Ezekiel 32
1
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao the king of Egypt, and say to him: Thou art like the lion of the nations, and the dragon that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers, and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst trample upon their streams.
3
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my net.
4
And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field: and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee.
5
And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption,
6
And I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee.
7
And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8
I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over thee: and I will cause darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God.
9
And I shall provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I shall have brought in thy destruction among the nations upon the lands, which thou knowest not.
10
And I will make many people to be amazed at thee, and their kings shell be horribly afraid for thee, when my sword shall begin to fly upon their faces: and they shall be astonished on a sudden, every one for his own life, in the day of their ruin.
11
For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee,
12
By the swords of the mighty I will overthrow thy multitude: all these nations are invincible: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
13
I will destroy also all the beasts thereof that were beside the great waters: and the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither shall the hoof of beasts trouble them.
14
Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God:
15
When I shall have made the land of Egypt desolate: and the land shall be destitute of her fulness, when I shall have struck all the inhabitants thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
16
This is the lamentation, and they shall lament therewith: the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith: for Egypt, and for the multitude thereof they shall lament therewith, saith the Lord God.
17
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
18
Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
19
Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the uncircumcised.
20
They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the sword : the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her people.
21
The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers, and slept uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
22
Assur is there, and all his multitude: their graves are round about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword.
23
Whose graves are set in the lowest parts of the pit: and his multitude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fallen by the sword, they that heretofore spread terror in the land of the living.
24
There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, and fallen by the sword; that went down uncircumcised to the lowest parts of the earth: that caused their terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.
25
In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his people: their graves are round about him: all these are uncircumcised, and slain by the sword: for they spread their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with them that descend into the pit: they are laid in the midst of the slain.
26
There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their multitude: their graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised and slain, and fallen by the sword: though they spread their terror in the land of the living.
27
And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell uncircumcised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their bones, because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
28
So thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword.
29
There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have slept with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down into the pit.
30
There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who were brought down with the slain, fearing, and con- founded in their strength: who slept uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.
31
Pharao saw them, and he was comforted concerning all his multitude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army, saith the Lord God:
32
Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and he hath slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword: Pharao and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.
Arcana Coelestia #9182
9182. 'When a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed' means good that has not been joined to truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'persuading', when said in reference to a man and a virgin, as his enticing her to be joined to him; from the meaning of 'a man' as truth, dealt with in 3134, 7716, 9007; from the meaning of 'a virgin' as the Church in respect of good, dealt with in 3081, 4638, thus the good which the Church is; and from the meaning of 'being betrothed' as being joined to. Something brief must be stated here about the law regarding a wrongful joining together, which is the subject at present - about where the cause and origin of that law lie. The cause of all the laws laid down for the children of Israel lies in heaven; and the laws of order there are the origin from which they spring. The laws of order in heaven all spring from Divine Truth and Goodness which emanate from the Lord, and therefore are laws concerning the good of love and the truth of faith. Goodness and truth joined together in heaven is called the heavenly marriage; and this marriage is represented in marriages on earth. It is also meant in the Word by marriages. From this one can see what is implied by wrongful joinings together, and also by cases of whoredom or adultery. The present two verses deal with a wrongful joining together which later on is either made rightful or else dissolved. A wrongful joining together which later on is made rightful is the subject in the present verse, and a wrongful joining together which later on is dissolved is the subject in the next.
[2] A wrongful joining together is one that takes place not as a result of a desire for marriage, but as a result of some other desire, such as an interest in good looks, monetary gain, or personal status, or else it is one that takes place as a result of sexual lust. Any such joining together is wrongful initially; it is wrongful because they are external attractions that draw the two people together and not at the same time internal ones. Nevertheless those external attractions may subsequently serve as the means towards a rightful joining together, which takes place when the two people are of one mind. They may also be the means of preventing a subsequent joining together from taking place if the two people are not of one mind. This is a matter commonly known in the world.
[3] A rightful joining together, which is a joining of minds, takes place when similar goodness and similar truth exist with both persons; for goodness and truth constitute a person's life, goodness and truth on the level of private and public behaviour constituting the life of the external man, and goodness and truth on a spiritual level constituting the life of the internal man. It should be recognized that a person's life springs from no other source than goodness and truth; for everything the person loves is called good, and everything the person believes is called truth. Or what amounts to the same thing, everything the person wills is called good, and everything the person understands is called truth. From this it is evident that a rightful joining together takes place when truth exists with one person in a marriage and the good which complements that truth exists in the other person. For when this is their relationship the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth, is represented in the two of them. So it is that conjugial love descends from that marriage, see 2727-2759, 2803, 3132, 4434, 4835.
[4] From all this, mentioned by way of introduction, anyone may recognize the nature of the joinings together dealt with in the present verse and the one following. Betrothal before marriage has been a custom since ancient times; it represented a first joining together, which is that of the internal man without the external. The actual marriage following it represented a second joining together, which is that of the internal man together with the external. For when a person is being regenerated by forms of the good and the truths of faith, the internal man is regenerated first and the external man afterwards, since the external man is regenerated from the internal, 3286, 3321, 3493, 3882, 8746.
