The Bible

 

Ezekiel 27

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

2 And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre;

3 and say unto Tyre, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, that art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, O Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty.

4 Thy borders are in the heart of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

5 They have made all thy planks of fir-trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for thee.

6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim.

7 Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning.

8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots.

9 The old men of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to deal in thy merchandise.

10 Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.

11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and valorous men were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty.

12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for thy wares.

13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise.

14 They of the house of Togarmah traded for thy wares with horses and war-horses and mules.

15 The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.

16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of thy handiworks: they traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies.

17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers: they traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.

18 Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

19 Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among thy merchandise.

20 Dedan was thy trafficker in precious cloths for riding.

21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they thy merchants.

22 The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy traffickers; they traded for thy wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur [and] Chilmad, were thy traffickers.

24 These were thy traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.

25 The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.

26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the seas.

27 Thy riches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the dealers in thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

28 At the sound of the cry of thy pilots the suburbs shall shake.

29 And all that handled the oar, the mariners, [and] all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land,

30 and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:

31 and they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.

32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, [saying], Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea?

33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.

34 In the time that thou wast broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company did fall in the midst of thee.

35 All the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their countenance.

36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10199

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10199. 'Incense of spices' means a hearing and receiving with pleasure. This is clear from the meaning of 'incense' as the Lord's hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity, dealt with in 10177; and from the meaning of 'spices' as things that bring pleasure. Things bringing pleasure are meant by 'spices' on account of their odour; for 'odour' means perception, and therefore a sweet odour means a perception of that which brings pleasure, while an offensive odour means that which brings no pleasure. All things perceived by a person with the sensory organs of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch mean spiritual realities connected with the good of love and the truths of faith. Consequently smell means the perception of interior truth springing from the good of love; taste means perception and the desire to know and become wise; sight means an understanding of the truths of faith; hearing means perception resulting from the good of faith and from obedience; and touch in general means imparting, conveying, and being received.

[2] The reason why they have these meanings is that every reception of impressions by the outward senses begins in reception by the inward senses, which belong to the understanding and will, and so begins within the person, in the truths of faith and the good of love since these constitute the understanding and will within the human mind. Yet inward sensations, which belong properly to a person's understanding and will, do not feel the same as the outward ones, though they are turned into outward sensations when they flow in. For all the perceptions that a person receives by means of his outward sensory organs flow from inward powers of mind. The path all influx takes is from inward things to outward ones, not from outward to inward, since there is no such thing as physical influx - that is, influx from the natural world into the spiritual world - only influx from the spiritual world into the natural. A person's inner powers, which belong properly to understanding and will, exist in the spiritual world, and his outward ones, which belong properly to the bodily senses, exist in the natural world. From all this too it becomes clear what correspondence is and what the nature of it is.

[3] In general, smell corresponds to perception of some reality, as determined by the essential nature of the matter that is being perceived, see 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 10054.

Taste corresponds to perception and the desire to know and become wise, 3502, 4791-4805.

Sight corresponds to an understanding of the truths of faith, 3863, 4403-4421, 4567, 5114, 5400, 6805.

Hearing corresponds to perception of the good of faith and to obedience, 3869, 4652-4660, 7216, 8361, 9311, 9926.

Touch means imparting, conveying, and being received, 10130.

[4] 1 The fact that such things as are perceived with pleasure are meant by 'spices' - the kinds that spring from love and charity, in particular interior truths since they spring from these - is clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Instead of spice 2 there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair 3 , baldness. Isaiah 3:24.

This refers to the daughters of Zion, by whom the celestial Church is meant, a Church in possession of interior truths springing from the good of love to the Lord. 'Spice' here means interior truth, 'rottenness' deprivation of it; 'a girdle' means a joining together, and 'a falling apart' the dissolution of connection and order; 'well-set hair' means factual knowledge of truth, which is exterior truth or truth as the external man knows it, and 'baldness' deprivation of that truth.

'A girdle' means a joining together and a bond to ensure that everything is held in connection and has the same end in view, see 9828.

