7051.对圣言的内义一无所知的人只会以为以色列和犹太民族优先于其它一切民族被拣选，因此比其它民族更优秀，他们自己也是这么认为的。令人惊讶的是，不仅这个民族自己这样认为，就连基督徒也这么认为，无论他们多么清楚地知道，这个民族被各种污秽的爱，被肮脏的贪婪，仇恨和骄傲所吞噬；此外，他们还轻视并厌恶属于仁与信，属于主的内在事物。基督徒之所以也认为这个民族优先于其它民族被拣选，是因为他们认为，一个人被拣选是由于怜悯，不管他过着怎样的生活，因此恶人和敬虔的正直人一样能被接入天堂。他们没有想到，拣选是普世的，也就是说，它包括所有过着良善生活的人。他们也没有想到，主的怜悯面向放弃邪恶，想要过良善的生活，从而允许自己被主引导并重生的每个人，而这个过程是通过他的整个一生来实现的。
这也解释了为何在基督教界，绝大多数人也以为这个民族会再次被拣选，并且当这种情况发生时，他们会被带回迦南地。这种信仰也符合字义，如许多相关经文（以赛亚书10:20-22；11:11，12；29末尾；43:5，6；49:6-26；46:8；60:4；61:3-10；62；耶利米书3:14-19；15:4，14；16:13，15；23:7，8；24:9，10；25:29；29:14，18；30:3，8-11；31:8-10，17；33:16，20，26；以西结书5:10，12，15；16:60；20:41；22:15，16；34:12，13；37:21，22；38:12；39:23，27，28；但以理书7:27；12:7；何西阿书3:4，5；约珥书2:32；3；阿摩司书9:8，9；弥迦书5:7，8）。正是基于这些，以及其它经文，甚至连基督徒也以为这个民族会再次被拣选，并被带回迦南地；尽管他们知道这个民族正在等候一位弥赛亚，祂会把这个民族领进去，尽管他们同时也意识到，对祂的这种等候、期待是徒然的，弥赛亚或基督的国不属这个世界，这意味着弥赛亚将要领他们所进入的迦南地是指天堂。
这种人没有意识到，圣言有灵义在里面，就灵义而言，“以色列”不是指以色列，“雅各”不是指雅各，“犹大”不是指犹大；相反，这些人表示他们所代表的事物。他们没有想一想，这个民族的历史已经表明它在旷野中是何品质，后来在迦南地又是何品质，即：它心里其实是偶像崇拜者；或想一想先知们对于它、它的属灵淫乱和可憎的事所说的话。在摩西之歌中，下面这些话描述了这个民族的品质：
我要向他们掩面，看他们将来如何。他们本是极乖僻的一代，心中无诚实的儿女。我说，我必将他们放逐到极远的角落，使人不再记住他们；惟恐仇敌惹动我，只怕敌人说，我们的手在高处，并非耶和华作了这一切的事。因为他们是缺乏智谋的民族，他们里面毫无聪明。他们的葡萄树是所多玛的葡萄树，蛾摩拉田园所生的。他们的葡萄是毒葡萄，他们那全挂都是苦的。他们的酒是大蛇的毒气，是虺蛇残害的毒液。这不是贮藏在我这里，封闭在我宝库中吗？他们失脚的时候，伸冤报应在我；因他们遭灾的日子近了，那要临在他们身上的，必速速来到。（申命记32:20，26-28，32-35）
耶和华将这歌传给摩西（申命记31:19，21）。主还在约翰福音中论到这个民族说：
你们是出于你们的父魔鬼，你们父的私欲，你们偏要行。他从起初是杀人的，不守真理。（约翰福音8:44）
除此之外还有其它许多经文表明这个民族的品质。
尽管基督徒知道这些事，但他们仍认为这个民族最终会皈依主，然后被领到他们以前所在的地方；这是因为如前所述，他们不知道圣言的内义。另一个原因是，他们以为人的生活无济于事，哪怕通过反复的行为而根深蒂固的邪恶也不会阻碍人通过信，甚至通过短短一个小时的信而变得属灵、重生，从而蒙主接纳。他们还以为进入天堂的许可只是怜悯、仁慈的事，这种怜悯、仁慈只施给一个民族，而不是施给全世界所有接受主的怜悯、仁慈的民族。有这种想法的人不知道，有些人被选中，生来就得到拯救和天堂，而有些人没有被选中，生来就得到诅咒和地狱，这完全违背神性。如此思想神性是令人震惊、相当可怕的，因为这种行为无情到了顶点，完全缺乏仁爱；而事实上，神性是怜悯、仁慈本身。由此可以看出，以色列和犹太民族过去没有被拣选，将来更不会被拣选；还可以看出，这个民族中间没有，也不可能有一丝教会的踪迹，只有一个教会的代表；它之所以一直被保存到今日，是为了旧约圣言（对此，参看3479节）。
Potts(1905-1910) 7051
7051. They who know nothing of the internal sense of the Word cannot believe otherwise than that the Israelitish and Jewish nation was chosen above every other nation, and hence was more excellent than all the rest, as also they themselves believed. And wonderful to say, this is believed not only by that nation itself, but also by Christians, in spite of the fact that the latter know that that nation is in filthy loves, in sordid avarice, in hatred, and in conceit; and that they also make light of, and even hold in aversion, the internal things which are of charity and faith, and which are of the Lord. The reason why Christians also believe that that nation was chosen above others, is that they believe that the election and salvation of man is from mercy, no matter how he lives, and thus that the wicked can be received into heaven equally with the pious and the upright; not considering that election is universal, namely, of all who live in good, and that the mercy of the Lord is toward every man who abstains from evil and is willing to live in good, and thus who suffers himself to be led of the Lord and to be regenerated, which is effected by the unbroken course of his life. [2] Hence also it is that most persons in the Christian world also believe that that nation will again be chosen, and will then be brought back into the land of Canaan, and this also according to the sense of the letter, as in many passages (Isa. 10:20-22; 11:11, 12; 29 at the end; 43:5, 6; 49:6-26; 46:8; 60:4; 61:3-10; 62; Jer. 3:14-19; 15:4, 14; 16:13, 15; 23:7, 8; 24:9, 10; 25:29; 29:14, 18; 30:3, 8-11; 31:8-10, 17; 33:16, 20, 26; Ezek. 5:10, 12, 15; 16:60; 20:41; 22:15, 16; 34:12, 13; 37:21, 22; 38:12; 39:23, 27, 28; Dan. 7:27; 12:7; Hosea 3:4, 5; Joel 2:32; 3; Amos 9:8, 9; and in