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خروج第14章:6

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6 فشدّ مركبته واخذ قومه معه.

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#4236

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4236. 'And Jacob said [when he saw them], This is God's camp' means heaven. 'God's camp' means heaven, for the reason that 'an army' means truths and goods, 3448, and goods and truths are arranged by the Lord in conformity with heavenly order. Hence the arrangement of them like armies when arrayed is meant by 'an encampment', and the heavenly order itself, which is heaven, by 'a camp'. This camp or order is such that it cannot in any way be broken apart by hell, despite the constant effort from hell to break it apart. This also is why this order, which is heaven, is referred to as 'a camp', and why truths and goods, that is, angels, who are arranged in conformity with that order are called 'armies'. From all this it is now evident how 'God's camp' comes to mean heaven. It is that actual order, and so heaven itself, which was represented by the encampments of the children of Israel in the wilderness; and their actual dwelling together there according to their tribes was referred to as 'the camp'. The Tabernacle pitched in the middle and around which they encamped represented the Lord Himself. Regarding the children of Israel's encampment in this manner, see Numbers 1:1-end, and 33:2-56; and regarding their encampment around the Tabernacle according to their tribes - Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun to the east; Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the south; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the west; Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the north; and the Levites in the middle next to the Tabernacle - Numbers 2:2 and following verses.

[2] The tribes' means all goods and truths in their entirety, see 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060. Consequently when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him, he delivered the utterance,

How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel! They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river. Numbers 24:2-3, 5-6.

It is quite plain that this prophecy did not mean the people named Jacob and Israel but that it was the Lord's heaven which was represented. This also is why in other places in the Word their ordered settlements in the wilderness, or encampments according to tribes, are called camps, and in those places 'a camp' in the internal sense means heavenly order and 'encampment' an arrangement in conformity with that order, that is to say, with the order in which goods and truths exist in heaven - as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 3; 4:4 and following verses; 5:2-4; Numbers 9:17-end; 10:1-10, 28; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 23:9-14.

[3] The meaning of 'God's camp' as heaven may also be seen in Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars gathered back their shining; and Jehovah gave voice before His army, for His camp is exceedingly many; for that which executes His word is uncountable. Joel 2:10-11.

In Zechariah,

I will encamp by My house with an army set against anyone passing through and against anyone leaving, so that the oppressor passes over them no more. Zechariah 9:8.

In John,

Gog and Magog went up over the breadth 1 of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; but fire came down 2 from God and consumed them. Revelation 20:9.

'Gog and Magog' stands for people whose worship is external separated from internal - worship that has become idolatrous, 1151. 'The breadth of the earth' stands for truth possessed by the Church - 'breadth', or a plain, meaning truth that constitutes doctrinal teaching, 2450, and 'earth' the Church, 556, 662, 1066, 1067, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355. 'The camp of the saints' stands for heaven or the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church.

[4] Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so too does the word 'camp'. In this case it means evils and falsities, and consequently hell, as in David,

Though the evil pitch camp against me, my heart will not fear. Psalms 27:3.

In the same author,

God has scattered the bones of those encamping against you; 3 you have put them to shame, for God has rejected them. Psalms 53:5.

The camp of Asshur in which the angel of Jehovah smote a hundred and eighty-five thousand, Isaiah 37:36, does not have any other meaning, nor likewise does the camp of the Egyptians, Exodus 14:19-20.

脚注:

1. literally, the plain

2. The Latin means went up, but the Greek means came down, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.

3. The Latin means me, but the Hebrew means you.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#3024

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3024.'That you do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites' means that the Divine Rational should not be joined to any affection incompatible with truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking a woman' as being joined by means of the marriage covenant; from the meaning of 'my son', namely Isaac, as the Lord's Divine Rational, dealt with in 1893, 2066, 2083, 2630; from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections, dealt with in 489-491, 568, 2362; and from the meaning of 'the Canaanites' as evil, dealt with in 1444, 1573, 1574. Consequently 'the daughters of the Canaanites' are affections incompatible with truth. The subject here is Divine truth which was to be allied to the Divine good of the Lord's Rational, as may be seen in 3013 under 'Contents'. 'A woman' who was to be associated by means of a marriage covenant is used to mean that truth itself which is summoned from the natural man in the normal manner. 'My son' is used to mean the Lord's Rational as regards the good with which it was to be allied or associated. From this one may recognize that the command not to take a wife for his son from the daughters of the Canaanites means that the Divine Rational should not be joined to any affection incompatible with truth. All joining of truth to good is effected by means of affection, for no truth ever enters the rational part of a person's mind or is joined to it except by means of affection, for affection has within it the good that flows from love, which good alone effects the joining together, 1895, as also anyone may know who stops to reflect on it.

