IBhayibheli

 

Ezekiel 38

Funda

   

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal: and prophesy of him,

3 And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal.

4 And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in thy jaws: and I will bring thee forth, and ail thy army, horses and horsemen all clothed with coats of mail, a great multitude, armed with spears and shields and swords.

5 The Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans with them, all with shields and helmets.

6 Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Thogorma, the northern parts and all his strength, and many peoples with thee.

7 Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy multitude that is assembled about thee, and be thou commander over them.

8 After many days thou shalt be visited: at the end of years thou shalt come to the land that is returned from the sword, and is gathered out of many nations, to the mountains of Israel which have been continually waste: but it hath been brought forth out of the nations, and they shall all of them dwell securely in

9 And thou shalt go up and come like a storm, and like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee.

10 Thus saith the Lord God: In that day projects shall enter into thy heart, and thou shalt conceive a mischievous design.

11 And thou shalt say: I will go up to the land which is without a wall, I will come to them that are at rest, and dwell securely: all these dwell without a wall, they have no bars nor gates :

12 To take spoils, and lay hold on the prey, to lay thy hand upon them that had been wasted, and afterwards restored, and upon the people that is gathered together out of the nations, which hath begun to possess and to dwell in the midst of the earth.

13 Saba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tharsis, and all the lions thereof shall say to thee: Art thou come to take spoils? behold, thou hast gathered thy multitude to take a prey, to take silver, and gold, and to carry away goods and substance, and to take rich spoils.

14 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy and say to Cog: Thus saith the Lord God: Shalt thou not know, in that day, when my people of Israel shall dwell securely?

15 And then shalt come out of thy place from the northern parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army.

16 And thou shalt come upon my people of Israel like a cloud, to cover the earth. Thou shalt be in the latter days, and I will bring thee upon my land: that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus saith the Lord God: Thou then art he, of whom I have spoken in the days of old, by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in the days of those times that I would bring thee upon them.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day of the coming of Gog upon the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my indignation shall come up in my wrath.

19 And I have spoken in my zeal, and in the fire of my anger, that in that day there shall be a great commotion upon the land of Israel:

20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the ground, and all men that are upon the face of the earth, shall be moved at my presence: and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the hedges shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

21 And I will call in the sword against him in all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be pointed against his brother.

22 And I will judge him with pestilence, and with blood, and with violent rain, and vast hailstones: I will rain fire and brimstone upon him, and upon his army, and upon the many nations that are with him.

23 And I will be magnified, and I will be sanctified: and I will be known in the eyes of many nations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

   

Amazwana

 

Judge

  
St Lucy before the Judge, by Lorenzo Lotto

It's easy to see the connection between judging and truth. In a court of law, the whole purpose of the judge is to find the truth. Any time anyone judges anything, we hope it is on the basis of the truth. It's no wonder, then, that judging and judgment in the Bible represent truth being put to work. Depending on the circumstances judging can be teaching truth, determining someone's character from truth or setting order to things according to truth. There is a twist, though -- when the Lord is referred to as a judge, it actually signifies Divine Good, rather than Divine Truth. This is because the Lord judges us ultimately from love, and his truth flows from that love.

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9279

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

9279. 'And on the seventh day you shall cease' means a state of good, when the person is governed by internal things, and [his] peace and serenity then. This is clear from the meaning of 'the seventh day', or the sabbath, as a time when a person is governed by good and is led by the Lord by means of good, dealt with in 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893; and from the meaning of 'ceasing', or resting from work, as peace and serenity then. Regarding this state, see what has been stated and shown above in 9274, 9278.

[2] But a brief statement must be made to show why it is that when a person is governed by good he is governed by internal things. A PERSON'S EXTERNALS HAVE BEEN CREATED SO AS TO CONFORM TO AN IMAGE OF THE WORLD, BUT HIS INTERNALS TO CONFORM TO AN IMAGE OF HEAVEN, see 6057. Therefore also his externals receive things that belong to the world, but his internals those that belong to heaven. A person's externals belonging to the world are gradually opened up as he progresses from early childhood on into adult life; so are his internals. But the externals are opened up by things belonging to the world, whereas the internals are opened up by those belonging to heaven. Areas of the mind opened up in this way are of two kinds, those in the understanding and those in the will. Those in the understanding are opened up by things connected with truth, and those in the will by things connected with good; for everything in the whole created order, both in the world and in heaven, has connection with truth and good. The things connected with truth are called matters of knowledge and discernment, but those connected with good are called matters of love and affection. This shows exactly what those things are which open up a person's life and what they are like.

[3] As regards the internal man, which has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven, as has been stated, discernments of the truth and good of faith received from the Lord, and therefore of faith in the Lord, are what open up the areas in the understanding there. And affections for truth and good, which are attributes of love received from the Lord, and therefore of love offered to the Lord, are what open up the areas in the will, consequently form heaven and so an image of the Lord with him; for heaven is an image of the Lord. So it is that heaven is called the Grand Man, see 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 4218-4228, and that the human being has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven and an image of the world, 3628, 4523, 4524, 6013, 6057, and a person who has been regenerated and an angel are heaven and the Church in their smallest form, 1900, 3624ff, 3634ff, 3884, 4040, 4041, 4292, 4625, 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 8989. From all this it becomes clear why it is that when a person is governed by good he is governed by internal things. But regarding the opening up of a person's internals and externals, more will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated further on.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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