Micah 5:7, 8). From these and also from other passages, even Christians believe that that nation will again be chosen and will be brought into the land of Canaan, although they know that that nation is waiting for a Messiah who will bring them in, and although they know that this expectation is vain, and that the kingdom of the Messiah or Christ is not of this world, and thus that the land of Canaan, into which the Messiah will bring men, is heaven. [3] Neither do they consider that in the Word there is a spiritual sense, and that in this sense by "Israel" is not meant Israel, nor by "Jacob" Jacob, nor by "Judah" Judah; but that by these men are meant what they represent. Neither do they consider the history of that nation, showing what its quality was in the wilderness, and afterward in the land of Canaan, that at heart it was idolatrous; and what the prophets say of it, and of its spiritual whoredom and abominations. This quality is described in the song in Moses, in these words:
I will hide My faces from them, I will see what their posterity will be; for they are a generation of perversions, sons in whom is no faithfulness. I said, I will cast them out into the furthest corners; I will make the memory of men to cease from man; unless their foes should say, Our hand is high, and Jehovah hath not done all this. For they are a nation lost in counsels, and there is no intelligence in them. Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, clusters of bitterness are theirs. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Is not this hidden with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, in time their foot shall slide; for the day of their destruction is near, and the things that are to come upon them make haste (Deut. 32:20, 26-28, 32-35). That Jehovah dictated this song to Moses may be seen in the previous chapter (Deut. 31:19, 21). Of that nation the Lord also says in John:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth (John 8:44);
besides in many other passages. [4] That although they know these things, Christians nevertheless believe that that nation will at last be converted to the Lord, and will then be brought into the land where they were before, is because, as already said, they do not know the internal sense of the Word; and because they suppose that the life of man effects nothing, and that evil, even when rooted in by repeated acts, is no hindrance to a man's becoming spiritual, and being regenerated, and thus accepted by the Lord, through faith, even that of one short hour; also that admission into heaven is of mercy alone, and that this mercy is toward a single nation, and not so toward all in the universe who receive the mercy of the Lord. They who think thus do not know that it is quite contrary to the Divine that some should be born as the elect to salvation and heaven, and some as the nonelect to damnation and hell. To think so about the Divine would be horrible, because such conduct would be the height of unmercifulness, when yet the Divine is mercy itself. From all this it can now be seen that the Israelitish and Jewish nation was not chosen, and still less that it will be chosen; and also that there was not anything of the church with it, nor could be, but only the representative of a church; and that the reason why it has been preserved even to this day, has been for the sake of the Word of the Old Testament (n. 3479).
Elliott(1983-1999) 7051
