New Christian Bible Study

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 38

Study

   

1 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων

2 υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου στήρισον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ γωγ καὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ μαγωγ ἄρχοντα ρως μοσοχ καὶ θοβελ καὶ προφήτευσον ἐπ' αὐτὸν

3 καὶ εἰπὸν αὐτῷ τάδε λέγει κύριος κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σὲ γωγ ἄρχοντα ρως μοσοχ καὶ θοβελ

4 καὶ συνάξω σε καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμίν σου ἵππους καὶ ἱππεῖς ἐνδεδυμένους θώρακας πάντας συναγωγὴ πολλή πέλται καὶ περικεφαλαῖαι καὶ μάχαιραι

5 πέρσαι καὶ αἰθίοπες καὶ λίβυες πάντες περικεφαλαίαις καὶ πέλταις

6 γομερ καὶ πάντες οἱ περὶ αὐτόν οἶκος τοῦ θεργαμα ἀπ' ἐσχάτου βορρᾶ καὶ πάντες οἱ περὶ αὐτόν καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ μετὰ σοῦ

7 ἑτοιμάσθητι ἑτοίμασον σεαυτὸν σὺ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγή σου οἱ συνηγμένοι μετὰ σοῦ καὶ ἔσῃ μοι εἰς προφυλακήν

8 ἀφ' ἡμερῶν πλειόνων ἑτοιμασθήσεται καὶ ἐπ' ἐσχάτου ἐτῶν ἐλεύσεται καὶ ἥξει εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀπεστραμμένην ἀπὸ μαχαίρας συνηγμένων ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν πολλῶν ἐπὶ γῆν ισραηλ ἣ ἐγενήθη ἔρημος δι' ὅλου καὶ οὗτος ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐξελήλυθεν καὶ κατοικήσουσιν ἐπ' εἰρήνης ἅπαντες

9 καὶ ἀναβήσῃ ὡς ὑετὸς καὶ ἥξεις ὡς νεφέλη κατακαλύψαι γῆν καὶ ἔσῃ σὺ καὶ πάντες οἱ περὶ σὲ καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ μετὰ σοῦ

10 τάδε λέγει κύριος κύριος καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀναβήσεται ῥήματα ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου καὶ λογιῇ λογισμοὺς πονηροὺς

11 καὶ ἐρεῖς ἀναβήσομαι ἐπὶ γῆν ἀπερριμμένην ἥξω ἐπὶ ἡσυχάζοντας ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καὶ οἰκοῦντας ἐπ' εἰρήνης πάντας κατοικοῦντας γῆν ἐν ᾗ οὐχ ὑπάρχει τεῖχος οὐδὲ μοχλοί καὶ θύραι οὐκ εἰσὶν αὐτοῖς

12 προνομεῦσαι προνομὴν καὶ σκυλεῦσαι σκῦλα αὐτῶν τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι χεῖρά σου εἰς τὴν ἠρημωμένην ἣ κατῳκίσθη καὶ ἐπ' ἔθνος συνηγμένον ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν πολλῶν πεποιηκότας κτήσεις κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τὸν ὀμφαλὸν τῆς γῆς

13 σαβα καὶ δαιδαν καὶ ἔμποροι καρχηδόνιοι καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῶν ἐροῦσίν σοι εἰς προνομὴν τοῦ προνομεῦσαι σὺ ἔρχῃ καὶ σκυλεῦσαι σκῦλα συνήγαγες συναγωγήν σου λαβεῖν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον ἀπενέγκασθαι κτῆσιν τοῦ σκυλεῦσαι σκῦλα

14 διὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου καὶ εἰπὸν τῷ γωγ τάδε λέγει κύριος οὐκ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐν τῷ κατοικισθῆναι τὸν λαόν μου ισραηλ ἐπ' εἰρήνης ἐγερθήσῃ

15 καὶ ἥξεις ἐκ τοῦ τόπου σου ἀπ' ἐσχάτου βορρᾶ καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ μετὰ σοῦ ἀναβάται ἵππων πάντες συναγωγὴ μεγάλη καὶ δύναμις πολλή

16 καὶ ἀναβήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν μου ισραηλ ὡς νεφέλη καλύψαι γῆν ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἔσται καὶ ἀνάξω σε ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν μου ἵνα γνῶσιν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐμὲ ἐν τῷ ἁγιασθῆναί με ἐν σοὶ ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν

17 τάδε λέγει κύριος κύριος τῷ γωγ σὺ εἶ περὶ οὗ ἐλάλησα πρὸ ἡμερῶν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν διὰ χειρὸς τῶν δούλων μου προφητῶν τοῦ ισραηλ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις καὶ ἔτεσιν τοῦ ἀγαγεῖν σε ἐπ' αὐτούς

