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Esekiel 5

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1 Og du menneskesønn, ta dig et skarpt sverd! Bruk det som en rakekniv og la det gå over ditt hode og skjegg, og ta dig så en skålvekt og del både hår og skjegg.

2 En tredjedel skal du brenne op midt i byen, når kringsetningsdagene er til ende, og en tredjedel skal du ta og hugge i med sverdet rundt omkring byen, og en tredjedel skal du sprede for vinden, og med draget sverd vil jeg forfølge dem.

3 Men nogen få hår skal du ta unda, og dem skal du knytte inn i dine kjortelfliker,

4 og av dem skal du igjen ta nogen og kaste dem midt i ilden og brenne dem op; derfra skal det gå ut ild til alt Israels hus.

5 sier Herren, Israels Gud: Dette Jerusalem satte jeg midt iblandt hedningefolkene og la land rundt omkring det;

6 men det var gjenstridig mot mine lover, så det var mere ugudelig enn hedningefolkene, og mot mine bud, så det var mere ugudelig enn landene rundt omkring det; for de forkastet mine lover og fulgte ikke mine bud.

7 Derfor sier Herren, Israels Gud, så: Fordi I har rast verre enn folkene som bor rundt omkring eder, fordi I ikke har fulgt mine bud og ikke gjort efter mine lover og ikke engang gjort efter de folks lover som bor rundt omkring eder,

8 derfor sier Herren, Israels Gud, så: Se, jeg kommer over dig, jeg og, og jeg vil holde dom hos dig for folkenes øine,

9 og jeg vil gjøre med dig hvad jeg ikke før har gjort og aldri mere vil gjøre maken til - for alle dine vederstyggeligheters skyld.

10 Derfor skal foreldre ete sine barn hos dig, og barn ete sine foreldre, og jeg vil holde dom hos dig og sprede alt som blir igjen av dig, for alle vinder.

11 Derfor, så sant jeg lever, sier Herren, Israels Gud, sannelig, fordi du har gjort min helligdom uren med alle dine avskyeligheter og alle dine vederstyggeligheter, så vil også jeg vende mitt øie bort fra dig uten skånsel og ikke spare dig.

12 Tredjedelen av dig skal av pest og fortæres av hunger midt i dig, og tredjedelen skal falle for sverd rundt omkring dig, og tredjedelen vil jeg sprede for alle vinder og forfølge med draget sverd.

13 Og min vrede skal uttømmes, og jeg vil stille min harme på dem og ta hevn, og de skal kjenne at jeg, Herren, har talt i min nidkjærhet, når jeg uttømmer min harme på dem.

14 Og jeg vil gjøre dig* til en ørken og til en spott blandt folkene som bor rundt omkring dig, for øinene på hver den som går forbi. / {* Jerusalem.}

15 Du skal bli til spott og hån, til en advarsel og en forferdelse for folkene som bor rundt omkring dig, når jeg holder dom over dig med vrede og harme og med harmfulle tuktelser - jeg, Herren, har talt -

16 når jeg sender inn blandt dem hungerens onde piler, som er til ødeleggelse, dem som jeg sender for å ødelegge eder, når jeg hoper op hunger over eder og sønderbryter brødets stav for eder.

17 Jeg vil sende hunger over eder og ville dyr, og de skal gjøre dig barnløs, og pest og blod skal gå over dig, og sverd vil jeg la komme over dig; jeg, Herren, har talt.

   

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Sacred Scripture # 35

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35. 28 shows that the Old Testament prophets represented the Lord in respect to the Word and therefore meant the teaching of the church drawn from the Word, and that because of this they were addressed as “children of humanity.” It follows from this that by the various things they suffered and endured they represented the violence done to the literal meaning of the Word by Jews. Isaiah, for example, took the sackcloth off his waist and the sandals off his feet and went naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:2-3). Similarly, Ezekiel the prophet took a barber’s razor to his head and his beard, burned a third of the hair in the middle of the city, struck a third with a sword, and scattered a third to the wind; also, he bound a few hairs in his hems and eventually threw a few into the midst of a fire and burned them (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

Since the prophets represented the Word and therefore meant the teaching of the church drawn from the Word (as just noted), and since the head means wisdom from the Word, the hair and the beard mean the outermost form of truth. It is because of this meaning that inflicting baldness on yourself was a sign of immense grief and being discovered to be bald was an immense disgrace. This and this alone is why the prophet shaved off his hair and his beard - to represent the state of the Jewish church in regard to the Word. This and this alone is why two she-bears tore apart forty-two boys who called Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-25)-because as just noted the prophet represented the Word, and his baldness signified the Word without an outermost meaning.

We shall see in §49 below that the Nazirites represented the Lord’s Word in its outermost forms, which is why they were commanded to let their hair grow and not to shave any of it. In Hebrew, “Nazirite” actually means “hair.” It was commanded also that the high priest was not to shave his head (Leviticus 21:10) and that the fathers of their families as well were not to do so (Leviticus 21:5).

That is why they regarded baldness as such an immense disgrace, as we can tell from the following passages:

There will be baldness upon all heads, and every beard will be cut off. (Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:37)

There will be shame upon all faces and baldness on all heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

Every head was made bald and every shoulder hairless. (Ezekiel 29:18)

I will put sackcloth around all waists and baldness upon every head. (Amos 8:10)

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair because of your precious children; make yourself still more bald, because they have left you and gone into exile. (Micah 1:16)

Here making yourself bald and making yourself still more bald means distorting truths of the Word in its outermost forms. Once they have been distorted, as was done by Jews, the whole Word is ruined, because the outermost forms of the Word are what it rests on and what holds it up. In fact, every word in it is a base and support for the Word’s heavenly and spiritual truths.

Since a head of hair means truth in its outermost forms, in the spiritual world everyone who trivializes the Word and distorts its literal meaning looks bald; but those who respect and love it have good-looking hair. On this, see §49 below.

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