The Bible

 

Ezequiel 10

Study

   

1 Y MIRÉ, y he aquí en la expansión que había sobre la cabeza de los querubines como una piedra de zafiro, que parecía como semejanza de un trono que se mostró sobre ellos.

2 Y habló al varón vestido de lienzos, y díjole: Entra en medio de la ruedas debajo de los querubines, é hinche tus manos carbones encendidos de entre los querubines, y derrama sobre la ciudad. Y entró á vista mía.

3 Y los querubines estaban á la mano derecha de la casa cuando este varón entró; y la nube henchía el atrio de adentro.

4 Y la gloria de Jehová se levantó del querubín al umbral de la puerta; y la casa fué llena de la nube, y el atrio se llenó del resplandor de la gloria de Jehová.

5 Y el estruendo de las alas de los querubines se oía hasta el atrio de afuera, como la voz del Dios Omnipotente cuando habla.

6 Y aconteció que, como mandó al varón vestido de lienzos, diciendo: Toma fuego de entre las ruedas, de entre los querubines, él entró, y paróse entre las ruedas.

7 Y un querubín extendió su mano de entre los querubines al fuego que estaba entre los querubines, y tomó, y puso en las palmas del que estaba vestido de lienzos, el cual lo tomó y salióse.

8 Y apareció en los querubines la figura de una mano humana debajo de sus alas.

9 Y miré, y he aquí cuatro ruedas junto á los querubines, junto á cada querubín una rueda; y el aspecto de las ruedas era como el de piedra de Tarsis.

10 Cuanto al parecer de ellas, las cuatro eran de una forma, como si estuviera una en medio de otra.

11 Cuando andaban, sobre sus cuatro costados andaban: no se tornaban cuando andaban, sino que al lugar adonde se volvía el primero, en pos de él iban; ni se tornaban cuando andaban.

12 Y toda su carne, y sus costillas, y sus manos, y sus alas, y las ruedas, lleno estaba de ojos alrededor en sus cuatro ruedas.

13 A las ruedas, oyéndolo yo, se les gritaba: ­Rueda!

14 Y cada uno tenía cuatro rostros. El primer rostro era de querubín; el segundo rostro, de hombre; el tercer rostro, de león; el cuarto rostro, de águila.

15 Y levantáronse los querubines; este es el animal que vi en el río de Chebar.

16 Y cuando andaban los querubines, andaban las ruedas junto con ellos; y cuando los querubines alzaban sus alas para levantarse de la tierra, las ruedas también no se volvían de junto á ellos.

17 Cuando se paraban ellos, parábanse ellas, y cuando ellos se alzaban, alzábanse con ellos: porque el espíritu de los animales estaba en ellas.

18 Y la gloria de Jehová se salió de sobre el umbral de la casa, y paró sobre los querubines.

19 Y alzando los querubines sus alas, levantáronse de la tierra delante de mis ojos: cuando ellos salieron, también las ruedas al lado de ellos: y paráronse á la entrada de la puerta oriental de la casa de Jehová, y la gloria del Dios de Israel estaba arriba

20 Este era el animal que vi debajo del Dios de Israel en el río de Chebar; y conocí que eran querubines.

21 Cada uno tenía cuatro rostros, y cada uno cuatro alas, y figuras de manos humanas debajo de sus alas.

22 Y la figura de sus rostros era la de los rostros que vi junto al río de Chebar, su mismo parecer y su ser; cada uno caminaba en derecho de su rostro.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9873

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9873. All this now makes clear what the twelve precious stones in the breastplate of judgement served to mean, namely all the kinds of good and truth of heaven in their proper order. Heaven is divided into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual. The good of the celestial kingdom was represented by the first two rows, which were on the right side of the breastplate, and the good of the spiritual kingdom by the next two rows, which were on the left side. The internal good of the celestial kingdom is the good of love to the Lord; this is the good that is meant by the celestial love of good. The external good of the celestial kingdom however is the good of mutual love; this is the good that is meant by the celestial love of truth. But the internal good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of charity towards the neighbour; this is the good that is meant by the spiritual love of good. And the external good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of faith; this is the good that is meant by the spiritual love of truth. These kinds of good and truth in this order constitute the heavens, see 9468, 9473, 9680, 9683, 9780.

