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Ezekiel 23

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1 The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

3 and they played the harlot in Egypt; they played the harlot in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

4 And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bare sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbors,

6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

7 And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whomsoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

8 Neither hath she left her whoredoms since [the days of] Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their whoredom upon her.

9 Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

10 These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they slew with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments upon her.

11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her whoredoms which were more than the whoredoms of her sister.

12 She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and rulers, [her] neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.

14 And she increased her whoredoms; for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

15 girded with girdles upon their loins, with flowing turbans upon their heads, all of them princes to look upon, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity.

16 And as soon as she saw them she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

18 So she uncovered her whoredoms, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.

19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 And she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in the handling of thy bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of thy youth.

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side:

23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding upon horses.

24 And they shall come against thee with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against thee with buckler and shield and helmet round about; and I will commit the judgment unto them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury; they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They shall also strip thee of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom [brought] from the land of Egypt; so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

28 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy soul is alienated;

29 and they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

30 These things shall be done unto thee, for that thou hast played the harlot after the nations, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thy hand.

32 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup, which is deep and large; thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 Thou shalt even drink it and drain it out, and thou shalt gnaw the sherds thereof, and shalt tear thy breasts; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

35 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

36 Jehovah said moreover unto me: Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare unto them their abominations.

37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass through [the fire] unto them to be devoured.

38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

40 And furthermore ye have sent for men that come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent, and, lo, they came; for whom thou didst wash thyself, paint thine eyes, and deck thyself with ornaments,

41 and sit upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou didst set mine incense and mine oil.

42 And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets upon the hands of them [twain], and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 Then said I of her that was old in adulteries, Now will they play the harlot with her, and she [with them].

44 And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a harlot: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.

45 And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed to and fro and robbed.

47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

   

Коментар

 

Child

  
by Jenny Stein

A child is a young boy or girl in the care of parents, older than a suckling or an infant, but not yet an adolescent. "Children" are sometimes used as a name for a large group of descendants of one person, such as the Children of Israel, or even all human beings as the Children of Men. A child represents innocence and charity, where innocence is the willingness to be led, and charity is love. This is why Jesus blessed them and suggested that we all become like children in order to enter heaven.

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Apocalypse Explained #122

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122. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, signifies that those who are in falsities from evil will set about to deprive them of all truth from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "casting into prison," as being, in reference to those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, to endeavor and to set about to deprive them of truths from the Word (of which presently); and from the signification of the "devil," as being the hells which are in evil and in falsities therefrom (of which above, n. 120. "To cast into prison," in reference to those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, is to endeavor and to set about to deprive them of truths from the Word, for the reason that truths are, as it were, in prison or in confinement when falsities break in; and so long as falsities are under view, truths cannot appear, still less can they be set at liberty. Those that are in the spiritual affection of truth, who are those that love truths because they are truths, are held in such confinement whenever they do not understand the Word and yet wish to understand it; the falsities that imprison rise up from hell into the natural man when the delights of the love of self and the world have rule therein, for these delights are the origins of all evils and of the falsities therefrom (See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 65-83).

[2] This is meant, in the spiritual sense, by "being cast by the devil into prison;" for as the devil is hell, and out of hell every evil arises, and as the influx from hell is into the natural man, and not into the spiritual, so the devil affects all who are in the delights of these loves, and subjects them to himself and makes them his crew; for all who are in the hells are in evils and the falsities thence from the loves of self and of the world (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 551-565; but that the delights of those loves are changed into correspondences, the character of which may be seen there, n. 485-490).

This casting into prison by the devil is described in the Word, where it is said that the Jews and the evil will persecute the Lord's disciples, and will evil entreat and kill them; for by the "disciples of the Lord" are meant all who are in truths from good, thus who are in truths from the Lord; and as these are meant by the Lord's disciples, so in a sense abstracted from persons, which is the spiritual sense itself of the Word, truths and goods themselves, which are from the Lord through His Word, are meant. (That by the Lord's twelve disciples all things of faith and love in the complex, thus all the truths and goods of the church, are meant, see Arcana Coelestia 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397; that the Word in heaven is understood in a sense abstracted from persons, see above, n. 99, 100.)

