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2 Mosebok 30:36

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36 Og du skal støte noget av det smått og legge det foran vidnesbyrdet i sammenkomstens telt, hvor jeg vil komme sammen med dig; høihellig skal det være for eder.

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Apocalypse Explained #1151

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1151. And ointment and frankincense signifies profaned worship from spiritual love. This is evident from the signification of "ointment," as being the good of spiritual love (of which presently); also from the signification of "frankincense," as being the truth of spiritual good (See n. 491). "Ointment and frankincense" signify spiritual love because the incense offerings were made with these; and the incense offerings signified spiritual love because of the fragrant smoke that went up from the holy fire in the censers. Spiritual love is love towards the neighbor, which makes one with the love of uses. There are two loves of heaven, and thus of the church, from which the Lord is worshipped; celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor; the former is signified by "cinnamon and perfumes," the other by "ointment and frankincense." Moreover, all worship is from love; the worship that is not from one or the other of these loves is no worship, but only an external act in which there is inwardly nothing of the church. That the incense offerings signified worship from spiritual love may be seen (n. 324, 491-492, 494, 567). Ointment means a compound of aromatics that was used in the incense offerings, as can be seen from these words in Moses:

Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense. And thou shalt make it an incense; an ointment, the work of the perfumer, salted, pure, holy; and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put it before the testimony in the Tent of meeting where I shall meet with thee; it shall be unto you the holy of holies (Exodus 30:34-37).

Here all these things are called "the ointment of the perfumer." (The particulars are explained in Arcana Coelestia 10289-10308.)

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] There is infernal freedom and there is heavenly freedom. Infernal freedom is that into which man is born from his parents, and heavenly freedom is that into which man is reformed by the Lord. From infernal freedom man has the will of evil, the love of evil, and the life of evil; while from heavenly freedom he has the will of good, the love of good, and the life of good; for as has been said before, a man's will, love and life, make one with his freedom. These two kinds of freedom are opposites of each other, but the opposition is not evident except so far as man is in one and not in the other. But a man cannot come out of infernal freedom into heavenly freedom unless he compels himself. To compel oneself is to resist evil and to fight against it as if from oneself, but still to implore the Lord for help. Thus a man fights from the freedom that is inwardly in him from the Lord against the freedom that is outwardly in him from hell. While he is in the combat it seems to him that it is not freedom from which he fights, but a kind of compulsion, because it is against that freedom into which he was born; and yet it is freedom, since otherwise he would not fight as if of himself.

[3] But this inward freedom from which he fights, which seems like compulsion, is afterwards felt as freedom, for it becomes like what is involuntary, spontaneous, and as it were innate, comparatively like one's compelling his hand to write, to work, to play a musical instrument, or to contend in games, for after a while the hands and arms do these things as if of themselves or spontaneously; for man is then in good because he is then removed from evil and is led by the Lord. When a man has compelled himself to act in opposition to infernal freedom he sees and perceives that infernal freedom is servitude and that heavenly freedom is freedom itself, because it is from the Lord. The essence of the matter is this, that so far as a man compels himself by resisting evils, so far the infernal societies with which he acts as one are removed from him, and he is introduced by the Lord into heavenly societies, with which he acts as one. On the other hand, if a man does not compel himself to resist evils he remains in them. That this is so I have learned through much experience in the spiritual world, and further, that evil does not withdraw in consequence of any compulsion that comes from punishments, or from fear of them afterwards.

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

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Apocalypse Explained #288

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288. Verse 9. And when the animals gave glory and honor and thanksgiving, signifies Divine truth and Divine good and glorification. This is evident from the signification of "glory and honor," as being, in reference to the Lord, Divine truth and Divine good; "glory" being Divine truth, and "honor" Divine good (of which presently); and from the signification of "thanksgiving," as being glorification. Let it first be told what is here meant by glorification. Glorification, when it is from the Lord, is a perpetual influx with angels and men of Divine good with Divine truth; and glorification of the Lord among angels and men is reception and acknowledgment in heart that all good and all truth are from the Lord, and thence all intelligence, wisdom, and blessedness; this in the spiritual sense is what "giving thanks" signifies. Moreover, all glorification of the Lord by the angels of heaven and by the men of the church is not from themselves, but flows in from the Lord. Glorification that is from men and not from the Lord is not from the heart, but only from the activity of the memory, and thus from the mouth; and what goes forth from the memory and the mouth only, and not through them from the heart, is not heard in heaven, thus is not received by the Lord, but goes out into the world like any other sonorous words. This glorification is not an acknowledgment in heart that all good and all truth are from the Lord. It is said an acknowledgment in heart, which means from the life of the love; for "heart," in the Word, signifies love, and love is a life according to the Lord's precepts; when man is in this life, then there is glorification of the Lord, which is acknowledgment from the heart that all good and truth is from the Lord. This is meant by "being glorified," in John:

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and that ye be My disciples (John 15:7-8).

[2] "The four animals," which were cherubim, "gave glory and honor and thanksgiving," because Divine truth and Divine good and glorification, which are signified by glory, honor, and thanksgiving, proceed and flow in from the Lord; for these cherubim signify the Lord in respect to providence and guard (See above, n. 277); and they were "in the midst of the throne, and around the throne" (as is manifest from verse 6), and the Lord was "upon the throne" (verse 2); from which it is clear that these things were from the Lord; but reception and acknowledgment in heart are meant by the words of the verse following, where it is said, that when these things had been heard, "the four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and worshipped Him that liveth unto ages of ages, and cast their crowns before the throne."

