Arcana Coelestia # 908
908. 'Every wild animal of all flesh that is with you' means everything that has been made living within the member of this Church. This is clear from the fact that 'wild animal' refers to Noah, the member of this Church who has now been regenerated, and plainly has reference to the things that follow, namely to 'birds, beasts, and creeping thing that creeps', for the words used are 'every wild animal of all flesh that is with you - birds, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth'. In the original language the word for wild animal strictly speaking means life or that which is living; but when used in the Word it means not only that which is living but also that which in one sense is not living, or a wild animal. Consequently unless a person is acquainted with the internal sense of the Word he cannot always know what is meant. The reason it carries both meanings is that the member of the Most Ancient Church, in humiliating himself before the Lord, acknowledged that he himself was not living, not even a domestic beast, but an animal living in the wild, for he knew that man is such when regarded in himself or as to the proprium. Consequently the same word means that which is living and also means a wild animal.
[2] As to its meaning that which is living, this is clear in David,
Your wild animals will dwell in it (the inheritance of God); You, O God, will strengthen the needy with Your goodness. Psalms 68:10.
Here, because he is to dwell in the inheritance of God, nothing else is meant by 'wild animal' than a regenerate person, and so, as is the case here, that which is alive in him. In the same author,
Every wild animal of the forest is mine, beasts on mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of My field is with Me. Psalms 50:10-11.
Here too 'wild animal of the field with Me', that is, with God, stands for a regenerate person and so for things with him that are alive. In Ezekiel,
In its branches all the birds of the air 1 made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth. Ezekiel 31:6.
This refers to the formation of the spiritual Church and so stands for things with the member of the Church that are alive. In Hosea,
I will make a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field and with the birds of the air. 1 Hosea 2:18.
This refers to people who are to be regenerated, with whom a covenant is to be made. Indeed the application of 'wild animal' to that which is alive extends even to the cherubs or angels seen by Ezekiel being called four wild animals, in Ezekiel 1:5, 13-15, 19; 10:15.
[3] That 'wild animal' in the contrary sense stands in the Word for that which is not alive, or a fierce wild animal, is clear from many places. Let just the following examples serve to confirm the point: In David,
Give not the soul of Your turtle dove to the wild animal. Psalms 74:19.
In Zephaniah,
The city has become a desolation, a place for the wild animal to lie down in. Zephaniah 2:15.
In Ezekiel,
They will no more be a prey to the nations, and the wild animal of the land will not devour them. Ezekiel 34:28.
In the same prophet,
Upon its ruin will dwell every bird of the air, 1 and on its branches will be every wild animal of the field. Ezekiel 31:13.
In Hosea,
There I will devour them like a lion, the wild animals of the field will tear them apart. Hosea 13:8.
In Ezekiel,
To the wild animal of the earth, and to the birds of the air 1 have I given [you] for food. Ezekiel 19:5.
The usage recurs fairly often. Moreover since the Jews were confined solely to the sense of the letter, and understood wild animal by 'wild animal' and bird by 'bird', they did not wish to know of, still less acknowledge, the inner contents of the Word, and so receive instruction. Indeed they themselves were so cruel, and such wild animals, that they took delight in not burying enemies they had slain in battle and in exposing them to be devoured by birds and by wild animals. These things also show what a wild animal man is.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)
Ezekiel 31
1
It happened in the eleventh year, in the third [month], in the first [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
2
Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness?
3
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
4
The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: its rivers ran all around its plantation; and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
5
Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot [them] forth.
6
All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches did all the animals of the field bring forth their young; and under its shadow lived all great nations.
7
Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.
8
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
9
I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.
10
Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11
I will even deliver 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
Strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13
On his ruin all the birds of the sky shall dwell, and all the animals of the field shall be on his branches;
14
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, [even] all who drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.
15
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn 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 those who descend 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 to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, [that] lived under his shadow in the midst of the nations.
18
To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord Yahweh.
