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Hesekiel 24

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1 Und das Wort Jehovas geschah zu mir im neunten Jahre, im zehnten Monat, am Zehnten des Monats, also:

2 Menschensohn, schreibe dir den Namen des Tages auf, dieses selbigen Tages! An diesem selbigen Tage rückt der König von Babel gegen Jerusalem heran.

3 Und rede ein Gleichnis zu dem widerspenstigen Hause und sprich zu ihnen: So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Setze den Topf auf, setze auf, und gieße auch Wasser darein.

4 Tue seine Stücke zusammen darein, alle guten Stücke, Lende und Schulter; fülle ihn mit den besten Knochen.

5 Nimm das beste Kleinvieh, und auch einen Holzstoß für die Knochen darunter; laß es tüchtig sieden, daß auch seine Knochen darin kochen. -

6 Darum spricht der Herr, Jehova, also: Wehe, Stadt der Blutschuld! Topf, an welchem sein Rost ist, und dessen Rost nicht von ihm abgeht! Stück für Stück hole sie heraus; nicht ist über sie das Los gefallen.

7 Denn ihr Blut ist in ihrer Mitte: Sie hat es auf einen kahlen Felsen getan, sie hat es nicht auf die Erde gegossen, daß man es mit Staub bedecken könnte.

8 Um Grimm heraufzuführen, um Rache zu üben, habe ich ihr Blut auf einen kahlen Felsen getan, damit es nicht bedeckt würde. -

9 Darum, so spricht der Herr, Jehova: Wehe, Stadt der Blutschuld! Auch ich werde den Holzstoß groß machen.

10 Häufe das Holz, zünde das Feuer an, mache das Fleisch gar und laß die Brühe auskochen, und die Knochen sollen verbrennen!

11 Und stelle ihn leer auf seine Kohlen, damit sein Erz heiß und glühend werde, und seine Unreinigkeit in ihm schmelze, sein Rost vergehe.

12 Die Bemühungen hat er erschöpft, und sein vieler Rost geht nicht von ihm ab; ins Feuer mit seinem Rost! -

13 In deiner Unreinigkeit ist Schandtat. Weil ich dich gereinigt habe und du nicht rein geworden bist, so wirst du von deiner Unreinigkeit nicht mehr rein werden, bis ich meinen Grimm an dir stille.

14 Ich, Jehova, habe geredet. Es kommt, und ich werde es tun; ich werde nicht nachlassen und werde kein Mitleid haben und es mich nicht gereuen lassen. Nach deinen Wegen und nach deinen Handlungen werden sie dich richten, spricht der Herr, Jehova.

15 Und das Wort Jehovas geschah zu mir also:

16 Menschensohn, siehe, ich nehme die Lust deiner Augen von dir weg durch einen Schlag; und du sollst nicht klagen und nicht weinen, und keine Träne soll dir kommen.

17 Seufze schweigend, Totenklage stelle nicht an; binde dir deinen Kopfbund um und ziehe deine Schuhe an deine Füße, und deinen Bart sollst du nicht verhüllen und Brot der Leute nicht essen.

18 Und ich redete zu dem Volke am Morgen, und am Abend starb mein Weib. Und ich tat am Morgen, wie mir geboten war.

19 Da sprach das Volk zu mir: Willst du uns nicht kundtun, was dies uns bedeuten soll, daß du so tust?

20 Und ich sprach zu ihnen: Das Wort Jehovas ist zu mir geschehen also:

21 Sprich zum Hause Israel: So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Siehe, ich werde mein Heiligtum entweihen, den Stolz eurer Stärke, die Lust eurer Augen und das Verlangen eurer Seele; und eure Söhne und eure Töchter, die ihr zurückgelassen habt, werden durchs Schwert fallen.

22 Dann werdet ihr tun, wie ich getan habe: Den Bart werdet ihr nicht verhüllen und Brot der Leute nicht essen,

23 und eure Kopfbunde werden auf euren Häuptern sein, und eure Schuhe an euren Füßen; ihr werdet nicht klagen und nicht weinen, sondern werdet hinschwinden in euren Missetaten, und seufzen einer gegen den anderen.

24 Und so wird euch Hesekiel zu einem Wahrzeichen sein: Nach allem, was er getan hat, werdet ihr tun. Wenn es kommt, dann werdet ihr wissen, daß ich der Herr, Jehova, bin.

