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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 # 6767

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6767. 'Do you intend to kill me . . .' means, Do you wish to destroy my faith ... This is clear from the meaning of 'killing' as destroying, dealt with below; and from the meaning of a Hebrew man, to whom 'me' refers here, as one who belongs to the Church. Faith too is accordingly meant, for faith goes together with the Church, and the two are so bound up with each other that a person who destroys the faith present with someone destroys the Church with him. This is also 'to kill him', for by taking faith away he takes spiritual life away, the life that remains being a life that is called death. From this it is evident that 'Do you intend to kill me?' means, Do you wish to destroy my faith?

[2] The fact that 'killing' is taking away spiritual life is evident from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

Drag them away like sheep for the slaughter, and destine them to the day of killing. How long will the land mourn and the plant of every field wither, on account of the wickedness of those who dwell in it? The beasts and the birds will be devoured. Jeremiah 12:3-4.

'The day of killing' stands for the time that the Church is laid waste, when there is no longer any faith because there is no charity. 'The land which will mourn' stands for the Church; 'the plant of every field' stands for all the facts known to the Church that hold truth within them; 'the beasts and the birds will be devoured' stands for the fact that forms of good and truths will be destroyed. For the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, see 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3755, 4447, 4535, 5577. The meaning of 'the plant' as factual knowledge holding truth within it is clear from places in the Word where plant is mentioned. And for the meaning of 'the field' as that which is of the Church, see 2971, 3710, 3766, of 'the beasts' as affections for good, thus forms of good, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3218, 3519, 5198, and of 'the birds' as affections for truth, 5149. From all this one may recognize what the meaning of these words is, and also that the spiritual sense is present in every detail there. Anyone can see that without the inner meaning there could be no understanding of what 'the day of killing' is, or of what is described by the details 'will the land mourn', 'the plant of every field wither, on account of the wickedness of those who dwell in it', and 'the beasts and the birds will be devoured'.

[3] In Zechariah,

Thus said Jehovah my God, Feed the sheep for killing, whose owners kill them. Zechariah 11:4-5.

'The sheep for killing' plainly stands for people whose faith is destroyed by those who are their owners. In Ezekiel,

You have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to kill souls that ought not to die, and to keep alive souls that ought not to live. Ezekiel 13:19.

Here also 'killing' plainly stands for destroying spiritual life, that is, charity and faith. In Isaiah,

What will you do on the day of visitation and vastation? They will fall beneath the bound and beneath the killed. Isaiah 10:3-4.

Here 'the killed' stands for those who are in hell, thus for those immersed in evils and falsities.

[4] In the same prophet,

You are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, [like] a garment of the killed, [like] those pierced with the sword. You will not be united with them in the sepulchre, for you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. Isaiah 14:19-20.

'The killed' stands for those who have been deprived of spiritual life; 'you have killed your people' stands for his destruction of forms of the truth and good of faith. In John,

The thief does not come except in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that they may have life. John 10:10.

'Killing' stands for destroying the life of faith, and therefore it says, 'I have come in order that they may have life'. In Mark,

Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his children, and the children will rise up against parents and kill them. Mark 13:12.

This refers to the last days of the Church when there is no longer any charity and therefore no faith either. 'Brother', 'children', and 'parents' in the internal sense are the Church's forms of good and its truths; and 'killing' is destroying them.

[5] Because one who had been 'killed' meant a person who had been deprived of spiritual life, and 'the field' meant the Church, it had therefore been decreed in the representative church that if anyone on the surface of the field touched somebody who had been pierced with the sword, or who had been killed, he would be unclean for seven days, Numbers 19:16. 'Slain with the sword' means truth wiped out by falsity, see 4507; for 'the sword' is falsity that wipes out truth, 2799, 4499, 653. It was likewise decreed that if anyone was found killed in the land which was their inheritance, lying on the field, and it was not known who had killed him, the elders and judges were to measure the distances to the cities which were round about. Having found out by doing this which was the nearest city, they were to take a heifer and break its neck at a fast-flowing river, and to do many other things, Deuteronomy 21:1-10.

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