Bibliorum

 

Esekiel 39

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1 Og du menneskesønn! Spå mot Gog og si: Så sier Herren, Israels Gud: Se, jeg kommer over dig, Gog, fyrste over os, Mesek og Tubal!

2 Og jeg vil vende dig om og drive dig frem og føre dig op fra det ytterste Norden og la dig komme over Israels fjell.

3 Og jeg vil slå din bue ut av din venstre hånd og la dine piler falle ut av din høire hånd.

4 Israels fjell skal du falle, du og alle dine skarer og de folkeslag som er med dig; jeg gir dig til føde for allehånde rovfugler og for markens ville dyr.

5 På marken skal du falle; for jeg har talt, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

6 Og jeg vil sende ild mot Magog og mot dem som bor trygt på øene, og de skal kjenne at jeg er Herren.

7 Og jeg vil kunngjøre mitt hellige navn blandt mitt folk Israel og ikke mere la mitt hellige navn bli vanhelliget, og folkene skal kjenne at jeg er Herren, hellig i Israel.

8 Se, det kommer, det skjer, sier Herren, Israels Gud; det er dagen som jeg har talt om.

9 Da skal de som bor i Israels byer, gå ut og gjøre op ild og holde den ved like med rustninger og små og store skjold, med buer og piler og staver og spyd, og de skal holde ilden ved like dermed i syv år;

10 de skal ikke hente ved fra marken og ikke hugge i skogene, men med rustningene skal de holde ilden ved like, og de skal røve fra dem som har røvet fra dem, og plyndre dem som har plyndret dem, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

11 På den dag vil jeg gi Gog et gravsted i Israel, de veifarendes dal østenfor havet, og den skal stenge veien for de veifarende; der skal de begrave Gog og hele hans hop, og de skal kalle den Gog-hopens dal.

12 I syv måneder skal Israels hus holde på med å begrave dem for å rense landet.

13 Alt folket i landet skal være med om å begrave dem, og det skal være dem til navnkundighet på den dag jeg åpenbarer min herlighet, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

14 De skal utkåre nogen menn som stadig skal dra gjennem landet, og andre som sammen med dem som drar gjennem landet, skal begrave alle som er blitt liggende igjen på marken rundt om i landet, for å rense det. Når syv måneder er til ende, skal de gjennemsøke det,

15 og når nogen av dem som skal dra gjennem landet, på sin ferd ser et menneskeben, da skal de sette op et merke der, til de som skal begrave, får begravet det i Goghopens dal.

16 Også en by der skal ha navnet Hamona*. Således skal de rense landet. / {* d.e. dens (Gogs hærs) hop; ESK 39, 11. 15.}

17 Og du menneskesønn! Så sier Herren, Israels Gud: Si til allehånde fugler og til alle markens ville dyr: Samle eder og kom, Samle eder fra alle kanter til det slaktoffer som jeg slakter for eder, et stort slaktoffer på Israels fjell, og I skal ete kjøtt og drikke blod.

18 Kjempers kjøtt skal I ete, og jordens fyrsters blod skal I drikke, værer, lam og bukker og okser, alle sammen gjødd i Basan.

19 Og I skal ete fett til I blir mette, og drikke blod til I blir drukne, av det slaktoffer som jeg slakter for eder.

20 I skal mettes ved mitt bord med ridehester og vognhester, med kjemper og alle slags krigsmenn, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

21 Og jeg vil åpenbare min herlighet iblandt folkene, og alle folkene skal se den dom som jeg har holdt, og min hånd som jeg har lagt på dem.

22 Og Israels hus skal kjenne at jeg er Herren deres Gud, fra den dag og fremdeles.

23 Og folkene skal skjønne at det var for sin misgjernings skyld Israels hus blev bortført, fordi de var troløse mot mig, så jeg skjulte mitt åsyn for dem og gav dem i deres fienders hånd, og de falt for sverdet alle sammen;

24 efter deres urenhet og deres overtredelser gjorde jeg med dem, og jeg skjulte mitt åsyn for dem.

25 Derfor sier Herren, Israels Gud, så: Nu vil jeg gjøre ende på Jakobs fangenskap og forbarme mig over hele Israels hus, og jeg vil vise mig nidkjær for mitt hellige navn.

