The Bible

 

Ezekiel 15

Study

   

1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, what is the wood of the vine more than any wood, the vine-branch, which is among the trees of the forest?

3 Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will [men] take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel: the fire consumeth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned; is it fit for [any] work?

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was used for no work; how much less when the fire hath consumed it, and it is burned, should it yet be used for any work?

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set my face against them: they shall go forth from [one] fire, and [another] fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah when I set my face against them.

8 And I will make the land a desolation, because they have wrought unfaithfulness, saith the Lord Jehovah.

   

Commentary

 

Forest

  
Photo by Gretchen Keith

Plants in general stand for facts and ideas, so it makes sense that a forest in the Bible represents a collection or system of external, factual, ideas. This can be a collection on its own, or it can be the collected external knowledge of a church. It can also represent the level of a person's mind where he or she deals with such systems of ideas.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 9011 [1,3-7], 9642 [3,23]; The Apocalypse Explained 650 [26,49])