[2] As regards 'the daughters of the Canaanites' meaning affections incompatible with truth, that is, affections for what is false, this becomes clear from the meaning of 'daughters'. For the noun 'daughters' occurs in many places in the Word, and in these anyone may see that it is not used to mean daughters. By such expressions as 'the daughter of Zion', 'the daughter of Jerusalem', 'the daughter of Tarshish', 'the daughter of My people', affections for good and truth are meant, as shown in the paragraphs referred to above. And since affections for good and truth are meant so also are Churches, for Churches are Churches by virtue of these affections. Consequently 'the daughter of Zion' means the celestial Church, and means this by virtue of the affection for good, whereas 'the daughter of Jerusalem' means the spiritual Church from the affection for truth, 2362. And it is the same with 'the daughter of My people' in Isaiah 22:4; Jeremiah 6:14, 26; 8:19, 21-22; 9:1; 14:17; Lamentations 2:11; 4:6; Ezekiel 13:17.

[3] This shows what is meant by the daughters of the nations, such as by the daughters of the Philistines, the daughters of Egypt, the daughters of Tyre and Sidon, the daughters of Edom, the daughters of Moab, the daughters of the Chaldeans and Babel, and the daughters of Sodom. They mean affections for evil and falsity, from which their varieties of religion sprang, and so mean those varieties themselves. That this is the meaning of 'daughters' becomes clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,

The daughters of the nations will lament over Egypt. Wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send her down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the lower earth, together with those who go down to the pit. Ezekiel 32:16, 18.

'The daughters of majestic nations' stands for affections for evil. In Samuel,

Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. 2 Samuel 1:20.

In Ezekiel,

You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt. I delivered you to those who hated you, the daughters of the Philistines. Before your badness was revealed, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all round about her, the daughters of the Philistines who despise you from round about. Ezekiel 16:26-27, 57.

Anyone may see that not daughters were meant here but the varieties of religion among such people as are meant by the Philistines - those who speak repeatedly of faith yet do not at all pursue the life taught by faith, see 1197, 1198. This also explains why they are called 'the uncircumcised', that is, devoid of charity.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! Make for yourself vessels of migration, O inhabitant daughter of Egypt. The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she has been delivered into the hand of the people from the north. Jeremiah 46:11, 19, 24.

'The daughter of Egypt' stands for the affection for reasoning from facts about whether truths of faith really are true, and so stands for the variety of religion which springs from this, the nature of which is to believe nothing except that grasped by the senses, and so to believe nothing of the truth of faith, see 215, 232, 233, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1385, 2196, 2203, 2209, 2568, 2588. In Isaiah,

He said, You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Isaiah 23:12.

In David,

The daughter of Tyre with an offering, the rich of the people will entreat your face. Psalms 45:12.

What 'the daughter of Sidon' and 'the daughter of Tyre' mean is evident from the meaning of Sidon and Tyre, dealt with in 1201. In Jeremiah,

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom. Your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is at an end. He will no more cause you to migrate; your iniquity will be punished, O daughter of Edom. Lamentations 4:21-22.

In Isaiah,

Like a wandering bird, a scattered nest, will the daughters of Moab be. Isaiah 16:2.

In the same prophet,

Come down and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. Sit quietly and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for no more will they call you the mistress of kingdoms. Isaiah 47:1, 5.

In Jeremiah,

A people coming from the north, arrayed as a man for war against you, O daughter of Babel. Jeremiah 50:41-42.

In the same prophet,

The daughter of Babel is like the threshing-floor; it is time to thresh her. Jeremiah 51:33

In Zechariah,

Ho, Zion! escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babel. Zechariah 2:7.

In David,

The daughter of Babel has been laid waste. Psalms 137:8.

In Ezekiel,

Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will return to their condition as of old, and Samaria and her daughters will return to their condition as of old. Ezekiel 16:55.

[5] Anyone may see that in these places 'daughters' is not used to mean daughters but affections incompatible with truth, and so the varieties of religion that spring from them. But which particular varieties they are is evident from the meaning of those peoples - from the meaning of Edom, Moab, the Chaldeans, Babel, Sodom, Samaria, all of which have been dealt with in various places in the explanations to previous chapters of Genesis. From this what is meant in the present chapter by 'the daughters of the Canaanites' becomes clear.

[6] This command not to contract marriages with the daughters of the Canaanites also had regard to the spiritual requirements that good should not be joined to falsity, nor evil to truth, for the result of any such joining together is profanation. The prohibition was also a representative of the matter referred to in Deuteronomy 7:3, and in Malachi,

Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, in that he loved and married the daughter of a foreign god. Malachi 2:11.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.