1
Izraeli, nesidžiauk, nedžiūgauk kaip tautos! Tu paleistuvaudamas palikai savo Dievą, pamėgai užmokestį kiekviename klojime.
Hosea 9:1
Apocalypse Revealed #503
503. We will now say what Egypt symbolizes in the Word: Egypt symbolizes the natural self joined to the spiritual self, and its affection for truth then and consequent knowledge and intelligence. And in an opposite sense it symbolizes the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, and its conceit in its own intelligence then and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters.
Egypt symbolizes the natural self joined to the spiritual self, and its affection for truth then and consequent knowledge and intelligence, in the following passages:
In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt... swearing an oath to Jehovah of Hosts... In that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt... Then Jehovah will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day... (Isaiah 19:18-21)
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, so that the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria - a blessing in the midst of the land, whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, "Blessed is My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance." (Isaiah 19:23-25)
Egypt there is the natural component, Assyria the rational one, and Israel the spiritual one. These three form a person of the church.
That is why the king of Egypt is called "the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings," and Egypt is called "the cornerstone of (the) tribes." (Isaiah 19:11, 13) And regarding Solomon we are told that his wisdom excelled the wisdom of the Egyptians (1 Kings 4:30). We are also told that he "took Pharaoh's daughter as a wife, and brought her into the city of David" (1 Kings 3:1), and that he "built a house for Pharaoh's daughter next to the porch" (1 Kings 7:8).
[2] For this reason Joseph was carried down into Egypt and there became the ruler of the whole land (Genesis 41).
Since Egypt symbolized the natural self in respect to its affection for truth and consequent knowledge and intelligence, therefore Joseph, the husband of Mary, having been warned by an angel, went with the infant Lord into Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15), in fulfillment of the prophecy,
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. (Hosea 11:1)
You caused a vine to come out of Egypt; You... planted it... and caused it to send forth its roots... (Psalms 80:8-9)
For a person is born natural, becomes rational, and later spiritual. Thus is a vine from Egypt planted and caused to take root.
For the sake of this representation, moreover, Abraham sojourned in Egypt (Genesis 12:10ff.). And Jacob was commanded to go with his sons into Egypt, and they also abode there (Genesis 46ff.).
So, too, the land of Canaan, which symbolizes the church, is described to extend "even to the river of Egypt" (Genesis 15:18, 1 Kings 4:21, Micah 7:12). And Egypt is compared to the Garden of Eden, the garden of God (Ezekiel 31:2, 8, Genesis 13:10).
The knowledge of the natural self is also called "the precious things of Egypt" (Daniel 11:43), and "fine embroidered linen from Egypt" (Ezekiel 27:7).
And so on elsewhere where Egypt is spoken of affirmatively, as in Isaiah 27:12-13.
[3] On the other hand, in an opposite sense Egypt symbolizes the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, and its conceit in its own intelligence then and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters, in the following places:
Because...(Pharaoh's) heart was lifted up in its height, and it set its top among the thick boughs..., aliens... will cut him off and cast him down... In the day when he went down to hell..., I covered the deep over him...(and) you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised... (Ezekiel 31:10-18)
...the foundations (of Egypt) shall be overthrown... ...the pride of her power shall come down... ...and shall be laid waste... her cities... in the midst of the desolate cities... I will set fire to Egypt..., and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them throughout the lands. (Ezekiel 30:1ff.)
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help..., and do not look to the Holy One of Israel... For the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:1, 3)
Egypt rises up like a flood... He says, "I will go up, I will cover the earth, (and) I will destroy... Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! ...The sword shall devour (you), and be... made drunk with blood...; there is no healing for you. (Jeremiah 46:2, 8-11)
How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, and the son of ancient kings?" Where are your wise men now? ...let them know... The princes of Zoan have become fools...; they have led Egypt astray..., the cornerstone of (the) tribes... Neither will there be any work for Egypt, which may form the head or the tail... (Isaiah 19:1-17)
...prophesy against... Egypt..., O great whale who lie in the midst of your rivers. Because he said, "My river, and I have made myself," (therefore) I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales... And I will leave you in the wilderness... Therefore... the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste. (Ezekiel 29:1-12)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 30:1, 2, 7; 2 Kings 18:21.
[4] Since the Egyptians became of such a character, therefore they were rendered desolate as regards all the goods and truths of the church. Their desolations are described by the miracles done there, which were plagues, and these symbolized the many lusts of the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, a natural self which acts only in accordance with its own intelligence and its conceit. The plagues symbolic of its lusts were these:
That the water in the river turned to blood so that the fish died and the river stank. (Exodus 7)
That the streams and ponds brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. That the dust of the ground turned into lice. That a swarm of noxious flying insects was sent. (Exodus 8)
[That a pestilence occurred so that the livestock of Egypt died.] That sores were caused to break out with pustules on man and beast. That a downpour of hail mixed with fire rained down. (Exodus 9)
That locusts were sent. That darkness occurred through all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 10).
That all the firstborn in the land of Egypt died. (Exodus 11,12)
And finally, that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 14), which symbolizes hell.
