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Jezekilj 31

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1 A jedanaeste godine, trećeg meseca, prvog dana, dođe mi reč Gospodnja govoreći:

2 Sine čovečji, kaži Faraonu caru misirskom i narodu njegovom: Na šta si nalik u veličini svojoj?

3 Eto, Asirac beše kedar na Livanu, lepih grana i debelog hlada i visokog rasta, kome vrhovi behu među gustim granama.

4 Voda ga odgoji, bezdana ga uzvisi; ona rekama svojim tečaše oko njegovog stabla i puštaše potoke svoje k svim drvetima poljskim.

5 Zato rast njegov nadvisi sva drveta poljska, i umnožiše se grane njegove, i od mnoštva vode raširiše se odvode njegove kad ih puštaše.

6 Na granama njegovim vijahu gnezda sve ptice nebeske, i pod granama njegovim sve zveri poljske ležahu se, i u hladu njegovom seđahu svi veliki narodi.

7 I beše lep veličinom svojom i dužinom grana svojih, jer mu koren beše kod velike vode.

8 Kedri u vrtu Božjem ne mogahu ga zakloniti, jele ne mogahu se izjednačiti s njegovim granama, i javori ne behu kao ogranci njegovi; nijedno drvo u vrtu Božjem ne beše na lepotu tako kao on.

9 Učinih ga lepog mnoštvom grana da mu zaviđahu sva drveta edemska što behu u vrtu Božjem.

10 Zato ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Što je visok narastao, i digao vrh svoj među guste grane, i srce se njegovo ponelo visinom njegovom,

11 Zato ga dadoh u ruku najsilnijem među narodima da čini s njim šta hoće, odvrgoh ga za bezbožnost njegovu.

12 I tuđinci, najljući između naroda, posekoše ga i ostaviše ga; grane mu popadaše po gorama i po svim dolinama, i ogranci mu se izlomiše po svim potocima na zemlji; i svi narodi zemaljski otidoše iz hlada njegovog i ostaviše ga.

13 Na izvaljenom panju njegovom stanuju sve ptice nebeske, i na granama su njegovim sve zveri poljske,

14 Da se ne ponosi visinom svojom ni jedno drvo kraj vode i ne diže vrha svog među guste grane, i od svih što se natapaju da se ni jedno ne uzda u sebe radi svoje veličine; jer su svi predani na smrt, bačeni u najdonji kraj zemlje među sinove ljudske s onima koji silaze u jamu.

15 Ovako veli Gospod Gospod: U koji dan siđe u grob, učinih žalost, pokrih bezdanu njega radi, i ustavih reke njene, i velika voda stade, i rascvelih za njim Livan, i sva drveta poljska povenuše za njim.

16 Praskom padanja njegovog ustresoh narode, kad ga svalih u grob s onima koji silaze u jamu; i utešiše se na najdonjoj strani zemlje sva drveta edemska, što je najbolje i najlepše na Livanu, sva što se natapahu.

17 I oni siđoše s njim u grob k onima što su pobijeni mačem, i mišica njegova, i koji seđahu u hladu njegovom među narodima.

18 Na koje si među drvetima edemskim nalik slavom i veličinom? Ali ćeš biti oboren s drvetima edemskim u najdonji kraj zemlje, među neobrezanima ćeš ležati s onima koji su pobijeni mačem. To je Faraon i sav narod njegov, govori Gospod Gospod.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7090

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7090. 'And said to Pharaoh' means an admonition [from them] to those who are opposed to the Church's truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' - since it came by Divine command from Moses and Aaron - as an admonition, as also in 7033; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651, 6673, 6683, thus people who are opposed to them. Here and in what follows the subject is those belonging to the spiritual Church who were saved through the Lord's Coming into the world but who before His Coming had been held back on the lower earth, where they were harassed by falsities, that is, by those from hell steeped in falsities stemming from evil. That lower earth is situated below the soles of the feet and is surrounded by hells - in front of it those who have falsified truths and adulterated forms of good; to the right those who pervert Divine order and thereby strive to obtain power; to the rear the evil genii who, motivated by self-love, have secretly devised evil against their neighbour; and deep down underneath those who have rejected the Divine with utter contempt and worshipped nature, and in so doing have banished from themselves everything spiritual. Such are the hells surrounding those on the lower earth, where before the Lord's Coming people belonging to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping. Though they were molested there the Lord protected them, and they were brought into heaven with the Lord when He rose again. See what has been stated and shown already regarding these people in 6854, 6865, 6914, 6945, 7035.

[2] The lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping up to the Lord's Coming is mentioned a number of times in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Sing, O heavens, for Jehovah has done [it]! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Be filled, O mountains, with singing, O forest and every tree in it! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and made Himself glorious in Israel. Isaiah 44:23.

This refers to those on the lower earth, to the fact that they were saved by the Lord. 'Jacob' and 'Israel' are the spiritual Church, 'Jacob' being the external Church, 'Israel' the internal Church, 3305, 4286, 6426. In Ezekiel,

I will cause you to go down with those going down to the pit, to the people of old, 1 and I will cause you to dwell in the land of the lower ones in desolations. Ezekiel 16:20.

In the same prophet,

. . . to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to those going down to the pit. Consequently all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the most excellent of Lebanon, all those drinking water, will comfort themselves on the lower earth. Ezekiel 31:14, 16.

This refers to the lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were.

[3] At the present day too those belonging to the Church who have filled their minds with worldly and also earthly ideas and have acted in such a way that the truths of faith have become tied up with them are sent down to the lower earth, where they likewise have battles to fight. These battles continue until their worldly and earthly ideas have been separated from the truths of faith and other notions have been introduced, of such a nature that they cannot be linked together any longer. Once this has been accomplished those people are raised from there into heaven; for until such ideas of theirs have been removed they cannot possibly be in the company of angels, since those ideas are full of darkness and defilement that do not accord with the light and purity of heaven. Those worldly and earthly ideas cannot be separated and removed except by means of battles against falsities, battles which take place in the following manner: Those on that lower earth are molested by illusions and by falsities based on them which emanate from inhabitants of the surrounding hells; but the Lord employs heaven to rebut those illusions and falsities and at the same time to introduce truths. These truths seem to reside with those undergoing the conflicts.

[4] All this being so, the spiritual Church ought to be spoken of as a militant Church. But at the present day it is rarely militant with anyone in the world; for while a member of the Church is living in the world he does not experience conflict, because of the wicked crowded around him and because of the weakness of the flesh in which he lives. In the next life a person may be held firmly by the bonds of conscience, but not so in the world, for if in the world he is subjected to any degree of despair, as normally happens to those undergoing conflicts, he instantly breaks those bonds. And if he breaks them he gives in; and if he gives in he is done for so far as his salvation is concerned. This explains why the Lord allows few within the Church at the present day to enter into battles against falsities on behalf of truths; those battles are spiritual temptations. See also what has been shown already regarding the lower earth and vastations that take place there, in 4728, 4940-4951, 6854.

Footnotes:

1. literally, eternity

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