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Ezequiel 27

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1 Y FUÉ á mí palabra de Jehová, diciendo:

2 Y tú, hijo del hombre, levanta endechas sobre Tiro.

3 Y dirás á Tiro, que está asentada á las entradas de la mar, mercadera de los pueblos de muchas islas: Así ha dicho el Señor Jehová: Tiro, tú has dicho: Yo soy de perfecta hermosura.

4 En el corazón de las mares están tus términos: los que te edificaron completaron tu belleza.

5 De hayas del monte Senir te fabricaron todas las tillas: tomaron cedros del Líbano para hacerte el mástil.

6 De castaños de Basán hicieron tus remos: compañía de Asirios hicieron tus bancos de marfil de las islas de Chittim.

7 De fino lino bordado de Egipto fué tu cortina, para que te sirviese de vela; de cárdeno y grana de las islas de Elisah fué tu pabellón.

8 Los moradores de Sidón y de Arvad fueron tus remeros: tus sabios, oh Tiro, estaban en ti; ellos fueron tus pilotos.

9 Los ancianos de Gebal y sus sabios repararon tus hendiduras: todas las galeras de la mar y los remeros de ellas fueron en ti para negociar tus negocios.

10 Persas y Lidios, y los de Phut, fueron en tu ejército tus hombres de guerra: escudos y capacetes colgaron en ti; ellos te dieron tu honra.

11 Y los hijos de Arvad con tu ejército estuvieron sobre tus muros alrededor, y los Gammadeos en tus torres: sus escudos colgaron sobre tus muros alrededor; ellos completaron tu hermosura.

12 Tarsis tu mercadera á causa de la multitud de todas riquezas en plata, hierro, estaño, y plomo, dió en tus ferias.

13 Grecia, Tubal, y Mesec, tus mercaderes, con hombres y con vasos de metal, dieron en tus ferias.

14 De la casa de Togarma, caballos y caballeros y mulos, dieron en tu mercado.

15 Los hijos de Dedán eran tus negociantes: muchas islas tomaban mercadería de tu mano; cuernos de marfil y pavos te dieron en presente.

16 Siria fué tu mercadera por la multitud de tus labores: con perlas, y púrpura, y vestidos bordados, y linos finos, y corales, y rubíes, dió en tus ferias.

17 Judá, y la tierra de Israel, eran tus mercaderes: con trigos de Minith, y pannah, y miel, y aceite, y resina, dieron en tu mercado.

18 Damasco, tu mercadera por la multitud de tus labores, por la abundancia de todas riquezas, con vino de Helbón, y lana blanca.

19 Asimismo Dan y el errante Javán dieron en tus ferias, para negociar en tu mercado de hierro labrado, mirra destilada, y caña aromática.

20 Dedán fué tu mercadera con paños preciosos para carros.

21 Arabia y todos los príncipes de Cedar, mercaderes de tu mano en corderos, y carneros, y machos cabríos: en estas cosas fueron tus mercaderes.

22 Los mercaderes de Seba y de Raama fueron tus mercaderes: con lo principal de toda especiería, y toda piedra preciosa, y oro, dieron en tus ferias.

23 Harán, y Canneh, y Edén, los mercaderes de Seba, de Asiria, y Chilmad, contigo contrataban.

24 Estos tus mercaderes negociaban contigo en varias cosas: en mantos de jacinto, y bordados, y en cajas de ropas preciosas, enlazadas con cordones, y en madera de cedro.

25 Las naves de Tarsis, tus cuadrillas, fueron en tu negociación: y fuiste llena, y fuiste multiplicada en gran manera en medio de los mares.

26 En muchas aguas te engolfaron tus remeros: viento solano te quebrantó en medio de los mares.

27 Tus riquezas, y tus mercaderías, y tu negociación, tus remeros, y tus pilotos, los reparadores de tus hendiduras, y los agentes de tus negocios, y todos tus hombres de guerra que hay en ti, con toda tu compañía que en medio de ti se halla, caerán en medio

28 Al estrépito de las voces de tus marineros temblarán los arrabales.

29 Y descenderán de sus naves todos los que toman remo; remeros, y todos los pilotos de la mar se pararán en tierra:

30 Y harán oir su voz sobre ti, y gritarán amargamente, y echarán polvo sobre sus cabezas, y se revolcarán en la ceniza.

31 Y haránse por ti calva, y se ceñirán de sacos, y endecharán por ti endechas amargas, con amargura de alma.

32 Y levantarán sobre ti endechas en sus lamentaciones, y endecharán sobre ti diciendo: ¿Quién como Tiro, como la destruída en medio de la mar?

33 Cuando tus mercaderías salían de las naves, hartabas muchos pueblos: los reyes de la tierra enriqueciste con la multitud de tus riquezas y de tus contrataciones.

34 En el tiempo que serás quebrantada de los mares en los profundos de las aguas, tu comercio y toda tu compañía caerán en medio de ti.

35 Todos los moradores de las islas se maravillarán sobre ti, y sus reyes temblarán de espanto: inmutaránse en sus rostros.

