908. “和你在一起凡有血肉的一切野兽” 表该教会成员里面活过来的一切. 这一点从以下事实清楚可知, 即 “野兽” 论及挪亚, 就是现已重生的该教会成员, 显然也论及接下来的事物, 即 “飞鸟, 牲畜和爬行物”, 因为经上说 “和你在一起凡有血肉的一切野兽, 就是飞鸟, 牲畜和一切爬在地上的爬行物”. 在原文中, 用于 “野兽” 的这个词严格来说表生命或活物; 但在圣言中, 它既用来表活物, 也用来表某种意义上并非活着的事物, 或野兽. 所以, 人若不通晓圣言的内义, 有时就不明白什么意思. 这个词具有双重含义的原因在于, 上古教会成员在主面前谦卑地承认自己不是活的, 甚至不如家畜, 不过是个野兽. 因为他知道, 人在专注于自己, 或处于自我中心时就是这样. 所以, 这同一个词既表活物, 也表野兽.

至于它表活物, 明显可见于诗篇:

你的野兽要住在其中 (神的子民); 神啊, 你必以你的良善使穷乏人强健. (诗篇 68:10)

此处, 由于他要住在神的子民中, 故 “野兽” 无非表重生的人, 因而如此处的情形, 即它表他里面的活物. 又:

因为森林中的一切野兽是我的, 千山上的牲畜也是我的; 山中的飞鸟, 我都知道; 田野的野兽与我同在. (诗篇 50:10, 11)

此处, “田野的野兽与我同在”, 即与神同在, 表重生之人, 因而表他里面的活物. 以西结书:

空中的所有飞鸟都在枝子上搭窝, 田野的一切野兽都在枝条下生产. (以西结书 31:6)

当那日, 我必与田野的野兽和空中的飞鸟立约. (何西阿书 2:18)

这论及即将重生之人, 要与他立约. 事实上, “野兽” 完全表 “活物”, 以致以西结所看到的基路伯或天使被称为 “四个活物” 或 “活物” ( 以西结书 1:5, 13-15, 19; 10:15).

在圣言中, “野兽” 在相反意义上则表非活物, 或凶猛的野兽, 这一点从大量经文清楚可知. 仅引用以下经文证实这一点. 诗篇:

不要将你斑鸠的灵魂交给野兽. (诗篇 74:19)

西番雅书:

这城何竟荒凉, 成为野兽躺卧之处. (西番雅书 2:15)

以西结书:

他们必不再作外邦人的掠物, 地上的野兽也不再吞吃他们. (以西结书 34:28)

又:

空中的飞鸟都要宿在他的废墟上; 田野的一切野兽都要卧在它的枝条下. (以西结书 31:13)

何西阿书:

在那里我必像狮子吞吃他们, 田野的野兽必撕裂他们. (何西阿书 13:8)

以西结书:

我已将你给地上野兽, 空中飞鸟作食物. (以西结书 29:5)

这种用法很常见. 而且, 由于犹太人只局限于字义, 将 “野兽” 理解为一头野兽, 将 “飞鸟” 理解为一只飞鸟, 所以他们并不知道圣言的内在事物, 也不愿承认它们, 从而接受指教. 事实上, 他们本身是如此残忍和野蛮的动物, 以致他们不是以埋葬在战场所杀戮的敌人为乐, 而是以将他们暴尸荒野, 任飞禽和野兽吞吃为乐. 这也表明何为野兽人.

308. What 'the east' means and what 'the garden of Eden' means has been shown already and therefore there is no need to pause over them here. But the fact that 'cherubim' means the Lord's providing against a person's insanely entering into mysteries of faith from the proprium, sensory evidence, and factual knowledge as the starting point, and against his profaning those mysteries, and in so doing perishing, becomes clear from several places in the Word where mention is made of cherubim. Because the Jews were the kind of people who, if they had had any clear knowledge about the Lord's Coming, about the fact that the representatives, or types, in that Church meant the Lord, about life after death, about the inner man, and if they had had any clear knowledge of the internal sense of the Word, they would have committed profanation and would have perished for ever; the Lord's protection against this therefore was represented by the cherubim on the Mercy Seat over the Ark, and by those on the curtains of the Tabernacle, and on its veil, and similarly in the Temple. And the provision of the cherubim meant the Lord's care and protection of them, Exodus 25:18-21; 26:1, 31;1 Kings 6:23-29, 32, 35. For the Ark, which contained the covenant, had the same meaning as the tree of life ¹ does here, that is, the Lord and heavenly things which are altogether His. Consequently the Lord is also many times called 'the God of Israel seated upon the cherubim'; and it was from between the cherubim that He spoke to Aaron and Moses, Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89.

[2] A plain description of this exists in Ezekiel where the following is stated,

The glory of the God of Israel was raised up from above the cherub over which it had been, towards the threshold of the house. He called out to the man clothed in linen. And He said to him, Pass through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who groan and sigh over all the abominations committed in the middle of it. And to the others He said, Pass through the city after him and smite; let not your eye spare, and show no clemency; slay outright old men, young men, virgins, little children, and women. Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. ² Ezekiel 9:3-7.

And later on,

He said to the man clothed in linen, Go into the wheel underneath the cherub, and fill the palms of your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and spread them over the city. A cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and he took [some of it] and put it into the palms of the man clothed in linen; and he took it and went out. Ezekiel 10:1-7.

From these verses it is clear that the Lord's providence which guards against people's penetrating mysteries of faith is meant by 'the cherubim', and that people were therefore abandoned to their insane desires, which in this quotation are also meant by 'the fire which was spread over the city', and by 'nobody's being spared'.

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