The Bible

 

以西结书 23

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1 耶和华的又临到我说:

2 人子啊,有两个女子,是母所生,

3 他们在埃及行邪淫,在幼年时行邪淫。他们在那里作处女的时候,有人拥抱他们的怀,抚摸他们的乳。

4 他们的名字,姊姊名叫阿荷拉,妹妹名叫阿荷利巴。他们都归於我,生了儿女。论到他们的名字,阿荷拉就是撒玛利亚,阿荷利巴就是耶路撒冷

5 阿荷拉归我之後行邪淫,贪恋所的人,就是他的邻邦亚述人。

6 这些人都穿蓝衣,作省长、副省长,都,是可爱的少年人。

7 阿荷拉就与亚述人中最美的男子放纵淫行,他因所恋爱之人的一切偶像,玷污自己。

8 自从在埃及的时候,他就没有离开淫乱,因为他年幼作处女的时候,埃及人与他行淫,抚摸他的乳,纵欲与他行淫。

9 因此,我将他交在他所的人中,就是他所恋的亚述人中。

10 他们就露了他的下体,掳掠他的儿女,用刀杀了他,使他在妇女中留下臭名,因他们向他施行审判。

11 妹妹阿荷利巴虽然见了,却还贪恋,比他姊姊更丑;行淫乱比他姊姊更多。

12 他贪恋邻邦的亚述人,就是穿极华美的衣服,的省长、副省长,都是可爱的少年人。

13 见他被玷污了,他姊妹人同行

14 阿荷利巴又加增淫行,因他见人像画在上,就是用丹色所画迦勒底人的像,

15 腰间系着子,上有下垂的裹巾,都是军长的形状,仿照巴比伦人的形像;他们的故土就是迦勒底

16 阿荷利巴一看见就贪恋他们,打发使者往迦勒底去见他们。

17 巴比伦人就登他爱情的,与他行淫玷污他。他被玷污,随後心里与他们生疏。

18 这样,他显露淫行,又显露下体;我心就与他生疏,像先前与他姊姊生疏一样。

19 他还加增他的淫行,追念他幼年在埃及行邪淫的日子,

20 贪恋情人身壮精足,如

21 这样,你就想起你幼年的淫行。那时,埃及人拥抱你的怀,抚摸你的乳。

22 阿荷利巴啊,耶和华如此:我必激动你先而後生疏的人攻击你。我必使他们,在你四围攻击你。

23 所来的就是巴比伦人、迦勒底的众人、比割人、书亚人、哥亚人,同着他们的还有亚述众人,乃是作省长、副省长、作军长有名声的,都,是可爱的少年人。

24 他们必带兵器、战车、辎重车,率领大众攻击你。他们要拿大小盾牌,顶盔摆阵,在你四围攻击你。我要将审判的事交他们,他们必按着自己的条例审判你。

25 我必以忌恨攻击你;他们必以忿怒办你。他们必割去你的鼻子和耳朵;你遗留(或译:馀剩;下同)的人必倒在刀下。他们必掳去你的儿女;你所遗留的必被焚烧。

26 他们必剥去你的衣服,夺取你华美的宝器。

27 这样,我必使你的淫行和你从埃及染来的淫乱止息了,使你不再仰望亚述,也不再追念埃及

28 耶和华如此:我必将你交在你所恨恶的人中,就是你心与他生疏的人中。

29 他们必以恨恶办你,夺取你一切劳碌得来的,留下你赤身露体。你淫乱的下体,连你的淫行,带你的淫乱,都被显露。

30 人必向你行这些事;因为你随从外邦人行邪淫,被他们的偶像玷污了。

31 走了你姊姊所走的,所以我必将他的杯交在你中。

32 耶和华如此:你必你姊姊所的杯;那杯又深又广,盛得甚多,使你被人嗤笑讥刺。

33 你必酩酊大醉,满有愁苦,喝乾你姊姊撒玛利亚的杯,就是令人惊骇凄凉的杯。

34 你必这杯,以致尽。杯破又龈杯片,撕裂自己的乳;因为这事我曾说过。这是耶和华的。

35 耶和华如此:因你忘记我,将我丢在背後,所以你要担当你淫行和淫乱的报应。

36 耶和华又对我:人子啊,你要审问阿荷拉与阿荷利巴麽?当指出他们所行可憎的事。

37 他们行淫,中有杀人的血,又与偶像行淫,并使他们为我所生的儿女经火烧给偶像

38 此外,他们还有向我所行的,就是同日玷污我的圣所,干犯我的安息日。

39 他们杀了儿女献与偶像,当又入我的圣所,将圣所亵渎了。他们在我殿中所行的乃是如此。

40 况且你们二妇打发使者去请远方人。使者到他们那里,他们就来了。你们为他们沐浴己身,粉饰眼目,佩戴妆饰,

41 在华美的床上,前面摆设桌案,将我的香料膏摆在其上。

42 在那里有群众安逸欢乐的声音,并有粗俗的人和酒徒从旷野,把镯子戴在二妇的上,把华冠戴在他们的上。

43 我论这行淫衰老的妇人:现在人还要与他行淫,他也要与人行淫。

44 人与阿荷拉,并阿荷利巴二淫妇苟合,好像与妓女苟合。

45 必有人,照审判淫妇和流人血的妇人之例,审判他们;因为他们是淫妇,中有杀人的血。

46 耶和华如此:我必使多人来攻击他们,使他们抛来抛去,被人抢夺。

47 这些人必用石头打死他们,用刀杀害他们,又杀戮他们的儿女,用焚烧他们的房屋

48 这样,我必使淫行从境内止息,好叫一切妇人都受警戒,不效法你们的淫行。

49 人必照着你们的淫行报应你们;你们要担当拜偶像的罪,就知道我是耶和华

   

Commentary

 

Jerusalem

  

Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in 2 Samuel 5, when King David takes the city from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In the next chapter he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and later it is where Solomon builds the temple, and his own palace. From then on Jerusalem is the center of worship of the Israelitish church. It is the place where the Lord was presented in the temple as a baby, where He tarried to talk to the priests at age twelve, where He cleansed the temple, had the last supper, was crucified and then rose. It is a central place in both the old and new Testaments. The city was built on Mount Zion, the highest point of the mountains of Judea. A city, in the Word, represents doctrine, the organized knowledge of the truths of the church. Mountains represent love of the Lord and the consequent worship. If you