108、上古之人在将人比作“园子”时，也将智慧和涉及智慧的一切比作“河”。他们不仅拿它们进行对比，也实际如此称呼它们，因为这是他们的说话方式。后来的众先知也是如此，他们有时进行对比，有时直接用名字。如以赛亚书：
你的光必在黑暗中升起，你的幽暗必变成白昼的光明；你必像浇灌的园子，又像出水口，其水不说谎。（以赛亚书58:10–11）
这段经文论及那些接受信和爱的人。又如：
如接连的山谷，如河旁的园子；如耶和华所栽的沉香树，如水边的香柏树。（民数记24:6）
本节论述的主题是重生之人。耶利米书：
倚靠耶和华的，那人有福了。他必像树栽于水旁，在溪流之上发出根来。（耶利米书17:7–8）
在以西结书，重生之人不是被比作一个园子和一棵树，而是直接被如此称呼：
众水使它生长，深水使它长高。所栽之地有江河围流，汊出的水道延到田野的众树。它树大条长，成为美丽，因为它的根在多水之旁。神园中的香柏树不能遮蔽它，松树不及它的枝子，梧桐不及它的枝条，神园中的树都比不上它的美丽。我以其枝条繁多而使它美丽，在神的园中，伊甸所有的树都嫉妒它。（以西结书31:4，7-9）
从这些经文明显可知，当上古教会把人，或人里面的事物比作一个“园子”时，他们会加上浇灌这园子的水或河；这些水和河表示诸如会促使他成长的那类事物。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]108. Since the earliest people compared the human being to a garden, they compared all aspects of wisdom to rivers; or rather than compare them they actually called them those things, because that was their manner of speaking. The prophets later used the same device, sometimes making the comparison, sometimes using the direct name. An example from Isaiah:
In the shadows your light will rise, and your darkness will be like daylight; and you will be like a watered garden and like an outlet of water, whose waters will not prove false. (Isaiah 58:10-11)
This passage is talking about people who accept the gift of faith and love. Another example:
They are planted as valleys are, as gardens beside the river. Like tents{*1} has Jehovah planted them, like cedars beside the water. (Numbers 24:6)
The subject of this verse is regenerate people. In Jeremiah:
Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah. He will be like a tree planted by the water, and above the brook he will send out his roots. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
Here is a passage in Ezekiel in which people are not compared to but called a garden, and trees beside the rivers:
The water made [the cedar] grow; the depths of the water raised it up. A river was winding all around its planting-place and sent out its channels of water to all the trees of the field. Beautiful it became in its size, in the length of its branches, because its root was [going out] to many waters. The cedars cast no shadow on it in the garden of God; the firs were not equal to its branches, and the sycamores did not rival its limbs. No tree in God's garden was equal to it in its beauty. Beautiful he made it in the profusion of its branches, and all the trees of Eden in God's garden strove to match it. (Ezekiel 31:4, 7, 8, 9)
These quotations indicate that in comparing humans (or what humans have inside them) to a garden, the earliest people included the idea of the water or rivers that watered the garden. It is also apparent that they took the water and rivers to mean the things that would stimulate growth.
Footnotes:
{*1} The Hebrew word translated as "tents" here (tentoria in the Latin) actually means "sandalwoods" (which in Latin would be santalos, as Swedenborg renders it elsewhere). The context of the quotation — "How good are your tents, Jacob; your dwellings, Israel! They are planted as valleys are, as gardens beside the river. Like sandalwoods has Jehovah planted them" — suggests that the Latin translation is mistaken and that the tents are actually the item being compared here rather than the item to which something else is compared. The cause of the misreading, as the third Latin edition points out, is probably that the Hebrew words for these two objects are nearly identical: אֲהָלִים ('ăhālîm) means "sandalwoods," and אֹהָלִים ('ōhālîm) means "tents." [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 108
108. The most ancient people, when comparing man to a "garden" also compared wisdom, and the things relating to wisdom, to "rivers;" nor did they merely compare them, but actually so called them, for such was their way of speaking. It was the same afterwards in the Prophets, who sometimes compared them, and sometimes called them so. As in Isaiah:
Thy light shall arise in darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the light of day, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like an outlet of waters, whose waters lie not (Isa. 58:10-11). Treating of those who receive faith and love. Again, speaking of the regenerate:
As the valleys are they planted, as gardens by the river's side; as lignaloes* which Jehovah hath planted, as cedar-trees beside the waters (Num. 24:6). In Jeremiah:
Blessed is the man who trusteth in Jehovah; he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that sendeth forth her roots by the river (Jer. 17:7-8). In Ezekiel the regenerate are not compared to a garden and a tree, but are so called: The waters made her to grow, the deep of waters uplifted her, the river ran round about her plant, and sent out its channels to all the trees of the field; she was made beautiful in her greatness, in the length of her branches, for her root was by many waters. The cedars in the garden of God did not hide her; the fir-trees were not like her boughs, and the plane-trees were not like her branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to her in her beauty; I have made her beautiful by the multitude of her branches, and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied her (Ezek. 31:4, 7-9). From these passages it is evident that when the most ancient people compared man, or the things in man, to a "garden" they added the "waters" and "rivers" by which he might be watered, and by these waters and rivers meant such things as would cause his growth. * The Latin is tentoria, "tents" seemingly a misprint for santalos. [Reviser.]