18 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ ἂν ἔλθῃ γωγ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ ισραηλ λέγει κύριος κύριος ἀναβήσεται ὁ θυμός μου

19 καὶ ὁ ζῆλός μου ἐν πυρὶ τῆς ὀργῆς μου ἐλάλησα εἰ μὴν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἔσται σεισμὸς μέγας ἐπὶ γῆς ισραηλ

20 καὶ σεισθήσονται ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου οἱ ἰχθύες τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τὰ θηρία τοῦ πεδίου καὶ πάντα τὰ ἑρπετὰ τὰ ἕρποντα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ἐπὶ προσώπου τῆς γῆς καὶ ῥαγήσεται τὰ ὄρη καὶ πεσοῦνται αἱ φάραγγες καὶ πᾶν τεῖχος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν πεσεῖται

21 καὶ καλέσω ἐπ' αὐτὸν πᾶν φόβον λέγει κύριος μάχαιρα ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἔσται

22 καὶ κρινῶ αὐτὸν θανάτῳ καὶ αἵματι καὶ ὑετῷ κατακλύζοντι καὶ λίθοις χαλάζης καὶ πῦρ καὶ θεῖον βρέξω ἐπ' αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπ' ἔθνη πολλὰ μετ' αὐτοῦ

23 καὶ μεγαλυνθήσομαι καὶ ἁγιασθήσομαι καὶ ἐνδοξασθήσομαι καὶ γνωσθήσομαι ἐναντίον ἐθνῶν πολλῶν καὶ γνώσονται ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #399

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

399. And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood. This symbolizes falsity springing from a hellish love, destroying goodness and truth and falsifying the Word.

Hail symbolizes falsity destroying goodness and truth. Fire symbolizes hellish love. And blood symbolizes the falsification of truth.

The reason that hail symbolizes falsity destroying goodness and truth will be seen below. To be shown that fire is love in both senses, heavenly and hellish, see no. 468; and that blood is the Lord's Divine truth, which is also the Word, and in an opposite sense, the Word falsified, no. 379.

When these are assembled into a single meaning, it is apparent that "hail and fire followed, mingled with blood," symbolizes falsity springing from a hellish love, destroying goodness and truth and falsifying the Word.

This is the symbolic meaning because these are the kinds of things that appear in the spiritual world when the atmosphere of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom dips down from heaven into societies where there are falsities springing from hellish love and these are used to falsify the Word.

[2] Hail and fire together have the same symbolism in the following places:

From the brightness before Him, ...clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire... ...the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And He sent out His (many) arrows and scattered them... (Psalms 18:12-14)

I will dispute... with pestilence and blood, and I will rain down on (them)...hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (Ezekiel 38:22)

Then Jehovah will cause His... voice to be heard..., with the flame of a devouring fire... and hailstones. (Isaiah 30:30)

He made their rain hail, a flaming fire in their land..., and splintered the trees of their border. (Psalms 105:32-33)

He smote their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with heavy hail, and... their cattle with burning coals... He sent in the wrath of His anger... an incursion of evil angels. (Psalms 78:47-49)

The latter passages refer to Egypt, of whom we read in the books of Moses the following:

Moses stretched out his rod... and Jehovah sent voices and hail... And there was hail and fire together proceeding in the midst of heavy hail... And the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. (Exodus 9:23-35)

All the miracles done in Egypt symbolized those evils and falsities, springing from a hellish love, that existed in the Egyptians, each miracle symbolizing some evil and falsity. For the church with them had been representational, as it was in many Asiatic kingdoms, but one that became idolatrous and given to sorcery. The Red Sea symbolizes hell, in which the Egyptians finally perished.

[3] The hailstones which killed many more of the enemy than the sword in Joshua 10:11 have a similar symbolism. So, too, hail in the following passages:

Woe to the crown of pride... ...strong is the Lord, like an inundation of hail... The hail overturns the refuge of lies... (Isaiah 28:1-2, 17)

It will hail until it flattens the forest... (Isaiah 32:19)

The temple of God was opened in heaven..., and there were lightnings, voices, and thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19)

And great hail with the weight of a talent fell from heaven upon men. (Revelation 16:21)

...have you seen the treasuries of hail, which have been reserved... for the day of battle and war? (Job 38:22-23)

Say to those who plaster the unsuitable that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, in which you, hailstones, shall fall. (Ezekiel 13:11)

To plaster the unsuitable is to defend falsity so that it appears as true. Consequently people who do this are called hailstones.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org