The Bible

 

Ezekiel 31

Study

   

1 And it cometh to pass, in the eleventh year, in the third [month], in the first of the month, hath a word of Jehovah been unto me, saying:

2 `Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and unto his multitude: To whom hast thou been like in thy greatness?

3 Lo, Asshur, a cedar in Lebanon, Fair in branch, and shading bough, and high in stature, And between thickets hath its foliage been.

4 Waters have made it great, The deep hath exalted him with its flowings, Going round about its planting, And its conduits it hath sent forth unto all trees of the field.

5 Therefore higher hath been his stature than all trees of the field, And multiplied are his boughs, and long are his branches, Because of many waters in his shooting forth,

6 In his boughs made a nest hath every fowl of the heavens, And under his branches brought forth hath every beast of the field, And in his shade dwell do all great nations.

7 And he is fair in his greatness, In the length of his thin shoots, For his root hath been by great waters.

8 Cedars have not hid him in the garden of God, Firs have not been like unto his boughs, And chesnut-trees have not been as his branches, No tree in the garden of God hath been like unto him in his beauty,

9 Fair I have made him in the multitude of his thin shoots, And envy him do all trees of Eden that [are] in the garden of God.

10 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because that thou hast been high in stature, And he yieldeth his foliage between thickets, And high is his heart in his haughtiness,

11 I give him into the hand of a god of nations, He dealeth sorely with him, In his wickedness I have cast him out.

12 And cut him off do strangers, The terrible of nations, and they leave him, On the mountains and in all valleys have his thin shoots fallen, And broken are his boughs at all streams of the land, And go down from his shade do all peoples of the land, and they leave him.

13 On his ruin dwell do all fowls of the heavens, And on his boughs have been all the beasts of the field,

14 In order that none of the trees of the waters May become haughty because of their stature, Nor give their foliage between thickets, Nor any drinking waters stand up unto them in their haughtiness, For all of them are given up to death, Unto the earth -- the lower part, In the midst of the sons of men, Unto those going down to the pit.

15 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of his going down to sheol I have caused mourning, I have covered for him the deep, and diminish its flowings, And restrained are many waters, And I make Lebanon black for him, And all trees of the field have been covered for him.

16 From the sound of his fall I have caused nations to shake, In My causing him to go down to sheol, With those going down to the pit, And comforted in the earth -- the lower part, are all trees of Eden, The choice and the good of Lebanon, All drinking waters.

17 Also they with him have gone down to sheol, Unto the pierced of the sword, And -- his arm -- they dwelt in his shade in the midst of nations.

18 Unto whom hast thou been thus like, In honour and in greatness among the trees of Eden, And thou hast been brought down with the trees of Eden, Unto the earth -- the lower part, In the midst of the uncircumcised thou liest, With the pierced of the sword? It [is] Pharaoh, and all his multitude, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

   

Commentary

 

King

  
Meeting of three kings in Potsdam and Charlottenburg, 1709, by Samuel Theodor Gericke

In Genesis 14:1, kings signify apparent goods and truths having the upper hand. In the next verse, they stand for the dominant evils and falsities against which the Lord fought as he passed He grew up on Earth.

In Genesis 14:3, we see that these evils and falsities were unclean; and in Genesis 14:4, that they burst forth later. (Arcana Coelestia 1661-1664).

In Genesis 14:14-15, this signifies that the Lord gained victory over them the evils represented earlier in the chapter. (Arcana Coelestia 1711-1715)

In Isaiah 33:17, a king signifies seeing genuine truth. (Apocalypse Explained 304[31])

In Revelation 9:11, a king signifies one who is in truth from an affection for what is good, and abstractly that truth itself -- here, in the opposite sense. (Apocalypse Revealed 440)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #28

Study this Passage

  
/ 65  
  

28. The reason “the Son of Humanity” means the Lord as the Word was that the prophets were also called “children of humanity.” The reason they were called this is that they represented the Lord as the Word and therefore meant the teaching of the church drawn from the Word. That is exactly what people in heaven understand by “prophets” when they are mentioned in the Word. The spiritual meaning of “prophet” and also of “son of humanity” is the teaching of the church drawn from the Word, and when it is said of the Lord, it means the Word itself.

For the prophet Daniel being called a son of humanity, see Daniel 8:17.

For the prophet Ezekiel being called a son of humanity, see Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 5:1; 6:2; 7:2; 8:5-6, 8, 12, 15; 11:2, 4, 15; 12:2-3, 9, 18, 27; 13:2, 17; 14:3, 13; 15:2; 16:2; 17:2; 20:3-4, 27, 46; 21:2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 19, 28; 22:18, 24; 23:2, 36; 24:2, 16, 25; 25:2; 26:2; 27:2; 28:2, 12, 21; 29:2, 18; 30:2, 21; 31:2; 32:2, 18; 33:2, 7, 10, 12, 24, 30; 34:2; 35:2; 36:1, 17; 37:3, 9, 11, 16; 38:2, 14; 39:1, 17; 40:4; 43:7, 10, 18; 44:5.

We can see from this that the Lord as the Divine-Human One is called “the Son of God, ” and as the Word is called “the Son of Humanity.”

  
/ 65  
  

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