The Bible

 

Miqueas 3

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1 Y dije: Oíd ahora, príncipes de Jacob, y cabezas de la Casa de Israel: ¿No pertenecía a vosotros saber el derecho?

2 Que aborrecen lo bueno y aman lo malo, que les roban su cuero y su carne de sobre sus huesos;

3 Y que comen la carne de mi pueblo, y les desuellan su cuero de sobre ellos, y les quebrantan sus huesos y los rompen, como para echar en caldero, y como carnes en olla.

4 Entonces clamarán al SEÑOR y no les responderá; antes esconderá de ellos su rostro en aquel tiempo, por cuanto hicieron malas obras.

5 Así ha dicho el SEÑOR acerca de los profetas que hacen errar a mi pueblo, que muerden con sus dientes, y claman: Paz, y al que no les diere que coman, aplazan contra él batalla;

6 por tanto, de la visión se os hará noche, y oscuridad del adivinar; y sobre los profetas se pondrá el sol, y el día se entenebrecerá sobre ellos.

7 Y serán avergonzados los profetas, y se confundirán los adivinos; y ellos todos cubrirán su labio, porque no tendrán respuesta de Dios.

8 Pero yo estoy lleno de fuerza del Espíritu del SEÑOR, y de juicio, y de fortaleza, para denunciar a Jacob su rebelión, y a Israel su pecado.

9 Oíd ahora esto, cabezas de la Casa de Jacob, y capitanes de la Casa de Israel, que abomináis el juicio, y pervertís todo el derecho;

10 que edificáis a Sion con sangre, y a Jerusalén con injusticia;

11 sus cabezas juzgan por cohecho, y sus sacerdotes enseñan por precio, y sus profetas adivinan por dinero; y se arriman al SEÑOR diciendo: ¿no está el SEÑOR entre nosotros? No vendrá mal sobre nosotros.

12 Por tanto, a causa de vosotros Sion será arada como campo, y Jerusalén será montones de ruinas, y el monte de la Casa como cumbres de bosque.

   

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.