18
At gagawa ka ng dalawang querubing ginto; na yari sa pamukpok iyong gagawin, sa dalawang dulo ng luklukan ng awa.
Exodo 25:18
Arcana Coelestia #9553
9553. 'And its flowers' means factual knowledge of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'flowers' as factual knowledge of truth. Such knowledge is meant by 'flowers' because flowers are stages of growth which come before and in their own way lead on to fruit and seeds; for trees and young plants come into flower before they bear fruit, as is well known. The situation is similar with the intelligence and wisdom present in a person. Factual knowledge of truth comes first and in its own way leads on to the insights that constitute wisdom with the person; for that knowledge provides his rational mind with objects of thought and so the means to attain wisdom. This is why factual knowledge of truth is like the flowers, and goodness of life, which is the good of wisdom, is like the fruit. Since all realities in the spiritual world bear resemblance to such things as exist with a human being, for the reason that heaven resembles one complete human being and has a correspondence with every single aspect of the human being, therefore also all things in the natural world, according to their similarity to such things as exist with a human being, have a correspondence, a representation, and carry a spiritual meaning, 9496. From all this it now becomes clear why it is that factual knowledge of truth, and truths in general, are meant by 'flowers', and forms of good by 'the fruit' and also 'seeds'.
[2] The fact that factual knowledge of truth, and truths in general, are meant by 'flowers' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Their root will be like rottenness, and their flower [will rise] like dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah Zebaoth, and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 5:24.
In the same prophet,
Those who are to come Jacob will cause to take root. Israel will blossom and flower, so that the face of the earth (orbis) may be filled with produce. Isaiah 27:6.
In the same prophet,
Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the falling flower of glory 1 and of his beauty! Isaiah 28:1.
'The drunkards' stands for those whose reasoning is based on falsities, 1072; 'Ephraim' stands for the Church's understanding, in this instance when it has been perverted, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267; and 'glory' stands for God's truth, 4809, 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429, from which it is evident that 'the flower' means factual knowledge through which truth comes forth. In the same prophet,
The grass withers, the flower falls; the people are grass. But the Word of our God remains forever. Isaiah 40:6-8.
In Nahum,
The flower of Lebanon languishes. Nahum 1:4.
Here also 'the flower' stands for factual knowledge serving as a means to the attainment of wisdom.
[3] In Daniel,
Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream. Behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; its height was great, its leaf beautiful, and its flower much. Under it the beast of the field had shade, and in its branches dwelt the birds of the air; and all flesh was fed [from it]. But the Holy One from heaven crying out said, Hew down the tree, cut off its branches, get rid of its leaves, scatter its blossom. Let the beast of the field flee [from] under it, and the birds from its branches. Daniel 4:10-14.
'The tree' and 'its height' means the increase in the semblance of religion which is meant by 'Babel', a kind of religion that is holy outwardly but unholy inwardly, 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326. 'Leaf' stands for factual knowledge of truth in general, 885, 'blossom' for factual knowledge of truth when it serves to lead to wisdom, but at this point when it serves to lead to stupidity since it says that they were to be scattered. 'The beast of the field' means those with affections for good, and in the contrary sense those with affections for evil, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3218, 3519, 5198, 7523, 9090, 9280; but 'the birds of the air' are those with affections for truth, and in the contrary sense those with affections for falsity, 3219, 5149, 7441. This is why it says that the beast of the field dwelt under the shade of that tree, the birds of the air dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed [from it], and then that the beast of the field should flee [from] under it and the birds from its branches.
Bilješke:
1. Reading flori decidenti gloriae (the falling flower of glory) for flori decidentis gloriae (the flower of falling glory)
Exodus 21
1
"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
2
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
3
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4
If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
5
But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;'
6
then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
7
"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
8
If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9
If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
10
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
11
If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
12
"One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
13
but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
14
If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15
"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16
"Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17
"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18
"If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed;
19
if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20
"If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21
Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.
22
"If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.
23
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25
burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26
"If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27
If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
28
"If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
29
But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
30
If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.
31
Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
32
If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33
"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
34
the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35
"If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
36
Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
