圣经文本

 

Daniel第2章

学习

   

1 In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodonosor had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of his mind.

2 Then the king commanded to call together the diviners and the wise men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: to declare to the king his dreams: so they came and stood before the king.

3 And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw.

4 And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live for ever: tell to thy servants thy dream, and we will declare the interpretation thereof.

5 And the king answering said to the Chaldeans: The thing is gone out of my mind: unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof, you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated.

6 But if you tell the dream, and the meaning of it, you shall receive of me rewards, and gifts, and great honour: therefore tell me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

7 They answered again and said: Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation of it.

8 The king answered, and said: I know for certain that you seek to gain time, since you know that the thing is gone from me.

9 If therefore you tell me not the dream, there is one sentence concerning you, that you have also framed a lying interpretation, and full of deceit, to speak before me till the time pass away. tell me therefore the dream, that I may know that you also give a true interpretation thereof.

10 Then the Chaldeains answered before the king, and said: There is no man upon earth, that can accomplish thy word, O king, neither doth any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any diviner, or wise man, or Chaldean.

11 For the thing that thou askest, O king, is difficult; nor can any one be found that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose conversation is not with men.

12 Upon hearing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath, commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death.

13 And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death.

14 Then Daniel inquired concerning the law and the sentence, of Arioch the general of the king's army, who was gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon.

15 And he asked him that had received the orders of the king, why so cruel a sentence was gone forth from the face of the king. And when Arioch had told the matter to Daniel,

16 Daniel went in and desired of the king, that he would give him time to resolve the question and declare it to the king.

17 And he went into his house, and told the matter to Ananias, and Misael, and Azarias his companions:

18 To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of heaven concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

19 Then was the mystery revealed to Daniel by a vision in the night: and Daniel blessed the God of heaven,

20 And speaking he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from eternity and for evermore: for wisdom and fortitude are his.

21 And he changeth times and ages: taketh away kingdoms and establisheth them, giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding.

22 He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness: and light is with him.

23 To thee, O God of our fathers, I give thanks, and I praise thee: because thou hast given me wisdom and strength: and now thou hast shewn me what we desired of thee, for thou hast made known to us, the king's discourse.

24 After this Daniel went in to Arioch, to whom the king had given orders to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and he spoke thus to him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will tell the solution to the king.

25 Then Arioch in haste brought in Daniel to the king, and said to him: I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Juda, that will resolve the question to the king.

26 The king answered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Baltassar: Thinkest thou indeed that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and the interpretation thereof?

27 And Daniel made answer before the king, and said: The secret that the king desireth to know, none of the wise men, or the philosophers, or the diviners, or the soothsayers can declare to the king.

28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth mysteries, who hath shewn to thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, what is to come to pass in the latter times. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:

29 Thou, O king, didst begin to think in thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth mysteries shewed thee what shall come to pass.

30 To me also this secret is revealed, not by any wisdom that I have more than all men alive: but that the interpretation might be made manifest to the king, and thou mightest know the thoughts of thy mind.

31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.

32 The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass:

33 And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay.

34 Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron and of clay, and broke them in pieces.

35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of a summer's thrashingfloor, and they were carried away by the wind: and there was no place found for them: but the stone that struck the statue, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

36 This is the dream: we will also tell the interpretation thereof before thee, O king.

37 Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory:

38 And all places wherein the children of men, and the beasts of the field do dwell: he hath also given the birds of the air into thy hand, and hath put all things under thy power: thou therefore art the head of gold.

39 And after thee shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to thee, of silver: and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the world.

40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break and destroy all these.

41 Arid whereas thou sawest the feet, and the toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shall be divided, but yet it shall take its origin from the iron, according as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay.

42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

43 And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall be mingled indeed together with the seed of man, but they shall not stick fast one to another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay.

44 But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.

45 According as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in pieces, the clay, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is faithful.

46 Then king Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer in sacrifice to him victims and incense.

47 And the king spoke to Daniel, and said: Verily your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of hidden things: seeing thou couldst discover this secret.

48 Then the king advanced Daniel to a high station, and gave him many and great gifts: and he made him governor over all the provinces of Babylon, and chief of the magistrates over all the wise men of Babylon.

49 And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago over the works of the province of Babylon: but Daniel himself was in the king's palace.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#9406

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

9406. 'And under His feet' means the lowest level of meaning, which is that of the letter itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, so that the soles under the feet are the lowest things in the natural order. The reason why the lowest level of meaning in the Word, which is the sense of the letter, is meant here by 'under the feet' is that these words refer to Divine Truth or the Word, which comes from the Lord and is the Lord, as may be recognized from what has come before. And the lowest level of God's truth or the Word is the Word as it exists in the sense of the letter, that is, the natural sense since it is intended for the natural man. The fact that the sense of the letter contains an internal sense, which in comparison is spiritual and heavenly, is clear from all those things which have been shown up to now regarding the Word. But the more worldly- and bodily-minded a person is, the less he understands this, because he does not allow himself to be raised into spiritual light and from there to see what the Word is like, namely that in the letter it is natural and in the internal sense is spiritual. For it is possible to see from the spiritual world or the light of heaven what lower things down to the lowest are like, but not from below upwards, 9401 (end), and so to see that the Word in the letter is as described above.

[2] Since the Word in the letter is natural, and natural things are meant by 'the feet', the lowest level of the Word, like the lowest of the Church, is called 'the place of Jehovah's feet', also 'His footstool', 1 as well as 'clouds and darkness' in comparison, as in Isaiah,

They will keep Your gates open continually, to bring to You the army 2 of the nations, and their kings in procession. 3 The glory of Lebanon will come to You, the fir, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Isaiah 60:11, 13.