To find what all these things symbolize specifically, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, where they are explained.
It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by the plagues and diseases of Egypt in Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:60; what is symbolically meant by drowning in the river of Egypt in Amos 8:8; 9:5; and why it is that Egypt is called a land of bondage in Micah 6:4, the land of Ham in Psalms 106:22, and an iron furnace in Deuteronomy 4:20, 1 Kings 8:51.
[5] The reason Egypt symbolizes both intelligence and irrationality in spiritual matters was that the Ancient Church, which extended through many kingdoms in Asia, existed also in Egypt, and at that time the Egyptians, more than any others, cultivated a study of the correspondences between spiritual and natural things, as is apparent from the hieroglyphs there. But when that study among them was turned into magic and became idolatrous, then their intelligence in spiritual matters became irrational. Egypt symbolizes this, therefore, in an opposite sense.
It can be seen from this what the great city means, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
Apocalypse Revealed #485
485. CHAPTER 11
1. Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.
2. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
5. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will proceed from their mouth and devour their enemies. And if anyone wants to do them injury, he must be killed in this manner.
6. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
7. Then, when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days, and not allow their bodies to be put into tombs.
10. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and be glad, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.
13. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell. And in the earthquake seven thousand people by name were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
15. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17. saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come, because You have taken Your great power and entered Your kingdom.
18. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and to destroy those who are destroying the earth."
19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
The subject continues to be the state of the church among the Protestant Reformed and the character of those inwardly caught up in faith alone in opposition to the two essential elements of the New Church, namely, that the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine, and that people ought to live in accordance with the Ten Commandments. These two essential elements were proclaimed before them (verses 3-6). But they were utterly rejected (verses 7-10). The Lord revived them (verses 11, 12). Those people perished who rejected them (verse 13). From the New Heaven the state of the New Church was shown (verses 15-19).
The Contents of the Individual Verses:
| Verse Contents | Spiritual Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1. Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. | John was given the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world. |
| And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. | The Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven. |
| 2. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, | The state of the church on earth, as it is still, must be set aside and not learned. |
| for it has been given to the gentiles. | Because, owing to evil practices, the state of that church has been lost and forsaken. |
| And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. | It has dispelled every truth of the Word to the point that none remains. |
| 3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, | Those people who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine, and who are conjoined with Him by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments. |
| and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, | These two - an acknowledgment of the Lord and a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which are the two essential elements of the New Church - must be taught until the end and a new beginning. |
| clothed in sackcloth." | The grief experienced meanwhile over the truth's not being accepted. |
| 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. | The love and intelligence, or charity and faith, that people have in them from the Lord. |
| 5. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will proceed from their mouth and devour their enemies. | Anyone who wishes to destroy these two essential elements perishes from a hellish love. |
| And if anyone wants to do them injury, he must be killed in that way. | Anyone who condemns the two essential elements is likewise condemned. |
| 6. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; | People who turn away from these two essential elements cannot receive any truth from heaven. |
| and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, | People who turn away from these two essential elements falsify the Word's truths. |
| and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. | People who wish to destroy these two essential elements propel themselves into evils and falsities of every kind, as often as, and in the measure that, they do so. |
| 7. Then, when they finish their testimony, | After the Lord has taught these two essential elements of the New Church, |
| the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. | those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will reject these two elements. |
| 8. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city | These two elements have been utterly rejected. |
| which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, | The two hellish loves, namely, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, loves which are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments. |
| where also our Lord was crucified. | A failure to acknowledge the Lord's Divine humanity, and thus a state in which He is rejected. |
| 9. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days, | All those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church, |
| and not allow their bodies to be put into tombs. | have condemned them and will continue to condemn them. |
| 10. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and be glad, | The delight of the heart and soul's affection among those people in the church caught up in faith alone. |
| and send gifts to one another, | Their consociation by love and friendship. |
| because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. | These two essential elements of the New Church, opposed as they are to the two essential elements accepted in the Protestant Reformed Church, are objects of contempt, distress, and repugnance. |
| 11. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, | As the New Church commences and grows, these two essential elements are made living by the Lord in people who accept them. |
| and great fear fell on those who saw them. | A disturbance of the mind and alarm at Divine truths. |
| 12. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." | The two essential elements of the New Church raised by the Lord into heaven, where they originate and where they remain, and where they are protected. |