[3] When one knows that by the "disciples of the Lord" all those who are in truths from good from the Lord are meant, and in an abstract sense truths themselves from good; and that by their being "cast into prison by the devil" is meant the endeavor of those who are in falsities from evil to deprive them of truths, and in a sense abstracted from persons, the detention or imprisonment of truths by falsities, as described above, he can understand what is signified in each of these senses in the following passages:

They shall lay hands on you and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, for My name's sake (Luke 21:12).

That "for the sake of the Lord's name" signifies for the sake of the goods of love and the truths of faith, from Him, see above n. 102.

Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you, and ye shall be held in hatred for My name's sake (Matthew 24:9, 11).

They will deliver you up to councils and to synagogues, and they will scourge you for My sake (Matthew 10:17, 18; Mark 13:9).

Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city (Matthew 23:34).

A man that was a householder planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen. When the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it. But the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, and they did unto them likewise. At length he sent unto them his son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and possess his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him (Matthew 21:33-44).

The wisdom of God said, I will send unto them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall kill and persecute (Luke 11:49).

(That by "prophets" in the Word are meant those who teach truths, and in a sense abstracted from persons the doctrine of truth, see Arcana Coelestia 2534, 7269; and that "apostles" have a similar signification, see above, n. 100)

Blessed are ye, when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and shall say every evil word against you falsely, for My sake; rejoice and exult, for great is your reward in the heavens; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you (Matthew 5:10-12).

Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets (Luke 6:22, 23).

[4] Similar to this is the signification of the words of the Lord, that they should follow Him and take up their cross; as in the following passages:

Jesus said unto His disciples, If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34);

"to deny oneself" is to put away evils that are from proprium [the self-life].

Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27).

Jesus said to the young man who was rich, One thing thou lackest; go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and come, follow Me, bearing the cross (Mark 10:21).

By this is meant, in the spiritual sense, that he should put away the falsities that were of the Jewish doctrine, and accept the doctrine of truth from the Lord, and should undergo assaults and temptations from falsities. Those, therefore, are deceived who believe that those who wish to follow the Lord are to sell their goods and suffer the cross. Since the Lord was Divine truth itself, which in John 1:1-3, 14, is called the "Word," the Lord's suffering Himself to be scourged and crucified signifies that Divine truth which is in the Word was so treated by the Jews. (That all things related of the Lord's passion in the Evangelists involve and signify that the Jews so treated Divine truth, see above, n. 83 Wherefore the Lord says:

Remember My word, if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).

[5] That the Jews in particular are meant by the "devil" who was to cast the disciples of the Lord into prisons, and that, in general, all that call themselves "Jews, and are not, but are a synagogue of satan," are meant (according to the passages cited above, n. 119, 120), is clear from the Lord's words in John:

Ye do not understand My speech because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh from his own, for he is a liar and the father thereof (John 8:43, 44).

That "their father was a murderer from the beginning," "and the truth was not in him, but a lie," signifies that from the beginning they had been against truths and in falsities from evil. For a "murderer" is a destroyer of the truth of the church, and "father" means predecessors. (Of the quality of the Jewish nation formerly and at present, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248; that the "bound in prison" signify those who are in falsities from evil, see the Arcana Coelestia 4958, 5096; "to be overcome 1 in prison" signifies to be detained and separated from truths, n. 5037, 5038, 5083, 5086, 5096; and also to be tempted, n. 5037, 5038.)

[6] The Jews were such as are here described because they were in the love of self and the world more than other nations; and persons of that character, when they read the Word, apply all things of the Word to their own loves; and especially the Jews, because they are so frequently mentioned. It is similar with others who are in these loves, for the love that is dominant turns the mind of him who reads to those things only that favor the love; for love is like a fire, which lights up the things that favor it, while the rest are either passed by as if not seen, or drawn over to one's side by perverse explanation and thus falsified. Both infest those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and both are meant by the "devil" who "casts into prison" those who are of the Lord's church; from them, indeed, all falsities from the spiritual world flow into those that long for truths, and hold them as if bound in confinement. The same are meant by those of whom the Lord says:

I was in prison and ye visited Me not (Matthew 25:43).

Фусноти:

1. Some of the Latin editors read vinciri for vinci, "bound" for "overcome."

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.