6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.-Job 1:6-12 King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
543.
...[16] ...The most ancient books, among which is Job, were written by pure correspondences; for a knowledge of correspondences was then the knowledge of knowledges; and those writers were held in highest esteem who were able to compose books abounding in the most numerous and significant correspondences. Such is the book of Job; but the spiritual sense therein collected from correspondences does not treat of the holy things of heaven and the church, as the spiritual sense in the Prophets does; consequently that book is not among the books of the Word; but yet passages are quoted from it on account of the correspondences of which it is full.
740.
...[14] In Job: There was a day when the sons of God came to stand by Jehovah, and Satan came in the midst of them. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking through it. And Jehovah gave into the hand of Satan all things belonging to Job, but he was not to put forth his hand upon Job; also afterwards that he might touch his bone and his flesh (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). That this is a composed history is evident from many things in this book. The book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, full of correspondences, according to the mode of writing at that time, but yet it is an excellent and useful book. The angels at that time were called "sons of God," because "sons of God," the same as "angels," mean Divine truths, and "Satan" infernal [hellish] falsities. And as the hells tempt men by falsities, as Job was afterwards tempted, and as infernal falsities are dispersed by Divine truths, it is said that "Satan stood in the midst of the sons of God." What the rest signifies will not be explained here, since it must be made clear in its series...
CHAPTER 8.
Elihu’s lessons to Jesus' mother Mary, Joseph and Elizabeth in Egypt:
1Again Elihu met his pupils in the sacred grove and said... 17Men seek salvation from an evil that they deem a living monster of the nether world; and they have gods that are but demons in disguise; all powerful, yet full of jealousy and hate and lust; 18Whose favors must be bought with costly sacrifice of fruits, and of the lives of birds, and animals, and human kind. 19And yet these gods possess... no power to save. 20This evil is a myth... 21The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self. 22If man would find his savior he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned the savior, Love, will be exalted to the throne of power.
Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen by Emanuel Swedenborg.
311. XXXV. HEAVEN AND HELL ARE FROM THE HUMAN RACE. In the Christian world it is wholly unknown that heaven and hell are from the human race, for it is believed that in the beginning angels were created and heaven was thus formed; also that the devil or Satan was an angel of light, but having rebelled he was cast down with his crew, and thus hell was formed. The angels never cease to wonder at such a belief in the Christian world, and still more that nothing is really known about heaven, when in fact that is the primary principle of all doctrine in the church. But since such ignorance prevails they rejoice in heart that it has pleased the Lord to reveal to mankind at this time many things about heaven and about hell, thereby dispelling as far as possible the darkness that has been daily increasing... They wish for this reason that I should declare from their lips that in the entire heaven there is not a single angel who was created such from the beginning, nor in hell any devil who was created an angel of light and cast down; but that all, both in heaven and in hell, are from the human race; in heaven those who lived in the world in heavenly love and belief, in hell those who lived in infernal love and belief, also that it is hell taken as a whole that is called the Devil and Satan... The angels said that the Christian world had gathered such a belief about those in heaven and those in hell from some passages in the Word understood according to the mere sense of the letter not illustrated and explained by genuine doctrine from the Word; although the sense of the letter of the Word until illuminated by genuine doctrine, draws the mind in different directions, and this begets ignorance, heresies, and errors.
1Again Elihu met his pupils in the sacred grove and said... 17Men seek salvation from an evil that they deem a living monster of the nether world; and they have gods that are but demons in disguise; all powerful, yet full of jealousy and hate and lust; 18Whose favors must be bought with costly sacrifice of fruits, and of the lives of birds, and animals, and human kind. 19And yet these gods possess... no power to save. 20This evil is a myth... 21The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self. 22If man would find his savior he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned the savior, Love, will be exalted to the throne of power.
No comments:
Post a Comment