Bibliorum

 

Ezequiel 39

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1 Tú pues, hijo de hombre, profetiza contra Gog, y di: Así dijo el Señor DIOS: He aquí yo estoy contra ti, oh Gog, príncipe de la cabecera de Mesec y Tubal;

2 y te quebrantaré, y te sextaré, y te haré subir de las partes del norte, y te traeré sobre los montes de Israel;

3 y sacaré tu arco de tu mano izquierda, y derribaré tus saetas de tu mano derecha.

4 Sobre los montes de Israel caerás tú, y todas tus compañías, y los pueblos que fueron contigo; a toda ave y a toda cosa que vuela, y a las bestias del campo, te he dado por comida.

5 Sobre la faz del campo caerás; porque yo he hablado, dijo el Señor DIOS.

6 Y enviaré fuego sobre Magog, y sobre los que moran seguramente en las islas; y sabrán que yo soy el SEÑOR.

7 Y haré notorio mi santo Nombre en medio de mi pueblo Israel, y nunca más dejaré mancillar mi santo Nombre; y sabrán los gentiles que yo soy el SEÑOR, santo en Israel.

8 He aquí, vino y fue, dijo el Señor DIOS: este es el día del cual yo hablé.

9 Y los moradores de las ciudades de Israel saldrán, y encenderán y quemarán armas, y escudos, y paveses, arcos y saetas, y bastones de mano, y lanzas; y las quemarán en el fuego por siete años.

10 Y no traerán leña del campo, ni cortarán de los bosques, sino que quemarán las armas en el fuego; y despojarán a sus despojadores, y robarán a los que les robaron, dijo el Señor DIOS.

11 Y será en aquel tiempo, que yo daré a Gog lugar para sepulcro allí en Israel, el valle de los que pasan al oriente del mar, y obstruirá el paso a los transeúntes, pues allí enterrarán a Gog y a toda su multitud; y lo llamarán, El valle de Hamón-gog.

12 Y la Casa de Israel los estará enterrando por siete meses, para limpiar la tierra;

13 los enterrará todo el pueblo de la tierra; y será para ellos célebre el día que yo sea glorificado, dijo el Señor DIOS.

14 Y tomarán hombres de jornal, los cuales irán por el país con los que viajaren, para enterrar a los que quedaron sobre la faz de la tierra, a fin de limpiarla; al cabo de siete meses harán el reconocimiento.

15 Y pasarán los que irán por la tierra, y el que viere los huesos de algún hombre, edificará junto a ellos una señal, hasta que los entierren los sepultureros en el valle de Hamón-gog.

16 Y también el nombre de la ciudad será Hamona; y limpiarán la tierra.

17 Y tú, hijo de hombre, así dijo el Señor DIOS: Di a las aves, a todo volátil, y a toda bestia del campo: Juntaos, y venid; reuníos de todas partes a mi víctima que os sacrifico, un sacrificio grande sobre los montes de Israel, y comeréis carne y beberéis sangre.

18 Comeréis carne de fuertes, y beberéis sangre de príncipes de la tierra; de carneros, de corderos, de machos cabríos, de bueyes, y de toros, engordados todos en Basán.

19 Y comeréis gordura hasta saciaros, y beberéis sangre hasta embriagaros, de mi sacrificio que yo os sacrifiqué.

20 Y os saciaréis sobre mi mesa, de caballos, y de carros fuertes, y de todos los hombres de guerra, dijo el Señor DIOS.

21 Y pondré mi gloria entre los gentiles, y todos los gentiles verán mi juicio que hice, y mi mano que sobre ellos puse.

22 Y de aquel día en adelante sabrá la Casa de Israel que yo soy el SEÑOR su Dios.

23 Y sabrán los gentiles que la Casa de Israel fue llevada cautiva por su pecado; por cuanto se rebelaron contra mí, y yo escondí de ellos mi rostro, y los entregué en mano de sus enemigos, y cayeron todos a cuchillo.

24 Conforme a su inmundicia y conforme a sus rebeliones hice con ellos; y de ellos escondí mi rostro.

25 Por tanto, así dijo el Señor DIOS: Ahora volveré la cautividad de Jacob, y tendré misericordia de toda la Casa de Israel, y celaré por mi santo Nombre.

26 Y ellos sentirán su vergüenza, y toda su rebelión con que se rebelaron contra mí, cuando habitaban en su tierra seguramente, y no había quien los espantase.

27 Cuando los volveré de los pueblos, y los juntaré de las tierras de sus enemigos, y fuere santificado en ellos en ojos de muchos gentiles.

