6078. 'For there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to your servants' means that factual knowledge holding forms of the good of truth is wanting. This is clear from the meaning of 'pasture for the flock' as factual knowledge holding forms of the good of truth, so that 'no pasture' means factual knowledge that does not hold any forms of the good of truth. In the internal sense 'pasture' is that which supports spiritual life; in particular it is truth contained in factual knowledge, for the human soul desires such truth just as the body desires food. Nourishment is derived from it, and for that reason 'feeding' means receiving instruction, 5201. That factual knowledge and truths sustain the human soul is quite evident from a person's desire for knowledge, as well as from the correspondence of food with factual knowledge, 1480, 3114, 4792, 5147, 5193, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915. This correspondence also manifests itself when a person is eating food. If he eats it while talking and listening the vessels that receive the chyle are opened, and he is nourished more fully than if he is alone. Spiritual truths and instruction in them would have the same kind of effect on people if they were to have an affection for what is good. The fact that truths nourish spiritual life is revealed primarily among good spirits and among angels in heaven. Those spirits and angels have a constant desire to acquire knowledge and wisdom; and when they lack this spiritual food they feel desolate, listless, and famished. Nor are they refreshed and raised into the bliss of their life until their desires are satisfied. But if that factual knowledge is to yield the soul wholesome nourishment, that knowledge must contain life received from forms of the good of truth. If it does not contain life received from them factual knowledge still sustains a person's inner life, but his natural life, not his spiritual life.

[2] The meaning of 'pasture' in the internal sense as that which sustains a person's spiritual life is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I have given you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land; to say to the bound, Go out, to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isaiah 49:8-9.

'Feeding along the ways' stands for receiving instruction in truths, 'the ways' being truths, see 627, 2333, and 'feeding' receiving instruction, 5201. 'On all slopes will their pasture be' stands for being sustained with good, for 'slopes', like 'mountains' are forms of the good of love, 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture. Jeremiah 23:1.

'Pasture' stands for the kinds of things that sustain spiritual life. In the same prophet,

The princes of Zion have become like deer, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6.

'They have not found pasture' stands for no truth of good.

[4] In Ezekiel,

I, even I will look for My sheep. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the loftiness of Israel; there ¹ they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 34:11, 14.

'A good and fat pasture upon the mountains of Israel' stands for forms of the good of truth. In the same prophet,

Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture but tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures. Ezekiel 34:18.

Here the meaning is similar. In Hosea,

I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. When [they had] their pasture, they were filled; they were filled and their heart was exalted. Hosea 13:5-6.

In Joel,

The beasts groan, the herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, even the flocks of sheep ² are made desolate. Joel 1:18.

In David,

Jehovah is my Shepherd; He will make me lie down in green pasture; ³ He will lead me away to still waters; He will restore My soul. Psalms 23:1-3.

In the same author,

Jehovah made us and not we ourselves, His people and the flock of His pasture; therefore we are His, His people, and the flock of His pasture. ⁴ Psalms 100:3.

[5] 'Pasture' in these quotations stands for the truths in which a person receives instruction, here the kinds of things which have regard to spiritual life. For the nature of spiritual life is such that if it lacks that pasture it languishes and so to speak fades away, like the body when it lacks food. The fact that 'pasture' is the goodness and truth that refresh and sustain a person's soul or spirit is plain from the Lord's words in John,

I am the door. If anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9.

'Pasture' stands for the forms of good and the truths which those people have who acknowledge the Lord and seek life from Him alone.

Poznámky pod čarou:

10153. 'And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel' means the Lord's presence and His influx through good in heaven and in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling', when this is said of the Lord, as His being present and flowing in, His doing so through Divine Good being meant because 'dwelling' has reference to good, see 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613, 8269, 8309, which is why the words 'in the midst' are used, because 'the midst' means what is inmost, and that which is inmost is good (for this meaning of 'the midst', see 2940, 2973, 5897, 6084, 6103); and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in 9340.

[2] The reason why 'dwelling in the midst', when said of the Lord, means His presence and influx through Divine Good is that the Lord flows into and is present with a person in the good he receives from the Lord. Good composes the person's true self, for everyone's character is conditioned by his good. By good, love should be understood, since anything that is loved is called good. The fact that a person's love or good makes him what he is may be recognized by anyone at all who observes what another is like; for having observed him he can direct him by means of his love wherever he wishes him to go, so much so that when that other person is held under the sway of his own love he is no longer his own master, and reasons which disagree with his love count for nothing with him, while those which collude with his love count for everything.

[3] The truth of this is also plainly evident in the next life. All spirits there are recognized by their loves, and when they are held under the sway of those loves they cannot act in any way contrary to them; for if they act contrary to those loves they act contrary to themselves. They are therefore embodiments of their loves, those in the heavens being embodiments of heavenly love and charity, so beautiful that they are beyond description, whereas those in the hells are embodiments of their own loves, namely self-love and love of the world, and are consequently embodiments also of hatred and vengeance, thus are monsters so awful that they defy description.

[4] Since therefore a person's love makes him altogether what he is, it is evident that the Lord cannot be present in a person's love if it is evil, only in a person's love that is good, thus in his good. People think that the Lord is present in truth called the truth of faith; but He is not present in truth devoid of good. Where good exists however He is present in truth through that good; and He is present in truth to the extent that it leads to good and to the extent that it emanates from good. Truth devoid of good cannot be said to be within a person; it is merely in his memory, residing there as factual knowledge which does not enter the person and form part of him until it becomes part of his life. It becomes part of his life when he loves it, and in love lives in accord with it. When this happens the Lord dwells with him, as also the Lord teaches in John,

He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:21, 23.

'Manifesting Himself' means enlightening with the truths of faith from the Word; 'coming to him' means being present; and 'making Their home with him' means dwelling in his good.