Ezekiel 17
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And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;
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And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
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He cropped off the top of its young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
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He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
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And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned towards him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.
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There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and behold, this vine did bend her roots towards him, and shot forth her branches towards him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.
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It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.
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Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.
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Yes, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.
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Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon hath come to Jerusalem, and hath taken its king, and its princes, and led them with him to Babylon;
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And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath from him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
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That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.
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But he rebelled against him in sending his embassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
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As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
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Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
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Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
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Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely my oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even that will I recompense upon his own head.
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And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
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And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered towards all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
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Thus saith the Lord GOD, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent:
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In the mountain of the hight of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell.
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And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
Apocalypse Explained # 506
506. And the third part of the trees was burnt up, signifies that the perceptions and knowledges of truth and good were destroyed by cupidities arising from evil loves. This is evident from the signification of "a third part," when predicated of truths, as meaning all (of which presently); also from the signification of "trees," as being the interiors of man that belong to his mind (of which above, n. 109, and thus the perceptions of truths and goods, and the knowledges of them (See above, n. 420); also from the signification of "to be burnt up," as being to be destroyed by cupidities arising from evil loves, of which just above (n. 504) here it was shown that these cupidities are signified by "fire," therefore "to be burnt up" means to be destroyed by these.
[2] "The third part" signifies all, and thus "the third part of the trees" signifies every perception of truths and goods, and thence every knowledge of them, because the number "three" signifies fullness, the whole, and all, and is predicated of truths; so "the third part" has the like meaning, for "a third" means the same as "three;" moreover, numbers multiplied into themselves and divided by themselves have a similar signification as the integral numbers from which they are derived (See above, n. 430). That "the third part" signifies all and is predicated of truths see also above n. 384. "The third part" has a similar signification in the following passages:
The third part of the sea became blood (verse 8);
The third part of the creatures that were in the sea died (verse 9);
A burning star fell upon the third part of the rivers (verse 10);
The third part of the waters became wormwood (verse 11);
The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars (verse 12; likewise Revelation 9:15, 18; 12:4).
[3] This describes how all perception of truth and good, and thence the knowledge of them, were first destroyed by the loves of self and the world and the cupidities and pleasures arising therefrom. The perception and knowledge of spiritual truth and good are destroyed by these loves and the cupidities arising therefrom, because these loves are the corporeal and merely natural loves into which man is born and unless these are subdued and ruled by spiritual loves, which are out of heaven from the Lord, they extinguish every perception and thence every knowledge of the truths and goods of heaven and the church; for these loves regarded in themselves are diametrically opposite to the spiritual loves. From this it can be seen that when the church lapses it comes first from an internal spiritual state into a natural state, that consists of loving self and the world above all things; thence then it is in thick darkness in respect to all things of heaven and the church, however much light it may have in respect to the things of the world.
[4] When the perception of spiritual truths and goods perishes, the knowledge of them also perishes, for although man knows them and speaks of them from the Word or from doctrine, still he does not know them when he does not perceive them. The perception of a thing makes the knowledge of it. Knowledge without perception is not living, but dead, and is a knowledge of the mere sense of the words, and not of the thing itself. Such are the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and from the doctrine of the church that those have with whom the loves of self and the world are dominant; however skilled such may be in cleverly and artfully speaking and preaching about them, yet they are mere shells, which seem before the vulgar to have kernels within, and yet they are empty.
