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Ezekiel 26

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1 And it cometh to pass, in the eleventh year, in the first of the month, there hath been a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: `Son of man,

2 Because that Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, she hath been broken, the doors of the peoples, She hath turned round unto me, I am filled -- she hath been laid waste,

3 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Tyre, And have caused to come up against thee many nations, As the sea causeth its billows to come up.

4 And they have destroyed the walls of Tyre, And they have broken down her towers, And I have scraped her dust from her, And made her for a clear place of a rock.

5 A spreading place of nets she is in the midst of the sea, For I -- I have spoken -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And she hath been for a spoil to nations.

6 And her daughters who [are] in the field, by sword they are slain, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah,

7 For, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, From the north -- a king of kings, With horse, and with chariot, and with horsemen, Even an assembly, and a numerous people.

8 Thy daughters in the field by sword he slayeth, And he hath made against thee a fort, And hath poured out against thee a mount, And hath raised against thee a buckler.

9 And a battering-ram before him he placeth against thy walls, And thy towers he breaketh by his weapons.

10 From the abundance of his horses cover thee doth their dust, From the noise of horseman, and wheel, and rider, Shake do thy walls, in his coming in to thy gates, As the coming into a city broken-up.

11 With hoofs of his horses he treadeth all thine out-places, Thy people by sword he doth slay, And the pillars of thy strength to the earth come down.

12 And they have spoiled thy wealth, And they have plundered thy merchandise, And they have thrown down thy walls, And thy desirable houses they break down, And thy stones, and thy wood, and thy dust, In the midst of the waters they place.

13 And I have caused the noise of thy songs to cease, And the voice of thy harps is heard no more.

14 And I have given thee up for a clear place of a rock, A spreading-place of nets thou art, Thou art not built up any more, For I, Jehovah, I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15 Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Do not -- from the noise of thy fall, In the groaning of the wounded, In the slaying of the slaughter in thy midst, The isles shake?

16 And come down from off their thrones have all princes of the sea, And they have turned aside their robes, And their embroidered garments strip off, Trembling they put on, on the earth they sit, And they have trembled every moment, And they have been astonished at thee,

17 And have lifted up for thee a lamentation, And said to thee: How hast thou perished, That art inhabited from the seas, The praised city, that was strong in the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who put their terror on all her inhabitants!

18 Now they tremble, is it not the day of thy fall? Troubled have been the isles that [are] in the sea, at thine outgoing.

19 For thus said the Lord Jehovah: In my making thee a city wasted, Like cities that have not been inhabited, In bringing up against thee the deep, Then covered thee have the great waters.

20 And I have caused thee to go down, With those going down to the pit, Unto the people of old, And I have caused thee to dwell in the land, The lower parts -- in wastes of old, With those going down to the pit, So that thou art not inhabited, And I have given beauty in the land of the living.

21 Wastes I do make thee, and thou art not, And thou art sought, and art not found any more -- to the age, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 7729

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7729. 'Not a hoof shall be left behind' means that nothing at all of the truth from good shall be lacking. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hoof' as truth from good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'not being left behind' as not to be lacking, that is, from worship of the Lord. In the internal sense nearest to the literal 'not a hoof shall be left behind' means that nothing whatever shall be lacking, for the hoof is common to all livestock. But in the sense more internal than that 'a hoof means truth in the last degree - that is, truth on the level of the senses, which is the lowest - and in the contrary sense falsity. The reason why 'a hoof' has this meaning is that 'foot' means the natural, and 'sole of the foot' the last and lowest level of the natural, 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5728, much the same being meant by 'hoof' since it is the sole of the foot in the case of livestock. And because the last and lowest level of the natural is meant by 'hoof' as it is by 'sole', truth forming that level of the natural is also meant; for when the natural is spoken of, truth and good are meant, or in the contrary sense falsity and evil. The natural is formed from these, and without them is devoid of any attributes.

[2] The fact that 'hoof', in particular that of a horse, means truth in the last and lowest degree, that is, truth on the level of the senses, and in the contrary sense falsity belonging to the same degree, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Whose arrows are sharp, and all bows bent. His horses' hoofs are considered as flint, his wheels as the whirlwind. Isaiah 5:18.

This refers to a people laying waste. 'Arrows' means ideas fired from false doctrine, which they use to fight with, and 'bow' the doctrine itself, 2686, 2709. 'Horses' means powers of understanding, in this instance perverted ones, 2761, 2762, 3117, 5321, 6125, 6534. Which shows what 'the hoofs' of the horses means, namely falsity in the last and lowest degree.

