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Ezekiel 31

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1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third [month], on the first of the month, [that] the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature: and his top was amidst the thick boughs.

4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high; its streams ran round about his plantation, and it sent out its rivulets unto all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long, because of great waters, when he shot forth.

6 All the fowl of the heavens made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all the great nations.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: because his root was by great waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the cypresses were not like his boughs, and the plane-trees were not as his branches: no tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9 I had made him fair by the multitude of his branches; and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

10 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast lifted up thyself in stature, ... and he hath set his top amidst the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height,

11 I have given him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him; upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

13 Upon his fallen [trunk] do all the fowl of the heavens dwell, and all the beasts of the field are upon his branches:

14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, nor set their top amidst the thick boughs, and that none of them that drink water stand up in his height by himself; for they are all given over unto death in the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed; and I made Lebanon black for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol, with them that go down into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.

17 They also went down into Sheol with him unto them that were slain with the sword, and [that were] his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations.

18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden, unto the lower parts of the earth; thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9489

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9489. 'And a cubit and a half its height' means what is complete so far as degrees are concerned. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cubit and a half' as what is complete, dealt with immediately above in 9488; and from the meaning of 'height' as degrees so far as good and so far as truth are concerned. The reason why 'height' has this meaning is that all good and the truth derived from it emanates from the Lord, and the Lord is in the highest place of all, and therefore is called the Most High, 8153. For He is the Sun of heaven, 5097, 8812, and that Sun is above the heavens; it is also the centre from which the whole of heaven that is underneath is brought into being and kept in being. All heights in heaven, measured from its Sun as the centre, are differences in good and the truth derived from it. Consequently those in the inmost heaven are closer to the Lord, because they are governed by the good of love to Him, thus are governed by good more than all others are. Those in the middle heaven are further away from there because they are governed by a lower kind of good, and those in the lowest are still further away. But those in hell are altogether remote from the Lord, because they are ruled by evil and the falsity arising from it. They do not even look towards the Sun, but backwards, away from the Sun. When regarded by the angels therefore, they appear in an upside down position, feet upwards and head downwards. Now since distances and spatial dimensions in the next life are appearances determined by states of good and the truth derived from it, 9440, 'height' in the spiritual sense means degrees so far as good and so far as truth are concerned, that is, degrees away from the Most High, who is the Lord and so Divine Good itself.

[2] From this it is clear what 'height' means in the following places, as in Jeremiah,

They will come and sing on the height of Zion, and converge towards the goodness of Jehovah; and their soul will be like a watered garden. Jeremiah 31:12.

Here 'the height of Zion' stands for celestial good, which is the level of good above spiritual good. The meaning of 'height' as good is what accounts for the statement that they will 'converge towards the goodness of Jehovah'. In Ezekiel,

Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon. Its height was made high, and its branches were made long by many waters. It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches. Ezekiel 31:3, 5, 7.

'Asshur' stands for an enlightened power of reason, 'a cedar in Lebanon' for the spiritual Church, 'its height' for the degree of good.

[3] In the same prophet,

On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it. Ezekiel 17:23.

Again in the same prophet,

On My holy mountain, and on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel will serve Me. Ezekiel 20:40.

'The mountain height of Israel' stands for the highest degree of good and of the truth derived from it among those belonging to the spiritual Church. Since most things in the Word have a contrary meaning as well, so too does 'height'. In the contrary sense it means the evil of self-love, and so haughtiness of mind, as in Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 31:10, 14; 32:5; Amos 2:9; Daniel 4:11, 20; and a number of other places. Another reason why 'height' means degrees so far as good and the truth derived from it are concerned is that what is 'high' means what is internal, and good becomes by degrees more perfect towards more internal parts. For the meaning of what is 'high' as what is internal, see 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599.

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

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Waters

  

'Waters' particularly signify the spiritual parts of a person, or the intellectual aspects of faith, and also their opposites.

'The waters above the firmament,' as in Genesis 1:7, signify the knowledges in the internal self, and 'the waters beneath the firmament' signify the knowledges of the external self.

'Waters,' as in Ezekiel 47:9, refer to the New Jerusalem, and they signify spiritual things from a celestial origin.

'Many waters,' as in Revelation 17:1, signify truths of the Word adulterated. 'Waters' or 'rivers' signify spiritual, rational, or scientific things pertaining to truth.

'Waters … that go softly,' as in Isaiah 8:6-7, signify spiritual things, and 'waters … strong and many,' signify falsities.

'Waters,' as in Psalms 104:3, signify divine truths.

'Waters' signify truths in the natural self, and in the opposite sense, falsities.

'The waters were dried up from off the earth,' as in Genesis 8:7, signifies the apparent dissipation of falsities.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 17; Apocalypse Revealed 50; Genesis 8)