put those things together, Jerusalem on Mount Zion signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. This is why David was led to make Jerusalem the most important city of the land, and why all worship was conducted there. And this is also why Jeroboam was condemned for introducing idol worship in Samaria. In the Book of Revelation, John's vision of the city New Jerusalem descending from God is a prophecy of a new dispensation of doctrine coming from the Lord.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 4539, 8938; The Apocalypse Explained 365 [35-38])

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1042

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1042. Verse 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, signifies the appearance of that religious persuasion in externals, as if it were from celestial good and truth, and yet in internals it is from devilish evil and falsity. This is evident from the signification of the "woman," as being the religious persuasion of the Papists; also from the signification of "arrayed," as being what it is in externals, for "garments" are external things that clothe; therefore "to be arrayed" means the appearance in externals. Also from the signification of "purple," as being good from a celestial origin, and also the evil opposite thereto, which is called devilish evil (of which presently). Also from the signification of "scarlet," as being truth from a celestial origin, and also the falsity opposite thereto, which is called devilish falsity. That these goods and truths differ from goods and truths that are from a spiritual origin, and that the like is true of the evils and falsities opposite to them, which are called infernal evils and falsities, will be shown in the following article.

[2] This woman, who is a harlot, and is Babylon, is thus described, because those who are in evils and in falsities therefrom are described in the Word from their external appearance, thus such as they are in the eyes of the men who worship them. They are so described because the sense of the letter of the Word consists of appearances; while the spiritual sense puts off those appearances, and presents interior things naked, without clothing, and when these appear, they appear in a wholly different form; as here the woman seen in external appearance "arrayed in purple and scarlet," is called, as to her internal form, "the mother of the whoredoms and of the abominations of the earth;" and the like is said of:

The rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, who, nevertheless, was cast into hell (Luke 16:19);

also of the Assyrians, with whom Ohola and Oholibah, that is, Samaria and Jerusalem, committed whoredom, who are called:

Officers and leaders, horsemen clothed in blue riding upon horses (Ezekiel 23:6, 12).

So in other passages. Babylon is here described as a harlot appears in the world, splendidly clothed and yet abominable, because full of uncleanness.

