Ezekiel 20
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And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
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Then came the word of the LORD to me, saying,
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Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.
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Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
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And say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your GOD;
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In the day that I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them forth from the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
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Then said I to them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
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But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
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But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth from the land of Egypt.
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Wherefore I caused them to go forth from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
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And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them.
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Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
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But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
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But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
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Yet also I lifted up my hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
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Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
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Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
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But I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
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I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
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And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
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Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them: they profaned my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
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Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
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I lifted up my hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
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Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.
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Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;
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And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all the first-born, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
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Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
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For when I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings.
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Then I said to them, What is the high place to which ye go? and its name is called Bamah to this day.
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Wherefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye lewd deeds after their abominations?
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For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.
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And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
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As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
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And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries in which ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured out.
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And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
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As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
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And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
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And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken to me: but profane ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
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For on my holy mountain, on the mountain of the hight of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
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I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
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And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.
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And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings in which ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
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And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the LORD GOD.
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Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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Son of man, set thy face towards the south, and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
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And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
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And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.
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Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
Arcana Coelestia #7836
7836. 'By the number of the souls, [each of them] according to the mouth of his eating, you shall make your count for the member of the flock' means making the good sufficient for innocence by filling it out with truths of good in the exact quantity needed for assimilating innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the number of the souls' as the exact quantity of the truths of good, since 'the number' in the Word has reference to truth, and 'a soul' to spiritual good; from the meaning of 'according to the mouth of his eating' as the amount needed for assimilating it, 'eating' meaning assimilating or making one's own, see 3168, 3517, 3596, 3832; and from the meaning of 'the member of the flock' as innocence, dealt with above in 7832. Making the good sufficient for innocence by filling it out is meant by the command to take from the house of an immediate neighbour the number that would be enough for the member of the flock, 'the house' meaning good, see above in 7873. When the expression 'the truth of good' is used here truth springing from good is meant. For when those who belong to the spiritual Church are being regenerated they are brought to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith; but once they have been brought to the good of charity, the truths born from it subsequently are called the truths of good.
[2] But how to understand these matters contained in this verse no one can possibly know unless he knows how the communities in heaven exist in relation to one another; for those communities were represented by the ways in which the children of Israel lived in association with one another according to tribes, families, and households. The communities of heaven are interrelated in a similar way, as follows: Heaven as a whole is one community, which the Lord governs as a single human being. The general communities there are the same in number as the members and various organs a person has, while the specific communities are the same in number as the component parts of each organ or member. And the individual communities are just so many as the smaller parts constituting larger ones. The truth of this is evident from the correspondences of the human being and of his members and various organs with the Grand Man, that is, with heaven, which have been described from experience at the ends of quite a number of chapters. From all this one may see what heaven is like so far as its organization into separate communities is concerned.
[3] But as regards what each community individually is like, it consists of a large number of angels who accord with one another in their types of good. The types of good are varying, for each one's good is peculiar to himself; yet those varying types of good that are in accord with one another are organized by the Lord into the kind of form in which they stand together as a single body of good. Such communities were represented by the fathers' houses among the children of Israel. This is the reason why the children of Israel were divided not only into tribes but also into families and households. And it is also why, when people are mentioned by name [in the Word], the names of their fathers are mentioned in order, right back to the tribe they belong to. It says, for example, of Samuel's father in 1 Samuel 1:11 that he was from Mount Ephraim, and that his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph; and 1 Samuel 9:1 states that Saul's father was from Benjamin, and that his name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Jeminite man. 1 Similar details concerning very many other fathers are given. When such were mentioned it was to the end that heaven might know the particular nature of the kind of good represented by that father, as it derived in consecutive degrees from the first.
[4] In heaven furthermore, if a community is not complete as it ought to be, then new members are taken from elsewhere, from some neighbouring community, just the number that will complete the form of that good. As many are taken as are needed in each state and in the changes it undergoes; for the form of good varies as the state changes. It should nevertheless be recognized that in the third or inmost heaven - which is immediately above the heaven where those who are spiritual are, since these constitute the middle or second heaven - innocence reigns. For the Lord, who is perfect innocence, flows directly into that heaven.
[5] But in the second heaven, where those who are spiritual are, the Lord flows in with innocence indirectly, that is to say, by way of the third heaven. This inflow is the means by which the communities in the second heaven are organized or arranged into order in respect of their types of good. Therefore the inflow of innocence is what leads to changes in the states of good and to consequent variations of the patterns linking communities to one another there. From this it becomes clear how one ought to understand the contents of this verse in the internal sense, namely as follows: If someone's individual type of good is insufficient for innocence, it must be joined to the nearest good of truth, in order to make the good sufficient for the innocence by filling it out with truths of good in the exact quantity needed for assimilating innocence.
Footnotes:
1. i.e. a Benjaminite
