10618. 'Long-suffering with regard to anger' means Divine leniency. This is clear from the meaning of 'long-suffering with regard to anger', when used in reference to Jehovah, as the fact that He tolerates a person's evils for a long while; for 'long-suffering' means tolerating and bearing for a long while, and 'anger' the evils that exist in a person. The reason why 'anger', when spoken of in reference to Jehovah, means a person's evils is that evil, but never good, is what erupts into anger, and evil is something that resides in man, never in the Lord; for the Lord is Goodness itself. Even so, ill is attributed to the Lord, because it seems to a person that it is attributable to Him when he himself does not obtain what he desires, or when he is punished on account of evil. Since then 'long-suffering with regard to anger', when used in reference to Jehovah, means tolerating a person's evils for a long while, it follows that Divine leniency is meant by those words.

[2] As regards anger, it should in addition be remembered that evil, and never good, is what erupts into it; for being angry consists in bearing ill will towards another, which is something that good can never do, for good consists in good will towards another. All evil holds enmity, hatred, vengeance, and cruelty within itself; in these and from these evil derives its delight. Furthermore evil hates good, because good stands in opposition to its delights. Consequently when evil is unable to do harm to good, which evil is always trying to do, it first of all feels annoyed and afterwards erupts into anger. Whether you say evil or a person who is evil, it amounts to the same thing, for the evil exists within the person, as in its subject ¹ . And since evil acts in that angry way against good it does so against the Divine; for all good, since it comes from the Divine, is the Divine as He exists with a person. This explains why a person who is evil is always angry with the Divine, though outwardly in the presence of others he speaks as though he is not.

[3] What makes him speak in this way is either hypocrisy or a wish for the Divine to pander to him in all things, giving him whatever he likes, even to taking revenge or wreaking vengeance on all whom he harbours hatred against. But as soon as he sees that this cannot happen, and especially if he himself is punished on account of his evil, he is angry with God, so angry that he rejects Him, and also at heart curses Him. The truth of this is plainly visible in the next life; for there a person acts in accord with his inner thoughts and desires and not, as he had done in the world, in accord with his outward pretence. And in the next life punishment is attached to and so to speak inherent within the evil that merits it. See what has been shown previously on these matters,

Anger can be identified with evil, 6358, 6359.

Anger and evil are attributed to God, when in fact they exist in man, and no ill or evil at all comes from God, in the places referred to in 9306, 10431.

Evil carries its punishment with it, 1857, 8214, 8223, 8226, 9048.

脚注:

9306. 'Take notice of his face' means holy fear. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking notice of the face', when it has reference to the Lord, whom 'the angel' is used to mean to here, as fearing that He may be angry on account of evils, or provoked on account of transgressions, as below; and fearing these things is holy fear. Regarding this fear, see 2826, 3718, 3719, 5459, 5534, 7280, 7788, 8816, 8925. The words 'taking notice of his face' are used because 'the face' means the interior things that constitute a person's life, thus his thought and affection, and in particular his faith and love. The reason for this is that the face has been fashioned so that it can produce an image of a person's interiors. It has been so fashioned to the end that those things which belong to the internal man may appear within the external, thus to the end that those things which belong to the spiritual world can be visualized in the natural world and so have an effect on one's neighbour. It is well known that the face presents visually, or as if in a mirror, what a person thinks and loves. This is so with honest people's faces, and especially with angels' faces, see 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4326, 4796-4799, 5102, 5695, 6604, 8248-8250. For this reason 'face' in the original language is a general term that is used to describe the feelings a person has which reveal themselves, such as those of indulgence, favour, goodwill, helpfulness, or kindness, and also lack of pity, anger, or vengeance. So it is that in that language when this word is coupled with another it means beside, with, in front of, on account of, or else against, thus whatever is within, from, for, or against the person himself. For as has been stated, 'the face' is a person's true self, or that present within a person which reveals itself.

[2] All this enables one to know what is meant by the face of Jehovah, or 'the face of the angel', who in this instance is the Lord in respect of His Divine Human - namely the Divine Good of Divine Love, and the Divine Truth emanating from that Divine Good, since these reside within Jehovah or the Lord, come from Him, indeed are Himself, see 222, 223, 5585. From this it is evident what 'the face of Jehovah' means in the Blessing,

Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26.

In David,

God be merciful to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

The like may be seen in Psalms 80:3, 7, 19; 119:134-135; Daniel 9:17; and in other places.

[3] So it is that the Lord's Divine Human is called 'the angel of Jehovah's face' in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded ¹ them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. And the angel of His face saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.

The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is called 'the angel of Jehovah's face' is that the Divine Human is the Divine Himself facially, that is, in outward form, as also the Lord teaches in John,

If you know Me you know My Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. John 14:7-11.

[4] 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' also means anger, vengeance, punishment, and ill. It does so because simple people, in accepting the general idea that all things come from God, believe that even ill, especially the misery of punishment, comes from Him. For this reason - in keeping with that general idea, and also with appearances - anger, vengeance, punishment, or ill is attributed to Jehovah the Lord, when in fact the Lord is not the source of them but man. Regarding this, see 1861, 2447, 5798, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8483, 8632, 8875, 9128. This kind of meaning appears here in 'take notice of his face, lest you provoke him, for he will not bear your transgression', and also in Leviticus,

Whoever eats any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 17:10.

In Jeremiah,

I have set My face against the city for ill and not for good. Jeremiah 21:10.

And in David,

Jehovah's face is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. Psalms 34:16.

脚注: