #675

Studere hoc loco

  
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675. And the tenth part of the city fell.- That this signifies that no truths of doctrine existed any longer in those who remained, is evident from the signification of ten, as denoting all persons and all things, also many persons and many things; and of the tenth part, as denoting all and much, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of city, as denoting doctrine, and also the truth of doctrine, for doctrine, in order to be the doctrine of the church, must consist of truths from the Word (that a city signifies doctrine may be seen above, n. 223); and from the signification of to fall, as denoting to be separated, consequently not to exist; for to be separated and not to exist is said of truths of doctrine, while to fall is predicated of a city.

[2] For every particular thing has its own proper and analogous expression, according to the correspondence of the subject in the natural sense and of the subject in the spiritual sense; and the subject in the natural sense here is a city, and the subject in the spiritual sense is the truth of doctrine. That no truths existed with those who remained, follows from what was said in the preceding article, namely, that, when the good were removed from the society in which the good and evil were intermingled, and were taken up into heaven, then, truths of doctrine no longer remained with the evil, because they were cut off from that communication with the good by which they could be as it were in truths as to their external and thus speak concerning truths from doctrine.

[3] For in the spiritual world there is a communication of affections, and thence of thoughts; and from such communication, one is held by another, thus all in the same society are mutually held in a similar affection, consequently in a similar good; so also the evil are held by the good. But these evil were of such a nature as to be able to put on an external appearance of sanctity, piety, intelligence, and zeal for the church and its doctrine; and also in the life an appearance of being just and sincere from the heart, although interiorly in themselves they had none of these things. These are the evil, with whom truths of doctrine no longer existed, after the good meant by the two witnesses who ascended by command into heaven, had been taken away.

[4] It is to be observed that there were in the spiritual world many societies formed of such, and that these societies taken together are meant by the first heaven (prius coelum) which passed away (Apoc. 21:1).

In regard to these societies or this heaven, many things have been related in the small work concerning the Last Judgment. Such of the evil as are described above, and, at the same time, the good associated with them, were in those societies, and so long as they were united in one society, the evil as to externals appeared like the good, but when they were separated, then the external good in them, which was only simulated and hypocritical, was separated, and their interiors, which were infernal, abounding with mere evils and falsities therefrom were laid open. Such a separation, and such a consequent state existed in the spiritual world a little before the Last Judgment, this, therefore, is the state which is here described; for the subject here treated of is the last time of the church, when a general judgment is at hand.

[5] That ten signifies all persons and all things, and also many persons and many things, is evident from passages in the Word where that number occurs.

As in Moses:

Jehovah "hath commanded you his covenant, which he covenanted with you to do, the ten words, which he wrote upon the two tables of stone" (Deuteronomy 4:13).

And again:

"Jehovah wrote upon the tables, according to the former writing, the ten words which he spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire." (Deuteronomy 10:4).

There were ten words or ten commandments forming the decalogue, because ten signifies all things, and therefore by ten words is meant the law in its whole extent.

[6] Since ten signifies all persons, therefore the Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to ten virgins having lamps, going forth to meet the bridegroom, of whom five were wise (prudentes) and five foolish" (Matthew 25:1, 2, and following verses). The ten virgins to whom the kingdom of the heavens is likened signify all who are of the church, ten signifying all, and virgins the church. But five signifies some or some part, for some of [the virgins] were wise and some foolish. Such is the signification of the number five in the Word. Lamps signify knowledges of truth and good, in this case, from the Word, also, the truths of doctrine and of faith. Oil signifies the good of love and of charity; the bridegroom means the Lord, and the wedding heaven and the church, which are called a wedding from the marriage of good and truth. And because where that marriage does not exist, there neither heaven nor the church exists, therefore those are called foolish who know the truths of faith and have not the good of love, while those who possess this are called wise. For, as stated, lamps there denote the truths of faith, and oil, the good of love. Virgins signify the church, because virgin and daughter, in the Word, signify the affection for good and truth; and a church is a church from that affection. For this reason mention is made in very many places of the virgin or the daughter of Zion, the virgin or daughter of Jerusalem, the virgin and daughter of Israel and of Judah, and by these expressions the church is everywhere meant.

