3857. “拉结却不生育” 表内层真理不被接纳. 这从 “拉结” 的代表和 “不生育” 的含义清楚可知: “拉结” 是指对内层真理的情感, 如前所述; “不生育” 是指不产生教义, 因而不产生教会. 这句话与论及利来的话相反, 即 “耶和华就开她的子宫”, 意思是: 她所代表的情感产生教会的教义. 内层真理不被接纳的原因在于, 内层真理超出人的信仰范围, 也就是说, 它们并不落入他的观念, 也不符合外在表象, 也就是感官幻觉, 而每个人都让自己被这些表象或幻觉所引领. 他并不相信内层真理, 除非它们以某种方式与这些表象或幻觉一致.

例如, 这是一个内层真理: 来世并没有时间和空间, 取而代之的是状态. 而人活在世上时就在时间和空间内, 并通过它们形成自己的一切观念, 以至于如果没有时间和空间, 他根本就无法思考 (参看3404节). 所以, 除非来世的状态通过人所熟悉的时空, 或由时空所塑成的那类事物来描述, 否则, 他什么也感知不到, 因而什么也不信, 结果不会接受教导. 在这种情况下, 教义就不会生育, 教会也不会由此产生.

再举一例. 如果属天和属灵的情感不通过属于世俗和肉体情感的那类事物来描述, 人什么也觉察不到. 因为这些就是他所体验过的情感, 正是通过它们, 他才能对属天和属灵的情感拥有某种观点. 然而, 这两种类型的情感彼此截然不同, 或犹如天与地那样相隔甚远. 以天上或天上天使的荣耀为例 (3839节). 人若不根据世上荣耀的观念来塑造自己对于天上荣耀的观念, 根本就不会理解这个问题, 从而不会承认它. 这同样适用于其它所有内层或天上的事物.

因此, 在圣言中, 主照着人的认知, 以及他们的理解所具有的表象说话. 圣言的字义就具有这种性质, 不过同时还具有这样的性质: 它含有包含内层真理的内义在里面. 于是, 这便解释了为何论及利亚时, 经上说 “耶和华就开她的子宫”, 而 “拉结却不生育”. 因为如前所述, “利亚” 代表对外层真理的情感, “拉结” 代表对内层真理的情感. 但由于外层真理是人所学到的最初真理, 故主规定, 人可以藉着它们被引入内层真理. 这个规定就是以下经文所表示的, “神顾念拉结, 垂听了她, 开了她的子宫” (创世记 30:22).

所有这一切的真相从古代的教会及其教义可以看出来, 因为其教义就是通过外在真理形成的. 大洪水后的古教会的教义事物绝大部分是外在的代表和有意义的符号, 内在真理就储存在这些代表和符号中. 该教会的绝大多数成员所具有的神圣敬拜就在于这些外在代表和符号. 若有人告诉他们说, 神性敬拜的本质要素不是这些代表和有意义的符号, 而是它们所代表并表示的属灵和属天之物, 他们就会完全拒绝这种教义, 教会也因此不再存在. 犹太教会尤其如此: 若有人告诉教会的人说, 他们的宗教仪式所具有的神圣性源自这些仪式里面主的神性事物, 他们根本就不会承认.

主来到世间时, 人类也是如此, 甚至变得更加肉体化, 尤其那些属教会的人. 这一点从门徒们自己非常明显地看出来, 尽管他们经常与主在一起, 听了那么多有关祂国度的事, 却还是不能领悟内层真理. 对于主, 除了如今犹太人对他们依然在期待的弥赛亚所持有的那种概念外, 他们仍不能拥有任何其它概念. 他们以为祂会高举这个民族, 让它去统治全世界所有民族, 并且其荣光也胜过它们. 甚至从主那里听了那么多有关天国的事后, 他们仍无法思考别的, 还以为天国就像世上的国度, 父神在那里是至高无上的, 祂后面是圣子, 然后就是他们这十二个人, 因此他们会依次掌权. 所以, 雅各和约翰也要求赐他们一个坐在祂右边, 一个坐在祂左边 (马可福音 10:35-37); 其他门徒则因这二人想比他们更大而恼怒 (马可福音 10:41; 马太福音 20:24). 由于同样的原因, 在教导他们谁在天堂为大 (马太福音 20:25-28; 马可福音 10:42-45) 之后, 主仍照着他们的思维方式说话. 也就是说, 祂声称他们要坐在十二个宝座上审判以色列十二个支派 (路加福音 22:24, 30; 马太福音 19:28).