'Well-set hair' means factual knowledge of truth, 2831 4 .

'Baldness' means deprivation of that truth, 9960.

[5] In Ezekiel,

A great eagle with [great] wings came on Lebanon, and from it took a twig of the cedar away into the land of Canaan 5 ; in the city of spicers he put the top of it 6 . Ezekiel 17:3-4.

This refers in the internal sense to the beginnings and growth of the spiritual Church, and then its corruption and end. 'A great eagle with [great] wings' means the interior truth which that Church possessed, 3901, 8764, 'wings' its exterior truths, 8764, 9514. 'Lebanon' is that Church, 'the cedar' there being the spiritual Church's truth. 'The city of spicers' is a place where teachings composed of interior truth are presented, 'cities' in the Word meaning religious teachings, see 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493. It is called 'the city of spicers' by virtue of its interior truths.

[6] In the same prophet,

The traders of Sheba and Raamah with the best of [every] spice, and with every precious stone and gold, carried out 7 their dealings. Ezekiel 27:22.

This refers to Tyre, which means the Church in respect of cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth. 'The traders' are those who possess these and pass them on; 'Sheba and Raamah' are those with whom cognitions of celestial and spiritual things exist; 'the best of spice' is that which by virtue of interior truths brings pleasure; 'precious stone' is those very truths; and 'gold' is the good that goes with them.

Tyre means the Church in respect of interior cognitions of goodness and truth, and in the abstract sense those cognitions themselves, see 1201.

'The traders' are those who possess these and pass them on, 2967, 4453.

'Sheba and Raamah' are those with whom cognitions of celestial and spiritual things exist, 1171, 3240.

'Precious stone' is interior truth, 9863, 9865, 9873, 9874.

'Gold' is the good that goes with it, see the places referred to in 9874, 9881.

[7] From all this one may see what was represented by the queen of Sheba's coming to Solomon in Jerusalem with camels carrying spices, gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:1-2, and by the offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which the wise men from the east made to the new-born Jesus, Matthew 2:11. Because 'spices' meant interior truths, thus those which bring pleasure, the incense and also the anointing oil, dealt with further on in this chapter, were scented with spices.

[8] By interior truths those truths which have become part of a person's life and affection, thus those inwardly present in him, should be understood, but not truths which are present solely in the memory and have not become part of that person's life. These truths in relation to the others are called external ones, since they have not been inscribed on the person's life, only on his memory. They reside in the external man and not in the internal. Truths of faith which have been inscribed on a person's life are present in the will, and what is in the will is present in the internal man. For by means of the truths of faith the internal man is opened up and contact with heaven is brought about. From this it is evident that the interior truths present with a person are ones that spring from the good of love and charity. Whether you say will or love it amounts to the same thing, for what composes a person's will composes his love. Therefore the truths inscribed on the person's life, called interior truths, are ones that have been inscribed on his love, and so on the will, from which they afterwards go forth when they pass into speech and action.

[9] For heaven, in which the internal man that has been opened up is present, does not enter truths directly but indirectly, through the good of love. But heaven cannot come in when a person's internal man is closed, because there is no good of love there to receive it. In the case therefore of those with whom the internal man has not been opened by means of truths springing from the good of love and charity hell enters with falsities arising from evil, no matter how many truths of faith, even interior ones, are residing in the external man alone, that is, in the memory.

From all this one may now see what should be understood by interior truths that bring pleasure, which are meant by 'spices', namely those which spring from the good of love and charity.

Footnotes:

1. To judge both from the first Latin edition and his rough draft Swedenborg may have intended to add words that would have concluded what goes before and introduced what comes next.

2. i.e. fragrance

3. literally, instead of the work of plaited [hair]

4. The word rendered well-set, more literally plaited, may otherwise mean entangled.

5. Here the Hebrew may be taken to mean either the land of Canaan or the land of the merchant. See 3901:2, 8764:6, where Swedenborg adopts the latter meaning.

6. literally, its head i.e. the twig from the top of the cedar

7. literally, gave

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