1
Wenn ihr nun das Land durchs Los austeilet, so sollt ihr ein Hebopfer vom Lande absondern, das dem HERRN heilig sein soll, fünfundzwanzigtausend (Ruten) lang und zehntausend breit. Der Platz soll heilig sein, soweit er reicht.
Hesekiel 45:1
Arcana Coelestia #5536
5536. 'You have bereaved me [of my children]' means that thus no Church existed any longer. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, the one who says this about himself, as the good of truth, dealt with in 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 4234, 4273, 4538 (and as the good of truth is represented, so also is the Church because good is the essential element of the Church. It therefore amounts to the same whether you say the good of truth or the Church, for the person who has the good of truth present with him has the Church present with him. 'Jacob' represents the Church, see 4286, 4520, and that being so his sons represent the truths known to the Church, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512); and from the meaning of 'bereaving' as depriving the Church of its truths and forms of good, such as those here which are represented by Joseph, Benjamin, and Simeon, to whom reference is made directly after the words 'you have bereaved me'.
[2] 'Bereaving' is depriving the Church of its truths for the reason that the Church is likened to a marriage. Good is likened to the husband and truth to the wife, while the truths born from that marriage are likened to 'the sons' and the forms of good to 'the daughters', and so on. When therefore a state of bereavement or an action causing this is mentioned, the meaning is that the Church has been deprived of its truths and as a consequence ceases to be a Church. The expressions 'bereft' and 'bereavement' are also used in various other places in the Word, as in
Ezekiel,
I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, and I will make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.
In the same prophet,
When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals. Ezekiel 14:15.
In Leviticus,
I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will leave you bereft and will cut off your beasts, 1 and make you few in number, so that your roads are laid waste. Leviticus 26:22.
[3] In these quotations 'famine' stands for an absence of cognitions of good and truth and the consequent desolation, 'evil wild animals' for falsities derived from evils, and 'the land' for the Church. 'Sending famine and evil wild animals, and leaving the land bereft' stands for destroying the Church by means of falsities derived from evils and so depriving it completely of truths. In Jeremiah,
I will winnow them with a winnowing-fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave, I will destroy My people. Jeremiah 15:7.
Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths. In the same prophet,
Give their children over to the famine, and cause them to be wiped out by the power of the sword, 2 so that their wives become bereaved [of children] and widows. Jeremiah 18:11.
'So that their wives become bereaved and widows' stands for their being left without truths or good.
[4] In Hosea,
As for the Ephraimites, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the belly, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons, I will make them bereft of human beings. Hosea 9:11-12.
Here the meaning is similar. In Ezekiel,
I will cause human beings to walk upon you, even My people; and those human beings will by inheritance take possession of you and you will be an inheritance to them; no more will you bereave them [of their children]. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because they say to you, You have been one devouring human beings and one bereaving your peoples [of children]. Ezekiel 36:12-13.
Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths.
[5] In Isaiah,
Now hear this, you lover of pleasures, sitting securely, saying in her 3 heart, I am, and there is no one else like me; a widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know bereavement [of children]. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day-bereavement and widowhood. Isaiah 47:8-9.
This refers to the daughter of Babel and to Chaldea, that is, to those who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy and who call themselves the Church by virtue of that outward holiness. 'Bereavement and widowhood' stands for a deprivation of truth and good. In the same prophet,
Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you. The children of your bereavements will say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; yield me a place to dwell in. But you will say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, when yet I am bereft [of children] and alone, an exile and one who has been displaced? Who therefore has brought these up? I was left, alone. These, where were they? Isaiah 49:18, 20-21.
This refers to Zion, which is the celestial Church, and to its fruitfulness after it had been laid waste. 'The sons of bereavements' stands for the truths of which it was deprived when laid waste, but which were restored and underwent enormous increase.
Footnotes:
1. i.e. cattle
2. literally, cause them to flow down by means of the hand of the sword
3. The Latin means your but the Hebrew means her, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.
Hosea 8
1
"Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh's house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.
2
They cry to me, 'My God, we Israel acknowledge you!'
3
Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him.
4
They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn't approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off.
5
Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?
6
For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
7
For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.
8
Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing.
9
For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
10
But although they sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones.
11
Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning.
12
I wrote for him the many things of my law; but they were regarded as a strange thing.
13
As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; But Yahweh doesn't accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.
14
For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses."
