11
πας ο λαος αυτης καταστεναζοντες ζητουντες αρτον εδωκαν τα επιθυμηματα αυτης εν βρωσει του επιστρεψαι ψυχην ιδε κυριε και επιβλεψον οτι εγενηθην ητιμωμενη
Lamentations 1:11
Arcana Coelestia # 6413
6413. 'Is a hind let loose' means the freedom that natural affection possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hind' as natural affection, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'let loose' as freedom, for when a hind that has been captured is let loose it has freedom. Freedom from a state of temptations is compared to 'a hind let loose' because a hind is a woodland creature that loves more than all others to be free. The natural too is like this, for it loves to engage in what delights its affections and therefore to feel free; for freedom is the hallmark of affection. The reason 'a hind' means natural affection is that it is one of the beasts that serve to mean the affections, all of which beasts can be used as food and are useful creatures, such as lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, as well as bulls, young bulls, and also cows. Yet these beasts also serve to mean spiritual affections because burnt offerings and sacrifices were made of them, whereas 'hinds', because they were not put to that use, served to mean natural affections. For 'beasts' and their meaning affections, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3519, 5198; and the fact that their meaning affections has its origin in representatives in the world of spirits, 3218, 5850.
[2] Natural affections are also meant by 'hinds' in David,
Jehovah makes my feet like those of hinds, and sets me on my high places. Psalms 18:33.
And in Habakkuk,
Jehovih the Lord is my strength, who places my feet like those of hinds, and causes me to walk on my high places. Habakkuk 3:19.
'Placing feet like those of hinds' stands for the natural when its affections are in freedom, 'feet' being the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328. This meaning of 'placing feet like those of hinds may be seen from the fact there is nothing spiritual about making a person's feet like those of hinds, nimble and fit to run with. Yet the idea does have a spiritual implication, as is evident from the references that immediately follow to being set by Jehovah on high places and caused to walk on them, meaning spiritual affection on a level above natural affection. The same applies to the following words in Isaiah,
The lame man will leap like a hart. Isaiah 35:6.
'The lame man' means a person who is governed by good, though not as yet by genuine good, 4302.
[3] In David,
As the hart cries out for the water brooks, 1 so does my soul cry out for You. Psalms 42:1.
Here 'the hart' stands for the affection for truth, 'crying out for the water brooks' for desiring truths, 'waters' being truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668.
[4] In Jeremiah,
There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like harts, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6.
'The daughter of Zion' stands for the affection for good, the affection the celestial Church has, 2362. 'Princes stands for the first and foremost truths of that Church, 1482, 2089, 5044, which truths are compared to 'harts', by which affections for natural truth are meant. And by harts that 'have not found pasture' are meant natural affections devoid of truths and forms of good that go with them, 'pasture' being truth and the good of truth that sustain a person's spiritual life, see 6078, 6277.
[5] 'Hinds' is used in a similar way in Jeremiah,
The land was broken up in pieces because no rain had come to be on the land; the farmers were put to shame, they covered their heads, because even the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass. Jeremiah 14:4-5.
'The hind' stands for an affection for natural good, 'calved in the field' for joining natural affections to spiritual ones which exist in the Church. Yet because those affections were devoid of truths and forms of good, it says that she left the field because there was no grass. Anyone can see that these things said about the hind have an inner meaning, for without it what point would there be in saying that the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass?
[6] The same is so with what is said in David,
The voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, Glory. Psalms 29:9.
The existence of an inner meaning, which is the spiritual sense, within the statement that 'the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve' is perfectly clear from the fact that immediately afterwards it says, 'but in His temple everyone says, Glory'. Without the spiritual sense these words do not hang together with the statement before them about hinds and forests.
Notas de rodapé:
1. literally, over the brooks of waters
Numbers 19:2-19
2
"This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded: Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] on which never came yoke.
3
You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face:
4
and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.
5
One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
6
and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.
8
He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
9
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin offering.
10
He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
11
"He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
12
the same shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he doesn't purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13
Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.
14
"This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15
Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.
16
"Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17
"For the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
18
and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave:
19
and the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.