36 Los mercaderes en los pueblos silbarán sobre ti: vendrás á ser espanto, y dejarás de ser para siempre.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3941

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3941. 'Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest' means faith in regard to its state of love and charity. This is clear from the representation of 'Reuben' as faith, which is the first stage of regeneration, dealt with in 3862, 3866; from the meaning of 'days' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785; and from the meaning of 'wheat' as love and charity, dealt with below - 'wheat harvest' therefore meaning a developing state of love and charity. Jacob's four sons by the servant-girls have portrayed the various means by which the external man is joined to the internal man. Now his remaining four sons portray the actual joining together of good and truth, on account of which reference is made first of all to 'dudaim', by which that joining together or conjugial relationship is meant. The reason why 'wheat harvest' means a developing state of love and charity is that 'the field' means the Church and so the things that constitute the Church, while the seeds sown in it mean the germs of good and truth. And what springs up from those seeds, such as wheat, barley, and many other crops, are the fruits of love and charity, and also of faith. The states of the Church so far as those things are concerned are therefore compared to seedtime and harvest, and are also actually called seedtime and harvest, as in Genesis 8:22 - see 932.

[2] That 'wheat' means the things which constitute love and charity may also be seen from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah causes him to ride over the heights of the land and He feeds [him] with the produce of the fields, causes him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the stony rock - butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed 1 of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed wine. Deuteronomy 32:13-14.

This refers in the internal sense to the Ancient Church and its state when it was established, every aspect of love and charity, and every aspect of faith there, being described by means of things that have spiritual meanings. 'The kidney-fat of wheat' means the celestial side of love and charity. And because 'fat' or 'fatness' means that which is celestial, 353, and 'wheat' means love, the two words are therefore linked together in various places in the Word, as also in David,

O that My people were obedient to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! He would feed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock I will satisfy you. Psalms 81:13, 16.

And elsewhere in the same author,

Jehovah is the one who makes peace your border; with the fat of wheat He satisfies you. Psalms 147:14.

[3] That 'wheat' means love and charity is evident in Jeremiah,

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled down the portion of My field, they have rendered the portion of My field into a lonely wilderness. On all the hills in the wilderness those who cause devastation have come, for the sword of Jehovah is devouring from one end of the land even to the other end of the land. There is no peace for any flesh. They have sown wheat and reaped thorns. Jeremiah 12:10, 12-13.

'Vineyard' and 'the field' stand for the Church, 'a lonely wilderness' for the vastation of it, 'a devouring sword' for the vastation of truth, 'no peace' for the absence of good stirring the affections, 'sowing wheat' for forms of good which are the product of love and charity, 'sowing thorns' for evils and falsities which are the result of self-love and love of the world. For 'vineyard' means the spiritual Church, 1069; 'the field' the Church as regards good, 2971; 'wilderness' vastation, 1927, 2708; 'a devouring sword' vastation of truth, 2799; 'peace' good that stirs the affections, 3780.

[4] In Joel,

The field has been laid waste, the ground has been mourning because the grain has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil languishes. Farmers have been put to shame, vinedressers have wailed over the wheat and over the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. Gird yourselves and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Joel 1:10-11, 13.

It is evident to anyone that here the state of the Church when it has been vastated is what is described, and this being so, that 'the field' and 'the ground' mean the Church, 'the grain' its good, and 'the new wine' its truth, 3580, while 'wheat' means celestial love, 'barley' spiritual love. And since the state of the Church is the subject, the call to 'gird yourselves and lament, O priests, and wail, O ministers of the altar' is used.

[5] In Ezekiel,

The Spirit of Jehovah addressing the prophet, Take for yourself wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them into a single vessel, and make them for yourself into bread. With human excrement you shall make a cake before their eyes. Thus shall the children of Israel eat their unclean bread. Ezekiel 4:9, 12-13.

This refers to the defilement of good and truth. 'Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, spelt' stands for different kinds of good and of truth derived from good. 'Bread' or a cake made from these together with human excrement stands for the defilement of them all.

[6] In John,

I saw, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it held a balance in his hand I heard a voice from the midst of the four living creatures saying, A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenices of barley for a denarius; but do no harm to oil and wine. Revelation 6:5-6.

This too refers to the vastation of good and truth. 'A choenix of wheat for a denarius' stands for a scarcity of love, 'three choenices of wheat for a denarius' for a scarcity of charity.

[7] In Ezekiel,

Judah and the land of Israel, they were your merchants. Wheat of minnith and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm, they exchanged for your tracings. Ezekiel 27:17.

This refers to Tyre, which means the cognitions of good and truth. The goods of love and charity, and the happiness they bring, are meant by 'wheat of minnith and pannag, and honey, oil, and balm'. 'Judah' means the celestial Church, 'the land of Israel' the spiritual, which are the source of those goods. 'Tracings' means acquisitions.

[8] In Moses,

A land of wheat and barley, and of the vine and of the fig and of the pomegranate, a land of olive oil and honey. Deuteronomy 8:8.

This is a description of the land of Canaan, which in the internal sense means the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 3038, 3705. Forms of good which are the product of love and charity in that kingdom are meant by 'wheat and barley', forms of good which are the product of faith by 'the vine and the fig'.

[9] In Matthew,

Whose fan is in His hand, and He will purge His threshing-floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17.

John the Baptist referred in this way to the Lord. 'Wheat' stands for the goods of love and charity, 'chaff' for those things which do not have any good at all within them. In the same gospel,

Let both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:30.

'Weeds' stands for evils and falsities, 'wheat' for goods. These are comparisons, but all comparisons in the Word are made through the use of things that carry a spiritual meaning.

Footnotes:

1. literally, sons

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