[7] Whereas ten signifies all and many, therefore the Lord said of the nobleman who went into a far country, that "he called his ten servants, and gave them ten pounds (minas) to trade with. And after they had traded, one said that his pound had gained ten pounds; to him he said, thou shalt have power over ten cities; and the second said, thy pound hath made five pounds; to him he said, be thou over five cities; and of the third, who laid his pound in a napkin, and did not trade with it, he said, take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds" (Luke 19:12-14, 16-20, 24). The numbers ten and five are also used here, because ten signifies all persons and all things, and five signifies some persons and some thing. The ten servants, whom the nobleman called to himself when he went into a far country, mean all who are in the world, and in particular, all who are of the church. For by the nobleman is meant the Lord, and by His departure into a far country is meant His departure out of the world, and His apparent absence. By the ten pounds which He gave to the ten servants to trade with are signified all the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, with the power to perceive them; for a pound [mina], which was silver and money, signifies knowledges of truth and the power to perceive them, and to trade signifies to procure intelligence and wisdom by means of these; those who procure for themselves much, are meant by the servant who from a pound gained ten pounds; and those who procure for themselves some, are meant by him who from a pound gained five pounds. The cities which are there said to be given to them signify the truths of doctrine, and possessing them signifies intelligence and wisdom, and life and felicity therefrom; the signification of ten cities and five cities is therefore evident. Because those who procure for themselves nothing of intelligence are like the foolish virgins spoken of above, who possess truths in the memory only, and not in the life, therefore they are deprived of these after their departure out of this world; but those who possess truths both in the life and in the memory, become rich in intelligence to eternity, and therefore it is said, that they should take the pound from him who had gained nothing with it, and give it to him who had ten pounds.

[8] The case is similar with those to whom talents were given, to one five, to another two, and to a third one; the first of whom from his five talents gained other five; and the second from two talents gained other two; and the third hid his talent in the earth, of whom the Lord said, take from him that hath not traded and gained, and give to him that hath ten talents,

"for to every one that hath shall be given, that he may abound, and from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath" (Matthew 25:14-30).

Five and ten here also signify something and much, and thus, that the first from some knowledges of truth and good procured for himself much wisdom. It is taken away from him who has procured nothing of intelligence for himself, and given to him who has much, because when a man, after death, becomes a spirit, he carries with him every single thing that he has drawn from the Word, and from the doctrine of the church. But those who by means of these have procured nothing of intelligence for themselves, are interiorly evil, and therefore pervert the truths and goods of heaven and the church - which they possessed in the memory only - for the purpose of ruling over and doing evil to the simple-good who are in the ultimate heaven. This is the reason why those truths and goods are taken away from them, and given to those who have many, since the latter do not pervert them, but perform uses with them.

[9] That those who in the world do not procure for themselves spiritual intelligence by means of knowledges of truth and good from the Word, are evil, is evident from this fact, that all are born into evils of every kind, and that these cannot be removed, except by means of Divine truths from the Word, that is, by the application of these to uses, and thus to reception in the life. To those therefore who have gained, it is said, "Good and faithful servants, ye have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things, enter ye into the joy of your Lord" (verses 21, 23); and to him who had gained nothing, "Cast ye out the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (verse 30).

[10] Because ten signifies all and much, that number is therefore used by the Lord in other passages, where all and much is to be understood, as of the woman having ten pieces of silver (drachmas); if she lost one piece, would she not light a candle and sweep the house, and seek carefully till she found it? (Luke 15:8). Ten here signifies much. This is said of a woman, and of her lighting a candle, and sweeping the house, on account of the spiritual sense in every detail of the Word. In that sense woman signifies the church as to the affection for truth, thus also, affection for the truth which pertains to the church. A piece of silver (drachma) signifies truth, and losing the piece of silver signifies to lose one of the truths or of the cognitions of truth. Lighting a candle signifies self-examination from affection; sweeping the house signifies to go over the whole mind, and to examine everything therein, where the truth lies hidden. Such is the spiritual sense of these words. A hundred like ten signifies much; therefore a similar parable speaks of a hundred sheep, if one were lost (Matthew 18:12, 13; Luke 15:3-7).

