Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 56
56. The passages from the Prophetic Word, where the Israelitish Church is treated of, in which "vastation," "desolation," and "breaking," and also a "desert" are mentioned, are the following:
O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man of Judah,... what should I do to My vineyard that I had not done? I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes... I will make it a desolation, it shall not be pruned nor weeded, that the briar may come up;... and houses shall be a devastation; . . . for they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither see the operation of His hands (Isa. 5:3-12).
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled My field, they have reduced the field of My desire to a desert of solitude; he hath made it a solitude.... O desolate, desolate is the whole land, because no one layeth it to heart. The vastators came upon all hills in the desert;... they have sown wheat, but have reaped thorns (Jer. 12:10-13).
A nation hath come up upon My land,... and hath reduced My vine to a waste (Joel 1:6-7).
The field is devastated; the land mourneth, for the corn is devastated; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth (Joel 1:10):
by "vineyard" and "field" in these as in other passages of the Word, is signified the Church.
In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be devastated, and the high places shall be desolated; that your altars may be devastated and desolated,... and your idols may cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished (Ezek. 6:6; see also ver. 14).
My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity,... to make the land a waste (Jer. 18:15-16);
"land," here denotes the Church.
The high places of Isaac shall be vastated, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated (Amos 7:9).
Go and say to this people, Hearing hear ye, but understand not; and seeing see ye, but know not; make the heart of this people fat, and shut his eyes: (Isa. 6:9-10).
then said the prophet,
Lord, how long? and He said, Until the cities be devastated, and the land reduced to a solitude: Jehovah will multiply deserts in the midst of the land (Isa. 6:11-12).
Behold, Jehovah maketh the land empty, and maketh it void; . . . the land shall be utterly emptied;... because they have transgressed the laws, passed by the statute, and made void the covenant of eternity. Therefore... in the city there shall be a waste, and the gate shall be smitten even to devastation (Isa. 24:1, 3, 5, 12).
The paths are devastated, the wayfarer hath ceased, he hath made void the covenant.... Conceive ye chaff, bring forth stubble (Isa. 33:8, 11).
I have kept silence from eternity.... I will desolate and devour together. I will vastate mountains and hills (Isa. 42:14-15).
Thy destroyers and devastators shall go forth out of thee. . . . For as for thy vastations and desolations, and the land of thy devastations,... the devourers shall be far away (Isa. 49:17, 19).
Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you.... They set an asp's eggs, and wove the spider's webs.... Vastation and breaking are in their paths.... We look for light, but behold darkness;... we grope for the wall like the blind;... we stumble at noon-day as in the twilight (Isa. 59:2, 5, 7, 9-10).
The cities of Thy holiness are become a desert, Zion is become a desert and Jerusalem a waste. Our house of holiness... is become a burning of fire, and all our desirable things are become a waste (Isa. 64:10-11).
The young lions roar against Israel;... they reduce his land to a waste (Jer. 2:15).
Woe unto us! for we are devastated. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness.... How long shall thoughts of iniquity tarry within thee? (Jer. 4:13-14).
As a fountain maketh her waters to gush forth, so Jerusalem maketh her wickedness to gush forth. Violence and vastation is heard in her.... Admit chastisement,... lest I reduce thee to a waste.... O daughter of My people, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thee in ashes;... for the vastator shall suddenly come upon us (Jer. 6:7-8, 26).
A voice of wailing is heard in Zion, How are we devastated! because we have deserted the land (Jer. 9:19);
"land" denotes the Church.
My tent is devastated, all its ropes are plucked out,... for the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought Jehovah (Jer. 10:20-21):
"tent" denotes worship.
The voice of a tumult; behold it cometh, and a great commotion from the land of the north, to reduce the cities of Judah to a waste, a habitation of dragons (Jer. 10:22).
The whole land shall be a desolation, a devastation (Jer. 25:11);
"land" denotes the Church.
The voice of a cry from Horonaim, devastation and great breaking;... the vastator shall come upon every city (Jer. 48:3, 5, 8-9, 15, 18):
these things are about Moab, by whom is meant confidence in one's own works and in self-intelligence (as is manifest from verse 29 of that chapter).
That they may want bread and water, and be desolated, a man and his brother, and pine away for their iniquity (Ezek. 4:17):
"bread" and "water" denote good and truth.
Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of devastation and desolation (Ezek. 23:33).
Woe unto them! for they have wandered; devastation unto them! (Hosea 7:13).
The land shall be a desolation, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings (Micah 7:13).
Besides many other passages, as Isa. 7:18-19; 17:4-6, 9-14; 22:4-9; 29:10-12; 2:19: Jer. 19:8; 25:9-11,18; 44:2, 6, 22: Ezek. 9:1 to end; 12:19-20; 33:24, 28-29: Hosea 10:14; 12:2: Joel 2:20: Amos 5:9: Micah 6:13, 16: Hab. 1:3: Hag. 1:4, 9: Zech. 7:14; 11:2-3.