7051. People who know nothing at all about the internal sense of the Word cannot help thinking that the Israelite and Jewish nation was chosen in preference to every other nation and was therefore of superior quality to all the rest, as those who belonged to that nation also thought. And what is so astonishing, this is not only what that nation itself thinks but also what Christians think, no matter how well they know that this nation is eaten up by filthy kinds of love, by foul avarice, hatred, and pride, and in addition to this belittles and also loathes things of an internal nature that belong to charity and faith and are the Lord's. The reason why Christians also think that this nation was chosen in preference to others is that they think a person is chosen and saved as a result of mercy, irrespective of the life he leads, so that those who are criminal can be received into heaven just as well as the godly and upright. They give no consideration to the idea that choice or election is all-embracing, that is to say, that it includes all who lead a good life. Nor do they consider that the Lord's mercy is shown to every person who refrains from evil and wishes to lead a good life, and so who allows himself to be led by the Lord and to be regenerated, a process which is being effected throughout the course of his life.
[2] This goes to explain too why the majority of people in the Christian world also believe that that nation will again be chosen, and that when this happens they will be led back into the land of Canaan. And this belief is also in keeping with the sense of the letter, for example in the following places: Isaiah 10:20-23; 11;11, 12; 29:14-end; 43:5, 6; 49:6-26; 56:8, 60:4; 61:3-10; 62: Jeremiah 3:14-19; 15:4, 14: 16:13, 15; 23:7, 8; 24:9, 10; 31:31, 33; 25:29; 29:14, 18; 30:3, 8-11; 31:8-10, 17; 33:16, 20, 26; Ezekiel 5:10, 12, 15; 16:60; 20:41; 22;15, 16; 34:12, 13; 37:21, 22; 38:12; 39:23, 27, 28; Daniel 7:27; 12:7; Hosea 3:4, 5; Joel 2:32; 3; Amos 9:8, 9 and following verses; Micah 5:7, 8. It is on the basis of these as well as other places that even Christians think that nation will again be chosen and led into the land of Canaan. They think this even though they know that nation is waiting for the Messiah who will then lead the nation in, and are at the same time aware that its waiting for Him is in vain, and that the Messiah's or Christ's kingdom is not of this world, which means that the land of Canaan into which the Messiah will lead them is heaven.
[3] Such people give no thought to the idea that the Word has a spiritual sense within it and that in that sense Israel is not meant by Israel, Jacob by Jacob, or Judah by Judah, but that the things which they represent are meant by them. Nor do they give any thought to what the historical sections record regarding that nation - what it was like in the wilderness and what it was like after that in the land of Canaan, namely that it was at heart idolatrous - or to what the Prophets say about it and about its spiritual whoredom and its abominations. What that nation is like is described in the following words contained in the Song in Moses,
I will conceal My face from them; I will see what their future will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. I would have said, I will expel them to the remotest corners, I will make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that enemies might say, Our hand is high, and not Jehovah has done all this. For they are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is this not hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; in time their foot will slip, for near is the day of their destruction, and the things to come upon them hasten on. Deut 31:20, 26-28, 32-35.