[11] Ten signifies all and much also in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"Many houses, great and fair, shall be a devastation, without inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath" (5:9, 10).

This is said of the desolation of truth with those who are of the church; many houses which shall be a desolation signify the men of the church, in particular these as to truths from good; great and fair, that is, houses, signify the affection for good and the understanding of truth; for great is used in reference to good and affection for it, and fair is used in reference to truth and the understanding of it. Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath signifies that in all things pertaining to the church with man, there is scarcely any truth from good, for bath has a signification similar to that of wine, that is, truth from good; therefore ten acres of vineyard signify all things of the church with man.

[12] In Moses:

If ye will go contrary to me, "I will break the staff of bread, that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven; and I will deliver your bread by weight" (Leviticus 26:23, 26).

To break the staff of bread signifies to take away spiritual food, and thus spiritual nourishment; for bread signifies everything that nourishes the soul, and in particular the good of love, therefore by ten women shall bake your bread in one oven is signified that in all things of the church with man there is so little of good and truth, as to be scarcely anything. Ten women signify all things of the church; bread signifies good and truth which nourish the soul; and oven signifies where spiritual food is prepared, thus the man in whom it is; to deliver the bread by weight signifies the failure and want of such things as spiritually nourish.

[13] In Zechariah:

"Many peoples and numerous nations shall come to seek Jehovah Zebaoth in Jerusalem, and to supplicate the faces of Jehovah; in those days ten men out of all the tongues of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of a man that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (8:22, 23).

These things are said concerning the calling together of the nations and their admission to the church by the Lord. Ten men out of all tongues signify all of whatever religion, that is those who come to seek Jehovah Zebaoth in Jerusalem, in other words, who wish to be added to the church, and to confess the Lord; therefore ten men denote all such, and the tongues of the nations their religions. But this together with the rest of the passage may be seen explained above (n. 433:26), where it is shewn that Jerusalem does not mean Jerusalem, nor "Jew" any Jew.

[14] In Amos:

"Jehovah said, I hate the pride of Jacob, and his palaces, therefore I will shut up the city, and the fulness thereof; if there be left ten men in one house they shall die" (6:8, 9).

The pride of Jacob, and his palaces, which Jehovah hates, signify the love and faith of falsity with those who are of the church, pride signifies the love of falsity, and palaces signify falsities themselves, and these are called palaces because they belong to the proud, and because their falsities are embellished in the external form, so as to appear magnificent, although they are most vile, like cottages full of rubbish and filth. By shutting up the city and the fulness thereof is signified to condemn the doctrine, because it is full of and possessed by falsities of evil, city denoting doctrine, and fulness the falsities of evil. If there be left ten men in one house they shall die, signifies therefore that all truths of good with every one shall perish, ten men denoting all truths, house man as to good, while to die denotes to perish.

[15] In Zechariah:

The prophet saw a flying roll, "the length thereof twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits; this is the curse that goeth forth over the faces of the whole earth" (5:2, 3).

The flying roll, which signified the curse that goeth forth over the faces of the whole earth, was in length twenty cubits, and in breadth ten, because twenty and ten signify all, in this place, all good changed into evil, and all truth into falsity, twenty being said of good and everything belonging to it, and ten of truth and everything belonging to it; length also signifies good, and breadth truth, as may be seen above (n. 355:28, 627:4, 629:4, and in Heaven and Hell 197).

[16] Because ten signifies all things and many things, therefore, ten times signifies so often, how often, and always, in the following passages.

In Daniel:

"Among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; in every word of wisdom and intelligence, which the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the astrologers and diviners that were in all his kingdom" (1:19, 20).

In Moses:

"All the men, who have seen my glory and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who tempted me these ten times, shall not see the land" (Numbers 14:22, 23).

In Job:

"Ten times have ye reproached me, ye are not ashamed, ye harden yourselves" (19:3).

[17] Ten times, in these passages, signifies at all times or always, and so often, how often. In Daniel and the Apocalypse, horns are attributed to the beasts, to some ten, to some seven, and to some three, and by the horns of the beasts is signified the power of falsity against truth, and of evil against good, and by ten horns, the highest power.

