The Bible

 

以西结书 23:12

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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。

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

 

Arcana Coelestia #5320

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5320. 'And placed a chain of gold onto his neck' means an outward sign denoting the joining of interior things to exterior ones, good being that which effects that joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'the neck' as a flowing in, also the communication of higher things with lower ones, or what amounts to the same, interior things with exterior ones, dealt with in 3542; and therefore 'a chain', because it goes around the neck, is a sign denoting the joining together of those things. 'A chain of gold' means a joining together by means of good; that is, good is the means which effects it, because 'gold' means good, 113, 1551, 1552. A sign denoting the joining of interior truth to exterior truth is meant by 'a chain onto the neck' in Ezekiel,

I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets onto your hands and a chain onto your neck. Ezekiel 16:11.

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