25 Und du, Menschensohn, siehe, an dem Tage, da ich von ihnen wegnehmen werde ihre Stärke, die Freude ihrer Pracht, die Lust ihrer Augen und die Sehnsucht ihrer Seelen, ihre Söhne und ihre Töchter:

26 An jenem Tage wird ein Entronnener zu dir kommen, um es deinen Ohren vernehmen zu lassen;

27 an jenem Tage wird dein Mund aufgetan werden gegen den Entronnenen, und du wirst reden und nicht mehr verstummen. Und so sollst du ihnen zu einem Wahrzeichen sein; und sie werden wissen, daß ich Jehova bin.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #350

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350. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed. (7:5) This symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord, and this in all those people who will be in the Lord's New Heaven and New Church.

In the highest sense Judah symbolizes the Lord in relation to celestial love; in the spiritual sense, the Lord's celestial kingdom and the Word; and in the natural sense, the doctrine of a celestial church drawn from the Word. Here, however, Judah symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord; and because it is named first in the series, it symbolizes that love in all those people who will be in the New Heaven and in the Lord's New Church. For the tribe named first is everything in the rest, being to them as though their head and serving as a universal property entering into all those that follow, tying them together, qualifying them and affecting them. This property is love toward the Lord.

To be shown that twelve thousand symbolizes all who possess that love, see no. 348 above.

[2] People know that after the death of Solomon the twelve tribes of Israel were divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of Judah represented the celestial kingdom or the Lord's priestly kingdom, while the kingdom of Israel represented the spiritual kingdom or the Lord's royal kingdom. But the latter was destroyed when the people had nothing spiritual left in them, whereas the kingdom of Judah was preserved, for the sake of the Word, and because the Lord would be born there. However, when the people adulterated the Word completely, and thus could not recognize the Lord, then their kingdom was destroyed.

It can be seen from this that the tribe of Judah symbolizes celestial love, which is love toward the Lord. But because the people were of the character they were with respect to the Word and with respect to the Lord, the tribe of Judah symbolizes also the opposite love, which is love of self - properly speaking, a love of dominating springing from a love of self - a love which we call diabolical love.

[3] The fact that Judah and his tribe symbolize the celestial kingdom and its love, which is love toward the Lord, follows from these passages:

Judah, your brothers shall praise you... The scepter shall not be taken from Judah... until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey's foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine... His eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Genesis 49:8-12)

...David shall be their prince forever, and I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them..., and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. (Ezekiel 37:25-26)

Exult and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! ...Jehovah will make Judah an inheritance for Himself, His portion on the holy land. (Zechariah 2:10-12)

O Judah, celebrate your feasts, perform your vows. For Belial 1 shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off. (Nahum 1:15)

The Lord... will suddenly come to His temple... Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be sweet to Jehovah as in the days of old... (Malachi 3:1, 4)

Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:20)

Behold, the days are coming..., that I will raise to David a righteous Branch... In His days Judah will be saved... (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of My mountains, that My elect may possess it... (Isaiah 65:9)

Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. (Psalms 114:2)

Behold, the days are coming..., when I will make a new covenant... with the house of Judah... ...this will be the covenant...: I will put My law within them, and write it on their heart... (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 33-34)

In those days ten men... shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." (Zechariah 8:23)

...as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me..., so shall your offspring and your name remain.

Kings (of the nations) shall be your foster fathers, their princesses your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you, their faces to the ground, and lick the dust of your feet. (Isaiah 66:22; 49:23)

[4] From these and many other passages, which we do not have the space to cite because of their number, it can be clearly seen that Judah means not Judah but the church. We are told, for example, that the Lord would make a new and eternal covenant with that nation, that He would make it His heir and His sanctuary forevermore, and that kings of the nations and their princesses would bow down to them, licking the dust of their feet, and so on.

[5] That the tribe of Judah, regarded in itself, means the diabolic kingdom, which is one of a love of dominating springing from a love of self, can be seen from the following passages:

I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity will be. ...they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith... ...they are a nation void of counsel... ...their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; its grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? (Deuteronomy 32:20-34)

(Know that) it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart... that Jehovah... is... giving you (the land of Canaan)..., for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy 9:5-6)

...according to the number of your cities have been your gods, O Judah... ...according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars... to burn incense to Baal. (Jeremiah 2:28; 11:13)

You are of your father the devil, and you choose to do the desires of your father. (John 8:44)

Jews are said to be full of hypocrisy, iniquity, and uncleanness (Matthew 23:27-28.

Footnotes:

1. In the Old Testament, the personification of wickedness and destruction, originally conceived perhaps as some sort of spirit demon.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Genesis 49:8-12

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8 "Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you.

9 Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?

10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

11 Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.