The Bible

 

Hesekiel 10

Study

   

1 Und ich sah: Und siehe, auf der Ausdehnung (S. d. Anm. zu Kap. 1,22,) die über dem Haupte der Cherubim war, war es wie ein Saphirstein, wie das Aussehen der Gestalt eines Thrones, der über ihnen erschien.

2 Und er sprach zu dem in Linnen gekleideten Manne und sagte: Gehe hinein zwischen den äderwirbel unterhalb des Cherubs (Der Ausdruck "Cherub" oder das "das lebendige Wesen" (v 15) bezeichnet die gesamte Erscheinung der Cherubim; s. die Anm. zu Kap. 1,9,) und fülle deine Hände mit Feuerkohlen von dem aume (Eig. von heraus) zwischen den Cherubim, und streue sie über die Stadt hin. Und er ging vor meinen Augen hinein.

3 Die Cherubim aber standen zur rechten Seite des Hauses, als der Mann hineinging; und die Wolke erfüllte den inneren Vorhof.

4 Und die Herrlichkeit Jehovas hatte sich von dem Cherub auf die Schwelle des Hauses hin erhoben; und das Haus war von der Wolke erfüllt, und der Vorhof war voll von dem Glanze der Herrlichkeit Jehovas.

5 Und das auschen der Flügel der Cherubim wurde bis in den äußeren Vorhof gehört wie die Stimme Gottes (El,) des Allmächtigen, wenn er redet.

6 Und es geschah, als er dem in Linnen gekleideten Manne gebot und sprach: Nimm Feuer zwischen dem äderwirbel, zwischen den Cherubim weg, und er hineinging und zur Seite des ades trat,

7 da streckte ein Cherub seine Hand zwischen den Cherubim hervor, zu dem Feuer hin, welches zwischen den Cherubim war, und hob es ab und gab es in die Hände dessen, der in Linnen gekleidet war; der nahm es und ging hinaus.

8 Und es erschien an den Cherubim das Gebilde einer Menschenhand unter ihren Flügeln. -

9 Und ich sah: und siehe, vier äder waren neben den Cherubim, je ein ad neben je einem Cherub. Und das Aussehen der äder war wie der Anblick eines Chrysolithsteines;

10 und ihr Aussehen: die vier hatten einerlei Gestalt, wie wenn ein ad inmitten eines ades wäre.

11 Wenn sie gingen, so gingen sie nach ihren vier Seiten hin: Sie wandten sich nicht, wenn sie gingen; denn nach dem Orte, wohin das Vorderteil gerichtet war, folgten sie demselben: sie wandten sich nicht, wenn sie gingen.

12 Und ihr ganzer Leib und ihr ücken und ihre Hände und ihre Flügel und die äder waren voll Augen ringsum; alle vier hatten ihre äder.

13 Die äder, sie wurden vor meinen Ohren "Wirbel" genannt.

14 Und ein jedes hatte vier Angesichter; das Angesicht (nämlich das dem Propheten zugekehrte) des ersten war das Angesicht eines Cherubs, und das Angesicht des zweiten das Angesicht eines Menschen, und des dritten das Angesicht eines Löwen, und des vierten das Angesicht eines Adlers.

15 Und die Cherubim hoben sich empor. Das war das lebendige Wesen, welches ich am Flusse Kebar gesehen hatte.

16 Und wenn die Cherubim gingen, so gingen die äder neben ihnen; und wenn die Cherubim ihre Flügel erhoben, um sich von der Erde emporzuheben, so wandten sich die äder auch nicht von ihrer Seite.

17 Wenn sie stehen blieben, blieben auch sie stehen; und wenn sie sich emporhoben, hoben sie sich mit ihnen empor; denn der Geist des lebendigen Wesens war in ihnen. -

18 Und die Herrlichkeit Jehovas begab sich von der Schwelle des Hauses hinweg und stellte sich über die Cherubim.

19 Und die Cherubim erhoben ihre Flügel und hoben sich vor meinen Augen von der Erde empor, als sie sich hinwegbegaben; und die äder waren neben ihnen (S. die Anm. zu Kap. 1,20.) Und sie stellten sich an den Eingang des östlichen Tores des Hauses Jehovas, und die Herrlichkeit des Gottes Israels war oben über ihnen.

20 Das war das lebendige Wesen, welches ich unter dem Gott Israels am Flusse Kebar gesehen hatte; und ich erkannte, daß es Cherubim waren.

21 Jeder hatte vier Angesichter, und jeder hatte vier Flügel, und das Gebilde von Menschenhänden war unter ihren Flügeln.

22 Und was die Gestalt ihrer Angesichter betrifft, so waren es die Angesichter, welche ich am Flusse Kebar gesehen hatte, ihr Aussehen und sie selbst. Sie gingen ein jeder stracks vor sich hin.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7601

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

7601. 'And the flax' means the truth of the exterior natural. This is clear from the meaning of' the flax' as truth, but the truth of the exterior natural, dealt with below. The natural is exterior and interior, see 4570, 5118, 5497, 5649, and therefore the truth and good there are interior and exterior, 3293, 3294. The truth and good of the exterior natural are meant by 'the flax and the barley', and the good and truth of the interior natural by 'the wheat and the spelt'.

