3
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Ezekiel 37:3
Job 17
1
My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
2
Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
4
For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
5
He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
7
Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8
Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9
The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10
But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12
They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
13
If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
14
I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou are my mother, and my sister.
15
And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Arcana Coelestia # 3795
3795. 'For she was a shepherdess' or one who feeds the flock means that the affection for interior truth contained in the Word is that which teaches. This is clear from the meaning of 'a shepherd' or one who feeds the flock 1 as one who leads and teaches, dealt with in 343, and from the representation of Rachel, to whom 'she' refers here, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with just above in 3793. The reason why interior truth is said to come from the Word is that it was the well to which Rachel came with the flock - 'a well' meaning the Word, see 3765. What is more, it is the affection for interior truth that teaches, for it is by virtue of that affection that the Church is the Church and a shepherd or pastor is a pastor. The reason 'a shepherd' and one who feeds the flock means in the Word those who lead and teach is that 'the flock' means those who are led and taught, and therefore means Churches and also the doctrines which a Church teaches, 3767, 3768, 3783. The fact that shepherd or pastor and flock have these meanings is very well known in the Christian world, for these are the terms used for those who teach and those who learn. It is therefore superfluous to confirm these points from the Word.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. The Latin word pastor, translated shepherdess above, is used of anyone - male or female - who tends a flock or herd. But in the original Hebrew the word is taken to be feminine.