[3] In the Word, "glory and honor" is a frequent expression, and "glory" everywhere signifies truth, and "honor" good. The two are mentioned together because in the particulars of the Word there is a heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of truth and good. There is this marriage in the particulars of the Word, because the Divine that proceeds from the Lord is Divine truth united to Divine good; and because these together make heaven and also make the church, therefore this marriage is in the particulars of the Word; so also in the particulars of the Word is the Divine from the Lord, and the Lord Himself; this is why the Word is most holy. (That there is such a marriage in the particulars of the Word, see above, n. 238; and Arcana Coelestia, n. 2516, Arcana Coelestia 2712, 2712, 3004, 3005, 3009, 4138, 5138, 5194, 5502, 6343, 7022, 7945, 8339, 9263, 9314)

[4] That "glory" signifies Divine truth from the Lord, see above (n. 33); that "honor" signifies Divine good follows from what has been said concerning the heavenly marriage in the particulars of the Word; as can also be seen from the following passages. In David:

Jehovah made the heavens; glory and honor are before Him; strength and splendor are in His sanctuary (Psalms 96:5-6).

By "the heavens" the Divine that proceeds from the Lord is meant, since the heavens are from His Divine; and as the Divine that proceeds and makes the heavens is Divine truth and Divine good, it is said, "glory and honor are before Him;" "sanctuary" means the church; Divine good and Divine truth therein are meant by "strength and splendor." (That the Divine of the Lord makes the heavens, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 7-12; and that the Divine of the Lord in the heavens is Divine truth and Divine good, n. 7, 13, 133, 137, 139-140.)

[5] In the same:

O Jehovah God, Thou art very great; Thou hast put on glory and honor (Psalms 104:1).

"To put on glory and honor" signifies, in reference to Jehovah, His girding Himself with Divine truth and Divine good, for these proceed from Him, and thus gird Him, and make the heavens; therefore in the Word they are called "His vesture" and "His covering" (See above, n. 65, 271).

[6] In the same:

The works of Jehovah are great. Glory and honor are His work (Psalms 111:2-3

"The works of Jehovah" mean all things that proceed from Him and are done by Him; and as these are referable to Divine truth and Divine good, it is said, "His work is glory and honor."

[7] In the same:

Generation to generation shall praise Thy works, and shall declare Thy mighty acts. Upon the honor of the magnificence of Thy glory and the words of Thy wonders will I meditate. And I will make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glory of the honor of His kingdom (Psalms 145:4-5, 12).

"The honor of the magnificence of glory" means Divine good united to Divine truth; and "the glory of the honor" means Divine truth united to Divine good. This is so said because the unition is reciprocal; for Divine good proceeds from the Lord united to Divine truth; but by the angels in heaven and by the men of the church Divine truth is received and is united to Divine good; it is therefore said, "the glory of the honor of His kingdom," for "His kingdom" means heaven and the church.

[8] In the same:

Glory and honor wilt thou lay upon Him; for thou settest Him blessings forever (Psalms 21:5, 6).

These things were said of the Lord, and "glory and honor upon Him" means all Divine truth and Divine good.

[9] In the same:

Gird Thy sword upon the thigh, O mighty One in Thy glory and honor. And in Thy honor mount, ride upon the word of truth (Psalms 45:3, 4).

This also is said of the Lord; "to gird the sword upon the thigh" signifies Divine truth combating from Divine good (that this is signified by "sword upon the thigh," see Arcana Coelestia 10488); and because the Lord from Divine truth subjugated the hells, and brought the heavens into order, He is said to be "mighty in glory and honor," and also "in honor mount and ride upon the word of truth;" this signifies to act from Divine good through Divine truth.

[10] In the same:

Thou hast made Him to be a little less than the angels, but thou hast crowned Him with glory and honor (Psalms 8:5). This also is said of the Lord; His state of humiliation is described by "thou hast made Him to be a little less than the angels," and His state of glorification by "thou hast crowned Him with glory and honor." "Glorifying" means uniting the Divine Itself to His Human, and also making His Human Divine.

[11] In Isaiah:

Rejoice, ye wilderness and dry place, and let the plain of the desert exult and blossom as the rose, in blossoming let it blossom and exalt; the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, the honor of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of Jehovah, and the honor of our God (Isaiah 35:1, 2).

This treats of the enlightenment of the Gentiles; that ignorance of truth and good is signified by "the wilderness and the dry place;" their joy in consequence of instruction in truths and enlightenment is signified by "rejoicing, exulting, and blossoming;" "the glory of Lebanon given to them" signifies Divine truth; and "the honor of Carmel and Sharon" signifies Divine good which they receive; this is why it is also said "they shall see the glory of Jehovah, and the honor of our God."

[12] In Revelation:

The nations that have been saved shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor to it. And the glory and honor of the nations shall be brought into it (Revelation 21:24, 26).

This is said of the New Jerusalem, by which a new church in the heavens and on earth is signified; "nations" there signify all who are in good; and the "kings of the earth" all who are in truths from good; it is said of both that "they shall bring their glory and honor into it," which means worship from the good of love to the Lord and from the truths of faith which are from the good of charity towards the neighbor.

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