如果他们被告知, “门徒” 这个词不是指他们自己, 而是指处于爱与信之善的所有人 (3354, 3488节); 而且主的国度不像世上的国度, 既有宝座, 还有政府职位和统治权, 他们甚至不能审判任何一个人的最小的那一面 (2129, 2553节), 他们就会拒绝这种说法, 各自离开主, 回去重操旧业了. 主之所以用这种方式说话, 是为了他们能接受外在真理, 并通过它们被引入内在真理. 因为内在真理就隐藏在主所说的这些外在真理里面. 随着时间推移, 这些内在真理就会显露出来. 一旦它们显露出来, 外在真理就被驱散, 仅充当用来思想内在真理的物体或工具. 由此可知, 此处所讲述的这些事是什么意思, 即耶和华先开了利亚的子宫, 她便给雅各生了儿子, 而拉结后来才生了儿子.

6426. 'From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel' means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the spiritual kingdom possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the shepherd' as one who leads to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044 (here in the highest sense, since it has reference to the Lord, goodness and truth themselves are meant); from the meaning of 'the stone' as truth, dealt with in 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 3305, 4286, for 'Israel' is spiritual good or the good of truth, 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since the good of truth is the essential element of the spiritual Church, 'Israel' means the spiritual Church, and in the highest sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom. From all this it is evident that 'from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel' means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the Lord's spiritual kingdom possesses.

[2] The reason why in the highest sense 'the stone of Israel' means the Lord with respect to the truth that His spiritual kingdom possesses is that in general 'the stone' means the temple, and specifically the foundation on which it stands. 'The temple' in turn means the Lord's Divine Human, as is clear in John 2:19, 21, and so does its 'foundation' in Matthew 21:42, 44, and in Isaiah 28:16. This meaning of 'the stone' in the highest sense - the Lord in respect to Divine Truth which His spiritual kingdom possesses - is evident in David,

The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This has been done by Jehovah; it is marvellous in our eyes. Psalms 118:22-23.

'The stone' here is the Lord, as is made clear in Luke,

It is written, The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. Whoever falls onto that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Luke 20:17-18.

These things are spoken by the Lord regarding Himself. In Isaiah,

He is your fear, and He is your dread; for He will be a sanctuary, though He will be a stone to strike against and a rock to stumble over ¹ for both houses of Israel. Many among them will trip, and fall, and be broken to pieces. Isaiah 8:13-15.

Here the Lord is referred to. In the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih said, Behold I [am He who] will lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tested stone, a precious corner-stone, surely founded. He who believes will not be hasty. Isaiah 28:16.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will place them as His glorious horse ² in battle. From Him comes the corner-stone, from Him the tent-peg, from Him the battle-bow. Zechariah 10:3-4.

[3] In Daniel,

You were watching, until a stone was cut out, not by means of hands, and it struck the statue on its feet, which were iron and clay, and smashed them to pieces. The stone that struck the statue became a great rock and filled the whole earth. The God of heaven will cause a kingdom to arise that will never be destroyed, and His kingdom will not be left to other people; it will crush and consume all those kingdoms, but will itself stand for ever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the rock, not by means of hands, and it smashed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold . . . Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45.

Here 'the stone' is used in the highest sense to mean the Lord, and in the relative sense to mean His spiritual kingdom. When it says that 'the stone was cut out of the rock' the meaning is that it came out of the truth of faith, for the truth of faith is meant in the Word by 'rock'. And because the truth of faith is meant by 'the stone' and 'the rock', the Lord's spiritual kingdom is also what is meant, since the truth of faith and good ensuing from this truth prevail in that kingdom. Something similar is also meant by 'the stone' on which Jacob slept and which he afterwards set up as a pillar, described as follows,

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And in the morning Jacob rose up early, and took the stone which he had placed as his headrest, and placed it as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He said, This stone which I have placed as a pillar will be God's house. Genesis 28:16-18, 22.

The fact that by 'the stone' the ancients understood the Lord in the highest sense and His spiritual kingdom in the relative sense is also plain to see in Joshua,

Joshua erected the stone under the oak which was in Jehovah's sanctuary. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the sayings of Jehovah which He spoke to us. And it shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God. Joshua 24:26, 17.

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