<< Ezekiel XXVIII >>

 1 The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,
 2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God;-
 3 behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee;
 4 by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
 5 by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches;-
 6 therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
 7 therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
 8 They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas.
 9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee.
 10 Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
 11 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
 13 Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the 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 in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared.
 14 Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that 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 unrighteousness was found in thee.
 16 By the abundance of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
 17 Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground; I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
 18 By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee; it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
 19 All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.
 20 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
 21 Son of man, set thy face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
 22 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
 23 For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

 24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

 25 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob.
 26 And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments upon all those that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God.

1 The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,

1-5. Since they believe that they are learned from mere knowledges, and say in their heart that they are most intelligent from themselves. P. P.

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God;-

2-7. The wares with which they traded are knowledges of good and truth, for from these, and from no other source are wisdom and intelligence. But when knowledges are for the sake of self, for the gaining of eminence and of reputation or wealth those who acquire them have no life, and become altogether deprived of them. They are deprived of them in the life of the body by embracing falsities as truths, and evils for goods, and in the other life, they are wholly deprived of those things. A. 2967.
2, 12, 28. The prophet Ezekiel is called son of man. L. 28.

3 behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee;

3, 4. This is said of Tyre. Here gold is the wealth of wisdom, and silver the wealth of intelligence. A. 1551.
3-5. By Tyre and her trading are understood the knowledges of truth and good by which wisdom is procured. To what other purpose could so many things be said concerning her wares and merchandise? E. 514.
3, 4, 13. Gold signifies the good of love, and silver the truths of wisdom. Hence metals exist in the spiritual world also. R. 913.

4 by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
5 by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches;-

4. Here it is distinctly said that gold and silver, or good and truth, are from wisdom and intelligence. A. 113.
4, 5. By wealth and riches in the Word spiritual wealth and riches are meant, which are knowledges of good andJtruth, and therefore the means of wisdom. A. 10227.
    The foregoing statement repeated. R. 206.
    By buying and selling (trafficking) is signified to procure knowledges for one's self. R. 606.
    The church as to the knowledges of truth and good is signified by Tyre, therefore her traffic and gain are treated of in the whole of the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel. R. 759.
    By the prince of Tyre are meant those who are in the knowledges of truth because prince means primary truths. By riches are understood knowledges in general. E.236.
    See Chapter XXVII., 1-36. E. 840.
4, 12, 13. Paradise of God (Eden) signifies the truths of wisdom and faith. By the precious stones, which were a covering, the truths of intelligence are signified. R. 90. See Chapter XXVII., 22. E. 242.

6 therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
7 therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

6-10. Therefore they will falsify all knowledges of truth and will perish thereby. P. P.
7. By the prince of Tyre is here signified the intelligence derived from the knowledges of truth. Because that is extinguished by falsities, it is here said that they would draw their sword upon wisdom. E. 131.
7-8. By the prince of Tyre are signified the primary things of the knowledges of good and truth, dying the death of them that are pierced in the midst of the seas means those who bring forth falsities by means of outward knowledges, and thereby defile the truths of the church. A. 4503.
    The prince of Tyre, by whom are here signified those who are in principles of falsities. A. 4728.
    Spoken of the prince of Tyre, by whom is signified intelligence which is from the knowledges of truth, but in this case intelligence extinguished by falsities. To draw their sword against the beauty of wisdom, signified its extinction by falsities, to bring down to the pit means immersion in falsities, to die the death of the slain -destruction and damnation. The slain those with whom all truth is extinguished. E. 315.
    Those are understood who from self-derived intelligence hatch falsities, by which the knowledges of truth and good are destroyed. Their own ruin by their falsities is signified by "Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee etc." Strangers are falsities which destroy truths. E. 537.

8 They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee.

8, 23. The state of the consummation of the Israelitish church is described. The devastated are also called the pierced (wounded). Coro. 59.

10 Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

10. The uncircumcised are those who are in filthy loves. A. 10287.
By an uncircumcised person is meant one who is not purified from the evils of merely natural love, and who thus is not in charity. E. 817.
The foregoing statement repeated. F. 54

