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撒迦利亞書 11

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1 利巴嫩哪,開開你的,任燒滅你的香柏樹。

2 松樹啊,應當哀號;因為香柏樹傾倒,佳美的樹毀壞。巴珊的橡樹啊,應當哀號,因為茂盛的樹林已經倒了。

3 聽啊,有牧人哀號的聲音,因他們榮華的草場毀壞了。有少壯獅子咆哮的聲音,因約但河旁的叢林荒廢了。

4 耶和華─我的如此:你─撒迦利亞要牧養這將宰的

5 買他們的宰了他們,以自己為無罪;他們的耶和華是應當稱頌的,因我成為富足。牧養他們的並不憐恤他們。

6 耶和華:我不再憐恤這居民,必將這民交給各的鄰舍和他們王的中。他們必毀滅這,我也不救這民脫離他們的

7 於是,我牧養這將宰的,就是中最困苦的。我拿著兩根杖,根我稱為榮美,根我稱為聯索。這樣,我牧養了

8 月之內,我除滅個牧人,因為我的心厭煩他們;他們的心也憎嫌我。

9 我就:我不牧養你們。要的,由他;要喪亡的,由他喪亡;餘剩的,由他們彼此相食。

10 我折斷那稱為榮美的杖,表明我廢棄與萬民所立的約。

11 當日就廢棄了。這樣,那些仰望我的困苦知道所說的是耶和華的

12 我對他們:你們若以為美,就給我工價。不然,就罷了!於是他們給了三十作為我的工價。

13 耶和華吩咐我:要把眾人所估定美好的價值丟給窯戶。我便將這三十,在耶和華的殿中丟給窯戶了。

14 我又折斷稱為聯索的那根杖,表明我廢棄猶大以色列弟兄的情誼。

15 耶和華又吩咐我:你再取愚昧人所用的器具,

16 因我要在這興起一個牧人。他不看顧喪亡的,不尋找分散的,不醫治受傷的,也不牧養強壯的;卻要肥羊的,撕裂他的蹄子

17 無用的牧人丟棄羊群有禍了!刀必臨到他的膀和右眼上。他的膀必全然枯乾;他的右眼也必昏暗失明。

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4552

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4552. 'And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem' means an eternal casting away. This is clear from the meaning of 'hiding' as casting away and burying as dead, and from the meaning of 'under the oak' as for ever, for being a tree that lives to a very great age, 'the oak' meant, when anything was hidden under it, that which is everlasting. It also had the meaning of that which is tangled up, and above all that which is deceptive and false, because compared with everything above it the lowest part of the natural is tangled up and deceptive, inasmuch as it relies on the physical senses, and so on deceptive ideas, for its knowledge and delight. Specifically 'the oak' means the lowest part of the natural, and therefore in the good sense means the truths and goods there, and in the contrary sense the evils and falsities there.

[2] Furthermore, when falsities are being removed in the case of a regenerate person they are cast away to the lowest part of the natural. For this reason when anyone has become mature in judgement and clear-sighted, and especially when he has become intelligent and wise, those things in the natural seem to be far removed from the interior sight he has. For with one who is regenerate truths are present within the inmost part of his natural alongside the good there, which is like a small sun. Other kinds of truths which are dependent on these are distanced from them by, so to speak, their relationships by blood or through marriage to good. Deceptive truths exist in the more outlying parts, and falsities are cast away to the outermost parts. These remain with a person for ever, arranged - when he allows himself to be led by the Lord - into the kind of order that has just been described. For that ordering is a heavenly one since heaven itself is ordered in a similar way. But when a person does not allow himself to be led by the Lord but by evil, a contrary ordering exists. In his case evil together with falsities is at the centre; truths have then been cast away to the surrounding parts, and actual Divine truths to the ultimate parts. This ordering is a hellish one since hell itself is ordered in a similar way. The most outlying parts constitute the lowest of the natural.

[3] The reason why 'the oak' means falsities which are the lowest parts of the natural is that in the Ancient Church, when external worship representative of the Lord's kingdom existed, all trees of every kind had some spiritual or else celestial meaning. The olive, for example, and consequently olive oil, meant those things which belonged to celestial love; the vine and consequently wine those things that belonged to charity and from this to faith; and so on with every other kind of tree, such as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, which too had their own individual meanings, as shown in various places in explanatory sections. It is because of the meaning these trees had in the Ancient Church that they are mentioned so many times in the Word, as also in general are gardens, groves, and forests, and that people held their worship in these, under particular trees. But because that worship became idolatrous, and the descendants of Jacob, among whom a representative of the Church was to be established, were inclined to idolatrous practices and therefore set up so many idols in such places, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, under the trees there. Even so, these trees retained their spiritual or celestial meanings. Consequently not only the more noble trees, such as olives, vines, and cedars, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, when mentioned in the Word, have the same meanings as they had in the Ancient Church.

[4] 'Oaks' in the good sense means the truths and forms of good that make up the lowest parts of the natural, and in the contrary sense the falsities and evils which do so, as is clear from places where they are mentioned in the Word and understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,

Those forsaking Jehovah will be consumed, for they will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired. And you will be like an oak, casting down its leaves and like a garden that has no water. Isaiah 1:28-30.

In the same prophet,

The day of Jehovah Zebaoth upon everyone uplifted or lowly, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. Isaiah 2:12-13.

Anyone may recognize that 'the day of Jehovah' is not going to be a visitation upon cedars and oaks but upon people meant by those trees. In the same prophet,

He who fashions a god cuts down cedars for himself, and takes a beech and an oak and strengthens himself among the trees of the forest. Isaiah 44:10, 14.

[5] In Ezekiel,

You will acknowledge that I am Jehovah, when their slain lie in the midst of the idols around their altars, upon every high hill, on all the mountain-tops, and under every green tree, and under every entangled oak, in the place where they offered an odour of rest to all their idols. Ezekiel 6:13.

The ancients also worshipped on hills and mountains because 'hills and mountains' means heavenly love - though when idolaters do the same, self-love and love of the world are meant, 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210 - and also under trees because, as stated above, each had a meaning of its own depending on what kind of tree it was. 'Under an entangled oak' here means worship based on falsities constituting the lowest parts of the natural, for they exist there in an entangled condition, 2831. In Hosea,

They offer sacrifice on mountain-tops and burn incense on hills, under oak, poplar, and hard oak, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Hosea 4:13.

'Committing whoredom' means falsifying truths, and 'committing adultery' perverting forms of good - see 2466, 2729, 3399. In Zechariah,

Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars, for the cedar is fallen, for the magnificent ones are ruined. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazir has come down. Zechariah 11:1-2.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.