52. 24. (The Lord is described as to the Word, appearing above the expanse of the cherubim (Ezekiel 1:26-28); and is called Lord Jehovih (2:4; 3:11, 27; 4:14; 5:5, 7-8, 11; 6:3, 11; 7:2, 5; 8:1 seq.; also the God of Israel (8:4).) (That they may want bread and water; and a man and his brother be desolated; and fade away on account of their iniquity (Ezekiel 4:17).

In all your habitations the cities shall be devastated, also the high places (Ezekiel 6:6).

The end is come, the end upon the four corners of the land; I will send My anger upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways. The end is come, the end is come, the mourning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth, the time is come, the day of tumult is near (Ezekiel 7:2-12).

(They shall eat their bread with solicitude, and drink their waters with astonishment, that her land may be devastated from the fullness thereof; the cities that are inhabited shall be devastated, and the land shall be a desolation (Ezekiel 12:19-20).)

The vision which the prophet seeth after many days, and prophesying it in times that are far off (Ezekiel 12:27).

That [he is against] the pillows under the hands, through lies, etc. (Ezekiel 13:20-23).

Let the land of Egypt be a solitude and a waste; it shall be made an utter waste and desolation; a solitude in the midst of desolate lands, and its cities shall be a solitude in the midst of cities that have been devastated (Ezekiel 29:9-10, 12, concerning Egypt).

(They shall be devastated in the midst of the lands that are devastated, and her cities in the midst of the cities that are desolate; I will lay waste the land and the fullness thereof (Ezekiel 30:7, 12).)

(When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens, and will make the stars thereof black; I will cover the sun with a cloud; I will make black all the luminaries of light in the heavens above thee, and will set darkness upon the land (Ezekiel 32:7-8).)

(The violent of the nations shall devastate the pride of Egypt, so that all the multitude thereof may be destroyed. I will make the land of Egypt a waste, so that it is a land desolated of that whereof it was full (Ezekiel 32:12, 15).)

1047. That 'and when I cloud over the earth with cloud' means a time when, the will part of man's proprium being what it is, faith that flows from charity does not appear, is clear from what has been stated just above regarding 'the earth', that is, about the will part of man's proprium being such that it is constantly introducing obscurity, or falsity, into the understanding part. This is 'a clouding over'. All falsity originates in this way, as becomes quite clear from the fact that self-love and love of the world which belong to man's will are nothing else than hatred. For insofar as anyone loves himself he hates the neighbour. Because these loves are so contrary to heavenly love, it is inevitable that such things as are contrary to mutual love should be constantly flowing in from them. All of those things in the understanding part are falsities, and from them arises all the obscurity and darkness that is there. Falsity 'clouds over truth just as a dark cloud does to the light of the sun. And because falsity and truth cannot be present simultaneously any more than darkness and light, it follows plainly that one goes out as the other comes in. And this being an alternating occurrence reference is therefore made here to 'clouding over the earth with cloud', that is, a time when through the will part of the proprium no faith accompanying charity, or truth and derivative good, appears, still less good and derivative truth.