In Daniel:

"The fourth beast" coming up out of the sea "had ten horns; as to the ten horns out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise" (7:7, 20, 24).

The ten horns of the beast here signify the highest power of falsity against truth; ten kings signify falsities in their whole extent, and kingdom signifies that church perverted.

In the Apocalypse:

"The dragon had seven heads and ten horns, and upon the heads seven diadems" (12:3).

Again:

The beast coming up out of the sea "had seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems" (13:1).

And again:

"The woman sitting upon the scarlet beast full of names of blasphemy, had seven heads and ten horns; the ten horns, which thou sawest, are ten kings, which have not yet received a kingdom; yet they shall receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (17:3, 7, 12).

The signification of the particulars of these passages will be seen in the explanations below.

[18] Because ten signifies all persons and all things, it follows that the tenth part signifies everything. Tenths and tithings derived their origin from this, and signified that everything was holy and blessed when the tenth part of the threshing floor and of the wine-press, or of the corn and the wine, was given to the Levites; similarly for the Levites, when the tenth part was again tithed and given to Aaron. It is thus written concerning this in the Word:

"Tithing thou shalt tithe all the produce of thy seed, which is brought forth into the field year by year" (Deuteronomy 14:22).

And again:

"Say unto the Levites, that the tenths shall be given to them for an inheritance, and that they shall take therefrom a heave-offering to Jehovah, tenths of the tenths, and this from the corn of the threshing floor, and from the fulness of the wine-press; and the tenth of the tenth shall they give to Aaron the priest" (Numbers 18:24-28).

[19] That the tenths signified blessings in all things, thus that everything was holy and blessed, is evident in Malachi:

"Bring all the tenths to the treasure house, that there may be food in my house; then prove ye me in this, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing upon you, until there shall not be room enough" (3:10).

To open the windows and pour out a blessing signifies the Divine influx, which is the source of intelligence and eternal life; the same is signified by rain (above, n. 644); this is properly meant by the blessing which would be given if the tenths were brought; tithes therefore signify that everything was thus blest.

"In order that everything that Abraham took from his enemies might be blessed it is said, that he gave to Melchisedek, who was king in Salem, and at the same time priest to God most high, tenths of all" (Genesis 14:18, 19).

Similarly Jacob promised

"that if he should return in peace unto the house of his father, of everything that Jehovah gave him, he would give a tenth unto Him" (Genesis 28:21, 22).

From these passages, and many others, the signification of ten and the tenth part in the Word is evident.

[20] The reason why ten signifies all things, is derived from heaven itself; for heaven in the whole and every part has reference to man, and therefore it is called the Grand Man (Maximus Homo). All the forces of the life of that Grand Man or of heaven terminate in the two hands and two feet, and the hands terminate in ten fingers, the feet in ten toes; therefore all things of man, as to power and support, are finally brought together into ten fingers and toes, hence these signify all things pertaining to him; and moreover ultimates, in the Word, signify all things.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #427

Studere hoc loco

  
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427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. That this signifies that those who are in truths from good must first be separated, is evident from the signification of sealing, which denotes to distinguish and separate, and of which we shall speak presently; from the signification of the servants of God, as denoting those who are in truths from good (concerning which see above, n.6); and from the signification of forehead, which denotes the good of love. The basis of this signification of the forehead is correspondency; for everything in man's body, both internal and external, corresponds to heaven, the whole heaven in the Lord's sight being as one man and so arranged as to correspond to each and all things in man. The whole face, where the organs of the sensations of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and thence to the thoughts in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nostrils to perception, the ears to hearing and obedience, and the taste to the desire of knowing and of becoming wise. But the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these proceed, because it forms the highest part of the face, and embraces at once the anterior and primary parts of the brain, whence are man's intellectual [powers]. Hence the Lord looks upon the angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord with the eyes; the reason of this is that the forehead corresponds to love, from which the Lord looks upon them, while the eyes correspond to the understanding, from which they look to the Lord. For the Lord permits Himself to be seen by means of the influx of love into their understandings. Concerning this fact see Heaven and Hell 141, 151), and that the whole heaven collectively represents one man (n. 68 to 87); and that therefore there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man (n. 87-102). From these things it is evident that being sealed on their foreheads, signifies to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and by means of that to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love. For the Lord looks upon them in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to Him with thought from affection. Others cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, because they avert themselves from Him, and turn to that opposite love, which fills and attracts them. That every one in the spiritual world, and also man as to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love may be seen in Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552).

