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Ezequiel 10

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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.

   

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Sacred Scripture #97

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97. Further still, we need to realize that the literal meaning of the Word serves to protect the real truths that lie hidden within it. Its protection consists of its being susceptible to being turned in different directions and interpreted to agree with our own grasp of it, so that the inner content is not damaged or transgressed. It does no harm if different people understand the literal meaning of the Word differently. It does do harm, though, if the divine truths that lie hidden within are distorted. This in fact does violence to the Word.

To prevent this from happening, the literal meaning offers protection, and it offers protection for people who take for granted the false beliefs of their religion but do not convince themselves that those false beliefs are true. These people do no harm.

[2] This protection is the meaning of angel guardians in the Word, and the description of angel guardians [in Ezekiel] is a depiction of this protection.

This protection is the meaning of the angel guardians stationed at the entrance after Adam and his wife were expelled from the Garden of Eden, of whom we read,

When Jehovah God drove them out, he made angel guardians dwell to the east of the Garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning this way and that, to guard the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

The angel guardians mean protection; the way of the tree of life means entrance to the Lord, which we have through the Word; the flame of a sword turning this way and that means divine truth at its very boundaries, which is like the Word in its literal meaning - it too can be turned this way and that.

[3] There is a similar meaning to the angel guardians of gold placed on top of the two ends of the mercy seat that was on the ark in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18-21). Because this was what the angel guardians meant, the Lord talked with Moses between them (Exodus 25:22; 37:9; Numbers 7:89). As noted in §§37-49 above, the Lord does not say anything to us unless it is complete, and divine truth is in its fullness in the literal meaning of the Word; so that is why the Lord talked with Moses between the angel guardians.

The meaning of the angel guardians on the curtains of the tabernacle and on its veils (Exodus 26:31) is no different, since the curtains and veils represent the boundaries of heaven and the church and therefore of the Word as well (see §46 above). The meaning of the angel guardians in the middle of the Jerusalem temple (1 Kings 6:23-28) and the angel guardians carved on the walls and gates of the Temple (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35) is no different either. The same holds for the angel guardians in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20; again, see §47 above).

[4] Since the angel guardians mean protection that keeps us from going straight to the Lord, heaven, and the divine truth of the Word as it is inwardly, and makes us instead move indirectly through its outermost forms, we read of the King of Tyre,

You had sealed your full measure and were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in the Garden of Eden. Every precious stone was your covering. You, angel guardian, were the spreading of a covering. I destroyed you, covering angel guardian, in the midst of stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16)

Tyre means the church in respect to its concepts of what is true and good, so the king of Tyre means the Word where these concepts can be found and where they come from. We can see that Tyre and the protecting angel guardians here mean the Word in its outermost form, which is its literal meaning, because it says “you had sealed your full measure,” “every precious stone was your covering,” and “you, angel guardian, were the spreading of a covering, ” as well as mentioning a “covering angel guardian.” The precious stones that are also mentioned mean truths of the literal meaning of the Word (see §45 above).

Since angel guardians mean the outermost form of divine truth as protection, it says in David,

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, riding upon angel guardians. (Psalms 18:9-10)

O Shepherd of Israel, who sits upon the angel guardians, shine forth! (Psalms 80:1)

and

... Jehovah who sits upon the angel guardians. (Psalms 99:1)

To ride and to sit upon angel guardians is [to rest] on the outermost meaning of the Word.

[5] The divine truth in the Word and its nature are described [through correspondences] as angel guardians in chapters 1, 9, and 10 of Ezekiel; but since no one can know what the details of the description mean except those for whom the spiritual meaning has been opened, the meaning of all the things it says about the angel guardians in the first chapter of Ezekiel has been disclosed to me in summary form, as follows:

There is a depiction of the outward divine aura of the Word (verse 4); that aura is represented as a human being (verse 5); it is shown to be united to spiritual and heavenly realities (verse 6). There is a depiction of the nature of the earthly level of the Word (verse 7), and of the nature of the spiritual and heavenly levels of the Word that are united to its earthly level (verses 8-9). There is a depiction of the divine love within the heavenly, spiritual, and earthly levels of goodness and truth in the Word, together as one and also distinct from one another (verses 10-11), and an indication that they share a common goal (verse 12). There is a depiction of the aura of the Word that comes from the Lord’s divine goodness and divine truth, which give life to the Word (verses 13-14), of the teachings of what is good and true that are in the Word and from the Word (verses 15-21), and of the divine nature of the Lord that is above it and within it (verses 22-23) and that comes from it (verses 24-25). It is shown that the Lord is above the heavens (verse 26) and that to him belong divine love and divine wisdom (verses 27-28).

These summary statements have been checked against the Word in heaven and are in accord with it.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.