11 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

11. Respecting learning from the Word. P. P.
12. From the Word they have all truths and goods of heaven and the church. P. P.
12, 13. Man's rational is compared to a garden, from the representative that is presented in heaven. A. 1588.
    The truths of the sense of the letter are meant by the precious stones in the garden of Eden. Tyre in the Word mean cognitions of truth and good. A king means the truth of the church, and the garden of Eden wisdom and intelligence from the Word. S. 45.
    Tyre stands for the knowledges of good and truth. W. 325.
    By diadems or precious stones are signified the truths of the Word, particularly those of the literal sense. R. 540.
    By Tyre in the Word is signified the church as to knowledges of good and truth, by king the truth of the church, by the garden of Eden wisdom and intelligence from the Word, by precious stones truths translucent from good, such as are in the letter of the Word. T. 219.
    The king of Tyre signifies the knowledges of the truth, of the church from the Word, and from its literal sense, hence it is said that he was in Eden the garden of God, meaning intelligence from the Lord by the Word, for Eden, as the east, stands for the Lord.
    Beauty signifies intelligence. E. 717.
    A man is often compared to a tree. The garden of God is the church wherein God is  worshipped according to the Word. Coro. 27·
12-14. Here also by precious stones are signified truths from good, for Tyre in the internal representative sense is one who is in intelligence and wisdom from knowledgeof good and truth. A. 9863.
12-15. The first and second states of the Noahtic or ancient church were like the garden of Jehovah. Coro. 41.
12-18. In consequence of which they were in intelligence at first, but afterwards this was dissipated by means of their pride. P. P.
12-14, 16. The Word in its ultimate, which is the sense of the letter, is here signified by the king of Tyre, and a guard by cherub. By precious stones, which are also mentioned here, are meant the truths of the letter of the Word. S. 97.
    Tyre signifies the church as to the knowledges of truth and good, and hence by the king of it, the Word, where and whence these knowledges are. R. 239.
    By the precious stones are meant those things which are of the sense of the letter. T. 260.
    Precious stones are knowledges of truth and good. T.467·
12, 13, 15. That these signify celestial and spiritual things of faith and not stones is manifest. Each particular stone represented a certain essential of faith. A. 114.
    Tyre is the church as to the interior knowledges of truth and good, her intelligence  and wisdom, such as it had been in her infancy, that is, in her first age, is described by these precious stones. The day that she was created signifies the first state, when they were regenerated. A. 9407.
    Speaking of the king of Tyre by whom is signified intelligence derived from knowledges of the truth of faith. A. 9476.

13 Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the 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 in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared.

13. By the timbrels are meant affections for good, and by pipes affections for truth. A. 8337.
    The Word is compared to a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone shining like crystal, because it represents the Divine truth of the Word in the literal sense, translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense. R. 897
    Eden, the garden of God signifies heaven, and therefore also the church. E. 110.
    A jasper signifies the Divine love of truth, or Divine truth proceeding. E. 268.
By the ruby is signified the truth of celestial good. E. 364.
13-15. The Divine truth from the Divine good is what protects, therefore the king of Tyre is called a cherub. Intelligence guards or protects. E. 277.
13 15. This is said of the king of Tyre, by whom are signified they who are in intelligence through Divine truth. R. 254.
    Since the creation of the universe had for its end an angelic heaven from the human race, and at the same time a church on earth, and since the salvation of men is thus a continuation of creation, therefore throughout the Word use is made of the term to create, its meaning is to form heaven. T. 773.
    By the garden of God is signified intelligence, and by the precious stones, which are also named, truth and good. These are called a covering, because they are in
the natural man, and the natural man covers the spiritual. By the day in which they were created is understood the day of reformation. Hence it is evident what
is meant by "thou wast perfect in thy ways" etc. E. 294.
   Creating signifies to produce anew, to form, and properly to regenerate. Regeneration therefore is a new creation. Coro. 23.

14 Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that 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 unrighteousness was found in thee.
16 By the abundance of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground; I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

14. There are many passages in which mention is made of the holy mountain, mountain of Zion, and the mountain of Jehovah. A mountain signifies the Divine good or the good of love, from which proceeds the Divine truth. In the Word mountain signifies the church which is in the good of love to the Lord. E. 405.

18 By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee; it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

18. By ashes is meant falsity. A. 7520 .
    The church perverted among the Jews in the land of Canaan is called the land of traffic. R. 759.

19 All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.
20 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

19, 20. Natural love consumed all things of the church, resulting in their destruction. P. P.

21 Son of man, set thy face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
22 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
 
21-23. Of the understanding of truth, which is meant by Zidon, it will perish by means of falsities. P. P.
23. Pestilence stands for adulterated good, and blood for falsified truth. A. 7102.

24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

24. The thorn and the thistle signify a curse and vastation. A. 273.
A pricking briar stands for the falsity of the lusts of self-love, the thorn for the falsity of the lusts of the love of the world. A. 9144.
    Their destruction lest the church should be still further destroyed. P. P.
24, 26. Because Zidon signifies exterior knowledges, it is said to be a border round about Israel, or the spiritual church. A. 1201.

25 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments upon all those that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God.

25, 26. Here vineyard stands for Israel, or the spiritual church. Planting vineyards for being instructed in the truths and goods of faith. A. 1069.
    A new church will come into existence, when the former has been condemned P. P.
26. Vineyard signifies the spiritual church. E. 919.

Author: Emanuel Swedenborg (Compiled by Robert S. Fischer 1925)