1
我說：雅各的首領，以色列家的官長啊，你們要聽！你們不當知道公平麼？
3
吃我民的肉，剝他們的皮，打折他們的骨頭，分成塊子像要下鍋，又像釜中的肉。
4
到了遭災的時候，這些人必哀求耶和華，他卻不應允他們。那時他必照他們所行的惡事向他們掩面。
5
論到使我民走差路的先知─他們牙齒有所嚼的，他們就呼喊說：平安了！凡不供給他們吃的，他們就預備攻擊他（預備攻擊他：或譯說必遭遇刀兵）─耶和華如此說：
6
你們必遭遇黑夜，以致不見異象；又必遭遇幽暗，以致不能占卜。日頭必向你們沉落，白晝變為黑暗。
7
先見必抱愧，占卜的必蒙羞，都必摀著嘴唇，因為神不應允他們。
8
至於我，我藉耶和華的靈，滿有力量、公平、才能，可以向雅各說明他的過犯，向以色列指出他的罪惡。
9
雅各家的首領、以色列家的官長啊，當聽我的話！你們厭惡公平，在一切事上屈枉正直；
11
首領為賄賂行審判；祭司為雇價施訓誨；先知為銀錢行占卜。他們卻倚賴耶和華，說：耶和華不是在我們中間麼？災禍必不臨到我們。
312. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. This symbolizes an understanding of the Word among them extinguished as to truth, thus extinguished as regards their doctrine.
We showed above that a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. Blackness symbolizes a lack of truth, thus falsity, because blackness is the opposite of whiteness, and whiteness is predicated of truth (nos. 167, 231, 232). Whiteness is also the result of light, while blackness results from darkness, thus from the absence of light, and light means truth.
In the spiritual world, however, blackness has a double origin, one resulting from the absence of a flaming light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the other resulting from the absence of a bright white light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The first kind of blackness has the same symbolism as a thick darkness, the second the same as a gloomy darkness. The two kinds differ from each other. One is dreadful, the other not so dreadful. It is the same with the falsities that they symbolize. The spirits who appear in a terrible darkness are called devils. They also abhor truth as owls do the light of the sun. In contrast, the spirits who appear in a darkness that is not so dreadful are called satanic spirits. They do not abhor truth, though they are still averse to it, and therefore they may be likened to barn owls, but the first to eagle owls.
The fact that blackness in the Word is predicated of falsity can be seen from the following passages:
Her Nazirites were brighter than snow... Darkened more than blackness is their form. (Lamentations 4:7-8)
...on the prophets... the day shall grow black. (Micah 3:6)
On the day that you go down to hell..., I will make Lebanon dark over you... (Ezekiel 31:15)
...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair... (Revelation 6:12)
The sun, moon and stars are darkened in Jeremiah 4:27-28, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10; 3:15, and elsewhere.
It was the third living creature that displayed the black horse because it had a face like a human being, which symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its wisdom (no. 243). Consequently it was this living creature that displayed the fact that there was no longer any truth of wisdom in the people who were third in order.
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