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Ezekiel 34

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1 And the word of Jehovah was unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovih* unto the shepherds, Woe to the shepherds of Israel who are shepherds of themselves! Should not the shepherds pasture the flock?

3 You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you sacrifice the nourished; but the flock you pasture not.

4 The sick you have not made·​·firm, neither have you healed him who was·​·sick, neither have you bound·​·up him who was broken, neither have you returned him who was expelled, neither have you sought him who was·​·lost; but with firmness and with severity you have had·​·dominion over them.

5 And they were scattered, from being without a shepherd; and they became food for every animal of the field, and they were scattered.

6 My flock wandered in all the mountains, and on every high hill; and My flock was scattered on all the faces of the earth, and none inquired and none sought them.

7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah;

8 As I am alive, says the Lord Jehovih, surely because My flock was for plunder, and My flock was food to every wild·​·animal of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds inquire for My flock, but the shepherds pastured for themselves, and pastured not My flock;

9 therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah;

10 thus says the Lord Jehovih; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from pasturing the flock; neither shall the shepherds pasture themselves any·​·more; and I will rescue My flock from their mouth, and they shall not be food for them.

11 For thus says the Lord Jehovih; Behold, I, even I, will then inquire·​·after My flock, and seek· them ·out.

12 As a shepherd is seeking·​·out his drove in the day that he is in the midst of his flock that are exposed*; so will I seek·​·out My flock, and will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered in the day of cloud and dense·​·darkness.

13 And I will bring· them ·out from the people, and bring· them ·together from the lands, and will bring them to their own ground, and pasture them in the mountains of Israel by the channels, and in all the dwellings of the land.

14 I will pasture them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their home be; there shall they lie·​·down in a good home, and in a pasture with·​·oil shall they pasture in the mountains of Israel.

15 I will shepherd My flock, and I will cause them to lie·​·down, says the Lord Jehovih.

16 I will seek him who was lost, and return him who was expelled, and will bind·​·up him who was broken, and will make·​·firm that which was·​·sick; but I will blot·​·out the fat* and the firm; I will pasture them with judgment.

17 And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord Jehovih; Behold, I am judging between the animals·​·of·​·the·​·flock*, between the rams and the he-goats.

18 Seems it a·​·little thing for you to have eaten up the good pasture, but must you trample with your feet the remainder of your pastures? And to have drunk of the submerged waters, must you dirty the remainder with your feet?

19 And as for My flock, they eat that which you have trampled with your feet; and they drink what is dirtied with your feet.

20 Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovih unto them; Behold, I, and I will judge between the well·​·fed animal·​·of·​·the·​·flock and between the lean animal·​·of·​·the·​·flock.

21 Because you have pushed with side and with shoulder, and charged·​·at all the sick with your horns, until you have scattered them outside;

22 and I will save My flock, and they shall no more be for plunder; and I will judge between the animals·​·of·​·the·​·flock*.

23 And I will raise·​·up one shepherd over them, and he shall shepherd them, even My servant David; he shall shepherd them, and he shall be their shepherd.

24 And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and My servant David a chief in their midst; I, Jehovah, have spoken.

25 And I will cut for them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil animals to cease from the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the forests.

26 And I will put them and the places all around My hill as a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come·​·down in its time; there shall be showers of blessing.

27 And the tree of the field shall give her fruit, and the earth shall give her produce, and they shall be securely on their ground, and shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the braces of their yoke, and rescued them from the hand of those who served themselves on them.

28 And they shall no more be plunder to the nations, neither shall the wild·​·animal of the land devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall frighten them.

29 And I will raise·​·up for them a plant for a name, and they shall be no more consumed* by famine in the land, and they shall no more bear the humiliation of the nations.

30 And they shall know that I, Jehovah their God, am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord Jehovih.

31 And you are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are man, and I am your God, says the Lord Jehovih.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Apocalypse Explained # 1159

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1159. And all fat and splendid things are departed from thee, signifies that all things good and true and satisfying and grand, which they were persuaded they would secure through that religious persuasion, are turned into opposites. This is evident from the signification of "fat things," as being what is good and thus satisfying (of which presently); also from the signification of "splendid things," as being what is true and thus grand. This is the signification of "splendid things," because splendor is from light, and the light of heaven is the Divine truth or the Divine wisdom, from which all things in the heavens shine with a splendor such as does not exist in the world; it may be compared with the splendor of a diamond turned to the sun, although the splendor seen in heaven exceeds this beyond measure, as the light of heaven exceeds the light of the world, with a difference so great that while it may be illustrated by comparisons it cannot be described. From that light all things magnificent in the heavens exist, which consist principally of forms corresponding to wisdom, which are such as can in no way be pictured in the world, and consequently cannot be described, for in them art itself is in its art, and knowledge in its wisdom, consequently they are of ineffable beauty. From all this it is clear why "splendid things" signify what is true and thus grand.

