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Ezekiel 34:5

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5 They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.

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House

  
White House at Night by Vincent van Gogh

A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 6437

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6437. 'And on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers' means with respect to the exteriors. This is clear from the meaning of 'the crown of the head of the Nazirite' as the exteriors, dealt with below; and from the representation of the sons of Israel, to whom Joseph's 'brothers' refers here, as spiritual truths in the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951. Which are also exterior ones when considered in relation to other truths. For the good that resides with the member of the spiritual Church is the good of truth, and this good is an interior one because it resides in the interior part of the natural. The reason why 'the Nazirite' means the exteriors is that Nazirites represented the Lord's Divine Natural, which is the External Divine Human. That this is what Nazirites represented is clear from the fact that naziriteship is identified with the hair, and the holiness of that state lay in the hair. It did so for the sake of the representation already mentioned; for 'the hair' corresponds to and consequently means the natural, see 3301, 5247, 5569-5573. This is also evident from those who took the nazirite vow. They were forbidden to shave their hair during the time of the vow, Numbers 6:5; but afterwards, when the period of their naziriteship had been completed, they had to shave their head at the door of the tent of meeting and cast their hair into the fire under the eucharistic sacrifice, Numbers 6:13, 18. The same thing is further evident from Samson, who was a Nazirite. His strength lay in his hair, Judges 13:3, 5; 16:1-end, see 330. This is why it says in Jeremiah,

Cut off the hair of your naziriteship and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the hills. Jeremiah 7:29.

From all this it is clear that 'the crown of the head of the Nazirite' means the exteriors, for the crown of the Nazirite's head is where his hair is. So much for the arcanum meant in the Word by 'the Nazirites'.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.