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Ezekiel 29:2

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2 Anak ng tao, ititig mo ang iyong mukha laban kay Faraon na hari sa Egipto, at manghula ka laban sa kaniya, at laban sa buong Egipto;

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Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture # 35

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35. As we showed in no. 28, the prophets of the Old Testament represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and consequently represented the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and for that reason they were called sons of man. It follows from this that by the various hardships they suffered and bore, they represented the violence done by the Jews to the Word’s literal sense.

For instance, the prophet Isaiah put off the sackcloth from his loins and put off the sandals from his feet, and went naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:2-3).

The prophet Ezekiel likewise drew a barber’s razor over his head and beard, burned a third part of the hair in the midst of the city, struck another third part with a sword, scattered the remaining third part into the wind, bound a few of the hairs in the edges of his garment, and finally threw them into the midst of the fire and burned them (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[2] Because, as we said above, the prophets represented the Word and so symbolized the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and because the head symbolizes wisdom from the Word, therefore the hair of the head and a beard symbolized the outmost expression of truth.

Because this is what they symbolized, therefore it was a sign of great mourning and also a great disgrace to make oneself bald or to be seen bald. It was for this reason and no other that the prophet shaved off the hair of his head and his beard, in order for him to represent by it the state of the Jewish church in relation to the Word. It was for this reason and no other that the forty-two she-bears tore apart the boys who called Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24), inasmuch as the prophet represented the Word, as we said before, and baldness symbolized the Word without its outmost sense.

[3] Nazirites represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, as will be seen in no. 49 in the next section. Therefore they were required to let their hair grow and not to shave any of it off. The word “Nazirite” in the Hebrew also means the hair.

The high priest, too, was required not to shave his head (Leviticus 21:10). Likewise those who were heads of families (Leviticus 21:5).

So it was that baldness was, for the people then, a great disgrace, as can be seen from the following:

On all their heads baldness, and every beard shaved. (Isaiah 15:2, cf. Jeremiah 48:37)

Shame on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

Every head made bald, and every shoulder shaved. (Ezekiel 29:18)

I will cause sackcloth to ascend upon all loins, and baldness on every head. (Amos 8:10)

Put on baldness and shave yourself for your precious children, and expand your baldness..., for they shall go from you.... (Micah 1:16)

To put on baldness here and expand it means, symbolically, to falsify the Word’s truths in its outmost expressions. When these are falsified, as they were by the Jews, the whole Word is destroyed. For the outmost expressions of the Word are its supports and underpinnings. Indeed, every single word supports and underpins its celestial and spiritual truths.

[4] Because the hair of the head symbolizes truth in outmost expressions, therefore all those in the spiritual world who scorn the Word and falsify its literal sense appear bald, whereas those who honor and love it appear to have attractive hair.

On this subject, see also no. 49 below.

  
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Thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Micah 1

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1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4 The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.

5 "All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.

7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."

8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.

9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10 Don't tell it in Gath. Don't weep at all. At Beth Ophrah I have rolled myself in the dust.

11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won't come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will take from you his protection.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

15 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!