Apocalypse Revealed#503
503. We will now say what Egypt symbolizes in the Word: Egypt symbolizes the natural self joined to the spiritual self, and its affection for truth then and consequent knowledge and intelligence. And in an opposite sense it symbolizes the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, and its conceit in its own intelligence then and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters.
Egypt symbolizes the natural self joined to the spiritual self, and its affection for truth then and consequent knowledge and intelligence, in the following passages:
In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt... swearing an oath to Jehovah of Hosts... In that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt... Then Jehovah will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day... (Isaiah 19:18-21)
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, so that the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria - a blessing in the midst of the land, whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, "Blessed is My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance." (Isaiah 19:23-25)
Egypt there is the natural component, Assyria the rational one, and Israel the spiritual one. These three form a person of the church.
That is why the king of Egypt is called "the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings," and Egypt is called "the cornerstone of (the) tribes." (Isaiah 19:11, 13) And regarding Solomon we are told that his wisdom excelled the wisdom of the Egyptians (1 Kings 4:30). We are also told that he "took Pharaoh's daughter as a wife, and brought her into the city of David" (1 Kings 3:1), and that he "built a house for Pharaoh's daughter next to the porch" (1 Kings 7:8).
[2] For this reason Joseph was carried down into Egypt and there became the ruler of the whole land (Genesis 41).
Since Egypt symbolized the natural self in respect to its affection for truth and consequent knowledge and intelligence, therefore Joseph, the husband of Mary, having been warned by an angel, went with the infant Lord into Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15), in fulfillment of the prophecy,
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. (Hosea 11:1)
You caused a vine to come out of Egypt; You... planted it... and caused it to send forth its roots... (Psalms 80:8-9)
For a person is born natural, becomes rational, and later spiritual. Thus is a vine from Egypt planted and caused to take root.
For the sake of this representation, moreover, Abraham sojourned in Egypt (Genesis 12:10ff.). And Jacob was commanded to go with his sons into Egypt, and they also abode there (Genesis 46ff.).
So, too, the land of Canaan, which symbolizes the church, is described to extend "even to the river of Egypt" (Genesis 15:18, 1 Kings 4:21, Micah 7:12). And Egypt is compared to the Garden of Eden, the garden of God (Ezekiel 31:2, 8, Genesis 13:10).
The knowledge of the natural self is also called "the precious things of Egypt" (Daniel 11:43), and "fine embroidered linen from Egypt" (Ezekiel 27:7).
And so on elsewhere where Egypt is spoken of affirmatively, as in Isaiah 27:12-13.
[3] On the other hand, in an opposite sense Egypt symbolizes the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, and its conceit in its own intelligence then and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters, in the following places:
Because...(Pharaoh's) heart was lifted up in its height, and it set its top among the thick boughs..., aliens... will cut him off and cast him down... In the day when he went down to hell..., I covered the deep over him...(and) you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised... (Ezekiel 31:10-18)
...the foundations (of Egypt) shall be overthrown... ...the pride of her power shall come down... ...and shall be laid waste... her cities... in the midst of the desolate cities... I will set fire to Egypt..., and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them throughout the lands. (Ezekiel 30:1ff.)
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help..., and do not look to the Holy One of Israel... For the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:1, 3)
Egypt rises up like a flood... He says, "I will go up, I will cover the earth, (and) I will destroy... Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! ...The sword shall devour (you), and be... made drunk with blood...; there is no healing for you. (Jeremiah 46:2, 8-11)
How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, and the son of ancient kings?" Where are your wise men now? ...let them know... The princes of Zoan have become fools...; they have led Egypt astray..., the cornerstone of (the) tribes... Neither will there be any work for Egypt, which may form the head or the tail... (Isaiah 19:1-17)
...prophesy against... Egypt..., O great whale who lie in the midst of your rivers. Because he said, "My river, and I have made myself," (therefore) I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales... And I will leave you in the wilderness... Therefore... the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste. (Ezekiel 29:1-12)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 30:1, 2, 7; 2 Kings 18:21.
[4] Since the Egyptians became of such a character, therefore they were rendered desolate as regards all the goods and truths of the church. Their desolations are described by the miracles done there, which were plagues, and these symbolized the many lusts of the natural self divorced from the spiritual self, a natural self which acts only in accordance with its own intelligence and its conceit. The plagues symbolic of its lusts were these:
That the water in the river turned to blood so that the fish died and the river stank. (Exodus 7)
That the streams and ponds brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. That the dust of the ground turned into lice. That a swarm of noxious flying insects was sent. (Exodus 8)
[That a pestilence occurred so that the livestock of Egypt died.] That sores were caused to break out with pustules on man and beast. That a downpour of hail mixed with fire rained down. (Exodus 9)
That locusts were sent. That darkness occurred through all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 10).
That all the firstborn in the land of Egypt died. (Exodus 11,12)
And finally, that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 14), which symbolizes hell.
To find what all these things symbolize specifically, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, where they are explained.
It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by the plagues and diseases of Egypt in Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:60; what is symbolically meant by drowning in the river of Egypt in Amos 8:8; 9:5; and why it is that Egypt is called a land of bondage in Micah 6:4, the land of Ham in Psalms 106:22, and an iron furnace in Deuteronomy 4:20, 1 Kings 8:51.
[5] The reason Egypt symbolizes both intelligence and irrationality in spiritual matters was that the Ancient Church, which extended through many kingdoms in Asia, existed also in Egypt, and at that time the Egyptians, more than any others, cultivated a study of the correspondences between spiritual and natural things, as is apparent from the hieroglyphs there. But when that study among them was turned into magic and became idolatrous, then their intelligence in spiritual matters became irrational. Egypt symbolizes this, therefore, in an opposite sense.
It can be seen from this what the great city means, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
1 Kings第7章
1
Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
2
For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
3
It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row.
4
There were beams in three rows, and window was over against window in three ranks.
5
All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was over against window in three ranks.
6
He made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them.
7
He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.
8
His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.
9
All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.
10
The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11
Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.
12
The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like as the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and the porch of the house.
13
King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
14
He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.
15
For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them about.
16
He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
17
There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
18
So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and so did he for the other capital.
19
The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.
20
There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows around on the other capital.
21
He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.
22
On the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
23
He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
24
Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea: the buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
25
It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26
It was a handbreadth thick: and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.
27
He made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits its breadth, and three cubits its height.
28
The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;
29
and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
30
Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports: beneath the basin were the supports molten, with wreaths at the side of each.
31
The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit: and its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.
32
The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33
The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.
34
There were four supports at the four corners of each base: its supports were of the base itself.
35
In the top of the base was there a round compass half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its stays and its panels were of the same.
36
On the plates of its stays, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.
37
In this way, he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.
38
He made ten basins of brass: one basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.
39
He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.
40
Hiram made the basins, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in the house of Yahweh:
41
the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;
42
and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;
43
and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases;
44
and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea;
45
and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in the house of Yahweh, were of burnished brass.
46
In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
47
Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed], because they were exceeding many: the weight of the brass could not be found out.
48
Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the show bread was, of gold;
49
and the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
50
and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, [to wit], of the temple, of gold.
51
Thus all the work that king Solomon worked in the house of Yahweh was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, [even] the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh.
