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Daniel 7

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1 Nang unang taon ni Belsasar na hari sa Babilonia, ay nagtaglay si Daniel ng isang panaginip at mga pangitain ng kaniyang ulo sa kaniyang higaan: nang magkagayo'y kaniyang isinulat ang panaginip, at isinaysay ang kabuoan ng mga bagay.

2 Si Daniel ay nagsalita, at nagsabi, May nakita ako sa aking pangitain sa kinagabihan, at, narito, ang apat na hangin ng langit ay nagsisihihip sa malaking dagat.

3 At apat na malaking hayop na magkakaiba ay nagsiahon mula sa dagat,

4 Ang una'y gaya ng leon, at may mga pakpak ng aguila: aking minasdan hanggang sa ang mga pakpak niyao'y nahugot, at ito'y nataas mula sa lupa, at pinatayo sa dalawang paa na gaya ng isang tao; at puso ng tao ang nabigay sa kaniya.

5 At, narito, ang ibang hayop, na ikalawa, na gaya ng isang oso; at lumitaw sa isang tagiliran, at tatlong tadyang ang nasa kaniyang bibig sa pagitan ng kaniyang mga ngipin: at sinabi ng mga ito ang ganito sa kaniya, Bumangon ka, manakmal ka ng maraming laman.

6 Pagkatapos nito'y tumingin ako, at narito ang iba, gaya ng isang leopardo, na mayroon sa likod niyaon na apat na pakpak ng ibon; ang hayop ay mayroon din namang apat na ulo; at binigyan siya ng kapangyarihan.

7 Pagkatapos nito'y may nakita ako sa pangitain sa gabi, at, narito, ang ikaapat na hayop, kakilakilabot at makapangyarihan, at totoong malakas; at may malaking mga ngiping bakal; nananakmal at lumuluray, at niyuyurakan ng kaniyang mga paa ang nalabi: at kaiba sa lahat na hayop na una sa kaniya; at siya'y may sangpung sungay.

8 Aking pinagdilidili ang mga sungay, at, narito, sumibol sa gitna ng mga yaon ang ibang sungay, isang munti, na sa harap niyao'y tatlo sa mga unang sungay ay nabunot sa mga ugat: at, narito, sa sungay na ito ay may mga mata na parang mga mata ng tao, at isang bibig na nagsasalita ng mga dakilang bagay.

9 Aking minasdan hanggang sa ang mga luklukan ay nangaglagay, at isa na matanda sa mga araw ay nakaupo: ang kaniyang suot, maputing parang niebe, at ang buhok ng kaniyang ulo ay parang taganas na lana; ang kaniyang luklukan ay mga liab na apoy, at ang mga gulong niyaon ay nagniningas na apoy.

10 Isang mabangis na sigalbo ay lumabas at nagmula sa harap niya: mga libo libo ang naglilingkod sa kaniya, at makasangpung libo na sangpung libo ang nagsitayo sa harap niya: ang kahatulan ay nalagda, at ang mga aklat ay nangabuksan.

11 Ako'y tumingin nang oras na yaon dahil sa tinig ng mga dakilang salita na sinalita ng sungay; ako'y tumingin hanggang sa ang hayop ay napatay, at ang kaniyang katawan ay nagiba, at siya'y nabigay upang sunugin sa apoy.

12 At tungkol sa nalabi sa mga hayop, ang kanilang kapangyarihan ay naalis: gayon ma'y ang kanilang mga buhay ay humaba sa isang kapanahunan at isang panahon.

13 Ako'y nakakita sa pangitain sa gabi, at, narito, lumabas na kasama ng mga alapaap sa langit ang isang gaya ng anak ng tao, at siya'y naparoon sa matanda sa mga araw, at inilapit nila siya sa harap niya.

14 At binigyan siya ng kapangyarihan, at kaluwalhatian, at isang kaharian, upang lahat ng mga bayan, bansa, at mga wika ay mangaglingkod sa kaniya: ang kaniyang kapangyarihan ay walang hanggang kapangyarihan, na hindi lilipas, at ang kaniyang kaharian ay hindi magigiba.