Jehovah gave Moses the words of this song, see Deut 31:19, 21.The Lord too spoke about what that nation was like, in John,
You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.
And many other places besides these show what that nation was like.
[4] The reason why, although they know these things, Christians believe that that nation will at length be converted to the Lord and at that time led into the land where they lived before is, as has been stated, that they have no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word. Another reason is their supposition that it makes no difference what kind of life a person leads, and that even evil which has become deeply rooted through repeated actions in no way prevents a person - through faith, even if it has existed for only one part of an hour - from being made spiritual, being regenerated, and so being accepted by the Lord. They also suppose that admission into heaven is solely a matter of mercy, and that this is shown towards one particular nation, thus not towards all in the whole world who receive the Lord's mercy. Those who think in that way do not know that it is altogether contrary to the Divine that some should be chosen and born to salvation and heaven, and others should not be chosen but born to damnation and hell. To think about the Divine in that kind of way would be shocking, for making such choices would show a complete lack of mercy, when in fact the Divine is Mercy itself. From all this it may now be recognized that the Israelite and Jewish nation was not and never will be the chosen nation; also that not a trace of the Church existed or could exist with that nation, only a representative of the Church; and that it was preserved right up to the present day because of the Old Testament Word, regarding which see 3479.
Latin(1748-1756) 7051
7051. Qui de sensu interno Verbi nihil sciunt, illi non aliter credere possunt quam quod gens Israelitica et Judaica fuerit prae omni alia gente electa, et inde reliquis praestantior, ut quoque crediderunt ipsi; et quod mirum, hoc non solum credit ipsa illa gens, sed etiam id credunt Christiani; utcumque hi sciunt quod gens illa sit in spurcis amoribus, in sordida avaritia, in odio, et in fastu {1}; et praeterea, quod interna quae sunt charitatis et fidei et quae sunt Domini nihil faciant et quoque aversentur; quod Christiani etiam credant quod gens illa prae aliis electa fuerit, est {2}ex causa quia credunt quod electio et salvatio hominis sit ex misericordia, utcumque homo vivit, ac ita quod scelesti possint aeque in caelum recipi, ac pii et probi, non {3}considerantes quod electio sit universalis, nempe omnium qui in bono vivunt; et quod Misericordia Domini sit {4}erga omnem hominem qui abstinet a malo et vult vivere in bono, et {5}sic qui patitur se duci a Domino, ac regenerari, quod fit per continuum vitae ejus 2 inde quoque est quod plerique in Christiano orbe {6}etiam credant quod gens illa iterum {7}eligetur, et tunc {8}reducetur in terram Canaanem, et hoc quoque secundum sensum litterae, ut in sequentibus his locis: apud Esaiam, x (x)20-23, xi 11, 12, xxix [14] ad fin., xliii 5, 6, xlix 6-26 lvi 8, lx 4, lxi 3-10, lxii; apud Jeremiam, iii 14-19, xv 4, 14, xvi 13, 15, xxiii 7, 8, xxiv 9, 10, xxxi 31, 33, xxv 29, xxix 14, 18, xxx 3, 8-11, xxxi 8-10, 17, xxxiii 16, 20, 26; apud Hezechielem, v 10, 12, 15, xvi 60, xx 41, xxii 15, 16, xxxiv 12, 13, xxxvii 21, 22, xxxviii 12, xxxix 23, 27, 28; apud Danielem, vii 27, xii 7; apud Hoscheam, iii 4, 5; apud Joelem (x)iii 5 [A.V. ii 