9857. 'And you shall make a breastplate of judgement' means that which has regard to Divine Truth shining forth from Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a breastplate' as Divine Truth shining forth from the Lord's Divine Good within last and lowest things, dealt with in 9823. It is called 'a breastplate of judgement' because it gave answers, and through these Divine Truth was revealed; furthermore Divine Truth, and therefore doctrinal teachings and a life in accord with them, is meant in the Word by 'judgement'. This then is why this breastplate is referred to as 'the breastplate of judgement', and also further on in this chapter as 'the judgement', in verse 30 - 'Aaron shall carry the judgement of the children of Israel over his heart before Jehovah continually'. And when Joshua was chosen to be leader of the people, it says that he was to stand before Eleazar the priest, who would inquire for him by the judgement of the Urim before Jehovah, Numbers 27:21.

[2] 'Judgement' means Divine Truth and intelligence springing from It, as a consequence of which it means religious teachings and a life in accord with them. This is clear from a large number of places in the Word, such as the following: In Isaiah,

The vineyard of Jehovah Zebaoth is the house of Israel. He looked for judgement, but behold, festering; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isaiah 5:7.

'Looking for judgement' means intelligence springing from Divine Truth, and a life in accord with the commandments. In the same prophet,

On the throne there sat in truthfulness, in the tabernacle of David, one who judges and seeks judgement. Isaiah 16:5.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'The throne' on which He is going to sit means Divine Truth that emanates from Him, and consequently means the spiritual kingdom, see 2129, 5313, 6397, 8625, 9039. 'Judging judgement' means teaching Divine Truth, and 'seeking judgement' people's acceptance of it.

[3] In the same prophet,

On that day Jehovah will be a tiara of beauty for the remnant of His people, and a spirit of judgement to him who sits in judgement. Isaiah 28:5-6.

'A tiara of beauty', when these words have reference to Jehovah, that is, the Lord, means Divine Intelligence, see above in 9827; and 'a spirit of judgement' means wisdom that springs from Divine Truth, 9818. 'To him who sits in judgement' means one who informs people about or teaches Divine Truth. In the same prophet,

Jehovah has filled Zion with judgement and righteousness. Isaiah 33:5.

'Zion' stands for the celestial Church, 'being filled with judgement' for intelligence that springs from Divine Truth, and 'being filled with righteousness' for wisdom that comes from Divine Good.

[4] In the same prophet,

Who has directed the Spirit of Jehovah? With whom did He deliberate, that He might make Him intelligent, and instruct Him in the way of judgement, and teach Him knowledge, and show Him the way of intelligence? Isaiah 40:13-14.

'The Spirit of Jehovah' means Divine Truth, 9818. 'Instructing Him in the way of judgement' self-evidently means making him knowledgeable, intelligent, and wise. In Jeremiah,

The stork in the sky knows her appointed times, but Jehovah's people do not know the judgement of Jehovah. How can you say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? Jeremiah 8:7-8.

'Not knowing the judgement of Jehovah' stands for ignorance of Divine Truth, the source of wisdom; and this is why it says, 'How can you say, We are wise?'

[5] In the same prophet,

Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without judgement! Jeremiah 22:13.

'Building upper rooms without judgement' stands for absorbing ideas that are not true. In Hosea,

I will betroth you to Me forever in righteousness and in judgement, and I will betroth you to Me in truth. Hosea 2:19-20.

'Betrothing in judgement' stands for joining by means of Divine Truth, thus by means of faith and the life of faith. In Amos,

Let judgement flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty torrent. Amos 5:24.

In the same prophet,

You have turned judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:12.

Here also 'judgement' stands for intelligence that springs from Divine Truth, and for a life based on this.

[6] In Zephaniah,

Jehovah in the morning will bring His judgement to light. Zephaniah 3:5.

'Bringing judgement to light' stands for revealing Divine Truth. In Moses,

All the ways of Jehovah are judgement. Deuteronomy 32:4.

In David,

O Jehovah, Your truth reaches up to the skies, Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgements [like] the great abyss. Psalms 36:5-6.

In the same author,

Jehovah will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgement as the noonday. Psalms 37:6.

In the same author,

Hear my voice according to Your mercy; O Jehovah, revive me according to Your judgements. Psalms 119:149.

In these places 'judgement' and 'judgements' stand for Divine Truth.