15 Tungkol sa aking si Daniel, ang aking kalooban ay namanglaw sa loob ng aking katawan, at binagabag ako ng mga pangitain ng aking ulo.

16 Ako'y lumapit sa isa sa kanila na nakatayo, at itinanong ko sa kaniya ang katotohanan tungkol sa lahat na ito. Sa gayo'y kaniyang isinaysay sa akin, at ipinaaninaw niya sa akin ang kahulugan ng mga bagay.

17 Ang mga dakilang hayop na ito na apat, ay apat na hari, na magbabangon sa lupa.

18 Nguni't ang mga banal ng Kataastaasan ay magsisitanggap ng kaharian, at aariin ang kaharian magpakailan man, sa makatuwid baga'y magpakakailan-kailan man.

19 Nang magkagayo'y ninasa kong maalaman ang katotohanan tungkol sa ikaapat na hayop, na kaiba sa lahat ng yaon, na totoong kakilakilabot, na ang mga ngipin ay bakal, at ang mga kuko ay tanso; na nananakmal, lumalamuray, at niyuyurakan ng kaniyang mga paa ang nalabi;

20 At tungkol sa sangpung sungay na nangasa kaniyang ulo, at sa isa na sumibol, at sa harap niyao'y nabuwal ang tatlo, sa makatuwid baga'y yaong sungay na may mga mata, at bibig na nagsalita ng dakilang mga bagay, na ang anyo ay lalong dakila kay sa kaniyang mga kasama.

21 Ako'y tumingin, at ang sungay ding yaon ay nakipagdigma sa mga banal, at nanaig laban sa kanila;

22 Hanggang sa ang matanda sa mga araw ay dumating, at ang kahatulan ay ibinigay sa mga banal, ng Kataastaasan; at ang panaho'y dumating na inari ng mga banal ang kaharian.

23 Ganito ang sabi niya, Ang ikaapat na hayop ay magiging ikaapat na kaharian sa ibabaw ng lupa, na magiging kaiba sa lahat ng kaharian, at sasakmalin ang buong lupa, at yuyurakan, at pagluluraylurayin.

24 At tungkol sa sangpung sungay, mula sa kahariang ito ay sangpung hari ang babangon: at ang isa'y babangong kasunod nila; at siya'y magiging kaiba kay sa mga una, at kaniyang ibabagsak ay tatlong hari.

25 At siya'y magbabadya ng mga salita laban sa Kataastaasan, at lilipulin niya ang mga banal ng Kataastaasan; at kaniyang iisiping baguhin ang panahon at ang kautusan; at sila'y mangabibigay sa kaniyang kamay hanggang sa isang panahon, at mga panahon at kalahati ng isang panahon.

26 Nguni't ang kahatulan ay matatatag, at kanilang aalisin ang kaniyang kapangyarihan, upang patayin at ibuwal hanggang sa wakas.

27 At ang kaharian, at ang kapangyarihan, at ang kadakilaan ng mga kaharian sa silong ng buong langit, mabibigay sa bayan ng mga banal ng Kataastaasan: ang kaniyang kaharian ay walang hanggang kaharian, at ang lahat na kapangyarihan ay maglilingkod at tatalima sa kaniya.

28 Narito ang wakas ng bagay. Tungkol sa aking si Daniel, ay binabagabag akong mabuti ng aking mga pagiisip, at ang aking pagmumukha ay nabago: nguni't iningatan ko ang bagay sa aking puso.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #47

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47. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. (1:14) This symbolizes the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom in first things and last.

A person's head symbolizes everything connected with his life, and everything connected with a person's life has some relation to love and wisdom. A head consequently symbolizes both wisdom and love. However, because there is no love without its wisdom, nor wisdom without its love, therefore it is the love accompanying wisdom that is meant by a head; and when describing the Lord, it is the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom. But on the symbolism of the head in the Word, more will be seen in nos. 538 and 568 below.

Since a head means both love and wisdom in their first forms, it follows accordingly that hair means love and wisdom in their final forms. And because the hair mentioned here describes the Son of Man, who is the Lord in relation to the Word, His hair symbolizes the Divine good connected with love, and the Divine truth connected with wisdom, in the outmost expressions of the Word - the outmost expressions of the Word being those contained in its literal sense.