28 Y sabrán que yo soy el SEÑOR su Dios, cuando después de haberlos hecho pasar a los gentiles, los juntaré sobre su tierra, sin dejar más allá ninguno de ellos.

29 Ni esconderé más de ellos mi rostro; porque derramaré mi Espíritu sobre la Casa de Israel, dijo el Señor DIOS.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #405

Studere hoc loco

  
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405. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died. (8:9) This symbolically means that those who had lived that faith and continued to live it could not be reformed and receive life.

A third symbolizes all such, as said above. Creatures mean people who can be reformed (no. 290). The reason is that to create means, symbolically, to reform (no. 254). Their living means, symbolically, to be able by reformation to receive life. That they died means, symbolically, that people who live that faith alone cannot receive life. They cannot, because people are all reformed by a faith united to charity, thus by a faith accompanying charity, and none by faith alone; for charity is the life of faith.

[2] Since in the spiritual world the affections and consequent perceptions and thoughts of spirits and angels appear at a distance in the forms of animals or creatures on the earth called beasts, of creatures in the air called birds, and of creatures in the sea called fish, therefore the Word so often mentions beasts, birds, and fish, which nevertheless have precisely the meaning stated. So for example in the following places:

...Jehovah has a quarrel with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God... And everyone who dwells in it will waste away along with the beast of the field and the bird of the air; even the fish of the sea will be gathered up. (Hosea 4:1, 3)

I will consume man and beast..., the bird of the heavens, the fish of the sea, ...the stumbling blocks along with the impious... (Zephaniah 1:3)

There shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, and the fish of the sea, the bird of the heavens, and the beast of the field... shall tremble before Me. (Ezekiel 38:18-20)

You have made Him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet... the beasts of the fields, the bird of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the path of the seas. (Psalms 8:6-8)

The latter is said of the Lord.

Pray ask the beasts, and they will teach you; or the birds of the air, and they will inform you...; and the fish of the sea will tell you. Who of all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this? (Job 12:7-9)

And in many other places as well.

[3] Fish, moreover, and creatures of the sea, as they are called here, mean the affections and consequent thoughts of such people as are concerned with general truths, and so who take more from a natural source than from a spiritual one. These people are meant by fish in the preceding passages, and also in the following ones:

By My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink... and die of thirst. (Isaiah 50:2)

...the king of Egypt, a great whale, you who lie in the midst of your rivers, you said, "The river is mine; I made myself..".. (Therefore) I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales..., and I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. (Ezekiel 29:3-5)

This was addressed to the king of Egypt, because Egypt symbolizes the natural level divorced from the spiritual one, and so the fish of his rivers mean people governed by doctrines, who because of them are caught up in faith separated from charity, a faith that is simply knowledge.

Because of that separation, moreover, one of the miracles in Egypt was the turning of their waters into blood, so that the fish died (Exodus 7:17-25, Psalms 105:29).

[4] Furthermore:

Why do You make mankind like fish of the sea...? Everyone draws them up with a hook, and gathers them in a net... (Habakkuk 1:14-16)

Fish here stand for people concerned with general truths and caught up in faith divorced from charity. In contrast, fish stand for people concerned with general truths and governed by a faith conjoined with charity in Ezekiel:

He said to me: "These waters flowing to the eastern boundary... enter the sea, (from which comes) every living soul that creeps... and very much fish... ...fishermen will stand by it... with a spreading of their nets. Its fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. (Ezekiel 47:1, 8-10)

In Matthew:

(Jesus said,) the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, and they gathered (fish).... And they put the good ones into vessels and threw the bad away. (Matthew 13:47-49)

And in Jeremiah:

I will bring (the children of Israel) back into their land... And I will send for many fishermen...(who) shall fish them. (Jeremiah 16:15-16)

[5] Consequently, anyone who knows that fish symbolize people and things of the kind stated, can see the following: Why the Lord chose fishermen to be His disciples, and said,

Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:18-19)

Why the disciples, with the Lord's blessing, caught a huge multitude of fish, and the Lord said to Peter,

Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men. (Luke 5:2-10)

Why, when they wished to exact tribute from the Lord, He told Peter to go to the sea and draw out a fish, and to give them the coin found in it for Him and for himself (Matthew 16:24-27).

Why, after His resurrection, the Lord gave His disciples fish and bread to eat (John 21:2-13).

And why He told them to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). For the nations they were converting possessed only general truths, and were concerned more with natural things than spiritual ones.

  
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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.