[2] This verse and the next deal with the truths and forms of good that were destroyed and laid waste, and the forms of good and truths that were not destroyed or laid waste. Thus they deal with the truths and forms of good that were stored away and placed in safe keeping for [future] use, and those which were not stored away and placed in safe keeping. For when those who are evil undergo vastation, that is, when they are being separated from truths and forms of good and are left with their own evils and falsities, those truths and forms of good that are present in the exterior natural - where they have become linked to falsities and evils - are what are laid waste. These truths and forms of good look downwards and cannot for that reason be safely stored away, as will be seen below in 7604, 7607. But the truths and forms of good of the interior natural are not laid waste but are taken to an even more interior position, where they are held in safe keeping for [future] use. Communication between the interior natural and the exterior is then closed to such an extent that no good or truth at all can pass from there into the exterior natural, apart from just a general kind of communication of them which enables those people to engage in reasoning and put together arguments to lend support to falsities and evils. Those forms of good and truths that are placed in safe keeping are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 661, 798, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342, 5344, 5897-5899, 6156, 7556. These then are the things which the two present verses deal with and which are meant by 'the flax and the barley were struck; for the barley was a ripening ear, and the flax a stem', and by 'the wheat and the spelt were not struck because they were hidden'.

[3] The meaning of 'flax' or 'linen' as truth has its origin in representatives in heaven. In heaven those who are guided by the truth of the natural are seen clothed in white, like the whiteness of linen. The actual truth of the natural is also represented there as fabric made from the finer kind of flaxen threads. These threads have the appearance of silken ones, and clothing made from them has a similar appearance - brilliant, wonderfully translucent, and soft - if the truth represented in that way is rooted in good. But on the other hand those threads which look flaxen do not have a translucent, brilliant, or soft appearance, but a hard and brittle appearance, though they are still white, if the truth that is represented in that way is not rooted in good.

[4] From all this one may now recognize what is meant when it says that the angels whom people saw appeared in garments of flax or linen, such as those referred to in John,

Out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in linen, white and splendid, and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. Revelation 15:6.

In Daniel,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz. Daniel 10:5.

In Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, each with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. But one man in the midst of them was clothed in linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. 1 Ezekiel 9:2.

More is said about this angel [clothed in linen] in verses 3 and 4 of the same chapter and in Chapter 10:2-7. The same prophet also says, in reference to the angel who measured the new temple, that he had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, Ezekiel 40:ff. Also, the angels who were seen in the Lord's tomb appeared clothed in white, splendid and flashing like lightning, Matthew 28:3; Mark 16:5; Luke 14:4; John 20:11-12.

[5] Since 'linen' or 'flax' meant the truth of the exterior natural, and the exterior natural is what clothes things more internal, that truth is what was represented by the linen garments with which angels were seen to be clothed. It is also meant by the linen garments worn by Aaron whenever he ministered in the Holy Place, spoken of in Moses as follows, When Aaron comes into the Holy Place, he shall put on the holy linen tunic, and gird himself with a linen sash, and place the linen turban on himself. These are holy garments. Leviticus 16:3-4.

Similarly in Ezekiel,

The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, when they enter the gates of the inner court they shall put on the linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them. When they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within, the linen turbans shall be on their heads, the linen under garments shall be over their loins. Ezekiel 44:17-18.

This is referring to the new temple and the New Jerusalem, which mean the Lord's kingdom. For the same reason also the priests wore linen ephods, 1 Samuel 22:18; when the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord he wore a linen ephod, 1 Samuel 1:18; and David too wore a linen ephod when the ark was brought into his city, 2 Samuel 6:14.

[6] From all this one can also see why the Lord girded Himself with a linen towel when He washed the disciples' feet, and wiped their feet with the linen towel with which He was girded, John 13:4-5. Washing of the feet was a sign of purification from sins, which is accomplished by the truths of faith, since these teach a person how he ought to live.

[7] 'Linen' means truth in the following places too: In Jeremiah,

Jehovah said to the prophet, Go, buy yourself a linen girdle, and place it over your loins; but you are not to pass it through water. Take the girdle, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it in the cleft of a rock. At the end of many days, when he took the girdle from where he had hidden it, behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:1-7.

'The linen girdle over the loins' represented truth arising from good, as it is in the beginning when the Church is established by the Lord, and as it becomes subsequently, when around the end it is has become spoiled and profitable for nothing. In Isaiah,

Those that make linen out of silk threads, and the weavers of curtains, will blush. Isaiah 19:9.

This refers to Egypt. 'Making linen out of silk threads' stands for counterfeiting truths.

[8] In Moses,

You shall not plough with an ox and an ass together. You shall not put on a mingled garment made of wool and linen together. Deuteronomy 22:10-11.

'Ox' means the good of the natural, 'ass' its truth; and much the same is meant by 'wool and linen'. Their being forbidden to plough with an ox and ass together or to put on a mingled garment made of wool and linen together meant that they were forbidden to be in two states at the same time, that is to say, in a state of good from which they looked to truth and at the same time in a state of truth from which they looked to good. These prohibitions embody much the same as those declared by the Lord in Matthew,

Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing. Matthew 24:17-18.

Regarding these prohibitions see 3652 (end). For those who look from good to truth are in the inner part of heaven, whereas those who look from truth to good are in the outer part. The latter look from the world towards heaven, the former from heaven towards the world. Consequently they are in a kind of inverse ratio to each other, and therefore if they were put together the one would destroy the other.

Footnotes:

1. literally, on his loins

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.