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Ezékiel 4

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1 És te, embernek fia, végy magadnak egy téglát, tedd azt elõdbe, és véss reá egy várost, Jeruzsálemet,

2 És indíts ellene ostromot, és építs ellene tornyot, tölts ellene sánczot, és indíts ellene táborokat, és állass ellene faltörõ kosokat köröskörül.

3 És végy magadnak egy vasserpenyõt, és állasd fel azt vasfal gyanánt te közted és a város között, és irányozd tekintetedet erõsen reá, és legyen ostrom alatt, és te ostromold. Jel ez az Izráel házának.

4 Te pedig feküdj baloldaladra és vesd az Izráel háza vétkét arra; a napok száma szerint, a mennyin azon fekszel, viseljed vétköket.

5 Én pedig meghatároztam néked az õ vétkök éveit napok száma szerint, háromszázkilenczven napban; eddig viseljed az Izráel házának vétkét.

6 És ha ezeket kitöltötted, feküdj a jobboldaladra másodszor, és viseld a Júda házának vétkét negyven napig; egy-egy napot egy-egy esztendõül számítottam néked.

7 És Jeruzsálem ostromára irányozd erõsen tekintetedet, és karod feltûrve legyen, és prófétálj õ ellene.

8 S ímé köteleket vetettem reád, hogy meg ne fordulhass egyik oldaladról a másikra, míg betöltöd ostromodnak napjait.

9 És végy magadnak búzát és árpát és babot és lencsét és kölest és tönkölyt, és tedd ezeket egy edénybe, és ezekbõl csinálj magadnak kenyeret; a napok száma szerint, a míg oldaladon fekszel, háromszázkilenczven napon egyed azt.

10 A te ételed pedig, a melylyel élsz, legyen súly szerint húsz siklus egy napra; idõrõl-idõre egyed azt.

11 És vizet mérték szerint igyál, a hinnek hatodrészét igyad idõrõl-idõre.

12 És ételedet árpa-lepény formájában egyed, és emberi ganéj tõzegénél süssed azt szemök láttára.

13 És mondá az Úr: Így eszik az Izráel fiai tisztátalan kenyeröket a pogányok közt, a kik közé õket kiûzöm.

14 És mondék: Ah, ah, Uram Isten! ímé az én lelkem soha meg nem fertéztetett, és dögöt és vadtól szaggatottat nem ettem ifjúságomtól fogva ez ideig, és számon be nem ment tisztátalan hús.

15 És mondá nékem: Nézd, marhaganéjt engedek néked emberi tõzeg helyett, hogy annál süsd meg a te kenyeredet.

16 És mondá nékem: Embernek fia! ímé én eltöröm a kenyérnek botját Jeruzsálemben, és eszik kenyeröket mértékkel és rettegéssel, és vizöket mértékkel és ájulással iszszák.

17 Azért, hogy kenyér és víz nélkül szûkölködjenek, és elborzadjanak mindnyájan, és megrothadjanak az õ vétkökben.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3104

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3104. 'Half a shekel in weight' means the amount needed for the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'a shekel', 'half a shekel', and 'weight'. 'A shekel' means the price or valuation of good and truth, and 'half a shekel' a defined amount of it, see 2959. 'Weight' means the state of something as regards good, as will be seen [below]. From these considerations it is evident that 'half a shekel in weight' means and embodies the amount as regards the good which 'a gold nose-jewel' is used to mean - that amount being the quantity of it that was needed for the introduction, as is plain from what comes before and after this point in the story.

[2] That 'weight' is the state of something as regards good is evident from the following places in the Word:

In Ezekiel where the prophet was told to eat food each day twenty shekels in weight, and to drink water in measure the sixth of a hin,

For, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, so that they may eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and with dismay; that they may be in want of bread and water. Ezekiel 4:10-11, 16-17.

This refers to the vastation of good and truth, which is represented by 'the prophet'. A state of good when vastated is meant by their having to eat food and bread 'by weight', and a state of truth when vastated by their having to drink water 'by measure' - 'bread' meaning that which is celestial, and so good, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, and 'water' that which is spiritual, and so truth, 739, 2702, 3058. From this it is evident that 'weight' is used in reference to good, and 'measure' to truth.

[3] In the same prophet,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezekiel 45:10 and following verses.

This refers to the holy land, by which the Lord's kingdom in heaven is meant, as may be recognized from every detail at this point in this prophet, where what are required are not balances, an ephah, and a bath that are just but the goods and truths meant by those weights and measures.

In Isaiah,

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and weighed the heavens in [His] palm, and gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in the scales? Isaiah 40:12.

'Weighing the mountains in a balance and the hills in the scares' stands for the truth that the Lord is the source of the heavenly things of love and charity, and that He alone orders the states of these things. For 'the mountains' and 'the hills' referred to in connection with those weights mean the heavenly things of love, see 795, 796, 1430, 2722.

[4] In Daniel,

The writing on the wall of Belshazzar's palace was, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation: Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the scales and have been found wanting; Peres, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 5:25-28.

Here 'mene' or 'He has numbered' has reference to truth, but 'tekel' or 'weighed in the scales' to good. Described in the internal sense is the time when the age is drawing to a close.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #705

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705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face 1 from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isaiah 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called 'the waters of Noah'.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations 'a deluge', in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47-48.

The fact that 'a deluge' here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isaiah 8:7-8.

Here 'the king of Asshur' stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2-3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.

Footnotes:

1. literally, faces

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