| And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, | Their elevation into heaven and conjunction with the Lord there through the Divine truth of the Word in its literal sense. |
| and their enemies saw them. | People caught up in a faith divorced from charity heard of these, but remained in their falsities. |
| 13. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell. | A considerable change of state occurring then in those people, and their being plucked away from heaven and sinking into hell. |
| And in the earthquake seven thousand people by name were killed, | All those people who professed faith alone and for that reason made works of charity of no account, perished. |
| and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. | People who saw their destruction acknowledged the Lord and were set apart. |
| 14. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. | A lamentation over the corrupted state of the church, and lastly a final lamentation, as depicted after this. |
| 15. Then the seventh angel sounded, | An examination and exposure of the state of the church after its end, at the time of the Lord's advent and the advent of His kingdom. |
| and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" | Celebrations on the part of angels, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and that they had now become those of His Divine humanity, thus that the Lord would reign over heaven and earth as regards both aspects of Him to eternity. |
| 16. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, | An acknowledgment on the part of all the angels in heaven that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and their highest adoration of Him. |
| 17. saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come, | A confession and glorification on the part of the angels in heaven, that the Lord is He who exists, lives, and has power of Himself, and who governs all things, because He alone is eternal and infinite. |
| because You have taken Your great power and entered Your kingdom. | The New Heaven and New Church, where people will acknowledge Him alone as God. |
| 18. The nations were angry, | People who were caught up in faith alone and thus in evil practices were enraged, and harassed those who opposed their faith. |
| and Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead, | Their destruction, and the last judgment on those people who were without any spiritual life. |
| and to reward Your servants the prophets and saints, | The happiness of eternal life for people who possess doctrinal truths from the Word and live in accordance with them. |
| and those who fear Your name, small and great, | People who love things having to do with the Lord, in a lesser or greater degree. |
| and to destroy those who are destroying the earth." | The casting down into hell of the people who destroyed the church. |
| 19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. | The New Heaven, in which the Lord is worshiped in His Divine humanity, and where people live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which constitute the two essential elements of the New Church that are the means of conjunction. |
| And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. | The reasonings, disturbances, and falsifications of goodness and truth then in the lower regions. |
THE EXPOSITION
Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. (11:1) This symbolically means that the Lord gave John the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world.
A reed symbolizes weak power, the kind a person has of himself, and a rod symbolizes strong power, the kind a person has from the Lord. Consequently John's being given a reed like a measuring rod symbolizes power from the Lord. That it was the ability and power to learn and see the state of the church in heaven and in the world is apparent from the events that follow in this chapter to the end.
[2] That a reed or length of cane symbolizes weak power such as a person has of himself is apparent from the following:
Look, you are relying on the staff of (a) broken reed, on Egypt, which, when a man leans on it, will go into his hand and pierce it. (Isaiah 36:6)
That... the inhabitants of Egypt may know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and punctured all their shoulders... (Ezekiel 29:6-7)
Egypt symbolizes the natural person who relies on his own powers, and that is why it is called the staff of a broken reed.
A reed symbolizes weak power, in Isaiah:
A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not extinguish. (Isaiah 42:3)
[3] A rod, on the other hand, symbolizes strong power, which comes from the Lord, here the power to learn the state of the church, because John used the rod to measure the temple and altar, and to measure means, symbolically, to learn, and the temple and altar symbolize the church, as depicted next.
A rod symbolizes power because in olden times people in the church made wooden rods, and wood symbolizes goodness. It also substituted for the right hand and supported it, and the right hand symbolizes power. It is owing to this that a scepter is a shortened rod, and a scepter symbolizes the power of a king. Moreover, "scepter" and "rod" in Hebrew are the same word. 1
[4] That a rod symbolizes power is apparent from the following passages:
Say, "How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!" ...Come down from your glory, and sit in thirst. (Jeremiah 48:17-18)
Jehovah shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. (Psalms 110:2)
You punctured with his shafts the head of the faithless. (Habakkuk 3:14)
...Israel the rod of (Jehovah's) inheritance. (Jeremiah 10:16; 51:19)
Your rod and Your staff will comfort me. (Psalms 23:4)
Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked... (Isaiah 14:5, cf. Isaiah 9:4, Psalms 125:3)
My people consult a piece of wood, and their staff answers them. (Hosea 4:12)
...Jehovah... takes away from Jerusalem... the whole staff of bread and the whole staff of water. (Isaiah 3:1, cf. Ezekiel 4:16; 5:16; 14:13, Psalms 105:16, Leviticus 26:26)
A staff of bread and of water symbolizes the power of goodness and truth, and Jerusalem symbolizes the church.
The rod of Levi with the name of Aaron on it, which in the Tabernacle blossomed with almonds (Numbers 17:2-10), symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, nothing else than the power of truth and goodness, because Levi and Aaron symbolized the truth and goodness of the church.
[5] That a rod symbolizes power is apparent from the power of Moses' rod: On being stretched out it turned water into blood (Exodus 7:20). It caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:1ff.). It produced lice (Exodus 8:16f.). It summoned thunder and hail (Exodus 9:23ff.). It caused locusts to come (Exodus 10:12ff.). It caused the Red Sea to be parted and the waters to return (Exodus 14:16, 21, 26). It caused water to flow from the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:5ff., Numbers 20:7-13). In Moses' hand it enabled Joshua to prevail over the Amalekites (Exodus 17:9-12).
And an angel's staff caused fire to come forth from a rock (Judges 6:21).
It is apparent from these instances that a rod or staff symbolizes power, and also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 10:5, 24, 26; 11:4; 14:29; 30:31-32, Ezekiel 19:10-14, Lamentations 3:1, Micah 7:14, Zechariah 10:11, Numbers 21:18.
Footnotes:
1. I.e., מַטֶּה.