[3] Before proving from the Word that "purple and scarlet" signify goods and truths from a celestial origin, something shall be said about such goods and truths. The Divine good that proceeds from the Lord is united with His Divine truth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring. But the angels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, are distinguished into celestial and spiritual. Those who receive more of the Lord's Divine good than of His Divine truth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdom of the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels who receive more of the Lord's Divine truth than of His Divine good are called spiritual angels, because the Lord's spiritual kingdom consists of these. This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin, namely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin. Those goods and truths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of love to the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritual origin are the goods and truths of love towards the neighbor. The difference is like that between higher and lower, or between interior and exterior; thus like that between things that are in a higher or interior degree, and those that are in a lower or exterior degree; and what this difference is can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven and Hell about the three degrees of the heavens, and thus of the angels, and of their wisdom and intelligence (n. 33, 34, 38-39, 208-209, 211, 435).

[4] That "purple" signifies in the Word that good, and "scarlet" that truth, can be seen from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned. As in Ezekiel:

Fine linen of embroidered work from Egypt was thy spreading forth, blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy covering (Ezekiel 27:7).

This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church as to the knowledges of truth and good, "blue and purple" standing for such knowledges from a celestial origin, and "covering and spreading forth" signifying the externals of that church. In Luke:

There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies every day (Luke 16:19).

The "rich man" means the Jewish nation and the church therein, which was called "rich" from the knowledges of good and truth from the Word that they had, "in purple" meaning the knowledges of good, and "in fine linen" the knowledges of truth, both from a celestial origin. In Lamentations:

They that did eat delicacies are laid waste in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced a dunghill (Lamentations 4:5).

"To be brought up in scarlet" means to be instructed from infancy in truths from celestial good.

[5] As the Tent of meeting represented heaven, and the garments of Aaron represented the holy things of heaven, and purple and scarlet signify the goods and truths of heaven, so the curtains and veils of the Tent, as well as the garments of Aaron, were wrought with blue, purple, scarlet double-dyed, and fine linen woven together; as:

The curtains of the habitation (Exodus 26:1);

The veil before the ark (Exodus 26:31);

The covering for the door of the Tent (Exodus 26:36);

The covering at the gate of the court (Exodus 27:16);

The ephod (Exodus 28:6);

The belt (Exodus 28:8);

The breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:15);

The fringes of the robe of the ephod (Exodus 28:33).

Because "scarlet double-dyed" signified the truth of celestial good, therefore:

A cloth of scarlet double-dyed was spread over the table upon which was the bread of faces, and afterwards it was covered with a covering of the skin of the badger (Numbers 4:8).

For the inmost things of the celestial kingdom were signified by the things that were upon the table, which were loaves; but the exterior things by the coverings, which have reference to truths from good.

[6] As truth from celestial good, which is the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word, is signified by "scarlet," it was used for remembrances, as that:

The sons of Israel should make for themselves a train on the borders of their garment, and should put upon the train of the border a cord of scarlet, that by it they might remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them (Numbers 15:38-39).

And for the same reason it was a custom in ancient times, when significatives were in use, to tie a scarlet cord as a reminder or remembrance of a thing, as is said of Perez the son of Tamar, that:

The midwife tied scarlet upon his hand (Genesis 38:28, 30);

and of the harlot Rahab, that:

She tied in the window a scarlet cord, that the spies might remember their promise (Joshua 2:17, 21).

[7] As all purifications from evils are effected by truths from the Word, therefore:

Cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop were used in cleansings (Leviticus 14:4-7, 49-52).

And scarlet was used for the waters of separation and expiation from a red heifer (Numbers 19:6).

Purple and scarlet derive their signification from the nature of these colors. For there are colors in heaven far more brilliant than in the world, originating from the light there; and as red has its origin there from what is fiery or flame-like, and what is fiery and flame-like has its origin there from the good of love, so "purple" signifies good from a celestial origin. But scarlet derives its color from what is flame-like and at the same time glistening, and glistening from light signifies truth; consequently that color signifies the truth of celestial good.

[8] As most things in the Word have a contrary sense, so have purple and scarlet; and in that sense they signify the evils and falsities opposite to those goods and truths. As in Isaiah:

Although your sins have been as scarlet they shall become white like snow; although they have been red as purple they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

Since "scarlet," the same as "snow," signifies truth, and "purple," the same as "wool," signifies good, and since "scarlet and purple," signify in the contrary sense falsity and evil (falsity and truth, and evil and good corresponding by opposition), so it is said "Although your sins have been as scarlet they shall become white like snow, and although they have been red as purple they shall be as wool."

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