[3] In Jeremiah,

. . . because of the sound of the beat of the hoofs of his mighty ones, on account of the noise of his chariot, the rumble of his wheels. Jeremiah 47:3

This refers to a people laying the Philistines waste. 'The beat of the hoofs of his mighty ones', that is, of horses, stands for open conflict of falsity against truth. 'Chariot' stands for teachings maintaining falsity, for 'a chariot' means teachings that maintain either truth or falsity, see 5321, 5945.

[4] In Ezekiel,

By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust will cover you; by reason of the noise of horsemen, and wheels, and chariots, your walls will be shaken; by means of the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. Ezekiel 26:10-11.

This refers to Nebuchadnezzar laying Tyre waste. 'Horses' stands for perverted powers of understanding, as above, 'horsemen' for concepts that go with that kind of understanding, 6534. 'The wheels' that the chariots have stands for the falsities that are taught, 'chariot' being such teaching, as above, while 'streets' stands for truths, 2336. From this it is evident that 'the hoofs of horses' stands for falsities. If such were not meant, what would be the point of the statement 'by reason of the abundance of his horses their dust will cover you; by reason of the noise of horsemen, and wheels, and chariots, your walls will be shaken; by means of the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets'? Without an inner meaning would they be anything more than empty sounds? In actual fact every expression used in the Word, being Divine in origin, carries weight.

[5] In the same prophet,

They will devastate the pride of Egypt, in order that its multitude may be destroyed. And I will destroy all its beasts over many waters, in order that the foot of man (homo) may not disturb them any more, nor the hoof of beast disturb them. Then I will turn their waters into a depth, 1 and cause their rivers to flow like oil. Ezekiel 32:12-14.

Nor are these details intelligible unless one knows what is meant by 'Egypt', by 'the foot of man', by 'the hoof of beast', by 'waters' over which beasts will be destroyed, which the foot of man and hoof of beast will disturb, and which will be turned into a depth. Waters and rivers of Egypt are collections of true factual knowledge, while 'the hoof of beast' is falsity on the last and lowest level of the natural that disturbs true factual knowledge.

[6] In Micah,

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze, in order that you may crush many peoples. Micah 4:13.

Nor can anyone know without the internal sense what these things are, that is, unless he knows what is meant by 'threshing', 'daughter of Zion', 'horn that will be made like iron', 'hoof that will be made like bronze', both of which will be used 'to crush many peoples'. 'Daughter of Zion' is the celestial Church, 1362; 'horn' is the power of truth that springs from good, 2832; 'iron' is natural truth that will have the ability to destroy falsities, 425, 426; 'hoof' is truth that springs from good in the last and lowest degree; and 'bronze' is natural good that will have power over evils, 425, 1551.

[7] In Zechariah,

I will raise up a shepherd in the land; he will not go 2 to [the sheep] that are to be cut off, he will not seek one tender in age, and he will not heal one that is maimed. 3 But he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear apart their hoofs. Zechariah 11:16.

This refers to a stupid shepherd. 'Eating the flesh of the fat' stands for turning good into evil, 'tearing apart the hoofs' for turning truth into falsity.

[8] How superior in intelligence the ancients were to people at the present day becomes clear from the consideration that in regard to very many objects in the world they knew which realities in heaven they corresponded to, and therefore what their spiritual meanings were. This knowledge existed not only with those who belonged to the Church but also with those outside the Church, such as the people in Greece, the most ancient of whom employed images with spiritual meanings to depict those realities. But at the present day, since such meanings are entirely unknown, those images are called myths. Knowledge of such correspondences among the sages of old is evident from the fact that they spoke of a winged horse, which they called Pegasus, to depict the rise of intelligence and wisdom. With its hoof it broke open a fountain, at which there were nine virgins, and which was situated on a hill. For they knew that 'the horse' was a sign of the power of understanding, 'its wings' a sign of spirituality, 'its hoofs' a sign of the last and lowest degree of truth, which gave rise to intelligence, 'virgins' a sign of varieties of knowledge, 'hill' a sign of unanimity, and in the spiritual sense of charity, and so on with the rest. But such matters at the present day are some of those that are lost.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. allow them to settle so that they look clear and deep

2. literally, visit

3. literally, broken

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