[2] "Fat things" signify what is good and thus satisfying, because the fat is the best part of flesh and because it resembles oil, which signifies the good of love. That "fatness" signifies good and things pertaining to good, thus satisfactions and joys, can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Isaiah:

In hearkening hearken unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, that your soul may be delighted in fatness (Isaiah 55:2).

"To eat that which is good" signifies to appropriate good to oneself; therefore "to be delighted in fatness" signifies to be in a state of satisfaction and blessedness. In Jeremiah:

I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with good (Jeremiah 31:14).

Here, too, "fatness" signifies satisfaction and blessedness from the good of love. In David:

With fat and fatness my soul shall be satisfied, and my mouth will praise Thee with lips of songs (Psalms 63:5).

"To have the soul satisfied with fat and fatness" signifies to be filled with the good of love and consequent joy; "to praise with lips of songs" signifies to worship by truths that gladden the mind. In the same:

They shall be filled with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures (Psalms 36:8).

The "fatness" with which the house shall be filled signifies the good of love and consequent satisfaction, "house" being the things of the mind; "the river of pleasures" that he will make them to drink of signifies intelligence and consequent happiness.

[3] In Isaiah:

In this mountain shall Jehovah of Hosts make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of lees, of fat things of marrows, and of lees well refined (Isaiah 25:6).

This is said of the state of those who will acknowledge and worship the Lord. That "mountain" signifies a new church from these, "a feast of fat things, of fat things of marrows," signifies both natural and spiritual good with joy of heart, and "lees, and lees well refined" signify truths from that good with happiness from them. In the same:

Jehovah shall give the rain of thy seed with which thou shalt sow the land, and bread of the produce of the land, and it shall be fat and plenteous (Isaiah 30:23).

"Rain of seed" signifies the multiplication of truth, and "bread of produce" signifies fructification of good; "fat and plenteous" signifies good and truth with all satisfaction and happiness. In David:

They shall still have increase in old age, they shall be fat and green, to proclaim that Jehovah is upright (Psalms 92:14-15).

"To be fat and green" signifies to be in the goods and truths of doctrine. In the same:

Jehovah shall remember all thy offerings and shall make fat thy burnt-offering (Psalms 20:3).

"Offerings and burnt-offering" signify worship, and to "make fat" signifies worship from the good of love. "Fatness" has the same signification in Ezekiel 34:3; Genesis 27:39 elsewhere. As "fat and fatness" signified the good of love, and all worship which is truly worship must be from the good of love, therefore:

It was appointed that all the fat and fatness in the sacrifices should be burnt on the altar (Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 1:8; 3:3-16; 4:8-35; 7:3-4, 30-31; 17:6; Numbers 18:17-18).

For "sacrifices and burnt-offerings" signified worship.

[4] As the Jewish and Israelitish nation was only in external worship, and not also in internal worship, and in consequence was in no good of love and in no good of charity and faith:

It was forbidden them to eat the fat and blood, and it was declared that they would be cut off if they should eat them (Leviticus 3:17; 7:23, 25).

But to those who are in internal worship and from that in external worship, such as those must be who will be of the Lord's New Church, it is said:

That they shall eat fat till they be full, and drink blood till they be drunken (Ezekiel 39:19);

"fat" here signifying all the good of heaven and of the church, and "blood" all their truth. In the contrary sense those who are "fat" signify those who are nauseated at good, or who at least despise and reject it (Deuteronomy 32:15; Jeremiah 5:28; 50:11; Psalms 17:10; 20:4; 68:31; 119:70 elsewhere).

(Continuation)

[5] But such is not the lot of those who are permanently evil. All who are permanently evil are in hell according to the loves of their life; and there they think and speak from thought, although they speak falsities, and they will and from will do, although they do evils. Moreover, to one another they appear like men, although in the light of heaven they have monstrous forms. From this it can be seen why it is according to a law of order relating to reformation, which is called a law of Divine providence, that man is not let into the truths of faith and the goods of love except so far as he can be withheld from evils and held in goods even to the end of life, and that it is better for a man to be permanently evil than that he be good and afterwards evil, for thus he becomes profane. It is for this reason that the Lord, who provides all things and foresees all things, hides the operations of His providence, even to the extent that man scarcely knows whether there be any providence whatever, and man is permitted to attribute what he does to prudence, and what happens to him to fortune, and even to ascribe many things to nature, rather than that he should, through conspicuous and clear indications of the Divine providence and presence, plunge unseasonably into sanctities in which he will not continue. The Lord also permits like things by other laws of His providence, namely, by these, that man should have freedom, and that he should do whatever he does according to reason, thus wholly as if of himself, for it is better for a man to ascribe the workings of the Divine providence to prudence and fortune than to acknowledge them and still live as a devil. From this it is clear that the laws of permission, which are many, proceed from the laws of providence.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.