New Christian Bible Study

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 36

Study

   

1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah.

2 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are become ours in possession;

3 therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, yea, because they have made [you] desolate, and have swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the remnant of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and in the defaming of the people:

4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the water-courses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and a derision to the remnant of the nations that are round about,

5 -- therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the remnant of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, which have appointed my land unto themselves for a possession with the joy of all [their] heart, with despite of soul, to plunder it by pillage.

6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the water-courses and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the ignominy of the nations;

7 therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I have lifted up my hand, [saying,] Verily the nations that are about you, they shall bear their shame.

8 And ye mountains of Israel shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel: for they are at hand to come.

9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown.

10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, the whole of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded.

11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and bring forth fruit; and I will cause you to be inhabited as [in] your former times, yea, I will make it better than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

12 And I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of children.

13 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because they say unto you, Thou devourest men, and hast bereaved thy nation,

14 therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nation any more, saith the Lord Jehovah;

15 neither will I cause thee to hear the ignominy of the nations any more, and thou shalt not bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nation to fall any more, saith the Lord Jehovah.

16 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a woman in her separation.

18 And I poured out my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.

19 And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

20 And when they came to the nations whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when it was said of them, These are the people of Jehovah, and they are gone forth out of his land.

21 But I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations whither they went.

22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went.

23 And I will hallow my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I [am] Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be hallowed in you before their eyes.

24 And I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and ye shall do them.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 And I will save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the increase of the field, so that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.

31 And ye shall remember your evil ways, and your doings which were not good, and shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities I will also cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded.

34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all that passed by.

35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities [are] fortified [and] inhabited.

36 And the nations that shall be left round about you shall know that I Jehovah build the ruined places [and] plant that which was desolate: I Jehovah have spoken, and I will do [it].

37 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it unto them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her set feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #832

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

832. 19:18 "That you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great." This symbolizes an assimilation of goods from the Lord through the truths in the Word and in doctrine drawn from it, of every level of meaning, degree or kind.

The subject of no. 831 above was conjunction with the Lord through the Word, and now here it is the assimilation of goods from Him through the Word's truths.

To eat symbolically means to assimilate (no. 89). The flesh the people were to eat symbolizes goods in the Word and so in the church. And kings, commanders, mighty men, horses and those who sit on them, and people, free and slave, both small and great symbolize truths of every level of meaning, degree or kind. Kings symbolize people governed by the church's truths from the Word, and abstractly the church's truths from the Word themselves (nos. 20, 483). Commanders symbolize people who possess concepts of goodness and truth, and abstractly those concepts themselves (no. 337). Mighty men symbolize people who are learned in doctrine from the Word, and abstractly the learning gained from there itself (nos. 337). Horses symbolize an understanding of the Word, and those who sit on them symbolize people who are wise owing to their understanding of the Word, and abstractly the wisdom gained from there itself (nos. 298, 820). People free and slave symbolize people who acquire knowledge on their own and people who gain it from others (nos. 337, 604). People small and great symbolize people who do so to a lesser or greater degree (nos. 527, 810).

It is apparent from this that the people's being called to eat the flesh of those listed symbolizes an assimilation of goods from the Lord through the truths in the Word and in doctrine drawn from it, of every level of meaning, degree or kind.

[2] It should be known that no one has any spiritual good from the Lord except through truths from the Word. For the Word's truths exist in the light of heaven, and goods in the warmth of that light. Consequently unless one's intellect is in the light of heaven through the Word, his will cannot enter into the warmth of heaven. Love and charity cannot take form except through truths from the Word. A person cannot be reformed except through truths from the Word. The church itself takes form in a person in consequence of those truths - not in consequence of those truths in the intellect alone, but by living in accordance with them. Only then do truths enter into the will and become goods. The appearance of truth is thus turned into the appearance of good. For what pertains to the will and so to the love is called good, and everything pertaining to the will or love is also part of a person's life.

It can be seen from this that what is meant here by eating the flesh of those listed is an assimilation of goodness through truths of every level of meaning, degree or kind, through the Word, from the Lord.

Who cannot see that flesh here does not mean flesh? Who can be so irrational as to believe that the Lord calls and summons all people to a great supper in order to have them eat the flesh of kings, commanders, mighty men, horses, those who sit on them, and all people, free and slave, both small and great? Who cannot see that there is in this a spiritual meaning, and that apart from that meaning no one knows what is meant here? Who can continue to deny that the Word at its heart is spiritual? Would it not be no more than something material if people were to understand it according to its literal sense and not according to the spiritual sense?

[3] Similar to the passage here is the following one in Ezekiel:

...thus says the Lord Jehovih, "Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: 'Gather yourselves and come; gather together from all sides to My... great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth... You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. You shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots and... with all the men of war... (Thus) will I set My glory among the nations." (Ezekiel 39:17-21)

Flesh here likewise symbolizes the church's goodness from the Lord through the Word, and blood the church's truth.

Who does not see that people would not be given blood to drink to the point of drunkenness, and would not eat horses, chariots, mighty men, and men of war till they were full, at the table of the Lord Jehovih?

Accordingly, when flesh symbolizes the church's goodness and blood the church's truth, it is clearly apparent that the Lord's flesh and blood in holy supper symbolize Divine goodness and Divine truth from the Lord, the same as bread and wine, regarding which see John 6:51-58. 1

Flesh symbolizes goodness in many other places in the Word as well, as in the following:

I will... remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh... (Ezekiel 11:19, cf. 36:26)

My flesh longs for You in a dry... land... (Psalms 63:1)

My heart and my flesh shout aloud for the living God. (Psalms 84:2)

My flesh... will dwell secure. (Psalms 16:9)

When you see the naked and cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh... (Isaiah 58:7)

Footnotes:

1. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven - not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

  
/ 962  
  

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

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org