[2] From this it is now evident what the twelve stones, which were called the Urim and Thummim, represented. But in what way the Divine Truths which were answers were made known by means of them will be stated below in 9905. The fact that the good of love occupied the first place there and the truth of faith the last is clear from the first stone's being a ruby and the last's being a jasper, thus from the first stone's being red in colour, and the last's being white, both of them translucent. For the meaning of 'red' as the good of love, see 3300, 9467; and for that of 'white' as the truth of faith, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[3] Much the same as is meant by the stones in the breastplate was also meant by the materials used in weaving the ephod. The ephod was woven from violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and fine linen, as is evident from verse 6 of the present chapter, and 'violet' meant the truth of celestial love, 'purple' the good of celestial love, 'twice-dyed scarlet' the good of spiritual love, and 'fine linen' the truth of spiritual love, 9833. The reason why much the same was meant is that 'the ephod' meant heaven on last and outermost levels, in the same way as 'the breastplate' does, 9824. But the kinds of good and truth are listed in a different order there, because 'the ephod' meant the spiritual heaven, whereas 'the breastplate' means all heaven from first to last. And since the dwelling-place along with the tent also represented heaven, 9457, 9481, 9485, 9615, the material from which its curtains and veils were woven were likewise violet, purple, double-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, see the previous Chapters, 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16, and 9466-9469.

[4] In addition it should be recognized that in the general sense SAPPHIRE means the external part of the celestial kingdom and SHOHAM the external part of the spiritual kingdom. And because these two stones had this meaning they were the middle stones belonging to the secondary rows, that is to say, the sapphire was the middle stone in the second row, and the shoham the middle stone in the fourth row. The stones belonging to the second row meant the external good of the celestial kingdom, which has been called the celestial love of truth, and the stones belonging to the fourth row meant the external good of the spiritual kingdom, which has been called the spiritual love of truth, see what has been stated about them above in this paragraph 9873.

[5] The fact that 'sapphire' means the external part of the celestial kingdom is evident from places in the Word where it is mentioned, such as in the Book of Exodus,

Seventy of the elders saw the God of Israel, and under His feet there was so to speak a work of sapphire, and it was like the substance of the sky for clearness. Exodus 24:10.

The external part of the celestial kingdom is so described, because the words 'under His feet', meaning what is external, are used, and where 'the God of Israel', who is the Lord, is, there heaven is. In Isaiah,

O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Behold, I am arranging your stones with antimony, and will lay your foundations in sapphires. Isaiah 54:11.

The subject in this chapter is the celestial kingdom. The foundations which will be laid in sapphires, are the external things there; for foundations lie underneath.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. Their bones 1 were ruddier than pearls, 2 polished like sapphires. 3 Lamentations 4:7.

Nazirites represented the celestial man, which is why it says 'polished like sapphires', 'polished' referring to what is external. In Ezekiel,

Above the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubs, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne there was the appearance of a man (homo) sitting upon it. Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1.

Here also 'sapphire' is used to describe the external part of the celestial kingdom; for what is above the expanse or round about is outside, that which is inmost being the one 'sitting upon a throne'.

[7] Just as sapphire stone means the external part of the celestial kingdom, so shoham stone means the external part of the spiritual kingdom. Therefore also this was the stone which was placed on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod with the names of the sons of Israel inscribed on them, which are dealt with in verses 9-14 of the present chapter; for the ephod represented the external part of the spiritual kingdom, 9824. Since shoham and sapphire in the general sense meant the external parts of two heavens, they were placed in the middle of the sets of three stones forming the second and fourth rows, as stated above. For the middle includes the whole, as is also true of the robe, which in the general sense has represented the spiritual kingdom, because it comes in the middle, as shown above in 9825. Because those two stones include everything meant by all the other stones in those rows, it says in Job,

Wisdom cannot be compared with the gold of Ophir, with the precious shoham and the sapphire. Job 28:16.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. bodies

2. In other places Swedenborg has rubies or gem stones.

3. literally, sapphires their polishing

  
/ 10837  
  

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