The Bible

 

Danijel 8

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1 Treće godine kralja Baltazara ukaza se meni, Danielu, viđenje poslije onoga koje mi se ukazalo prije.

2 Gledah viđenje, i dok gledah, nađoh se u Šušanu, čvrstu gradu u pokrajini Elamu; i u viđenju se vidjeh na rijeci Ulaju.

3 Podigoh oči, i gle: ovan stajaše kraj rijeke. Imaše dva roga: oba roga visoka, no jedan viši nego drugi, a onaj viši narastao poslije.

4 Gledah kako ovan bode na zapad, na sjever i jug. Nijedna mu se životinja ne mogaše oprijeti, ništa mu ne mogaše izbjeći. Činio je što je htio, osilio se.

5 Dok sam promatrao, gle: jarac dolazi sa zapada povrh sve zemlje, ne dodirujući tla; jarac imaše silan rog među očima.

6 Približi se dvorogom ovnu kojega bijah vidio gdje stoji kraj rijeke i potrča na njega u svoj žestini svoje snage.

7 Vidjeh kako se približi ovnu: bijesno udari na ovna i slomi mu oba roga, a ovan nije imao snage da mu se opre; obori ga jarac na zemlju i stade ga nogama gaziti; nikoga ne bijaše da spasi ovna.

8 Jarac osili veoma, ali kad osili, veliki se rog slomi, a na njegovu mjestu izrastoše četiri velika roga prema četiri vjetra nebeska.

9 Iz jednoga od njih izbi malen rog, ali taj silno poraste prema jugu i istoku, prema Divoti.

10 On poraste sve do Nebeske vojske, obori na zemlju neke iz Vojske i od zvijezda pa ih zgazi nogama.

11 Poraste sve do Zapovjednika Vojske, oduze mu svagdašnju žrtvu i razori mu njegovo Sveto mjesto.

12 Vojska se digla na žrtvu svagdašnju zbog opačine, na zemlju oborila istinu i uspje u svemu što činjaše.

13 Tada čuh gdje jedan Svetac govori, a drugi Svetac upita onoga koji govoraše: "Dokle će trajati ovo viđenje o svagdašnjoj žrtvi i o opačini što pustoši i gazi Svetište i Vojsku?"

14 Odgovori: "Još dvije tisuće i tri stotine večeri i jutara; tada će Svetište biti očišćeno."

15 Kad sam ja, Daniel, gledajući ovo viđenje, tražio da ga razumijem, gle, preda me stade kao neki čovjek.

16 Začuh glas čovječji gdje viče preko Ulaja: "Gabriele, objasni mu to viđenje!"

17 On pođe onamo gdje stajah i kad mi se približi, strah me obuze i padoh na lice. On mi reče: "Sine čovječji, razumij: jer ovo je viđenje za vrijeme posljednje."

18 On još govoraše, a ja se onesvijestih, padoh na zemlju. On me dotače i uspravi na mom mjestu.

19 I reče: "Evo, kazat ću ti što će doći na kraju gnjeva, najavljeni svršetak.

20 Ovan što si ga vidio - njegova dva roga - to su kraljevi Medije i Perzije.

21 Rutavi jarac jest kralj Grčke; veliki rog među njegovim očima jest prvi kralj;

22 slomljeni rog i četiri roga što izbiše na njegovu mjestu, to su četiri kraljevstva što će izići iz njegova naroda, ali neće imati njegovu moć.

23 I potkraj njihova kraljevanja, kad bezakonici navrše mjeru, ustat će kralj, drzak i lukav.

24 Njegova će moć porasti, ali ne svojom snagom; nesmiljeno će pustošiti, uspijevat će u svojim pothvatima, zatirat' junake i narod Svetaca.

25 Zbog njegove lukavosti prijevara će uspijevati u njegovoj ruci. On će se uznijeti u svome srcu, iz čista mira upropastit će mnoge. Suprotstavit će se Knezu nad knezovima, ali će - ne rukom - biti skršen.

26 Viđenje o večerima i jutrima o kojem je bilo govora istinito je; no ti ga zapečati, jer je za daleke dane."

27 Tada ja, Daniel, obnemogoh i bijah bolestan više dana. Zatim ustadoh da vršim kraljevske poslove. Bijah smeten zbog viđenja, no nitko to nije dokučio.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #720

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720. 17:2 "With whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom." This symbolically means that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated the church's goods and truths that it had from the Word.

To commit whoredom means, symbolically, to falsify and adulterate truths, as said just above in no. 719. The kings of the earth symbolize the church's truths that it has from the Word - kings symbolizing truths springing from goodness, and the earth symbolizing the church.

That kings symbolize people who possess truths springing from goodness from the Lord, and so in an abstract sense the truths themselves that spring from goodness, may be seen in nos. 20, 664 above. Here they symbolize those truths adulterated and profaned.

We are told that the kings of the earth committed whoredom with the great harlot, as though the church's truths from the Word did so, truths being symbolized by the kings of the earth. But this accords with the style of the Word in its literal sense, in which we find attributed to God and to the Divine things emanating from Him - which include the Word's truths - qualities and actions which nevertheless are those of mankind and its evils, as has often been shown above. Consequently the genuine meaning - namely the spiritual sense - is that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated, indeed profaned, the church's truths which it had from the Word.

Someone who is unacquainted with the Word's spiritual meaning may easily be deluded into believing that the kings of the earth mean earthly kings, when in fact it is not those kings that are meant, but truths springing from goodness, and in an opposite sense, falsities springing from evil.

[2] To make it still more apparent that kings of the earth mean nothing else than a church's truths or falsities, and that kings' whoredoms are the falsifications, adulterations and profanations of the church's truths that is has from the Lord, we will cite several passages from the book of Revelation and Daniel, from which anyone capable of reflecting may see that it is not kings that are meant. The passages are these:

...Jesus Christ... has made us kings and priests... (Revelation 1:5-6)

...you have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

...you (shall) eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains..., the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them... (Revelation 19:18)

The seven heads (of the scarlet beast) are seven mountains... They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, and one is... And the beast... is... the eighth (king), and is of the seven... (Revelation 17:9-11)

The ten horns... are ten kings that have not yet received a kingdom... (Revelation 17:12)

We are also told later, as in the present verse, that the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with and taken delight in the harlot (Revelation 18:3, 9).

Who that is capable of reflecting does not see that kings here do not mean kings?

[3] Similar things are said in Daniel. For example, that the hairy male goat means a king, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king; and that when their transgressions have reached their height, a stern-faced king will arise who understands cunning schemes (Daniel 8:21, 23). That the four great beasts that arose out of the sea were four kings that would rise up from the earth, that the fourth beast's ten horns were ten kings, and that another would arise after them that would lay low the three kings (Daniel 7:17, 24). So, too, that the king of the south and the king of the north would fight against each other; that the king of the south would send his daughter to the king of the north; that the king of the north would exalt himself against God, and would acknowledge a foreign god; that people who acknowledged that god he would honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and desirable things, and cause them to rule over many, and would divide the land for a price; that he would plant the tents of his tabernacle between the seas, in the vicinity of the glorious holy mountain; but that he would come to his end - besides much else (Daniel 11).

[4] The king of the south symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people in possession of truths, and the king of the north symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people caught up in falsities. For the text is prophetic of churches to come, such as they would be in the beginning, and what they would be like after that.

People who possess truths springing from good from the Lord are called kings because they are called the Lord's children, and having been regenerated by the Lord, they are said to have been born of Him and to be His heirs, and the Lord is the King, and heaven and the church are His kingdom.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.