[7] In Luke,

Woe to you Pharisees! You pass by the judgement and the love of God. These you ought to have done. Luke 11:42.

'Passing by the judgement of God' stands for shunning Divine Truth, and 'passing by the love of God' for shunning Divine Good and a life inspired by them both. The fact that this life is also meant accounts for their being told, These you ought to have done. In Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will be exalted in judgement, and God will be made holy in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16.

In the same author,

... upon the throne of David to establish the kingdom in judgement and in righteousness, from now and even for evermore. Isaiah 9:7.

In the same author,

Give counsel, execute judgement, set your shade like the night in the middle of the day. Isaiah 16:3.

'Executing judgement' stands for acting in accordance with God's truth.

[8] In Jeremiah,

I will raise up for David a righteous branch, who will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15.

In Ezekiel,

If a man has been righteous, one who has executed judgement and righteousness ... [if he] walks in My statutes, and keeps My judgements, to execute truth, he is righteous; he will surely live. Ezekiel 18:5, 9.

In Zephaniah,

Seek Jehovah, O all the meek of the earth, who have executed His judgement. Zephaniah 2:3.

'Executing God's judgement' stands for carrying out Divine Truth or acting in accord with it. In Isaiah,

I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth judgement to the nations. He will not quench nor will He break until He has set judgement on the earth. Isaiah 42:1, 4.

This refers to the Lord. 'Bringing forth judgement to the nations' and 'setting judgement on the earth' stand for teaching Divine Truth and establishing it in the Church.

[9] In the same prophet,

Law will go out from Me, and I will raise up My judgement to be the light of peoples. Isaiah 51:4.

'Judgement' stands for Divine Truth, 'to be the light of peoples' for to bring enlightenment. In John,

For judgement I came ¹ into this world, that those who do not see may see, but those who see may become blind. John 9:39.

'Coming into the world for judgement' stands for coming to reveal Divine Truth, which gives people vision if the Lord is the source of their wisdom, but makes them blind if they themselves are the source of it and on account of this are reputed to be learned.

[10] In Jeremiah,

Swear by the living Jehovah, in truth, in judgement, and in righteousness. Jeremiah 4:2.

In the same prophet,

There is none judging judgement for healthiness; you have no restorative medicaments. Jeremiah 30:13.

In David,

Righteousness and judgement are the support of Your throne; mercy and truth will stand firm before Your face. Psalms 89:14.

'Righteousness' stands for the good that belongs to mercy, and 'judgement' for the truth that belongs to faith, which is why the expression 'mercy and truth' is also used. In Ezekiel,

Jerusalem has changed My judgements into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the lands. Therefore I will execute in you [My] judgements in the eyes of the nations, and I will scatter all your remnant. Ezekiel 5:6-8, 10, 15.

'Changing judgements' stands for altering truths as they exist in the civic state, these truths being meant by 'judgements' when 'statutes' are also mentioned, see 8972. But 'executing judgements' means passing judgement that points to death, which is damnation, or to life, which is salvation. Salvation or damnation is also meant by 'judgement' when the expression 'day of judgement' or 'hour of judgement' is used, for example in Matthew 11:22, 24; 12:36, 41-42; Luke 10:14; 11:31-32; John 5:28-29; Revelation 14:7; 18:10. The same thing is also meant by 'judgement' when judgement-making is referred to, for example in Matthew 5:21-22; 7:1-2; 23:14, 33; John 5:24, 26-27; 7:24; 8:15-16; 12:31, 47-48; Luke 6:37; 12:13-14, 56-57; 19:21-22; 20:47; 22:30; Mark 12:40; Isaiah 3:14; 41:1; Jeremiah 25:31; 48:21; Joel 3:12; Psalms 7:7-8; 9:4, 7-8; Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 25:1; Revelation 17:1; 18:10; 20:12-13.

Mga talababa:

1925. 'The angel of Jehovah found her' means thought in the interior man, that is to say, thought residing with the Lord. This becomes clear from the representation and meaning of 'the angel of Jehovah'. Mention is made several times in the Word of 'the angel of Jehovah', and in every case when used in the good sense it represents and means some essential quality with the Lord and from the Lord. Which one it represents and means however becomes clear from the train of thought. They were indeed angels who were sent to men and women, and who also spoke through the prophets. Yet what they spoke did not originate in those angels but was something imparted through them. In fact their state at the time was such that they knew no other than that they were Jehovah, that is, the Lord. But as soon as they had finished speaking they returned to their previous state and spoke as they normally did from themselves.