[2] The idea that the hair of the Son of Man or the Lord symbolizes the Word in this sense may seem absurd, but still it is the truth. This can be seen from passages in the Word that we cited in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 35 and 49. We showed there as well that Nazirites in the Israelite Church represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, which is its literal sense, as a nazir in Hebrew is a hair or head of hair. 1 That is why the power of Samson, who was a Nazirite from the womb, lay in his hair. The Divine truth similarly has power in the literal sense of the Word, as may be seen in the aforementioned Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 37-49.

For the same reason, too, the high priest and his sons were strictly forbidden to shave their heads.

For that reason as well, forty-two of the boys who called Elisha a baldhead were torn apart by two she-bears. Like Elijah, Elisha represented the Lord in relation to the Word. A baldhead symbolizes the Word without its outmost expression, which, as said, is its literal sense, and she-bears symbolize this sense of the Word divorced from its inner meaning. Those who so divorce it, moreover, appear in the spiritual world as bears, though only at a distance. It is apparent from this why what happened to the boys happened as it did.

It was, therefore, also the highest disgrace and a mark of extreme mourning to inflict baldness.

[3] Accordingly, when the Israelite nation had completely perverted the literal sense of the Word, this lamentation over them was composed:

Her Nazirites were whiter than snow, brighter white than milk... Darker than blackness is their form. They go unrecognized in the streets. (Lamentations 4:7-8)

Furthermore:

Every head was made bald, and every shoulder shaved bare. (Ezekiel 29:18)

Shame will be on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

So similarly Isaiah 15:2, Jeremiah 48:37, Amos 8:10.

Because the children of Israel by falsities completely dissipated the literal sense of the Word, therefore the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent this by shaving his head with a razor and burning a third part with fire, striking a third part with a sword, and scattering a third part to the wind, and by gathering a small amount in his skirts, to cast it, too, afterward into the fire (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[4] Therefore it is also said in Micah:

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. (Micah 1:16)

The precious children are the church's genuine truths from the Word.

Moreover, because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, represented Babylon's falsification of the Word and destruction of every truth there, it accordingly came to pass that his hair grew like eagles' feathers (Daniel 4:33).

Since the hair symbolized that holy component of the Word, therefore it is said of Nazirites that they were not to shave the hair of their head, because it was the consecration of God upon their head (Numbers 6:1-21). And therefore it was decreed that the high priest and his sons were not to shave their heads, lest they die and the whole house of Israel be angered (Leviticus 10:6).

[5] Now, because hair symbolizes Divine truth in its outmost expressions, which in the church is the Word in its literal sense, therefore something similar is said also of the Ancient of Days in Daniel:

I watched till the thrones were thrown down, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. (Daniel 7:9)

That the Ancient of Days is the Lord is clearly apparent in Micah:

You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from antiquity, from days of old. (Micah 5:2)

And in Isaiah, where He is called Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).

[6] From these passages and many others - too many to cite - it can be seen that the head and hair of the Son of Man, which were like wool, as white as snow, mean the Divine expression of love and wisdom in first things and last. And because the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it follows that the Word, too, is meant in its first elements and last. Why else should it be that the Lord here in the book of Revelation and the Ancient of Days in Daniel are described even in respect to their hair?

That hair symbolizes the literal sense of the Word is clearly apparent from people in the spiritual world. Those who have scorned the literal sense of the Word appear bald there, and conversely, those who have loved the literal sense of the Word appear possessed of handsome hair.

The head and hair are described as being like wool and like snow because wool symbolizes goodness in outmost expressions, and snow symbolizes truth in outward expressions - as is the case also in Isaiah 1:18 2 - inasmuch as wool comes from sheep, which symbolize the goodness of charity, and snow comes from water, which symbolizes truths of faith.

Footnotes:

1. The Hebrew נָזִיר (nazir) fundamentally means "one consecrated" or "one set apart;" but as a condition of the Nazirite vow was to let the hair grow, by extension a cognate word נֵזֶר (nezer) came to mean also the hair of a Nazirite's consecration, and by analogy, a woman's long hair.

2. "Come now, and let us reason together," says Jehovah. "Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

  
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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.