This refers to the Lord and to His kingdom and Church. 'The army of the nations' is used to mean those with whom forms of the good of faith exist, and 'kings' to mean those with whom the truths of faith are present. For the meaning of 'nations' as those with whom forms of the good of faith exist, see 1259, 1328, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, and for that of 'kings' as those with whom truths are present, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148. 'The glory of Lebanon', or the cedar, is spiritual good and truth; 'the fir, the pine, and the box tree' are corresponding, natural forms of good and truth; 'the place of the sanctuary' is heaven and the Church, and the Word as well; 'the place of the feet' is heaven, the Church, and the Word as well, on their lowest levels. The reason why the Word as well is meant is that heaven is heaven, and the Church likewise the Church, by virtue of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and Divine Truth which makes the Church and heaven is the Word. This also explains why the inmost part of the tent in which the ark containing the law was is called 'the sanctuary'; for 'the law' is the Word, 6752. In the same prophet,

The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Isaiah 66:1.

[3] In David,

Exalt Jehovah our God, and worship at His footstool. Holy is He! Moses and Aaron were among His priests; He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. Psalms 99:5-7.

'Jehovah's footstool' which they were to worship at is Divine Truth on its lowest levels, thus the Word. 'Moses and Aaron' in the representative sense are the Word, see 7089, 7382, 9373, 9374, and 'cloud' is the Word in the letter or Divine Truth on its lowest levels, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8781; and from all this it is evident what 'speaking in the pillar of cloud' means.

[4] In the same author,

We heard of Him in Ephrathah, we found Him in the fields of the wood. We will enter His dwelling-places, and we will bow down at His footstool. Psalms 132:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and the revelation of Himself in the Word. 'Finding Him in Ephrathah' means doing so in the spiritual-celestial sense of the Word, 4585, 4594, 'in the fields of the wood' in the natural or literal sense of the Word, 3220, 9011 (end). 'Footstool' stands for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it exists on the lowest levels of the Word.

[5] In the same author,

Jehovah bowed heaven, and thick darkness was under His feet. He made darkness His hiding-place - darkness of waters, clouds of the heavens. From the brightness before Him His clouds passed away. Psalms 18:9, 11-12.

This refers to the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. 'Thick darkness under His feet' stands for the sense of the letter of the Word, as does 'darkness of waters' and 'clouds of the heavens'. The fact that this very sense holds within itself Divine Truth as this exists in the heavens is meant by 'He made darkness His hiding-place'; and the fact that at the presence of the Lord the internal sense then appears, as it exists in heaven, and in its glory, is meant by 'from the brightness before Him His clouds pass away'. In Nahum,

The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.

Here also 'the clouds' stands for the Word in the sense of the letter, which is also meant by 'storm and tempest', in which 'the way of Jehovah' lies.

[6] When God's truth as it is in heaven shines through for a person in the actual sense of the letter, this sense is then portrayed as 'the feet', which have a shine 'like that of burnished bronze', as also in Daniel,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a Man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and His body was like tarshish; 4 and His face was like the appearance 5 of lightning, and His eyes were like fiery torches; His arms and His feet were like the shine of burnished bronze, and the sound of His words like the sound of a crowd. Daniel 10:5-6.

Here 'a Man clothed in linen' is used to mean in the highest sense the Lord; and since the Lord is meant it is also used to mean Divine Truth emanating from Him. For Divine Truth that emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself in heaven and in the Church. God's truth or the Lord on lowest levels is meant by 'arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze', and also by 'the sound of His words like the sound of a crowd'; and something similar is meant in Ezekiel 1:7.

[7] The successive state of the Church on this planet so far as reception of God's truth emanating from the Lord is concerned is also meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel,

The head of the statue was gold, its breast and its arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, its feet were partly iron and partly clay which did not cohere with each other. And the stone cut out of the rock smashed to pieces the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Daniel 2:32-35, 43, 45.

The first state of the Church so far as reception of God's truth emanating from the Lord is concerned is 'the gold', because 'gold' means celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 8932. The second state is meant by 'the silver', this being spiritual good, which is the good of faith in the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, 1551, 2954, 5658, 7999. The third state is meant by 'the bronze', which is natural good, 425, 1551. And the fourth state is meant by 'the iron', which is natural truth, 425, 426. 'The clay' means falsity, which does not cohere with truth and good. The smashing to pieces of the iron, bronze, silver, and gold by the stone cut out of the rock means the destruction of the Church so far as reception of truth from the Word is concerned when the sense of the letter of the Word is used to reinforce falsity and evil. This happens when the Church is in its final state, at which time it is no longer governed by any heavenly love, only by worldly and bodily love. This was how it was with the Word so far as reception of it among the Jewish nation was concerned when the Lord came into the world. And it is how it is with the Word among the majority at the present day. They are not even aware that there is anything inwardly present in the Word; and if they were told that there is and what it is like they would not accept it. Yet in most ancient times, which are meant by 'the gold', people saw within the sense of the letter of the Word nothing apart from what was heavenly, almost independently of the letter.

From all this it may now be recognized that 'the God of Israel' and what was seen 'under His feet' means the Word on its lowest level of meaning, which is the sense of the letter.

脚注:

1. literally, the stool of His feet

2. Though the Hebrew word means army it may be rendered alternatively as strength or as wealth. Most English versions of the Scriptures prefer one of these.

3. literally, their kings will be led

4. A Hebrew word for a particular kind of precious stone, possibly a beryl.

5. literally, the face

  
/10837  
  

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