32], iv [A.V. iii]; apud Amosum, ix 8, 9, seq.; apud Micham, v 7, 8; {9}ex his et quoque ex aliis locis credunt etiam Christiani quod gens illa iterum eligetur ac introducetur in terram Canaanem, tametsi sciunt (m)quod gens illa exspectet Messiam qui introducet, et tamen norunt quod illa exspectatio vana sit, et quod regnum Messiae seu Christi non sit (c)ex hoc mundo, (c)ac sic quod terra Canaan, in 3 quam Messias introducet, sit caelum;(n) illi nec expendunt quod in Verbo sit sensus spiritualis, et quod in illo sensu per Israelem non intelligatur Israel, nec per Jacobum Jacob, nec per Jehudam Jehudah, sed quod per illos intelligantur quae repraesentant; nec expendunt quid historica de illa gente memorant, qualis {10}illa fuit in deserto, et qualis dein in terra Canaane, quod corde idololatrica; tum quid Prophetae de illa et ejus scortatione spirituali et abominationibus; qualis illa sit, describitur in Cantico {11}apud Moschen, his verbis, Occultabo facies Meas ab iis; videbo quid posteritas eorum; generatio enim perversionum illi, filii in quibus fidelitas non: dixerim, In extremos angulos ejiciam illos; cessare faciam ab homine memoriam illorum; nisi inimici dicerent, Manus nostra alta, neque Jehovah fecit omne hoc. Nam gens perdita consiliis illi, nec in illis intelligentia: de vite Sodomae vitis eorum, et de agris Gomorrhae; uvae ejus uvae fellis; botri amaritudinum illis. Venenum draconum vinum eorum, et fel aspidum crudele: nonne istud absconditum apud Me, obsignatum in thesauris Meis? Mihi vindicta et retributio; in tempus nutabit pes eorum, prope namque est dies interitus eorum, et (x)properant futura illis, Deut. xxxii 20, 26-28, (x)32-35;quod Jehovah canticum illud Moschi dictaverit, videatur ibi xxxi 19, 21. {12}De illa gente ita quoque Dominus, apud Johannem, Vos ex patre diabolo estis, et desideria patris vestri vultis facere; ille homicida erat ab initio, et in veritate non stetit, viii 44;
praeter in multis aliis locis. 4 Quod Christiani tametsi haec sciunt, usque credant quod gens illa tandem convertetur ad Dominum, et tunc introducetur in terram ubi prius fuerat, est, ut dictum, quia non sciunt sensum internum Verbi; (c)et quia putant quod nihil faciat vita hominis; et quod malum etiam per crebros actus irradicatum, nihil obstet quin homo per fidem, etiam unius horulae, spiritualis fieri possit et regenerari et sic acceptari a Domino; {13}tum quod intromissio in caelum sit solius misericordiae, et quod haec sit erga singularem gentem, et non ita erga omnes in universo qui misericordiam Domini recipiunt; qui ita cogitant non sciunt quod prorsus contra Divinum sit quod quidam ut electi nascerentur ad salutem et {14} caelum, et quidam ut non electi ad damnationem et infernum; ita cogitare de Divino foret horrendum, quia foret summa immisericordia, cum tamen Divinum est ipsa Misericordia. Ex his nunc constare potest quod gens {15}Israelitica et Judaica non electa fuerit, et minus (x)quod eligetur; {16}tum quod non aliquid Ecclesiae apud illam fuerit, nec esse potuerit, sed modo repraesentativum ejus; et quod usque ad hunc diem conservata sit, fuerit propter Verbum Veteris Testamenti, de qua re videatur n. 3479. @1 i, ita in spurcis amoribus$ @2 etiam$ @3 cogitantes$ @4 ducere$ @5 regenerare illum; et hoc$ @6 Before in Christiano$ @7 eligeretur$ @8 reduceretur$ @9 scitur$ @10 fuerit$ @11 Mosis$ @12 nec expendunt Ipsius Domini verba de$ @13 et introduci in coelum, ac praeterea quod misericordia Domini sit determinata ad aliquam gentem$ @14 i ad$ @15 illa$ @16 et$