Arcana Coelestia #5201
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.
Фусноти:
1. or Feed or Pasture
2. literally, pastures of the plant
3. The first and second halves of this sentence are in fact alternative ways of understanding the original Hebrew.
John 20
1
Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.
2
Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid him!"
3
Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
4
They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
5
Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn't enter in.
6
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
7
and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8
So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
9
For as yet they didn't know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10
So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11
But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
12
and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13
They told her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him."
14
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn't know that it was Jesus.
15
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
16
Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him, "Rabboni!" which is to say, "Teacher!"
17
Jesus said to her, "Don't hold me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
18
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
19
When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you."
20
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
21
Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
22
When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!
23
Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained."
24
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn't with them when Jesus came.
25
The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
26
After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you."
27
Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believing."
28
Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29
Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed."
30
Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
31
but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
