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Ezekiel 4

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1 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου λαβὲ σεαυτῷ πλίνθον καὶ θήσεις αὐτὴν πρὸ προσώπου σου καὶ διαγράψεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν πόλιν τὴν ιερουσαλημ

2 καὶ δώσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν περιοχὴν καὶ οἰκοδομήσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν προμαχῶνας καὶ περιβαλεῖς ἐπ' αὐτὴν χάρακα καὶ δώσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν παρεμβολὰς καὶ τάξεις τὰς βελοστάσεις κύκλῳ

3 καὶ σὺ λαβὲ σεαυτῷ τήγανον σιδηροῦν καὶ θήσεις αὐτὸ τοῖχον σιδηροῦν ἀνὰ μέσον σοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἑτοιμάσεις τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπ' αὐτήν καὶ ἔσται ἐν συγκλεισμῷ καὶ συγκλείσεις αὐτήν σημεῖόν ἐστιν τοῦτο τοῖς υἱοῖς ισραηλ

4 καὶ σὺ κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου τὸ ἀριστερὸν καὶ θήσεις τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ισραηλ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν ἃς κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν

5 καὶ ἐγὼ δέδωκά σοι τὰς δύο ἀδικίας αὐτῶν εἰς ἀριθμὸν ἡμερῶν ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἡμέρας καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ισραηλ

6 καὶ συντελέσεις ταῦτα πάντα καὶ κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου τὸ δεξιὸν καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ιουδα τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ἡμέραν εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν τέθεικά σοι

7 καὶ εἰς τὸν συγκλεισμὸν ιερουσαλημ ἑτοιμάσεις τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ τὸν βραχίονά σου στερεώσεις καὶ προφητεύσεις ἐπ' αὐτήν

8 καὶ ἐγὼ ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ἐπὶ σὲ δεσμούς καὶ μὴ στραφῇς ἀπὸ τοῦ πλευροῦ σου ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου ἕως οὗ συντελεσθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ συγκλεισμοῦ σου

9 καὶ σὺ λαβὲ σεαυτῷ πυροὺς καὶ κριθὰς καὶ κύαμον καὶ φακὸν καὶ κέγχρον καὶ ὄλυραν καὶ ἐμβαλεῖς αὐτὰ εἰς ἄγγος ἓν ὀστράκινον καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτὰ σαυτῷ εἰς ἄρτους καὶ κατ' ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἃς σὺ καθεύδεις ἐπὶ τοῦ πλευροῦ σου ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἡμέρας φάγεσαι αὐτά

10 καὶ τὸ βρῶμά σου ὃ φάγεσαι ἐν σταθμῷ εἴκοσι σίκλους τὴν ἡμέραν ἀπὸ καιροῦ ἕως καιροῦ φάγεσαι αὐτά

11 καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν μέτρῳ πίεσαι τὸ ἕκτον τοῦ ιν ἀπὸ καιροῦ ἕως καιροῦ πίεσαι

12 καὶ ἐγκρυφίαν κρίθινον φάγεσαι αὐτά ἐν βολβίτοις κόπρου ἀνθρωπίνης ἐγκρύψεις αὐτὰ κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν

13 καὶ ἐρεῖς τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ ισραηλ οὕτως φάγονται οἱ υἱοὶ ισραηλ ἀκάθαρτα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν

14 καὶ εἶπα μηδαμῶς κύριε θεὲ τοῦ ισραηλ ἰδοὺ ἡ ψυχή μου οὐ μεμίανται ἐν ἀκαθαρσίᾳ καὶ θνησιμαῖον καὶ θηριάλωτον οὐ βέβρωκα ἀπὸ γενέσεώς μου ἕως τοῦ νῦν οὐδὲ εἰσελήλυθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου πᾶν κρέας ἕωλον

15 καὶ εἶπεν πρός με ἰδοὺ δέδωκά σοι βόλβιτα βοῶν ἀντὶ τῶν βολβίτων τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ ποιήσεις τοὺς ἄρτους σου ἐπ' αὐτῶν

16 καὶ εἶπεν πρός με υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ συντρίβω στήριγμα ἄρτου ἐν ιερουσαλημ καὶ φάγονται ἄρτον ἐν σταθμῷ καὶ ἐν ἐνδείᾳ καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν μέτρῳ καὶ ἐν ἀφανισμῷ πίονται

17 ὅπως ἐνδεεῖς γένωνται ἄρτου καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀφανισθήσεται ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τακήσονται ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις αὐτῶν

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7602

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7602. 'And the barley' means its good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the barley' as the good of the exterior natural. The reason why 'the barley' means that good is that it is a product of the field and is a grain that serves for food. For 'grain' in general means the good of truth, 3580, 5295, 5410, 5959, as do 'barley and wheat' in particular - 'barley' the good of the exterior natural, and 'wheat' the good of the interior natural. The former is meant by 'the barley' in Joel,

The minchah has been cut off, and the drink offering, from the house of Jehovah; the priests have been mourning, the ministers of Jehovah. The field has been devastated, the land has been mourning because the grain has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil languishes. Farmers have been put to shame, vine dressers have wailed over the wheat and over the barley, for the reason that the harvest of the field has perished. Joel 1:9-11.

The prophet is referring at this point to a laying waste of what is good and true, as is clear from what follows it there. Not those products therefore are meant by 'the grain', 'the new wine', 'the wheat', and 'the barley', but spiritual things; that is, 'the wheat' means interior good, and 'the barley' exterior good. 'Barley' has a similar meaning in Ezekiel 4:9 and Deuteronomy 8:8. In the Book of Judges,

When Gideon reached the camp, there was a man recounting a dream to his companion. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread rolled towards the camp of Midian, and came all the way to a tent, and struck it so that it fell, and overturned it, and so the tent collapsed. Judges 7:13.

'Midian' means those who are guided by the truth that goes with simple good, and in the contrary sense those who fail to lead a good life, 3242, 4756, 4788, 6777. This good is the good of the exterior natural and is meant by 'barley bread'. But sensory pleasure, if this is what a person has in view instead of that good, is what is meant by 'a cake of barley bread'. This is the state that the Midianites described here represented on that occasion.

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

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