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Zacharie 11

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1 Liban, ouvre tes portes, et le feu consumera tes cèdres.

2 Sapin, hurle; car le cèdre est tombé, parce que les choses magnifiques ont été ravagées ; chênes de Basan, hurlez, car la forêt qui était comme une place forte, a été coupée.

3 [Il y a] un cri de hurlement des pasteurs, parce que leur magnificence a été ravagée, [il y a] un cri de rugissement des lionceaux, parce que l'orgueil du Jourdain a été ravagé.

4 Ainsi a dit l'Eternel mon Dieu : Pais les brebis exposées à la tuerie;

5 Que leurs possesseurs tuent, sans qu'on les en tienne pour coupables, et chaque vendeur desquelles dit : Béni soit l'Eternel, je suis enrichi : Et, pas un de leurs pasteurs ne les épargne.

6 Certes aussi je n'aurai plus pitié de ceux qui habitent dans le pays, dit l'Eternel; car voici, je ferai que chacun se trouvera entre les mains de son prochain, et entre les mains de son Roi, et ils fouleront le pays, et je ne le délivrerai point de leur main.

7 Je me suis donc mis à paître les brebis exposées à la tuerie, qui sont véritablement les plus pauvres du troupeau. Puis je pris deux verges, [dont] j'appelai l'une Beauté; et l'autre, Cordon; et je me mis à paître les brebis.

8 Et je supprimai trois pasteurs en un mois, car mon âme s'est ennuyée d'eux, et aussi leur âme s'était dégoûtée de moi.

9 Et je dis : Je ne vous paîtrai plus; que ce qui meurt, meure; et que ce qui est supprimé, soit supprimé; et que celles qui seront de reste dévorent chacune la chair l'une de l'autre.

10 Puis je pris ma verge, [appelée] Beauté, et la mis en pièces pour rompre mon alliance que j'avais traitée avec tous ces peuples;

11 Et elle fut rompue en ce jour-là; et ainsi les plus pauvres du troupeau qui prennent garde à moi connurent que c'était la parole de l'Eternel.

12 Et je leur dis : S'il vous semble bon donnez-[moi] mon salaire; sinon, ne [me] le donnez pas : alors ils pesèrent mon salaire, qui fut trente [pièces] d'argent.

13 Et l'Eternel me dit : Jette-les pour un potier, ce prix honorable auquel j'ai été apprécié par eux; alors je pris les trente [pièces] d'argent, et les jetai dans la maison de l'Eternel, pour un potier.

14 Puis je rompis ma seconde verge, [appelée] Cordon, pour rompre la fraternité entre Juda et Israël.

15 Et l'Eternel me dit : Prends-toi encore l'équipage d'un pasteur insensé.

16 Car voici, je m'en vais susciter un pasteur au pays, qui ne visitera point les brebis qui s'en vont perdues; il ne cherchera point celles qui sont délicates, il ne guérira point celles qui sont malades, et il ne portera point celles qui sont demeurées en arrière, mais il mangera la chair des plus grasses, et fendra leurs ongles.

17 Malheur au pasteur inutile, qui abandonne le troupeau; L'épée sera sur son bras, et sur son œil droit; son bras séchera certainement, et son œil droit sera entièrement obscurci.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4013

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4013. 'Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar' means the power proper to natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a rod' as power, and from the meaning of 'poplar' as the good of the natural, dealt with below. 'A rod' is referred to in various places in the Word, and in every case it means power, for one reason because of its use by shepherds in the exercise of power over their flocks, and for another because it served to support the body, and existed so to speak for the sake of the right hand - for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387. And because it had that meaning a rod was also used in ancient times by a king; and the royal emblem was a short rod and also a sceptre. And not only a king used a rod, but also a priest and a prophet did so, in order that he too might denote by means of his rod the power which he possessed, as Aaron and Moses did. This explains why Moses was commanded so many times to stretch out his rod, and on other occasions his hand, when miracles were performed, the reason being that 'a rod' and 'the hand' means Divine power. And it is because 'a rod' means power that the magicians of Egypt likewise used one when performing magical miracles. It is also the reason why at the present day a magician is represented with a rod in his hand.

[2] From all these considerations it may be seen that power is meant by 'rods'. But in the original language the word used for the rod that a shepherd, or else a king, or else a priest or a prophet possessed, is different from that used for the rods which Jacob took. The latter were used by wayfarers and so also by shepherds, as becomes clear from other places, such as Genesis 32:10; Exodus 12:11; 1 Samuel 17:40, 43; Zechariah 11:7, 10. In the present verse, it is true, the rod is not referred to as one supporting the hand but as a stick cut out from a tree, that is to say, from the poplar, hazel, or plane, to be placed in the troughs in front of the flock. Nevertheless the word has the same meaning, for in the internal sense it describes the power of natural good and from that the good that empowers natural truths.

[3] As regards 'the poplar' from which a rod was made, it should be recognized that trees in general mean perceptions and cognitions - perceptions when they have reference to the celestial man, but cognitions when they have reference to the spiritual man, see 103, 2163, 2682, 2722, 2972. This being so, trees specifically mean goods and truths, for it is these that are involved in perceptions and cognitions. Some kinds of trees mean the interior goods and truths which belong to the spiritual man, such as olives and vines, other kinds mean the exterior goods and truths which belong to the natural man, such as the poplar, the hazel, and the plane. And because in ancient times each tree meant some kind of good or truth, the worship which took place in groves accorded with the kinds of trees there, 2722. The poplar referred to here is the white poplar, so called from the whiteness from which it gets its name. Consequently 'poplar' means good which was a product of truth, or what amounts to the same, the good of truth, as also in Hosea 4:13, though in this instance the good has been falsified.

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