35. 28 shows that the Old Testament prophets represented the Lord in respect to the Word and therefore meant the teaching of the church drawn from the Word, and that because of this they were addressed as “children of humanity.” It follows from this that by the various things they suffered and endured they represented the violence done to the literal meaning of the Word by Jews. Isaiah, for example, took the sackcloth off his waist and the sandals off his feet and went naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:2-3). Similarly, Ezekiel the prophet took a barber’s razor to his head and his beard, burned a third of the hair in the middle of the city, struck a third with a sword, and scattered a third to the wind; also, he bound a few hairs in his hems and eventually threw a few into the midst of a fire and burned them (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

Since the prophets represented the Word and therefore meant the teaching of the church drawn from the Word (as just noted), and since the head means wisdom from the Word, the hair and the beard mean the outermost form of truth. It is because of this meaning that inflicting baldness on yourself was a sign of immense grief and being discovered to be bald was an immense disgrace. This and this alone is why the prophet shaved off his hair and his beard - to represent the state of the Jewish church in regard to the Word. This and this alone is why two she-bears tore apart forty-two boys who called Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-25)-because as just noted the prophet represented the Word, and his baldness signified the Word without an outermost meaning.

We shall see in §49 below that the Nazirites represented the Lord’s Word in its outermost forms, which is why they were commanded to let their hair grow and not to shave any of it. In Hebrew, “Nazirite” actually means “hair.” It was commanded also that the high priest was not to shave his head (Leviticus 21:10) and that the fathers of their families as well were not to do so (Leviticus 21:5).

That is why they regarded baldness as such an immense disgrace, as we can tell from the following passages:

There will be baldness upon all heads, and every beard will be cut off. (Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:37)

There will be shame upon all faces and baldness on all heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

Every head was made bald and every shoulder hairless. (Ezekiel 29:18)

I will put sackcloth around all waists and baldness upon every head. (Amos 8:10)

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair because of your precious children; make yourself still more bald, because they have left you and gone into exile. (Micah 1:16)

Here making yourself bald and making yourself still more bald means distorting truths of the Word in its outermost forms. Once they have been distorted, as was done by Jews, the whole Word is ruined, because the outermost forms of the Word are what it rests on and what holds it up. In fact, every word in it is a base and support for the Word’s heavenly and spiritual truths.

Since a head of hair means truth in its outermost forms, in the spiritual world everyone who trivializes the Word and distorts its literal meaning looks bald; but those who respect and love it have good-looking hair. On this, see §49 below.

In Jeremiah 8:22, 46:11, this signifies the truths of the literal sense of the Word, and their defense. (Apocalypse Explained 654[41])

In Ezekiel 27:17, this signifies goods of love and charity and the joy they bring. (Arcana Coelestia 3941[7], Apocalypse Explained 375[35])

(références: Arcana Coelestia 5615)

5615. Verses 11-14 And Israel their father said to them, If this therefore has to be, do it. Take some of the much-sung-about produce ¹ of the land in your vessels, and cause a gift to go down to the man - a little resin and a little honey, wax and stacte, pistachio nuts and almonds. And take a double amount of silver in your hands. And the silver that was put back in the mouth of your pouches you are to take back in your hand; perhaps it was a mistake. And take your brother; and rise up, return to the man. And may God Shaddai grant you mercy before the man, and may he release ² to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, even as I have been bereaved, I shall be bereaved.

'And Israel their father said to them' means a perception received from spiritual good. 'If this therefore has to be, do it' means if it cannot be done in any other way, let it be done in that way. 'Take some of the much-sung-about Produce of the land in your vessels' means the choicer things of the Church among the truths of faith. 'And cause a gift to go down to the man' means to obtain favour. 'A little resin and a little honey' means the truths of exterior natural good, and the delight that goes with these. 'Wax and stacte' means the truths of interior natural good. 'Pistachio nuts and almonds' means forms of the good of life that agree with those truths. 'And take a double amount of silver in your hands' means truth received by the powers. 'And the silver that was put back in the mouth of your pouches you are to take back in your hand' means that through the truth freely given and present in the exterior natural they were to make themselves submissive as far as was possible. 'Perhaps it was a mistake' means lest he becomes unfriendly. 'And take your brother' means that by that self-submission they would receive the good of faith. 'And rise up, return to the man' means the life received from spiritual truth. 'And may God Shaddai' means the comfort that follows hardships. 'Grant you mercy before the man' means so that spiritual truth may accept you favourably. 'And may he release to you your other brother' means so that it may grant the good of faith. 'And Benjamin' means so that interior truth may be granted also. 'And I, even as I have been bereaved, I shall be bereaved' means that before these things take place the Church must be so to speak deprived of its own truths.

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