[2] This was the case with the angels who uttered the Word of the Lord, as I have been given to know from much similar experience in the next life, experience that will be presented in the Lord's Divine mercy further on. This is the reason why angels were sometimes called Jehovah, as is quite clear from the angel that appeared in the bramble-bush to Moses, concerning whom the following is recorded,

The angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the middle of the bramble-bush. Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the middle of the bramble-bush God said to Moses, I am who I am. And God said again to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Exodus 3:2, 4, 14-15.

From these verses it is evident that it was an angel who appeared to Moses as a flame in the bramble-bush and that he spoke as Jehovah, because the Lord or Jehovah was speaking through him.

[3] So that man may be spoken to by means of articulated sounds heard in the natural world, the Lord employs angels as His ministers by filling them with the Divine and by rendering unconscious all that is their own, so that for the time being they know no other than that they themselves are Jehovah. In this way the Divine of Jehovah which belongs in highest things comes down into the lowest constituting the natural world in which man sees and hears. It was similar in the case of the angel who spoke to Gideon, of whom the following is said in the Book of Judges,

The angel of Jehovah appeared to Gideon and said to him, Jehovah is with you, O mighty man of strength. And Gideon said to him, Forgive me for asking, ¹ O my Lord; why has all this befallen us? And Jehovah looked on him and said, Go in this might of yours. And Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with you. Judges 6:12-14, 16.

And further on,

Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovih! Inasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face. ² And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to you; do not fear. Judges 6:22-23.

Here similarly it was an angel, but his state was such at that time that he knew no other than that he was Jehovah, or the Lord. Elsewhere in the Book of Judges,

The angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will not break my covenant with you, even for ever. Judges 2:1.

Here similarly the angel speaks in the name of Jehovah, declaring that he brought them out of the land of Egypt, though in fact it was not the angel who led them out but Jehovah, as is stated many times elsewhere.

[4] From this it may become clear how angels spoke through the prophets - that it was the Lord Himself who spoke, yet through angels, and that the angels spoke nothing at all from themselves. That the Word comes from the Lord is clear from many places, as also in Matthew,

To fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a son. Matthew 1:22-23.

And there are other places besides this. It is because the Lord speaks through angels when He speaks to man that the Lord is also called an angel in various places in the Word. In these instances 'angel' means, as stated, some essential quality residing with the Lord and deriving from Him, as is the case here where it is the Lord's interior thought. This also is the reason why in this chapter the angel is named Jehovah and also God, as in verse 13, 'And Hagar called the name of Jehovah who was speaking to her, You are a God who sees me'.

[5] In other places 'angels' is used in a similar way to mean some specific attribute that is the Lord's, as in John,

The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. Revelation 1:20.

There are no angels of Churches, but by 'angels' is meant that which constitutes the Church, and thus which is the Lord's in regard to the Churches. In the same book,

I saw the wall of the Holy Jerusalem, great and high, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and names written which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Revelation 21:12.

Here 'twelve angels' has the same meaning as 'the twelve tribes', namely all things of faith, and so the Lord from whom faith and all that belongs to it is derived. In the same book,

I saw an angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel. Revelation 14:6.

Here 'an angel' means the gospel that is the Lord's alone.

[6] In Isaiah,

The angel of His presence ³ saved them; ⁴ in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and lifted them up and carried them all the days of eternity. Isaiah 63:9.

Here 'the angel of His presence" is used to mean the Lord's mercy towards the entire human race in redeeming it. Similarly in Jacob's blessing of the sons of Joseph,

May the angel who has redeemed me from every evil bless the boys. Genesis 48:16.

Here also the redemption, which is the Lord's, is meant by 'the angel'. In Malachi,

Suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Malachi 3:1.

Here it is plainly evident that the Lord is meant by 'the angel'. The expression 'the angel of the covenant' is used here because of His Coming into the world. In Exodus it is plainer still that 'an angel' means the Lord,

Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. He will not tolerate your transgression, for My name is within him. Exodus 23:20-21.

From this it is now clear that 'an angel' in the Word is used to mean the Lord; but just what aspect of the Lord is evident from the train of thought in the internal sense.

Mga talababa: