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Amos 9

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1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered.

2 Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.

3 And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence : and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite them.

4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

5 And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.

6 He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.

7 Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?

8 Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

9 For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.

11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.

12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things.

13 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.

14 And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #336

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336. And every mountain and island was moved out of its place. This symbolically means that all goodness of love and truth of faith vanished.

No one can see that this is the symbolic meaning except by recourse to the spiritual sense. It is the symbolic meaning because mountains mean people who possess the goodness of love, inasmuch as angels dwell upon mountains - those motivated by love toward the Lord on loftier mountains, and those motivated by love for the neighbor on less lofty ones. Consequently "every mountain" symbolizes all goodness of love. Islands mean people relatively removed from the worship of God, as may be seen in no. 34 above - here people who are impelled by faith, and not so much by the goodness of love. Therefore in an abstract sense "every island" means, symbolically, all truth of faith. To be moved out of their places means, symbolically, to go away.

It derives from the abodes of angels on mountains and hills, therefore, that mountains and hills in the Word symbolize heaven and the church where love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor are found, and in an opposite sense, hell where self-love and love of the world are found.

[2] It is apparent from the following passages that mountains and hills symbolize heaven and the church where love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor are found, thus where the Lord is present:

Lift up your eyes to the mountains, whence comes your help. (Psalms 121:1)

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who proclaims... peace! (Nahum 1:15, cf. Isaiah 52:7)

Praise Jehovah..., you mountains and... hills...! (Psalms 148:7, 9)

A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you leap, you mountains, you hills of the mountain? Jehovah has desired to inhabit them; (Jehovah) also will inhabit them forever. (Psalms 68:15-16)

The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like the young of the flock... You travail, O earth, at the presence of the Lord... (Psalms 114:4-7)

I will bring forth a seed from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of My mountains, that My elect may inherit them, and My servants dwell there. (Isaiah 65:9)

(In the consummation of the age:) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matthew 24:16)

(O Jehovah,) Your righteousness is as the mountains of God. (Psalms 36:6)

Jehovah will go forth and fight... In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, opposite Jerusalem on the east. (Zechariah 14:3-4)

[3] Since the Mount of Olives symbolized Divine love, therefore during the days the Lord preached in the Temple, but during the nights He went out and spent the night on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37; 22:39, John 8:1). And therefore the Lord spoke upon that mountain with His disciples regarding His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3, Mark 13:3-4).

Since a mountain symbolized heaven and love, therefore Jehovah came down upon the top of Mount Sinai and proclaimed the Law (Exodus 19:20; 24:17). And therefore the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James and John on a high mountain (Matthew 17:1). Therefore Zion also was located on a mountain, and so, too, Jerusalem, and the two were called the mountain of Jehovah and the mountain of holiness in many places in the Word.

Mountains and hills have similar symbolic meanings elsewhere, as in Isaiah 7:25; 30:25; 40:9; 44:23; 49:11, 13; 55:12; Jeremiah 16:15-16; Psalms 65:6; 80:10; 104:5-10, 13.

[4] That mountains and hills symbolize these loves can be seen still more clearly from their opposite meaning, in which they symbolize hellish loves, namely, self-love and a love of the world, as is apparent from the following passages:

...the day of Jehovah... shall come... upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up... (Isaiah 2:12, 14)

Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. (Isaiah 40:4)

The mountains shall be overthrown, and its ascents shall fall... (Ezekiel 38:20-21)

Behold, I am against you, O... mountain, that destroys all the earth... ...I will make you a burnt mountain. (Jeremiah 51:25)

I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they are shaken, and all the hills are overthrown. (Jeremiah 4:23-25)

...a fire is kindled in my anger..., and it will set on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Deuteronomy 32:22)

I will lay waste the mountains and hills... (Isaiah 42:15)

Behold, (O Jacob,) I will make you like a threshing sledge... that you may thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff..., that the wind may carry them away. (Isaiah 41:15-16)

Give glory to Jehovah... before your feet stumble on the dark mountains... (Jeremiah 13:16)

Nor is anything else meant by the seven mountains on which the woman - namely Babylon - sat (Revelation 17:9). And so also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 14:13; Jeremiah 50:6; 9:10; Ezekiel 6:2-3; 34:6.

It can now be seen from this what is meant by the statement that "every mountain and island was moved out of its place," and later by the statement that "every island fled away, and the mountains were not found" (Revelation 16:20, no. 714).

  
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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.

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