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Ezekiel 31

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1 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ ἔτει ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ μηνὶ μιᾷ τοῦ μηνὸς ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων

2 υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου εἰπὸν πρὸς φαραω βασιλέα αἰγύπτου καὶ τῷ πλήθει αὐτοῦ τίνι ὡμοίωσας σεαυτὸν ἐν τῷ ὕψει σου

3 ἰδοὺ ασσουρ κυπάρισσος ἐν τῷ λιβάνῳ καὶ καλὸς ταῖς παραφυάσιν καὶ ὑψηλὸς τῷ μεγέθει εἰς μέσον νεφελῶν ἐγένετο ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ

4 ὕδωρ ἐξέθρεψεν αὐτόν ἡ ἄβυσσος ὕψωσεν αὐτόν τοὺς ποταμοὺς αὐτῆς ἤγαγεν κύκλῳ τῶν φυτῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ συστέματα αὐτῆς ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου

5 ἕνεκεν τούτου ὑψώθη τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου καὶ ἐπλατύνθησαν οἱ κλάδοι αὐτοῦ ἀφ' ὕδατος πολλοῦ

6 ἐν ταῖς παραφυάσιν αὐτοῦ ἐνόσσευσαν πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ὑποκάτω τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ ἐγεννῶσαν πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ πεδίου ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ αὐτοῦ κατῴκησεν πᾶν πλῆθος ἐθνῶν

7 καὶ ἐγένετο καλὸς ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἐγενήθησαν αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτοῦ εἰς ὕδωρ πολύ

8 κυπάρισσοι τοιαῦται οὐκ ἐγενήθησαν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πίτυες οὐχ ὅμοιαι ταῖς παραφυάσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλάται οὐκ ἐγένοντο ὅμοιαι τοῖς κλάδοις αὐτοῦ πᾶν ξύλον ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ὡμοιώθη αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ κάλλει αὐτοῦ

9 διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐζήλωσεν αὐτὸν τὰ ξύλα τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς τοῦ θεοῦ

10 διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος ἀνθ' ὧν ἐγένου μέγας τῷ μεγέθει καὶ ἔδωκας τὴν ἀρχήν σου εἰς μέσον νεφελῶν καὶ εἶδον ἐν τῷ ὑψωθῆναι αὐτόν

11 καὶ παρέδωκα αὐτὸν εἰς χεῖρας ἄρχοντος ἐθνῶν καὶ ἐποίησεν τὴν ἀπώλειαν αὐτοῦ

12 καὶ ἐξωλέθρευσαν αὐτὸν ἀλλότριοι λοιμοὶ ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν καὶ κατέβαλον αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ἐν πάσαις ταῖς φάραγξιν ἔπεσαν οἱ κλάδοι αὐτοῦ καὶ συνετρίβη τὰ στελέχη αὐτοῦ ἐν παντὶ πεδίῳ τῆς γῆς καὶ κατέβησαν ἀπὸ τῆς σκέπης αὐτῶν πάντες οἱ λαοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ ἠδάφισαν αὐτόν

13 ἐπὶ τὴν πτῶσιν αὐτοῦ ἀνεπαύσαντο πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ στελέχη αὐτοῦ ἐγένοντο πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ

14 ὅπως μὴ ὑψωθῶσιν ἐν τῷ μεγέθει αὐτῶν πάντα τὰ ξύλα τὰ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ οὐκ ἔδωκαν τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῶν εἰς μέσον νεφελῶν καὶ οὐκ ἔστησαν ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτῶν πρὸς αὐτὰ πάντες οἱ πίνοντες ὕδωρ πάντες ἐδόθησαν εἰς θάνατον εἰς γῆς βάθος ἐν μέσῳ υἱῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς καταβαίνοντας εἰς βόθρον

15 τάδε λέγει κύριος κύριος ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κατέβη εἰς ᾅδου ἐπένθησεν αὐτὸν ἡ ἄβυσσος καὶ ἐπέστησα τοὺς ποταμοὺς αὐτῆς καὶ ἐκώλυσα πλῆθος ὕδατος καὶ ἐσκότασεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὁ λίβανος πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐξελύθησαν

16 ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς τῆς πτώσεως αὐτοῦ ἐσείσθησαν τὰ ἔθνη ὅτε κατεβίβαζον αὐτὸν εἰς ᾅδου μετὰ τῶν καταβαινόντων εἰς λάκκον καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἐν γῇ πάντα τὰ ξύλα τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ τοῦ λιβάνου πάντα τὰ πίνοντα ὕδωρ

17 καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ κατέβησαν μετ' αὐτοῦ εἰς ᾅδου ἐν τοῖς τραυματίαις ἀπὸ μαχαίρας καὶ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ὑπὸ τὴν σκέπην αὐτοῦ ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῶν ἀπώλοντο

18 τίνι ὡμοιώθης κατάβηθι καὶ καταβιβάσθητι μετὰ τῶν ξύλων τῆς τρυφῆς εἰς γῆς βάθος ἐν μέσῳ ἀπεριτμήτων κοιμηθήσῃ μετὰ τραυματιῶν μαχαίρας οὕτως φαραω καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ λέγει κύριος κύριος

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #312

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312. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. This symbolizes an understanding of the Word among them extinguished as to truth, thus extinguished as regards their doctrine.

We showed above that a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. Blackness symbolizes a lack of truth, thus falsity, because blackness is the opposite of whiteness, and whiteness is predicated of truth (nos. 167, 231, 232). Whiteness is also the result of light, while blackness results from darkness, thus from the absence of light, and light means truth.

In the spiritual world, however, blackness has a double origin, one resulting from the absence of a flaming light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the other resulting from the absence of a bright white light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The first kind of blackness has the same symbolism as a thick darkness, the second the same as a gloomy darkness. The two kinds differ from each other. One is dreadful, the other not so dreadful. It is the same with the falsities that they symbolize. The spirits who appear in a terrible darkness are called devils. They also abhor truth as owls do the light of the sun. In contrast, the spirits who appear in a darkness that is not so dreadful are called satanic spirits. They do not abhor truth, though they are still averse to it, and therefore they may be likened to barn owls, but the first to eagle owls.

The fact that blackness in the Word is predicated of falsity can be seen from the following passages:

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow... Darkened more than blackness is their form. (Lamentations 4:7-8)

...on the prophets... the day shall grow black. (Micah 3:6)

On the day that you go down to hell..., I will make Lebanon dark over you... (Ezekiel 31:15)

...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair... (Revelation 6:12)

The sun, moon and stars are darkened in Jeremiah 4:27-28, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10; 3:15, and elsewhere.

It was the third living creature that displayed the black horse because it had a face like a human being, which symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its wisdom (no. 243). Consequently it was this living creature that displayed the fact that there was no longer any truth of wisdom in the people who were third in order.

  
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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.

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