The Bible

 

Ezekiel 4

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1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1296

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1296. That 'come, let us make bricks' means the falsities which they fashioned for themselves is clear from the meaning of 'brick'. 'Stone' in the Word means truth, and therefore 'brick', being man-made, means falsity, for brick is artificial stone. That 'brick' has this meaning becomes clear also from the following places: In Isaiah,

I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people. walking in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks. Isaiah 65:2-3.

'Burning incense upon bricks' stands for worship based on fabrications and falsities; and this is why these people are referred to as 'walking after their own thoughts'. In the same prophet,

On account of the pace and arrogance of heart of Ephraim, and of the inhabitants of Samaria, saying, The bricks have fallen but we will build from hewn stone. Isaiah 9:9-10.

'Ephraim' stands for one who, having become intelligent, has then lapsed into wrong, who calls or makes falsities, or 'bricks', his truths. 'Hewn stone' stands for what is a fabrication. In Nahum,

Draw yourself water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications; go into the mud and tread the clay; renew the brick-kiln. There the fire will devour you. and the sword cut you off. Nahum 3:14-15.

Here 'treading the clay' stands for falsities, 'renewing the brick-kiln' for worship based on them. 'Fire' is the punishment of evil desires, 'sword' the punishment of falsities. In Ezekiel,

Take a brick and lay it before you, and on it carve the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 4:1.

This text contains the command to besiege it, a prophecy implying that worship was falsified. The fact that 'brick' means falsity becomes clearer still from the meaning of 'stone' as truth, to be dealt with in what follows shortly.

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