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Ezekiel 11

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1 And lift me up doth a spirit, and it bringeth me in unto the east gate of the house of Jehovah, that is facing the east, and lo, at the opening of the gate twenty and five men, and I see in their midst Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, heads of the people.

2 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, these [are] the men who are devising iniquity, and who are giving evil counsel in this city;

3 who are saying, It [is] not near -- to build houses, it [is] the pot, and we the flesh.

4 Therefore prophesy concerning them, prophesy, son of man.'

5 And fall upon me doth the Spirit of Jehovah, and He saith unto me, `Say: Thus said Jehovah: Rightly ye have said, O house of Israel, And the steps of your spirit I have known.

6 Ye multiplied your wounded in this city, And filled its out-places with the wounded.

7 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Your wounded whom ye placed in its midst, They [are] the flesh, and it [is] the pot, And you he hath brought out from its midst.

8 A sword ye have feared, And a sword I bring in against you, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

9 And I have brought you out of its midst, And given you into the hand of strangers, And I have done among you judgments.

10 By the sword ye do fall, On the border of Israel I do judge you, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.

11 It is not to you for a pot, Nor are ye in its midst for flesh, At the border of Israel I do judge you.

12 And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah, For in My statutes ye have not walked, And My Judgments ye have not done, And according to the Judgments of the nations Who are round about you -- ye have done!'

13 And it cometh to pass, at my prophesying, that Pelatiah son of Benaiah is dying, and I fall on my face, and cry -- a loud voice -- and say, `Ah, Lord Jehovah, an end Thou art making of the remnant of Israel.'

14 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

15 `Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel -- all of it, [are] they to whom inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Keep far off from Jehovah;

16 it [is] ours, the land hath been given for an inheritance; therefore say: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because I put them afar off among nations, And because I scattered them through lands, I also am to them for a little sanctuary, In lands whither they have gone in.

17 Therefore say: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: And I have assembled you from the peoples, And I have gathered you from the lands, Into which ye have been scattered, And I have given to you the ground of Israel.

18 And they have gone in thither. And turned aside all its detestable things, And all its abominations -- out of it.

19 And I have given to them one heart, And a new spirit I do give in your midst, And I have turned the heart of stone out of their flesh, And I have given to them a heart of flesh.

20 So that in My statutes they walk, And My judgments they keep, and have done them, And they have been to me for a people, And I am to them for God.

21 As to those whose heart is going unto the heart Of their detestable and their abominable things, Their way on their head I have put, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

22 And the cherubs lift up their wings, and the wheels [are] over-against them, and the honour of the God of Israel [is] over them above.

23 And the honour of Jehovah goeth up from off the midst of the city, and standeth on the mountain, that [is] on the east of the city.

24 And a spirit hath lifted me up, and bringeth me in to Chaldea, unto the Removed, in a vision, by the Spirit of God, and go up from off me doth the vision that I have seen;

25 and I speak unto the Removed all the matters of Jehovah that He hath shewed me.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed #48

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48. And His eyes like a flame of fire. This symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

Eyes in the Word mean the intellect, and the sight of the eyes, therefore, intelligence. Consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, they mean Divine wisdom. A flame of fire, moreover, symbolizes spiritual love, which is charity, and consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, it means Divine love. So now, the statement that His eyes were like a flame of fire symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

That the eye symbolizes the intellect is because they correspond. For as the eye sees as a result of natural light, so the intellect sees as a result of spiritual light. Consequently seeing is predicated of both.

That the eye in the Word symbolizes the intellect is apparent from the following passages:

Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Isaiah 43:8)

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness... the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf... (Isaiah 35:5)

...I will give You... as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind... (Isaiah 42:6-7)

The last is said of the Lord, who, when He comes, will open the intellect in people who are ignorant of the truth.

[2] That this is what is meant by opening the eyes is further apparent from the following passages:

Make the heart of this people fat..., and smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes... (Isaiah 6:10, John 12:40)

For Jehovah has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your leaders, the seers, He has covered. (Isaiah 29:10, cf. 30:10)

...who shuts his eyes so as not to see evil. (Isaiah 33:15)

Hear this..., O foolish people..., who have eyes and see not... (Jeremiah 5:21)

(The punishment of) the shepherd, who deserts the flock: a sword shall be... against his right eye..., and his right eye shall be totally darkened. (Zechariah 11:17)

...the plague with which Jehovah will strike all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: ...their eyes shall waste away in their sockets... (Zechariah 14:12)

...I will strike every horse with stupor, and... every horse of the peoples with blindness. (Zechariah 12:4)

A horse in the spiritual sense is an understanding of the Word (no. 298).

...hear me, Jehovah my God; enlighten my eyes, lest (perchance) I sleep the sleep of death. (Psalms 13:3)

Everyone sees that eyes in these places symbolize the intellect.

[3] It is apparent from this what the Lord meant by the eye in the following places:

The lamp of the body is the eye. If... your eye is whole, your entire body will be full of light. If... your eye is bad, your entire body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23, cf. Luke 11:34)

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you... to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 5:29; 18:9)

The eye in these places does not mean an eye, but an understanding of truth.

Since the eye symbolizes an understanding of truth, it was therefore one of the statutes among the children of Israel that a blind man of the posterity of Aaron or one blurry-eyed not approach to offer a sacrifice, nor enter within the veil (Leviticus 21:18, 20, 23), and that nothing blind be offered as a sacrifice (Leviticus 22:22, Malachi 1:8).

[4] It is apparent from this what an eye means when said in reference to a person. It follows then that when said in reference to the Lord, it means His Divine wisdom, and also His omniscience and providence, as in the following passages:

Open Your eyes, Jehovah, and see. (Isaiah 37:17)

I will set My eye on them for good, and... I will build them... (Jeremiah 24:6)

Behold, the eye of Jehovah is on those who fear Him... (Psalms 33:18)

Jehovah is in His holy temple...; His eyes behold, (and) His eyelids test the children of man. (Psalms 11:4)

Inasmuch as cherubim symbolize the Lord's protection and providence to keep the spiritual meaning of the Word from being harmed, therefore it is said of the four living creatures - which were cherubim - that they were full of eyes in front and in back, and that their wings were likewise full of eyes (Revelation 4:6, 8). And it is also said that the wheels on which the cherubim rode were full of eyes all around (Ezekiel 10:12).

[5] "A flame of fire" means the Lord's Divine love, as will be seen in subsequent expositions where flame and fire are mentioned. And because it is said that His eyes were like a flame of fire, it symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

The concept that the Lord has in Him Divine love as a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom as a property of Divine love, thus a reciprocal union of the two, is an arcanum disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 34-39 and elsewhere.

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