The Bible

 

Yechezchial 27:12

Study

       

12 תַּרְשִׁישׁ סֹחַרְתֵּךְ מֵרֹב כָּל־הֹון בְּכֶסֶף בַּרְזֶל בְּדִיל וְעֹופֶרֶת נָתְנוּ עִזְבֹונָיִךְ׃

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9467

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9467. 'And purple' means the celestial love of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, the reason why this love is meant by 'purple' being that by the colour red the good of celestial love is meant. For there are two basic colours from which all others are derived, the colour red and the colour white. The colour red means good which belongs to love, while the colour white means truth which belongs to faith. The reason why red means good belonging to love is that this colour exists before all else as fire, and fire means the good of love; and the reason why white means truth belonging to faith is that before all else that colour is light, and light means the truth of faith.

'Fire' means the good of love, see 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 9434.

'Light' means the truth of faith, 2776, 3195, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 8644, 8707, 8861, 9399, 9407.

'Red' means the good of love, 3300.

'White' means the truth of faith, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[2] From all this it is evident what all other colours mean; for in the measure that they are derived from red they mean good belonging to love, and in the measure that they are derived from white they mean truth belonging to faith. All the colours that appear in heaven are modifications of heavenly light and flame, on those two levels. For heavenly light is real light; and essentially it is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. Therefore modifications of that light and flame are different variations of truth and good, and so of intelligence and wisdom.

[3] All this now shows how it came about that the veils and curtains of the tent, and also Aaron's garments, were to be woven out of violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and linen thread, Exodus 25:4; 26:31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15, namely in order that celestial realities belonging to good and spiritual realities belonging to truth, which are the subject in what follows below, might be represented by them.

[4] Good from a celestial origin is again meant by 'purple' in Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezekiel 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant. 'Violet and purple covering' stands for cognitions of truth and good from a heavenly origin.

[5] Similar things are meant by 'purple and fine linen' in Luke,

There was a certain rich man (homo) who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies splendidly every day. Luke 16:19.

'A rich man' is used to mean in the internal sense the Jewish nation, and the Church there, which was said to be 'rich' because of the cognitions or knowledge of good and truth from the Word which existed there. Garments of 'purple and fine linen' are those cognitions, 'of purple' meaning cognitions of good, and 'of fine linen' cognitions of truth, both from a heavenly origin because they come from the Divine. 'Purple' also has a similar meaning in the Book of Revelation,

The woman sitting on a scarlet beast was clothed in purple and scarlet. Revelation 17:3-4.

This refers to Babylon, which means the Church where the holy things of the Word are put to unholy ends, that is, to exercising control in heaven and on earth, and so to ends that spring from hellish self-love and love of the world.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5605

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

5605. 'And we will rise up and go, and we will live and not die' means spiritual life entered into by degrees. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up' as a raising up to higher or more internal things, and therefore to those that constitute spiritual life, dealt with in 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103, 4881; from the meaning of 'going' as living, dealt with in 3335, 3690, 4882, 5493 (and since 'and we will live' follows, 'going' means the earliest stage of spiritual life); from the meaning of 'living' as spiritual life, for no other kind of life is meant in the internal sense of the Word; and from the meaning of 'not dying' as standing condemned no longer, that is, standing outside a state of condemnation, for no other kind of death is meant in the internal sense of the Word than spiritual death, which is condemnation. From all this it is evident that 'we will rise up and go, and we will live and not die' means life entered into by degrees. That is to say, an introductory phase leading into life is meant by 'rising up', the earliest stage of that life by 'going', that life fully under way by 'living', and guidance away from everything alien to that life by 'not dying'.

[2] The idea that living is meant in the internal sense by 'going' will seem strange to one who does not know anything about spiritual life. But much the same is involved here as with the expression 'travelling on', namely an ordered life and a further stage of life, 1293, 4375, 4554, 4585; receiving instruction and leading a life in keeping with it, 1463, 2025, 3672. The reason why 'going', 'travelling on', and 'sojourning' have these meanings can, it is true, be stated; yet it is the kind of reason that makes little sense to those who have no knowledge of the exact nature of people's movements in the next life. Moving about and advancements made by people there are nothing else, since they have no other origin, than changes in their states of life. Such changes present themselves in outward actions as nothing other than advances from one place to another. The truth of this has been proved to me from many an experience I have had in the next life. In my spirit I have walked with and among those there, and have moved through their many dwelling-places; and I have done so even though my body remained all the time in the same place. I have talked to them about how this could be so and have learned that changes in their states of life are what constitute the advances people make in the spiritual world.

[3] The same has also been proved to me by the fact that spirits are able, through changes of state that are effected, to be somewhere high up and then in an instant somewhere deep down, or to be far away in the west and then in an instant in the east, and so on. But, as stated, this is bound to seem strange to someone who does not know anything about life in the spiritual world. For in that world no intervals of space or of time exist, but states of life instead of these. Such states produce externally a visible scene with all the appearance of life involving advances and movement. The scene that appears is so vivid and real that it is an appearance of life itself; that is to say, the appearance is that life exists inherently within us, and so is essentially our own, when in actual fact life flows into us from the Lord, the source from which all life involves much the same, namely and the expression 'sojourning springs, see 2021, 2658, 2706, 2886-2888, 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3484, 3619, 3741-3743, 4151, 4249, 4318-4320, 4417, 4523, 4524, 4882. Because 'going' and 'moving' mean living, the ancients had the saying, In God we move, and live, and have our being. By 'moving' they meant the external degree of life, by 'living' the internal degree, and by 'having one's being' the inmost degree.

  
/ 10837  
  

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