15
εξηρεν παντας τους ισχυρους μου ο κυριος εκ μεσου μου εκαλεσεν επ' εμε καιρον του συντριψαι εκλεκτους μου ληνον επατησεν κυριος παρθενω θυγατρι ιουδα επι τουτοις εγω κλαιω
Lamentations 1:15
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 20:1-13
1
The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2
There was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
3
The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
4
Why have you brought the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?
5
Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."
6
Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them.
7
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
8
"Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink."
9
Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him.
10
Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you water out of this rock for you?"
11
Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
12
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you didn't believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
13
These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them.
