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Ezekiel 1

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1 Now it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

2 In the fifth [day] of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

3 the word of Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there on him.

4 I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of its midst as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.

5 Out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

6 Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

7 Their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass.

8 They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings [thus]:

9 their wings were joined one to another; they didn't turn when they went; each one went straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them also had the face of an eagle.

11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and Two covered their bodies.

12 Each one went straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they didn't turn when they went.

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: [the fire] went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14 The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

17 When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn when they went.

18 As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.

19 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome crystal to look on, stretched forth Over their heads above.

23 Under the expanse were their wings straight, the one toward the other: each one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies.

24 When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army: when they stood, they let down their wings.

25 There was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.

26 Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.

27 I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.

28 As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

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Face

  
Photo by Caleb Kerr

“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That's a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because it is both poetic and obviously true. We feel that if we can look in someone's eyes, we can truly know what they are inside. And it's not just the eyes; really it is the face as a whole that conveys this. As Swedenborg puts it, the face is “man's spiritual world presented in his natural world” (Heaven and Hell, No. 91). Our faces reveal our interior thoughts and feelings in myriad ways, which is why psychologists, poker players and criminal investigators spend so much time studying them. It makes sense, then, that people's faces in the Bible represent their interiors, the thoughts, loves and desires they hold most deeply. We turn our faces to the ground to show humility when we bow in worship; we turn them to the mountains when seeking inspiration; we turn them toward our enemies when we are ready to battle temptation. When things are hard, we need to “face facts,” or accept them internally. When the topic is the Lord's face, it represents the Lord's interiors, which are perfect love and perfect mercy. And when people turn away from the Lord and refuse his love, it is described as the Lord “hiding his face.”

(Reference: Heaven and Hell 91)


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Arcana Coelestia #3735

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3735. 'And clothing to wear' means being joined to Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as truth, dealt with in 1073, 2576, Divine Truth here since the Lord is the subject; and from the meaning of 'wearing' as making it one's own and being joined to it. As for the nature of the internal sense of the Word, that becomes clear from these and all other details; that is to say, when the sense of the letter refers to bread and to clothing, and also when it does so within historical narrative, as here in 'If God will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear', the angels present with a person at the time have no thought at all of bread but of the good of love, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Good. Nor do they have any thought at all of clothing but of truth, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Truth. To them such things as are referred to in the sense of the letter are simply objects for thought regarding heavenly and Divine matters, for such things are vessels existing in the ultimate degree of order.

[2] So when with holiness of mind a person thinks about bread - for example, when he thinks about the bread in the Holy Supper, or about the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer - that thought which he has about bread serves the angels present with him as an object for thought regarding the good of love which comes from the Lord. For the angels do not take hold of anything at all of the person's actual thought concerning bread, but instead their thought concerns good; for such is the correspondence between the two. It is similar when with holiness of mind a person thinks about clothing. The angels' thought in that case concerns truth. So it is with everything else in the Word. From this the nature of the joining together of heaven and earth by means of the Word becomes clear; that is to say, the joining together is such that when with holiness of mind anyone reads the Word he is joined by means of such correspondences more closely to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, even though that person's thought is concerned solely with things in the Word which are stated in the sense of the letter. His holiness of mind at that time is the product of the influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections such as exist with angels.

[3] So that such influx might exist and from that influx man might be joined to the Lord, the Lord has instituted the Holy Supper where it is explicitly stated that the Lord is the bread and wine. For the Lord's body means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, love such as exists with celestial angels, while His blood in a similar way means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but love such as exists with spiritual angels. From this it is evident how much of the Divine there is within every individual part of the Word, though man does not know what that Divine content is or the nature of it. People however who, while in the world, have led a good life enter after death into cognitions and a perception of all those things, for at that time they cast off earthly and worldly things and take to themselves heavenly ones, and have, like angels, spiritual and celestial ideas.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.