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Ezekiel 31

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1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.

6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

15 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, 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 hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 776

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776. '[Every] bird according to its kind' means all spiritual truth, 'flying things' means natural truth, and 'winged thing' sensory truth. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about birds, as in 40. The most ancient people likened man's thoughts to birds, for in relation to things of the will, thoughts are like birds. Since bird, flying thing, and winged thing are mentioned here, and come consecutively in the way that intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and sensory impressions do in man, and to prevent anyone doubting that this is what they mean, let other places from the Word of a confirmatory nature be quoted, from which as well it will be evident that 'beasts' means such things as have been stated.

[2] In David,

You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air, 1 and the fish of the sea. Psalms 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord, whose dominion over man and over what belongs to man is described in this fashion. If this were not so, what would 'dominion over beasts and birds' really be? In the same author,

Fruit tree and all cedars, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and flying thing - they shall glorify the name of Jehovah. Psalms 148:9-10, 13.

'Fruit tree' is the celestial man, 'cedar' the spiritual man, 'wild animal and beast and creeping thing' the goods of these kinds of man, as in the present context. 'Flying thing' is their truths from which they are able to glorify the name of Jehovah. This a wild animal, a beast, a creeping thing, or a flying thing can never do. In secular literature such statements can be used as hyperbole, but in the Word of the Lord they are never just hyperbole but meaningful signs and representatives.

[3] In Ezekiel,

They start to tremble before Me - the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, 2 and the wild animals of the field, and every creeping thing creeping over the ground, and every man that is on the face 3 of the ground. Ezekiel 38:20.

The fact that 'beasts' and 'birds' here have such meanings is quite clear, for what would Jehovah's glory be if fish, birds, and beasts were to start to tremble? Could anyone think that such utterances are holy if they did not embody holy things within them? In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold, there was no man; all the birds of the air 2 had fled. Jeremiah 4:15.

This stands for all good and truth. Here 'man' stands as well for good that stems from love. In the same prophet,

They have been laid waste so that no man passes through, neither do men hear the voice of the herd. From the birds of the air 2 down to beasts, they have scattered, they have gone away. Jeremiah 9:10.

This in a similar way stands for the departure of all truth and good.

[4] In the same prophet,

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds have perished, for men said, He will not see our latter end. Jeremiah 11:4.

Here 'beasts' stands for goods, and 'birds' for truths, which perished. In Zephaniah,

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the air 2 and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off mankind from the face 4 of the ground. Zephaniah 1:3.

Here 'man and beast' stands for the things which belong to love and good deriving from love, 'the birds of the air 2 and the fish of the sea' for those which belong to the understanding and so to truth. These are called 'stumbling-blocks' because for wicked people it is goods and truths, not beasts and birds, that are stumbling-blocks. These are also plainly referred to as man's. In David,

The trees of Jehovah are watered abundantly, and the cedars of Lebanon which He planted. In them flying things build their nests. Psalms 104:16-17.

'The trees of Jehovah and the cedars of Lebanon' stands for spiritual man, 'flying things' for his rational or natural truths which are like 'nests'. What is more, 'the birds build nests in the branches' was a common saying by which people meant truths, as in Ezekiel,

[5] On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every flying thing of every sort, 5 in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezekiel 17:23.

This stands for the Church among gentiles which was spiritual and which is 'a noble cedar'. 'Birds of every sort' 5 stands for truths of every kind. In the same prophet,

In its branches all the birds of the air 2 made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

This refers to Asshur, which is the spiritual Church and is called 'a cedar'. 'Birds of the air' 2 stands for its truths, 'beasts' for its goods.

[6] In Daniel,

Its branch was fair, and its fruit much, and food for all was on it. The beast of the field had shade under it, and in its branches dwelt the flying things of the air' 1 Daniel 4:12, 11.

Here 'beast' stands for goods, and 'flying thing of the air' 1 for truths. This may become clear to anyone, for what else would bird and beast dwelling there really be? The same applies to what the Lord said, The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a big tree so that the birds of the air 1 dwelt in its branches. Luke 13:19; Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:32.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, flying thing of the heavens (or the skies)

2. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

3. literally, over the faces

4. literally, the faces

5. literally, of every wing

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