[5] This shows what is meant in the Word by 'betrothal' and 'being betrothed', and also what is meant by 'bridegroom' and 'bride'. It shows that 'betrothal' means the joining together of truth and good in the internal man, and that where the Lord and the Church are the subject 'bridegroom' means good and 'bride' truth, as in the following places: In Jeremiah,
I have remembered for you the mercy of your youth, the love of your betrothals, when you went out after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Jeremiah 2:2.
This refers to the Ancient Church and its establishment by the Lord. 'The love of betrothals' is the affection belonging to spiritual life that is received from the truths of faith and the good of love. A state of desire, when they were still without knowledge of those truths and lacked that good, is meant by 'going out after Me in the wilderness' and 'in a land not sown'.
[6] In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the earth. And I will abolish 1 the bow, and the sword, and war from the land. And I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in judgement, and in mercy and in compassion. 2 Hosea 2:18-19.
This refers to the establishment of a new Church. 'Making a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds, and with the creeping things of the earth' means a joining together which the Lord accomplishes by means of the goodness and truth, internal and external, present with a person.
'A covenant' is a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778. 'The wild animals of the field' are the life derived from good, 841, 908. 'The birds' are the life of truth, 40, 745, 776, 991, 3219, 5149, 7441. 'The creeping things of the earth' are the forms of good and the truths among the sensory perceptions of the external man, 746, 909.
'Abolishing the bow, the sword, and war' means destroying the teachings and powers of falsity.
'The bow' is teachings that present falsity, 2686, 2709.
'The sword' is falsity engaged in conflict against truth, 2799, 4499, 6353,
7102.
'War' is the conflict itself, or spiritual conflict, 1664, 2686, 8273.
'Abolishing' these means destroying them.
[7] 'Betrothing in righteousness and in judgement' means being joined to the Lord in goodness and truth - 'betrothing' is joining to oneself, and 'righteousness' has reference to good, 'judgement' to truth, 2235. 'Betrothing in mercy and in compassion' means doing so out of love towards those governed by good, and in love towards those guided by truths - the Lord's 'mercy' has reference to His love towards those who lack good but nevertheless desire it, and His 'compassion' to His love towards those who have no knowledge of truth but nevertheless desire it. From all this it is evident that 'betrothal' means the joining together by the Lord of goodness and truth present with a person. Anyone can see that matters such as these are meant in those verses in Hosea, for when their contents are looked at in nothing brighter than natural light it is evident that Jehovah does not make a covenant with the wild animals of the field, the birds, and the creeping things of the earth, but with those possessing the goodness and truth of faith, thus with the goodness and truth present with a person, and therefore that such matters lie within this prophetic utterance.
[8] In Malachi,
Judah has acted faithlessly, for he has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, for he loved and betrothed to himself the daughter of a foreign god. Malachi 2:11.
'Betrothing the daughter of a foreign god' means being joined to the evil of falsity, 'a foreign god' being falsity, 4402 (end), 4544, 7873.
[9] As regards the meaning of 'bridegroom' as good, where the Lord and the Church are the subject, and of 'bride' as truth, this may be seen in Isaiah,
Jehovah has clothed me with the garments of salvation, with the robe of righteousness has He covered me, as a bridegroom puts on his priestly tiara, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 3 Isaiah 61:10.
In John,
I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2.
In the same book,
The angel said, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. Revelation 21:9; 22:17.
Here 'bride' stands for the Church.
[10] In Matthew,
Jesus said to John's disciples, Can the sons of the wedding mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Matthew 9:15; Luke 5:34-35.
The expression 'the sons of the wedding' refers to those who adhere to the truths of the Church and receive good, good which comes from the Lord being 'the bridegroom'. 'The sons of the wedding do not mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them' implies that they are in a state of bliss and happiness, and so are with the Lord, when they adhere to the truths joined to their good. 'They will fast when the bridegroom is taken away from them' implies that they are in a state of unhappiness when good is no longer joined to the truths. The latter state is the final state of the Church, whereas the former is the first state.
[11] Something similar is meant in Matthew 25:1-12 by the bridegroom, whom the ten virgins went out to meet. For the virgins who had oil in their lamps are people who have good within their truths; but the virgins who did not have oil in their lamps are people who do not have good within their truths, see 4638, 'oil' being the good of love, 886, 3722, 4582.
[12] In John,
John said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. John 3:28-29.
'The bride' stands for the truth that composes the Church's faith, and 'the bridegroom' for the good that composes the Church's love, both of which come from the Lord, and so stand for a member of the Church with whom good has been joined to truths. 'The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears' stands for faith consisting of truth, and 'who rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice' stands for an affection for the truth composing faith. All this also shows what is meant in the internal sense by the joy and voice of the bridegroom and the bride in Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:11; Revelation 18:23, namely heaven and the happiness that result from the joining together of goodness and truth present with man and angel.
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