From all these passages may be seen what "vastation" and "desolation" are; and that it is not a vastation and desolation of the peoples of a land and of cities, but of the goods and truths of the Church, in consequence of which there is nothing left but evils and falsities.
Deuteronomy 28
1
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that Jehovah thy God will set thee supreme above all nations of the earth;
2
and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God.
3
Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and Blessed shalt thou be in the field.
4
Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep.
5
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
6
Blessed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and Blessed shalt thou be in thy going out.
7
Jehovah will give up, smitten before thee, thine enemies that rise up against thee; they shall come out against thee one way, and by seven ways shall they flee before thee.
8
Jehovah will command blessing on thee in thy granaries, and in all the business of thy hand; and he will bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
9
Jehovah will establish thee unto himself a holy people as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, and walk in his ways.
10
And all peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of Jehovah, and they shall be afraid of thee.
11
And Jehovah will give thee abundance of good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land that Jehovah swore unto thy fathers to give thee.
12
Jehovah will open to thee his good treasure, the heavens, to give rain unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow.
13
And Jehovah will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah thy God, which I command thee this day, to keep and to do them,
14
and if thou turn not aside from any of the words that I command thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15
But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee.
16
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17
Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.
18
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep.
19
Cursed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and cursed shalt thou be in thy going out.
20
Jehovah will send upon thee cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all the business of thy hand which thou doest, until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
21
Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
22
Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with burning ague, and with drought, and with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23
And thy heavens which are over thy head shall be brass, and the earth which is under thee, iron.
24
Jehovah will give as the rain of thy land powder and dust; from the heavens shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed.
25
Jehovah will give thee up smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out against them one way, and by seven ways shalt thou flee before them; and thou shalt be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth.
26
And thy carcase shall be meat unto all the fowl of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no man to scare them away.
27
Jehovah will smite thee with the ulcers of Egypt, and with boils, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28
Jehovah will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;
29
and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled continually, and there shall be none to save.
30
Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not eat of it.
31
Thine ox shall be slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine ass shall be snatched away from before thy face, and shall not return to thee; thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to recover them.
32
Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and languish for them all the day long; and there shall be no power in thy hand [to help it].
33
The fruit of thy ground and all thy labour, shall a people that thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed continually.
34
And thou shalt be mad through the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
35
Jehovah will smite thee in the knees and in the legs with evil ulcers, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
36
Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee.
38
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the locust shall devour it.
39
Thou shalt plant and till vineyards, but shalt drink no wine, nor gather [the fruit]; for the worms shall eat it.
40
Olive-trees shalt thou have throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; for thine Olive-tree shall cast its fruit.
41
Sons and daughters shalt thou beget, but thou shalt not have them [to be with thee]; for they shall go into captivity.
42
All thy trees and the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess.
43
The sojourner that is in thy midst shall rise above thee higher and higher, and thou shalt sink down lower and lower.
44
He shall lend to thee, but thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
45
And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, until thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee.
46
And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
47
Because thou servedst not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything,
48
thou shalt serve thine enemies whom Jehovah will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of everything; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
49
Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, like as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou understandest not;
50
a nation of fierce countenance, which regardeth not the person of the old, nor is kind to the young;
51
and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; for he shall not leave thee corn, new wine, or oil, offspring of thy kine, or increase of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
52
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and strong walls wherein thou trustedst come down, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
53
And in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee, thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters whom Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
54
The eye of the man in thy midst that is tender and very luxurious shall be evil towards his brother, and the wife of his bosom, and the residue of his children which he hath left;
55
so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children that he eateth, because he hath nothing left him in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.
56
The eye of the tender and luxurious woman in thy midst who would not attempt to set the sole of her foot upon the ground from luxuriousness and from tenderness, shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and her son, and her daughter,
57
because of her afterbirth which hath come out between her feet, and her children whom she shall bear; for she shall secretly eat them for want of everything in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
58
If thou wilt not take heed to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD;
59
then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, great and persistent plagues and evil and persistent sicknesses;
60
and he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou art afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee.
61
Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
62
And ye shall be left a small company, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah thy God.
63
And it shall come to pass, that as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whereunto thou goest to possess it.
64
And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and thou shalt there serve other gods, whom thou hast not known, neither thou nor thy fathers, wood and stone.
65
And among these nations shalt thou have no rest, neither shall the sole of thy foot have a resting-place, and Jehovah shall give thee there a trembling heart, languishing of the eyes, and pining of the soul.
66
And thy life shall hang in suspense before thee; and thou shalt be in terror day and night and shalt be afraid of thy life.
67
In the morning thou shalt say, Would that it were even! and in the evening thou shalt say, Would that it were morning! through the fright of thy heart wherewith thou shalt be in terror, and through the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
68
And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it again no more; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and there shall be no man to buy [you].
