130. The following passages establish that prophets represented the state of their church as regards doctrine from the Word, and living in accordance with that doctrine. The prophet Isaiah was commanded to strip the sackcloth from his loins and his shoe from his foot, and to go naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a token (Isaiah 20:2-3). The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the church by packing his bags for an exile, and to move to another place in the sight of the Children of Israel; he was to bring out his baggage during the day, and go out in the evening through a hole in the house-wall; he was to cover his face so as not to see the ground, and thus he would be a token for the house of Israel, and he was to say, 'Behold, I am your token; as I have done, so shall it be with you' (Ezekiel 12:3-7, 11). The prophet Hosea was commanded to represent the state of the church by taking a prostitute as a wife; he did so, and she bore him three children, one of whom he called Jezreel, the second No-pity, and the third Not-my-people. Again he was commanded to go and love a woman who was loved by another man, an adulteress; and he bought her (Hosea 1:2-9; 3:2-3). Another prophet was commanded to put ashes on his eyes, and to allow himself to be struck and beaten (1 Kings 20:35, 38).

The prophet Ezekiel was commanded, in order to represent the state of the church, to take a brick and to draw a picture of Jerusalem on it; to lay siege to it, and make a rampart and a mound to attack it; to place an iron griddle between himself and the city; and to lie on his left side and on his right side. Also to take wheat, barley, lentils, millet and spelt, and to make bread from them; also to make a cake of barley mixed with human dung; and because he begged off this, he was allowed to make it with cow-dung. It was said to him:

Lie on your left side, and put the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; for the number of days that you lie on that side, you shall carry their iniquity. For I will make you carry the iniquity of the house of Israel for a number of days equal to the years of their iniquity, namely, three hundred and ninety days. When you have completed this period, you are to lie a second time on your right side, to carry the iniquity of the house of Judah, Ezekiel 4:1-15.

[2] It is clear from what follows this passage that the prophet by these actions carried the iniquities of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and did not remove and so expiate them, but merely represented and demonstrated them:

Thus said Jehovah, the Children of Israel shall eat their bread unclean. Behold, I break the staff of bread, so that they may lack bread and water, and they shall be desolate, a man and his brother, and they shall waste away because of their iniquity, Ezekiel 4:13, 16-17.

The meaning is similar where it is said of the Lord:

He bore our sicknesses, He carried our pains. Jehovah made the iniquities of us all to fall upon Him. By His knowledge He made many righteous, in that He carried their iniquities Isaiah 53:4, 6, 11.

The whole of this chapter deals with the Lord's passion.

[3] The details of the Lord's passion show clearly that as the Prophet He represented the state of the Jewish church with regard to the Word. For example, His betrayal by Judas; His arrest and conviction by the chief priests and the elders; His being beaten; His head being struck with a reed; His crowning with a crown of thorns; the dividing of His garments, and the casting of lots for His tunic; His crucifixion; His being given vinegar to drink; His side being pierced; His burial and resurrection on the third day.

His betrayal by Judas meant that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, which possessed the Word, since Judas represented that nation. His arrest and conviction by the chief priests and elders meant that the whole of that church so behaved. His being beaten, being spat upon in the face, being flogged and having His head struck with a reed meant their similar treatment of the Word as regards the Divine truths it contains. The crowning with thorn meant that they falsified and adulterated these truths. The dividing of His garments and throwing lots for His tunic meant that they threw to the winds all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense, which is what the tunic meant. The crucifixion meant that they destroyed and profaned the whole Word. Their giving Him vinegar to drink meant that they offered only falsified truths, which is why He did not drink it. The piercing of His side meant that they utterly extinguished all the truth and all the good of the Word. His burial meant the rejection of all He had left from His mother. His resurrection on the third day meant His glorification, or the union of His Human with the Father's Divine. From this it is now plain that 'carrying iniquities' does not mean removing them, but representing the profaning of truths in the Word.

4018. 'In front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink' means even to the point of an intense desire in the affection for truth that a joining [to the goods and truths within the natural] might be effected. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming on heat as they came to drink' as an intense desire. The meaning of 'being on heat' as an intense desire is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'coming to drink' as the affection for truth, see immediately above in 4017. The reason why 'in front of the flocks' means that a joining to the truths and goods within the natural might be effected is that this phrase implies seeing and consequent arousal of affection, for this is the manner in which spiritual things are joined to a person. What is more, every implantation of truth or good in a person, as well as every joining of them to him, is effected by means of affection. The truths and goods which a person has learned but for which he has no affection do indeed enter the memory, but they are lodged there as insecurely as a feather on top of a wall which is blown off by the slightest puff of wind.

[2] As regards the things that enter the memory the position is this: Those for which there is no affection pass into the unlit parts of the memory when they enter it, whereas those for which there is affection pass into the light there. Things present in that light are seen and appear clearly and distinctly when any matter of a similar nature is brought up, but not so the things lying around in the unlit parts. Such is the effect that affection belonging to love has. From this it may be seen that all implanting of truth and joining of it to good is effected through affection; and the greater that affection, the stronger the tie joining the two together.

[3] The intense desire of the affection is in this case inmost affection. But truths are not capable of being implanted and joined to good except by means of affections for truth and good, which affections well up from charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord as their sources. But evils and falsities are implanted by means of affections for evil and falsity, and these affections well up from self-love and love of the world as their sources. This being so, and the subject at this point in the internal sense being the joining of good and truth within the natural man, mention is therefore made here and in what follows of the flock being on heat when they came to drink, by which such considerations are meant.