26 Og de skal bære* sin skam og all den troløshet de har vist mot mig, når de bor trygt i sitt land, og ingen forferder dem. / {* d.e. ydmykende erkjenne.}

27 Når jeg fører dem tilbake fra folkene og samler dem fra deres fienders land og åpenbarer min hellighet på dem for de mange folks øine,

28 da skal de kjenne at jeg er Herren deres Gud, fordi jeg har bortført dem til folkene, men igjen samlet dem til deres land og ikke lar nogen av dem bli igjen der.

29 Og jeg vil ikke mere skjule mitt åsyn for dem, for jeg vil utgyde min Ånd over Israels hus, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #862

Studere hoc loco

  
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862. We have said that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and goods and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life, as stated in the preceding number. This is the symbolic meaning because the camp of the saints symbolizes all the truths and goods of the church which is the New Jerusalem.

That a camp in the spiritual sense symbolizes everything connected with the church with respect to its truths and goods can be seen from the following passages:

The sun and moon grew dark, and the stars diminished their brightness. Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for numberless are those who obey His Word. (Joel 2:10-11)

I will encamp for My house some of the army... (Zechariah 9:8)

...God has scattered the bones of them who encamp against you..., because God has rejected them. (Psalms 53:5)

The angel of Jehovah encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. (Psalms 34:7)

(An angel of God met Jacob, and said to Jacob,) "This is God's camp." Therefore he called the name of that place Mahanaim (Two Camps). (Genesis 32:1-2)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 29:3, Ezekiel 1:24, Psalms 27:3.

That an army or host in the Word symbolizes the church's truths and goods, and also its falsities and evils, may be seen in nos. 447, 826, 833; and so, too, does a camp.

[2] Since the children of Israel and their twelve tribes symbolize the church in respect to all its truths and goods (nos. 349, 350), they were therefore called the armies or hosts of Jehovah (Exodus 7:4; 12:41, 51), and the places where they stopped and assembled were called camps, as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 1; 2; 3; 4:5 ff., 5:2-4; 9:17-23; 10:1-10, 11-28; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 21:10-15; 33:1-49; Deuteronomy 23:9-14; Amos 4:10.

It is apparent from this now that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people tried to destroy all the truths and goods of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and also its doctrine regarding the Lord and life.

The same symbolism is found in these verses in Luke:

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near... (At length) Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20, 24)

This is said in reference to the end of the age, which is the final period of the church. Jerusalem here also symbolizes the church.

That Gog and Magog, that is, people who engage in external worship divorced from any internal worship, will then invade the church and try to destroy it, is something we are told also in Ezekiel 38:8-9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 39:2, and that the New Church will then be established by the Lord, Ezekiel 39:17-29.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

Bibliorum

 

Numbers 3

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1 Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Yahweh spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai.

2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office.

4 Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father.

5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

7 They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

8 They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

9 You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

10 You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12 "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine:

13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh."

14 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15 "Count the children of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families. You shall count every male from a month old and upward."

16 Moses numbered them according to the word of Yahweh, as he was commanded.

17 These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

18 These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.

19 The sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

20 The sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.

21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.

22 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those who were numbered of them were seven thousand five hundred.

23 The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward.

24 The prince of the fathers' house of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael.

25 The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the Tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and around the altar, and its cords for all of its service.

27 Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites.

28 According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary.

29 The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the south side of the tabernacle.

30 The prince of the fathers' house of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

31 Their duty shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service.

32 Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be prince of the princes of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the requirements of the sanctuary.

33 Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari.

34 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.

35 The prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.

36 The appointed duty of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle's boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service,

37 the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, and their cords.

38 Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary for the duty of the children of Israel. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.

39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

40 Yahweh said to Moses, "Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.

41 You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel."

42 Moses numbered, as Yahweh commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.

43 All the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.

44 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

45 "Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh.

46 For the redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who exceed the number of the Levites,

47 you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; after the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs):

48 and you shall give the money, with which the remainder of them is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons."

49 Moses took the redemption money from those who exceeded the number of those who were redeemed by the Levites;

50 from the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

51 and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.