Bibliorum

 

Ezekiel 38

Study

   

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

4 and I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

6 Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.

7 Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them.

8 After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.

9 You shall ascend, you shall come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: It shall happen in that day, that things shall come into your mind, and you shall devise an evil device:

11 and you shall say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;

12 to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are [now] inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions of it, shall tell you, Have you come to take the spoil? have you assembled your company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great spoil?

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, shall you not know it?

15 You shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army;

16 and you shall come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for [many] years that I would bring you against them?

18 It shall happen in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils.

19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

20 so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the field, and all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

21 I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains, says the Lord Yahweh: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

22 With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur.

23 I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

   

Commentarius

 

Wrath

  

'Great wrath,' as in Revelation 12:12, signifies hatred against the new church.

'Wrath,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies aversion from truth.

(Notae: Apocalypse Revealed 635, 658; Arcana Coelestia 6343)


from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #635

Studere hoc loco

  
/ 962  
  

635. 14:10 "He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of His indignation." This symbolically means that they falsify the Word's goods and truths and steep themselves in a life in accordance with their falsification of them.

This is the symbolic meaning of this declaration, because the wine of the wrath of God mixed with pure wine symbolizes the Word's truth falsified. The cup of His indignation symbolizes truth which leads to good, likewise falsified. And to drink means, symbolically, to adopt these falsified truths, or to steep oneself in a life in accordance with them.

That wine symbolizes the Word's truth may be seen in no. 316. That the wine of the wrath of God symbolizes the Word's truth adulterated and falsified may be seen in no. 632. Being mixed with pure wine clearly symbolizes its falsification. The cup also has the same symbolic meaning as the wine, because the cup is its containing vessel.

To drink means, symbolically, to steep one's life in the falsifications, because this declaration is made to people who live in accordance with the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as may be seen just above in no. 634.

Mixing wine, or wine mixed, symbolizes the falsification of truth also in the book of Psalms:

...in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and He has mixed it with wine; He has filled it with mixed wine and poured it out, and... all the impious of the earth shall drink it. (Psalms 75:8)

[2] The Word in many places mentions wrath and indignation together, and wrath there is predicated of evil, while indignation is predicated of falsity, because people caught up in evil are wrathful, while people caught up in falsity are indignant. Both characteristics, moreover, are in the Word attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, but it means that someone is wrathful or indignant at the Lord (see no. 525 above).

That the Word mentions wrath and indignation together is apparent from the following passages there:

...Jehovah comes... with indignation and wrath... ...the earth will move out of her place... in the day (of the indignation) of His wrath. (Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13)

...Assyria, the rod of My wrath... I will order him... against the people of My indignation (Isaiah 10:4-7)

I... will fight against you... in wrath... and in... indignation. (Jeremiah 21:5)

Behold, I am gathering them... in My wrath and in My indignation... (Jeremiah 32:37)

...the wrath of Jehovah is against all nations, and His indignation against the whole host of them. (Isaiah 34:2)

...Jehovah... will repay in His indignation and wrath... (Isaiah 66:15)

I have trodden down the peoples in My wrath, and made them drunk in My indignation... (Isaiah 63:6)

...My wrath and My indignation will be poured out on this place... (Jeremiah 7:20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Jeremiah 33:5, Ezekiel 5:13, Deuteronomy 29:28. Also the indignation of wrath, Isaiah 13:13.

But in Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah... righteousness and strength... And all shall be ashamed who are indignant against Him. (Isaiah 45:24)

  
/ 962  
  

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