Elliott(1983-1999) 108
108. Whenever the most ancient people compared man to a garden they would also compare wisdom and everything connected with it to rivers. Yet they did not merely compare but actually called them such since it was characteristic of their speech to do so. At a later time the Prophets in a similar way sometimes compared them, and sometimes actually called them, by these names, as in Isaiah,
Your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as the daylight; and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not. Isa 58:10, 11.
This refers to people who receive love and faith. Also, Like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, like aloesa Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Num 14:6.This refers to people who are regenerate. In Jeremiah, Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah. He will be like a tree planted beside the waters, which will send out its roots above the stream. Jer 17:7, 8.
An instance of regenerate people not being compared to, but actually being called, a garden and a tree beside the rivers occurs in Ezekiel, The waters caused it to grow, the depth of the waters made it grow tall, the river leading around the place of its planting, and he sent out his lines of water to all the trees of the field. It became beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was towards many waters. The cedars did not overshadow it in the garden of God, the fir trees were not equal to its branches, and the plane trees were not like its boughs. No tree in the garden of God was equal to it in its beauty. I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it. Ezek 31:4, 7-9.
From these quotations it is clear that when the most ancient people likened man, or what is the same, the things that are in man, to a garden, they also added the waters and rivers by which it was watered, and that by 'waters and rivers' they understood the things which would cause growth.
Latin(1748-1756) 108
108. Antiquissimi cum comparabant hominem horto, etiam sapientiam et quae sunt sapientiae, comparabant fluviis; nec cor parabant, sed vocabant, nam talis eorum erat loquela; similiter de apud Prophetas, qui ita passim comparabant, passim vocabant; apud Esaiam, Exorietur in tenebris lux tua, et caligo tua erit sicut lux diei,...et eris sicut hortus irriguus, et sicut exitus aquarum cujus non mentientur aquae, lviii {x}10, 11;ubi de iis qui recipiunt fidem et amorem, agitur: tum, Sicut valles plantantur, sicut horti juxta fluvium: sic santalos {1} plantavit Jehovah, sicut cedros juxta aquas, Num. xxiv 6;
ubi de regeneratis: apud Jeremiam, Benedictus vir, qui confidit in Jehovah,...erit sic arbor plantata juxta aquas, et supra rivum emittet radices suas, xvii 7, 8. Quod non comparati horto et arbori juxta fluvios, sed dicti, apud Ezechielem, Aquae crescere fecerunt illam, profunditas aquarum exaltavit illam, fluvius ducens circumcirca plantam ejus, et aquae ductus suos emisit ad omnes arbores agri,...pulchra facta in magnitudine sua, in longitudine ramorum suorum, quia erat radix ejus ad aquas multas: cedri non obscurabant illam in horto Dei, abietes non pares erant ramis ejus, et platani non erant sicut termites ejus; omnis arbor in horto Dei non par erat ei in pulchritudine sua; pulchram feci{2} illam in multitudine ramorum ejus, et aemulatae sunt illam omnes arbores Eden, quae in horto Dei, xxxi 4, 7-9. Ex quibus constat quod antiquissimi cum assimilarunt hominem seu quae sunt in homine quod idem, horto, etiam {3} adjunxerint aquas et fluvios quibus irrigaretur; et quod per 'aquas et fluvios' intellexerint illa quae facerent crescentiam. @ 1 I has tentoria, here, but santalos in n. 2702, 3858, 6335, and A.E. 518. The slip is an easy one to make as tents is ('ohalim) and aloes ('ahalim).$ @ 2 fecit 1.$ @ 3 1 i quod.$