[2] That to be sealed does not mean to be sealed, but to be brought into that state in which their quality can be known, so that they may be conjoined with those who are in a similar state, and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state, is signified by being marked, and by a mark, in the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

"And Jehovah said," to the man clothed in linen, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that mourn and that sigh for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Go ye through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark" (9:4-6).

The subject is here the separation of the good from the evil. To be marked (or sealed) on the forehead has the same signification as in this passage in the Apocalypse, that is, to be distinguished and separated from the evil, and conjoined to the good. The casting-out of the evil, and their condemnation are also afterwards described. Those who are in good are described by the men that cry and sigh for all the abominations done in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. Those who mourn and sigh over the abominations are such as are not in evils and the falsities therefrom; mourning and sighing over them signify aversion and grief on account of them, Jerusalem denoting the church, and the city doctrine. The casting-out of the evil and their condemnation are afterwards described, by the command that they should go through the city after him and smite, and that their eye should not spare. To smite and to kill signify to be damned, for spiritual death is damnation, and is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

"He will come to gather together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory. And I will set a mark among them" (66:18, 19).

These words are spoken concerning the Lord, and the new church to be established by Him, and therefore concerning the new heaven and the new earth, as is evident from verse 22 of that chapter. By gathering together all nations and tongues, the same is signified as by gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31). To gather together signifies to call His own to Himself; nations signify those who are in good, and tongues, those who are in a life according to doctrine. To come and see the glory of the Lord, signifies to be enlightened in Divine Truth, and thus to experience heavenly joy; for the glory of the Lord signifies the Divine Truth, and the illustration and joy which it affords. To set a mark among them, signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil, and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is said of Cain, that Jehovah set a mark upon him, lest any should kill him (Genesis 4:15). Unless this interior fact of the Word be known, that by persons named in its historical parts, things are meant in the spiritual sense, or that every person there mentioned represents, and consequently signifies, something pertaining to the church and heaven, nothing further can be known than the literal history, which appears to be no more divine than other histories. But in every detail of the Word, both prophetical and historical, there is the Divine, which does not appear in the letter, except to those who are in the spiritual sense and acquainted with it. The interior spiritual fact contained in the history of Cain and Abel is that Abel represents the good of charity, and Cain the truth of faith; and this good and this truth are also called brethren in the Word. The truth of faith is called the first-born because truths which are afterwards to become the truths of faith, are first acquired and stored up in the memory, in order that good may take thence as from a storehouse what it can conjoin to itself, and thus cause them to be truths of faith. For truth is not of faith until man wills it and does it, and as far as man does this, the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and by means of good into the truths which he has acquired from his childhood, conjoins them to good, and causes them to become truths of faith. Before this has taken place, they are nothing more than cognitions and knowledges (scientiae), and these he believes as yet only in the same way that he believes what he hears from others which he can give up if he afterwards think differently, therefore this faith is the faith of another in himself, and not his own, and yet a man's faith must be his own, in order that it may remain with him after death. It becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for then it enters into the man, moulds his spirit, and becomes an integral part of his affection and thought; for the spirit of man in its essence is nothing else but his own affection and thought.

