De Bijbel

 

Иезекииль 28:11

Studie

       

11 И было ко мне слово Господне:

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Revealed #540

Bestudeer deze passage

  
/ 962  
  

540. And seven jewels 1 on its heads. This symbolizes all the Word's truths falsified and profaned.

Jewels or precious stones symbolize the Word's truths, specifically truths in the Word's literal meaning, but here those truths falsified and profaned because the jewels were seen on the dragon's seven heads, which symbolize irrationality owing to a falsification and profanation of truths (no. 538).

[2] That jewels or precious stones symbolize truths in the Word's literal meaning may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 43-45. We showed there that Divine truths in their outmost expressions, which are the truths in the Word's literal sense, were symbolized by the twelve precious stones on Aaron's breastpiece, namely, the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:6, 15-21, 30), and also by the precious stones in the Garden of Eden, where the king of Tyre is said to have been (Ezekiel 28:12-13). And they were symbolized as well by the twelve precious stones which formed the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:17-20).

Truths in the literal meaning of the Word are symbolized by jewels or precious stones because everything in the Word's literal meaning is, in the eyes of angels, translucent in consequence of the Word's spiritual meaning, thus in consequence of the light of heaven in which the Word's spiritual truths reside. For a stone in the Word symbolizes truth in its outmost expressions, and thus a precious stone, that truth translucent.

[3] The Word's truths falsified and profaned are also called jewels because they are luminous in themselves, whoever possesses them, like jewels on earth, no matter in whose hand they are. I have occasionally been given to see adulterous women adorned with jewels on their first arrival from earth into the world of spirits, and also Jews selling jewels that they acquired from heaven. It was apparent from this that the evils and falsities in those people did not alter the radiance and sparkle of the Word's truths.

The ten jewels on the horns of the beast rising up out of the sea consequently have the same symbolism (Revelation 13:1), and so, too, the precious stones on the woman sitting on the scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3-5).

That it is the Word's truths that jewels symbolize is clearly apparent from the statement in the book of Revelation, that on the head of Him who sat on the white horse were seen many jewels, and that His name was The Word of God (Revelation 19:12-13).

Voetnoten:

1. The word translated as "jewels" here means diadems or crowns in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer's definition of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean jewels or gems.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Sacred Scripture #43

Bestudeer deze passage

  
/ 118  
  

43. As for the truths of the literal meaning of the Word being meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, this follows from the fact that the New Jerusalem means a new church in regard to its teachings, as demonstrated in Teachings on the Lord 63, 64. So the wall and its foundations must mean the outer level of the Word, which is its literal meaning. This, in fact, is the source of each body of teaching, and through that body of teaching, the source of the church; and it is like a wall with its foundations, which encloses and protects the city.

This is what we read in Revelation about the wall of the New Jerusalem and its foundations:

The angel measured the wall of the city Jerusalem: one hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a human being, that is, of an angel. And the wall had twelve foundations, adorned with precious stones of every kind. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (Revelation 21:17-20)

The number one hundred and forty-four means all the true and good elements of the church that arise from its teachings, which are drawn from the literal meaning of the Word. Twelve means much the same. A human being means understanding; an angel means divine truth as the source of understanding; the measure means the quality of that [understanding and truth]; the wall and its foundations mean the literal meaning of the Word; precious stones mean the elements of truth and goodness contained and carefully arranged in the Word, which are the source of a body of teaching and through that teaching, the source of the church.

  
/ 118  
  

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