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Ezekiel 8

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1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.

3 And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh towards the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

5 Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up thy eyes now the way towards the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way towards the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 He said furthermore to me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should withdraw from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

8 Then said he to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

9 And he said to me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping animals, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around upon the wall.

11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then said he to me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; The LORD hath forsaken the earth.

13 He said also to me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was towards the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

15 Then said he to me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs towards the temple of the LORD, and their faces towards the east; and they worshiped the sun towards the east.

17 Then he said to me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and lo, they put the branch to their nose.

18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #5694

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5694. 'And he went to his bedchamber and wept there' means within itself, in an unseen manner. This is clear from the meaning of 'going to one's bedchamber' as within oneself, in an unseen manner. To say someone was 'entering his bedchamber' and also 'shutting the door' was a commonplace expression which the ancients used when they meant an action that should remain unseen. The expression had its origin in the meaningful signs which existed in the Ancient Church. For they would speak of 'the house', which they used in a spiritual sense to mean a person, 3128, and of its 'chambers' and 'bedchambers to mean the person's interiors. This is the reason why 'going to (or entering) one's bedchamber' meant within oneself, consequently so that one could not be seen. And since 'entering one's bedchamber' had this particular meaning, the expression is used in various places in the Word; as in Isaiah,

Go away, my people, enter your bedchambers, and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself, so to speak, for a little moment, until the anger passes over. Isaiah 26:20.

Quite clearly 'entering bedchambers' does not in this case mean entering bedchambers but keeping out of sight and within oneself.

[2] In Ezekiel,

He said to me, Have you not seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol? For they say, Jehovah does not see us. Ezekiel 8:12.

'Doing in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol' stands for within themselves inwardly, in their thoughts. The interior aspects of their thought and affection were being represented to the prophet by means of 'chambers', and they were called 'the chambers of an idol'.

[3] In Moses,

Outside the sword will bereave - and out of the chambers terror - both young man and virgin, suckling together with a man in old age. Deuteronomy 32:15.

'The sword' stands for the vastation of truth and the punishment of falsity, 2799. 'Out of the chambers terror' stands for a person's interiors; for here too it is self-evident that one should not take 'the chambers' to mean chambers.

[4] In David,

He waters the mountains from His chambers. Psalms 104:13.

In the spiritual sense 'watering the mountains' is blessing those in whom love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour are present. For 'a mountain' means the celestial element of love, see 795, 1430, 4210, and therefore 'from His chambers' means from the interior parts of heaven. In Luke,

Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light; and what you have spoken in the ear in bedchambers will be proclaimed on the housetops. Luke 12:3.

Here also 'bedchambers' stands for a person's interiors - what he has thought, what he has intended, and what he has mulled over. In Matthew,

When you pray, enter your bedchamber, and shut your door, and pray in secret. Matthew 6:6.

'Entering one's bedchamber and praying' stands for acting in an unseen manner; for these words had their origin in things of a representative nature.

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