Wednesday 17 June 2009

Ezekiel 28:11-19 Say unto the king of Tyrus

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.-Ezekiel 28:11-19 King James Version (KJV)



True Christian Religion, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1771], tr. by John C. Ager [1906] at sacred-texts.com
260
It must be understood, moreover, that the sense of the letter is a guard for the genuine truths concealed within it, that they may not be injured. It is a guard in this way, that it may be turned hither and thither, and explained according to each one's understanding of it, and yet without injury or violence to its internal. For no harm is done when one person understands the sense of the letter in one way, and another in another way; but the harm is done when falsities are brought in which are contrary to Divine truths... The sense of the letter of the Word as such a guard is signified in the Word by "cherubs," and is there described in this way. This guard is signified by the cherubs that were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden, after Adam and his wife had been expelled from it, about which we read as follows: When Jehovah God had driven man out He made cherubs to dwell at the east of the garden of Eden and the flame of a sword turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 3:23, 24). [2] No one can see what this means, unless he knows what is signified by "cherubs" and by "the garden of Eden," and by "the tree of life" there, and finally by "the flame of a sword turning every way." These particulars are explained in the exposition of this chapter in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, namely, that "cherubs" signify a guard; "the way of the tree of life" signifies entrance to the Lord, which man obtains through the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; "the flame of a sword turning every way" signifies Divine truth in outmost things, like the Word in the sense of the letter, which sense may be so turned. The same is meant by, The cherubs of gold placed at the two ends of the mercy-seat, which was over the ark in the tabernacle (Exod. 25:18-21), "the ark" signifying the Word, because the Decalogue [or the Ten Commandments,] which it contained, was the primitive of the Word, and the "cherubs" signifying a guard... [3] Because "cherubs" signify a guard, that the Lord, heaven, and Divine truth such as it is interiorly in the Word, be not approached immediately, but mediately through outmosts, it is said of the king of Tyre: Thou sealest up thy measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. Thou cherub, the spreading out of one that protects; I have destroyed thee, O protecting cherub, in the midst of the stones of fire (Ezek. 28:12-14, 16). "Tyre" signifies the church as to knowledges of good and truth and therefore "the king of Tyre" signifies the Word, in which and from which those knowledges are; and here the Word in its outmost is evidently signified, and protection by "the cherub," for it is said, "Thou sealest up thy measure," "every precious stone was thy covering," "thou cherub, the spreading out of one that protects," also, "O protecting cherub." The "precious stones" there mentioned mean the things belonging to the sense of the letter (as may be seen above, n. 217, 218)...






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