圣经文本

 

Genesis第1章:1

学习

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#31

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

31. That 'the great lights' mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations 1 will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord's Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Psalms 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:3-4.

[3] In all of these places 'the lights' mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exodus 27:20-21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.

脚注:

1. literally, orions

  
/10837  
  

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

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Apocalypse Revealed#151

学习本章节

  
/962  
  

151. "'And I will give him the morning star.'" (2:28) This symbolizes intelligence and wisdom then.

Stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth, as may be seen in no 51 above; and because concepts of goodness and truth are the means to intelligence and wisdom, therefore these concepts are symbolically meant by the morning star. It is called the morning star, because the people meant here will be given intelligence and wisdom by the Lord when He comes to establish the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; for He says, "Hold fast what you have till I come" (verse 25), which symbolically means, "so that they may retain the few truths that they know from the Word about charity and its resulting faith, and live according to them, until the New Heaven and New Church are formed, which are the Lord's advent" (no. 145).

[2] It is called the morning star because the morning symbolizes the Lord's advent, when the New Church is formed. That this is the meaning of the morning in the Word is apparent from the following passages:

Till the two thousand three hundredth evening and morning, then the sanctuary shall be made right... The vision of the evening and the morning... is the truth. (Daniel 8:14, 26)

One is calling to me from Seir, "Watchman..., watchman, what of the night?" The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. (Isaiah 21:11-12)

Evening and night symbolize the final period of the old church, and morning the initial period of a new church.

An end has come... The morning has come upon you, you who dwell in the land... Behold, the day... has come! The morning has gone forth. (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10)

Jehovah... every morning will bring His judgment to light, and it shall not be lacking. (Zephaniah 3:5)

God is in the midst of her...; God shall help her when He beholds the morning. (Psalms 46:5)

I have waited for Jehovah... My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, [indeed] than those who watch for the morning... For... with Him is abundant redemption, and He shall redeem Israel... (Psalms 130:5-8)

[3] And elsewhere. Morning in these passages means the Lord's advent, when He came into the world and established a new church, and likewise now. Moreover, because the Lord alone imparts intelligence and wisdom to the people who will be people of His New Church, and as everything that the Lord imparts embody Him because they are His, therefore the Lord says that He is the morning star:

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. (Revelation 22:16)

He is also called the morning in 2 Samuel:

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: .".. He is as the light of the morning..., a morning without clouds...." (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

  
/962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.