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Ezekiel 12

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1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

3 Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.

4 Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

5 Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

6 In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.

7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.

8 And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

9 Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?

10 Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

11 Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

17 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;

19 And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

21 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

22 Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

23 Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the LORD GOD.

26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.

28 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #260

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260. (Verse 1) After these things I saw. That this signifies the understanding enlightened is evident from the signification of seeing, as being to understand. The reason of this is that the sight of the eye corresponds to the sight of the mind, which is the understanding. This correspondence is based on the fact that the understanding perceives spiritual things, and the sight of the eye natural things; spiritual things are truths from good and natural things are objects in various forms. Truths from good, which are spiritual things, are seen in heaven as clearly as objects before the eye, but still with much difference, for those truths are seen intellectually, that is, are perceived. The nature of this sight, or perception, cannot be described in human language; it can be comprehended only by this, that it includes consent and confirmation from an inmost principle that the thing is so. For there are confirmatory reasons in very great abundance, which present themselves as one to the intellectual sight, and this one is as a conclusion from many. These confirmatory reasons are in the light of heaven, which is Divine truth, or Divine wisdom, proceeding from the Lord, and which operates in each angel according to the state of his reception; this is spiritual sight, or understanding.

[2] Because this sight operates into the sight of the eyes with the angels, and presents the truths of the understanding in correspondent forms, which in heaven appear not unlike the forms in the natural world which are called objects, therefore by seeing, in the literal sense of the Word, is signified to understand. (What the nature of appearances in heaven is, and that they correspond to the objects of the interior sight of the angels, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 170-176.) The reason why in the Word it is not said to understand, but to see, is that the Word in its ultimates is natural, and what is natural is the basis on which spiritual things are founded; therefore, if the Word in the letter were also spiritual it would have no basis, thus it would be as a house without a foundation (concerning this subject also, see in the work, Heaven and Hell 303-310). That in the Word to see signifies to understand is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

"Who have said to the seers, See not, and to those who have vision, See not for us right things; speak to us blandishments, see illusions" (30:10).

Again:

"And the eyes of them that see shall not blink, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken" (32:3).

Again:

Ye blind, look in seeing, in seeing . . . great things, ye do not keep them" (42:18, 20).

Again:

"The priest and the prophet err through strong drink they err among the seeing, they stumble in judgment" (28:7), and elsewhere;

"Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not" (Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:12; 8:17, 18; Isaiah 6:10; Ezekiel 12:2).

Besides many other passages, which need not be adduced here since everyone knows, from the customary modes of expression, that to see signifies to understand; hence we say, I see this, that it is, or is not so, meaning I understand.

[260 ½] And, behold, a door opened in heaven. That this signifies the arcana of heaven revealed, is evident from the signification of a door, as being introduction, concerning which see above (n. 208); in this case, looking into which is a letting-in of the sight; and the sight is let into heaven when the sight of the bodily eyes is made dim, and then the sight of the eyes of the spirit is enlightened; by the latter sight all the visions of the prophets were seen. The reason why a door opened in heaven here signifies the arcana of heaven revealed is that those things then appear which are in the heavens, and, before the prophets, those which are arcana of the church. In the present case were seen the arcana concerning those things that were to exist about the time of the Last Judgment, none of which have been as yet revealed, nor could they be revealed before the Judgment was accomplished, and not even then except by means of some one in the world to whom it should be granted by the Lord to see them, and to whom, at the same time, should be revealed the spiritual sense of the Word. For all the things written in this prophetical book are written concerning the Last Judgment, but by means of representatives and correspondences; for whatever is said by the Lord and perceived by the angels is turned into representatives when it descends, and is thus presented both before the eyes of the angels in the ultimate heavens, and before men who were prophets, when the eyes of their spirit were opened. From these considerations it is evident what is meant by a door opened in heaven.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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