5201. 'And they fed in the sedge' means instruction. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the sedge', or longer grass that grows near rivers, as facts known to the natural man. Since such factual knowledge is meant by 'grass or 'plant', as is plain from the Word, 'feeding in the sedge' therefore means receiving instruction in factual knowledge, and through this knowledge instruction regarding things that are true and good. For factual knowledge serves as a means. Indeed it is like a mirror in which an image of interior things reveals itself; and this image is like another mirror in which forms of the truth and the good of faith, and therefore things which belong to heaven and are called spiritual, reveal and represent themselves. But being an interior one, this image is seen by none but those who have faith that is rooted in charity. This is what is meant in the genuine sense by 'feeding in the sedge'.

[2] The meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction is evident from those places in the Word where one reads the expression, such as in Isaiah,

Then He will give rain for your seed with which you sow the land, and bread of the produce of the land; and there will be fatness and wealthiness. On that day, they will feed your cattle in a broad grassland. Isaiah 30:23.

'Cattle' stands for those in whom goodness and truth are present, 'feeding in a broad grassland' for receiving abundant instruction.

[3] In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people - to restore the land; to share out the devastated inheritances; 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.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'Feeding along the ways' stands for receiving instruction in truths, 'the ways' being truths, 627, 2333. 'Pasture' stands for the actual instruction. In Jeremiah,

Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture! Therefore said Jehovah God of Israel against the shepherds feeding My people..... Jeremiah 23:1-2.

'The shepherds' stands for those who give instruction, and 'the flock' for those who receive it, 347, 3795, so that 'feeding' means giving instruction.

[4] It has become customary to refer to those who teach as 'pastors' or 'shepherds' and to those who learn as 'the flock'. For this reason the use of the expression 'feeding' has become commonly accepted when talking about preaching or about instruction given in doctrine or the Word. But when the expression is used in this way it is only a comparison and not, as when it occurs in the Word, one that holds any spiritual meaning within it. The reason 'feeding', when used in the Word, has a spiritual meaning is that when instruction and doctrine based on the Word are being talked about in heaven, that discussion is represented in a visual way in the world of spirits, where spiritual realities make their appearance within natural images. That representation consists of grasslands that are lush with grass, plants, and flowers, and where also there are flocks; and every variation of this scene occurs, as determined by the nature of the discussion that is taking place in heaven regarding instruction and doctrine.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will bring back Israel to his habitation so that he may feed on Carmel and Bashan; and on mount Ephraim and in Gilead his soul will be satisfied. Jeremiah 50:19.

'Feeding on Carmel and Bashan' stands for receiving instruction in forms of the good of faith and charity. In the same prophet,

There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like deer, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6. In Ezekiel

I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the loftiness of Israel; and they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 34:14.

[6] In Hosea,

Now Jehovah will feed them like a sheep in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.

'Feeding in a broad place' stands for giving instruction in truths, for 'a broad place' means truth, see 1613, 3473, 3434, 4482.

In Micah,

You, Bethlehem Ephrath, from you will come forth for Me one who will be Ruler in Israel. He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah. Micah 5:2, 4.

In the same prophet,

Guide ¹ your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance which is dwelling alone. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. Micah 7:14.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will feed and rest, with none making them afraid. Zephaniah 3:17.

[7] In David,

Jehovah is my Shepherd; He will make me lie down in green pastures; ² He will lead me away to still waters. Psalms 23:1-2.

In the same author,

He 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. ³ Psalms 100:3.

In the Book of Revelation,

The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will guide them to living springs of water. Revelation 7:17.

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.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said to Peter, Feed My lambs; a second time, Feed My sheep; and a third time, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3079. 'And her pitcher was on her shoulder' means vessels that receive truth, and a total effort to uphold that truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a pitcher' as factual knowledge, and so a receptacle of truth, dealt with in 3068, and from the meaning of 'shoulder' as all power, and so total effort, dealt with in 1085. 'Pitchers' or water-pots, and also vessels generally, mean in the internal sense things that serve in the place of a receptacle, as facts and cognitions do in relation to truths, and as truths themselves do in relation to good. This becomes clear from many places in the Word. The temple and the altar vessels had no other meaning, and having that meaning they were also sacred. For no other reason were they sacred. That was why - when Belshazzar, along with his nobles and his wives, drank wine out of the vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the Temple in Jerusalem, and they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone - writing appeared on the wall of his palace, Daniel 5:2 and following verses. 'The vessels of gold and silver' stands for cognitions of good and truth which were rendered profane; for 'the Chaldeans' means those who possess cognitions but have rendered them profane through the falsities within those cognitions, 1368, so that cognitions serve them for worshipping 'the gods of gold and silver' (Belshazzar being called 'king of the Chaldeans' in verse 30 of that same chapter).

[2] That 'vessels' means the external containers of spiritual things is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Even as the children of Israel bring their gift in a clean vessel to the house of Jehovah. Isaiah 66:20.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom. 'A gift in a clean vessel' is a representative of the external man in relation to the internal. The one who brings the gift is the internal man, 'the clean vessel' a compatible external man, and so the things present in the external man, which are facts, cognitions, and matters of doctrine. In Jeremiah,

The cry of Jerusalem went up, and the nobles sent their inferiors to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty, they were ashamed. Jeremiah 14:2-3.

'Empty vessels' stands for cognitions with no truth in them, and also truths with no good in them. In the same prophet,

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel has devoured me, he has troubled me, he has made me an empty vessel. Jeremiah 51:34.

'An empty vessel' stands in like manner for empty cognitions - 'Babel' being one who lays waste, see 1327 (end). In Moses,

Like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river. Waters will flow from buckets, and his seed will be towards many waters. Numbers 24:6-7.

These verses belong to Balaam's oracle concerning Jacob and Israel. 'Waters will flow from buckets' stands for truths flowing from cognitions. In the parable about the ten virgins it is said that five of them took oil in their vessels together with their lamps, but that the foolish did not, Matthew 25:4. 'Virgins' means affections; 'the wise took oil in their vessels' means that they took good within truths, and so charity within faith. 'Oil' is good, see 886; 'lamps' stands for love.