[5] That which is of affection is called good, and that which is of thought therefrom is called truth; nor does a man believe anything to be the truth, but that which belongs to his affection, that is, to the interior affection of his spirit. Wherefore what a man thinks from interior affection is his belief, and nothing else that he retains in his memory, whether from the Word or the doctrine of the church, from reading, from preaching, or from his own understanding, is faith, although he thinks that it is, and although it is declared and believed to be so at this day. This primary and first-begotten [principle] is represented and signified by Cain in the above historical part of the Word, for Cain was the first-begotten. When it is believed that such a faith saves man, and not the willing and doing of it, or a life according to it, then there arises the baneful heresy that faith alone saves whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith without life, although this is not faith, but merely knowledge exteriorly in the memory, and not interiorly in the life. If this be called faith it is historical faith, which is the faith one man has from another, and has no life in itself, until he who possesses it sees for himself that what he has received is true, and this first takes place when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, then charity, which is the good of life, is annihilated, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called brethren in the Word, as stated above.

[6] That Jehovah set a mark upon Cain lest he should be slain, signifies that he distinguished him from others, and preserved him, because saving faith cannot exist, unless historical faith precede, which is the knowledge of the things of the church and of heaven derived from others, in a word, the knowledge of such things as shall afterwards pertain to faith. For unless a man from his infancy received truths from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, or from preaching, he would possess none, and the Lord cannot act upon such a man, nor can he receive influx out of heaven from the Lord, for He operates and inflows by means of good into the truths which a man possesses and conjoins them, and thus makes charity and faith one. From these considerations it is evident what is signified by Jehovah setting a mark on Cain, lest any one should slay him, and by him that should slay him being avenged sevenfold. Besides, those who are only in historical faith, that is, in the knowledge of such things as belong to faith, - and such persons and faith are signified by Cain, - are also preserved, because they can teach others truths from the Word, for they teach from the memory.

[7] Since the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from His Divine Love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as stated above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the mitre of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of purple, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah" (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron, as the chief priest, represented the Lord as to the good of Divine Love, and therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love. The mitre represented intelligence and wisdom, and the forefront of it, love, from which are intelligence and wisdom, and so the plate of pure gold, upon which "Holiness to Jehovah" was engraved, was there placed upon a thread of purple. The pure gold of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the purple forming the thread upon which the plate was put, signifies the good of spiritual love, and spiritual love is the love of truth; the engraving of a signet signifies continuance to eternity; holiness to Jehovah signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, from which every thing holy of heaven and of the church proceeds. These were upon the front of the mitre which was on the head of Aaron, because the mitre like the head, signifies Divine Wisdom, and the forehead, the Divine Good of Love. Aaron represented the Lord as to the good of love, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 9806, 9946, 10017). "Purple" signifies the love of truth (n. 9466, 9687, 9833); and the mitre signifies intelligence and wisdom (n. 9827).

[8] Since the forehead signifies the good of love, the Israelites were therefore commanded to bind upon their foreheads the precept concerning love to Jehovah.

Thus in Moses:

"And thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said, that they should be for frontlets before the eyes, to represent the fact that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine Love, and gives to angels and men the power to see Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the eyes signify the understanding. All man's understanding also is from the good of his love, and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they should also bind them upon the hand represented the ultimates, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore upon the forehead and upon the hand signifies in primaries and in ultimates. Primary and ultimate signify all, as may be seen above (n. 417). This precept was bound in this manner, because on it hang all the law and the prophets, that is the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and of the church. That the law and the prophets hang on this precept, the Lord teaches in Matthew (22:35-38, 40). From this it is evident why kings at their coronation were in former times and are to-day anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand. For kings formerly represented the Lord as to Divine Truth, and because this is received in the good of love which flows in from the Lord, therefore anointing was performed upon the forehead and upon the hand. The oil also, with which they were anointed, signifies the good of love. Therefore kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good; as may be seen above (n. 31). From these considerations it is clear what a sign or mark upon the forehead means, as mentioned here and in other passages in the Apocalypse (9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the other hand, the forehead signifies the evil of love which is opposite to the good of love, and therefore what is hard, obstinate, shameless and infernal. Thus in Isaiah, "hardness" is described in these words:

"Thou art hard, for thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass" (48:4).

In Ezekiel "obstinacy."

"The house of Israel will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are of an obstinate forehead and hard of heart" (3:7).

In Jeremiah "shamelessness."

"Thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed" (Jeremiah 3:3).

"Infernal" in the Apocalypse (13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4). For as the good of love is celestial, and therefore gentle, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, obstinate, and shameless.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.