The Bible

 

Hesekiel 10

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1 Siis ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, taevalaotuses, mis oli keerubite pea kohal, olid nagu safiirikivid; midagi, mis paistis aujärjena, nähti nende kohal.

2 Ja ta rääkis mehega, kellel olid linased riided seljas, ja ütles: 'Mine rataste vahele, mis on iga keerubi all, ja täida pihud tuliste sütega keerubite vahelt ning pillu need linna peale!' Ja mees läks sisse minu nähes.

3 Keerubid seisid kojas paremal pool, kui mees läks, ja pilv täitis sisemise õue.

4 Siis tõusis Issanda auhiilgus keerubi kohalt koja lävele, koda täitus pilvest ja õu täitus Issanda auhiilguse särast.

5 Ja keerubite tiibade kahinat kuuldus kuni välimise õueni nagu Kõigeväelise Jumala häält, kui ta kõneleb.

6 Ja kui ta käskis meest, kellel olid linased riided seljas, öeldes: 'Võta tuld rataste vahelt, keerubite vahelt!', siis läks see ja asetus ratta kõrvale.

7 Ja üks keerub pistis oma käe keerubite vahelt tule juurde, mis oli keerubite vahel, ja võttis seda ning andis linasesse riietatu pihkudesse; ja see võttis ning läks välja.

8 Keerubitel paistis tiibade all olevat otsekui inimese käsi.

9 Ja ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, keerubite kõrval oli neli ratast, iga keerubi kõrval oli ratas, ja rattad olid välimuselt nagu krüsoliidikivid.

10 Ja neil neljal oli ühesugune välimus, otsekui oleks ratas olnud ratta sees.

11 Kui nad liikusid, siis nad said minna iga nelja külje suunas, käigul pöördumata; sest sinna, kuhu oli pööratud esikülg, läksid nad selle järel; käigul nad ei pöördunud.

12 Ja kogu nende keha, seljad, käed, tiivad ja rattad olid ümberringi täis silmi; sel nelikul olid rattad

13 ja rattaid nimetati, nagu ma kuulsin, 'ratastikuks'.

14 Ja igaühel oli neli nägu: üks oli keerubi nägu, teine inimese nägu, kolmas lõvi nägu ja neljas kotka nägu.

15 Ja keerubid tõusid üles, need olid samad olevused, keda ma olin näinud Kebari jõe ääres.

16 Ja kui keerubid liikusid, siis liikusid rattad nende kõrval; ja kui keerubid tõstsid tiibu, et maa pealt üles tõusta, siis ei pöördunud ka rattad ära nende kõrvalt.

17 Kui ühed seisid, siis seisid ka teised, ja kui ühed tõusid üles, siis tõusid teised koos nendega, sest nende sees oli olevuse vaim.

18 Siis Issanda auhiilgus läks ära koja lävelt ja seisis keerubite kohal.

19 Ja minnes tõstsid keerubid oma tiibu ning tõusid maast üles mu silme all, ja nende rattad samuti nagu nad isegi; nad jäid seisma Issanda koja idapoolse värava suus ja Iisraeli Jumala auhiilgus oli ülal nende kohal.

20 Need olid needsamad olevused, keda ma olin näinud Iisraeli Jumala all Kebari jõe ääres; ja ma mõistsin, et need olid keerubid.

21 Igaühel oli neli nägu ja igaühel oli neli tiiba, ja neil olid otsekui inimese käed tiibade all.

22 Ja nende nägude kuju: need olid näod, mida ma olin näinud Kebari jõe ääres, nende välimus ja need ise; igaüks läks edasi omaette.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #48

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48. And His eyes like a flame of fire. This symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

Eyes in the Word mean the intellect, and the sight of the eyes, therefore, intelligence. Consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, they mean Divine wisdom. A flame of fire, moreover, symbolizes spiritual love, which is charity, and consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, it means Divine love. So now, the statement that His eyes were like a flame of fire symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

That the eye symbolizes the intellect is because they correspond. For as the eye sees as a result of natural light, so the intellect sees as a result of spiritual light. Consequently seeing is predicated of both.

That the eye in the Word symbolizes the intellect is apparent from the following passages:

Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Isaiah 43:8)

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness... the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf... (Isaiah 35:5)

...I will give You... as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind... (Isaiah 42:6-7)

The last is said of the Lord, who, when He comes, will open the intellect in people who are ignorant of the truth.

[2] That this is what is meant by opening the eyes is further apparent from the following passages:

Make the heart of this people fat..., and smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes... (Isaiah 6:10, John 12:40)

For Jehovah has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your leaders, the seers, He has covered. (Isaiah 29:10, cf. 30:10)

...who shuts his eyes so as not to see evil. (Isaiah 33:15)

Hear this..., O foolish people..., who have eyes and see not... (Jeremiah 5:21)

(The punishment of) the shepherd, who deserts the flock: a sword shall be... against his right eye..., and his right eye shall be totally darkened. (Zechariah 11:17)

...the plague with which Jehovah will strike all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: ...their eyes shall waste away in their sockets... (Zechariah 14:12)

...I will strike every horse with stupor, and... every horse of the peoples with blindness. (Zechariah 12:4)

A horse in the spiritual sense is an understanding of the Word (no. 298).

...hear me, Jehovah my God; enlighten my eyes, lest (perchance) I sleep the sleep of death. (Psalms 13:3)

Everyone sees that eyes in these places symbolize the intellect.

[3] It is apparent from this what the Lord meant by the eye in the following places:

The lamp of the body is the eye. If... your eye is whole, your entire body will be full of light. If... your eye is bad, your entire body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23, cf. Luke 11:34)

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you... to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 5:29; 18:9)

The eye in these places does not mean an eye, but an understanding of truth.

Since the eye symbolizes an understanding of truth, it was therefore one of the statutes among the children of Israel that a blind man of the posterity of Aaron or one blurry-eyed not approach to offer a sacrifice, nor enter within the veil (Leviticus 21:18, 20, 23), and that nothing blind be offered as a sacrifice (Leviticus 22:22, Malachi 1:8).

[4] It is apparent from this what an eye means when said in reference to a person. It follows then that when said in reference to the Lord, it means His Divine wisdom, and also His omniscience and providence, as in the following passages:

Open Your eyes, Jehovah, and see. (Isaiah 37:17)

I will set My eye on them for good, and... I will build them... (Jeremiah 24:6)

Behold, the eye of Jehovah is on those who fear Him... (Psalms 33:18)

Jehovah is in His holy temple...; His eyes behold, (and) His eyelids test the children of man. (Psalms 11:4)

Inasmuch as cherubim symbolize the Lord's protection and providence to keep the spiritual meaning of the Word from being harmed, therefore it is said of the four living creatures - which were cherubim - that they were full of eyes in front and in back, and that their wings were likewise full of eyes (Revelation 4:6, 8). And it is also said that the wheels on which the cherubim rode were full of eyes all around (Ezekiel 10:12).

[5] "A flame of fire" means the Lord's Divine love, as will be seen in subsequent expositions where flame and fire are mentioned. And because it is said that His eyes were like a flame of fire, it symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

The concept that the Lord has in Him Divine love as a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom as a property of Divine love, thus a reciprocal union of the two, is an arcanum disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 34-39 and elsewhere.

  
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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.