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Ezechiël 35

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1 Wijders geschiedde des HEEREN woord tot mij, zeggende:

2 Mensenkind! zet uw aangezicht tegen het gebergte Seir, en profeteer tegen hetzelve,

3 En zeg tot hetzelve: Alzo zegt de Heere Heere: Zie, Ik wil aan u, o gebergte Seir! en Ik zal Mijn hand tegen u uitstrekken, en zal u stellen tot een verwoesting en een schrik.

4 Ik zal uw steden stellen tot eenzaamheid, en gij zult een verwoesting worden, en zult weten, dat Ik de HEERE ben.

5 Omdat gij een eeuwige vijandschap hebt, en hebt de kinderen Israels doen wegvloeien door het geweld des zwaards, ten tijde huns verderfs, ten tijde der uiterste ongerechtigheid;

6 Daarom, zo waarachtig als Ik leef, spreekt de Heere Heere; Ik zal u voorzeker ten bloede bereiden, en het bloed zal u vervolgen; alzo gij het bloed niet hebt gehaat, zal u het bloed ook vervolgen.

7 En Ik zal het gebergte Seir tot de uiterste verwoesting stellen; en Ik zal uit hetzelve uitroeien dien, die er doorgaat, en dien, die wederkeert.

8 En Ik zal zijn bergen met zijn verslagenen vervullen; uw heuvelen, en uw dalen, en al uw stromen, in dezelve zullen de verslagenen van het zwaard liggen.

9 Tot eeuwige verwoestingen zal Ik u stellen, en uw steden zullen niet bewoond worden; alzo zult gij weten, dat Ik de HEERE ben.

10 Omdat gij zegt: Die twee volken en die twee landen zullen mij geworden, en wij zullen ze erfelijk bezitten, ofschoon de HEERE daar ware;

11 Daarom, zo waarachtig als Ik leef, spreekt de Heere Heere: Ik zal ook handelen naar uw toorn en naar uw nijdigheid, die gij uit uw haat tegen hen hebt te werk gesteld; en Ik zal bij hen bekend worden, wanneer Ik u zal gericht hebben.

12 En gij zult weten, dat Ik, de HEERE, al uw lasteringen gehoord heb, die gij tegen de bergen Israels gesproken hebt, zeggende: Zij zijn verwoest, zij zijn ons ter spijze gegeven.

13 Alzo hebt gij u met uw mond tegen Mij groot gemaakt, en uw woorden tegen Mij vermenigvuldigd; Ik heb het gehoord.

14 Alzo zegt de Heere Heere: Gelijk het ganse land verblijd is, alzo zal Ik u de verwoesting aandoen.

15 Gelijk gij u verblijd hebt over de erfenis van het huis Israels, omdat zij verwoest is, alzo zal Ik aan u doen; het gebergte van Seir, en gans Edom, zal geheel een verwoesting worden; en zij zullen weten, dat Ik de HEERE ben.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #586

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586. That they should not adore demons.- That this signifies that they should not worship their own disorderly desires, is evident from the signification of worshipping, and from the signification of demons, as denoting evil desires. The reason why demons denote evil desires, is, that by demons are meant infernal spirits, and all the spirits in the hells are nothing but evil desires. For all the spirits in the hells, and all the angels in the heavens, are from the human race, and every man after death becomes such as the quality of his life was in the world, consequently the quality of his affection, so that after death man is entirely his own affection, a good man the affection for good and truth, and an evil man the affection for evil and falsity. Every man, also, after death, thinks, wills, speaks, and acts, according to his own affection. The affection for evil and falsity, is what is called desire, and is signified by "demon." But what is meant by worshipping demons shall also be briefly explained.

[2] Every man is in association with spirits, for without such association and conjunction no one can live, and the spirits attendant on man are in accordance with the quality of his affections or desires. Therefore when man, in his worship, does not look to the Lord or to his neighbour, but to himself and to the world, that is, when he worships God for the sole end of being exalted to honours, and of gaining wealth, or that he may do injury to others, he worships demons; for the Lord is not then present in his worship, but infernal spirits, who are in association with him. These spirits also are so insane as to believe that they are gods, and to be worshipped. For every spirit, as well as every man, who is in the love of self, seeks to be worshipped as a god, and for this reason men after death, on becoming demon-spirits are possessed with that insane desire; this, therefore, is the signification of adoring demons.

[3] This worship is also understood by sacrificing to demons.

Thus in Moses:

"They provoked him to wrath with strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrifice to demons, not to God; to gods whom they knew not" (Deuteronomy 32:16, 17).

Again:

The sons of Israel shall sacrifice at the door of the tent, and "they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons, after whom they go awhoring" (Leviticus 17:7).

The sacrifices which were offered at the door of the tent represented the worship of the Lord, because the altar, and also the tabernacle, represented heaven, where the Lord is present; but the sacrifices which they offered elsewhere, represented worship where the Lord was not present, thus the worship of demons; for all things at that time were representative.

[4] So in David:

"They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons" (Psalm 106:37).

This was utterly infernal; but, in the spiritual sense, sacrificing their sons and daughters, signified by means of their evil desires to pervert and destroy the truths and goods of the church; for sons signify the truths of the church, and daughters its goods.

[5] So in Isaiah:

"The tziim shall also meet with the ijim, and the wood demon shall meet his fellow; the bird of night shall also rest there, and find for herself a place of rest" (34:14).

Here the subject treated of is the total devastation of the church through corporeal and purely natural lusts (concupiscentiae), from which flow forth evils and falsities of every kind; these lusts are signified by the tziim, and the ijim, and also by the bird of night and the wood demon, or satyr.

[6] Again, in like manner:

"The tziim shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of ochim; and the daughters of the bird of night shall dwell there, and the wood demons shall dance there" (13:21).

These things are spoken of Babylon. That such merely natural and corporeal lusts (concupiscentiae) are possessed by those meant by Babylon, and constitute the life of their mind, is signified by their houses being filled with such things, and by their dwelling and dancing there. By house is signified the internal or external mind [mens seu animus] of man, with the things contained therein; daughters of the bird of night signify falsities, and wood demons or satyrs, merely corporeal desires.

Similar language is used respecting Babylon in the Apocalypse:

"Babylon is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (18:2).

The demons cast out by the Lord, by which many were at that time obsessed, signify falsities of every kind, with which the church was infested, and from which it was liberated by the Lord (as in Matthew 8:16, 28; 9:32, 33; 10:8; 12:22; 15:22; Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:33-38, 41; 8:2, 26-40; 9:1, 37-44, 49, 50; 13:32, and elsewhere).

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Luke 8:2

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2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;

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