[2] This first Ancient Church meant by Noah and his sons was not confined to a few people but was spread throughout many kingdoms, as is clear from the nations mentioned – throughout Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia up to Tyre and Sidon, and throughout the whole of the land of Canaan, on this side of the Jordan and on the other side. Subsequently however a certain type of external worship started in Syria which spread far and wide from there and through many countries, particularly Canaan. It was a different form of worship from the worship of the Ancient Church. And because something of a Church arose in this way that was separate from the Ancient Church, a new Church so to speak rose up from it which may therefore be called the second Ancient Church. Eber was its first founder, and therefore this Church took its name from Eber. As stated already, everybody at that time was distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. One nation recognized one father from whom it also took its name, as is clear throughout the Word, the nation which recognized Eber as its father thus being called the Hebrew nation.
‘Eber’ was the first founder of the second Ancient Church and means that Church. He had two sons by whom the two aspects of worship are meant – internal and external His two sons were called Peleg and Joktan, ‘Peleg’ meaning the internal worship of that Church, and ‘Joktan’ the external worship of that Church. ‘For in his days the earth was divided’ means that a new phase of the Church arose at that time ‘the earth’ here, as previously, meaning the Church. ‘His brother’s name was Joktan’ means the external worship of that Church.
These were just so many nations consisting of the families of Eber, which mean just so many types of ritual forms.
These words mean the spread of the worship, even from the truths of faith to the good that stems from charity; ‘Mesha’ means truth, ‘Sephar’ good, and ‘the mountain of the east’ charity.
The cherubs lifted up their wings. The glory of Jehovah went up from over the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain, which is on the east of the city. Ezek. 11:22, 23.
Here ‘the mountain which is on the east’ means nothing other than the celestial manifestation of the love and the charity that is the Lord’s, for it is said that ‘the glory of Jehovah stood there’. In the same prophet,
He brought me to the gate, to the gate facing the way of the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. Ezek. 43:1, 2.
Here ‘the east’ has a similar meaning.
[2] In the same prophet,
And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east, and it was shut. And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut and not opened, and no man shall enter by it; but Jehovah, the God of Israel, will enter by it. Ezek. 44:1, 2.
Here similarly ‘the east’ stands for the celestial manifestation of the love that is the Lord’s alone. In the same prophet,
When the prince makes a freewill offering, a burnt offering, and peace offerings, as a freewill offering to Jehovah, one shall open for him the gate facing towards the east, and he shall make his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he shall do on the sabbath day Ezek. 46:12.
Here similarly it stands for that which is celestial, which essentially is love to the Lord.
[3] In the same prophet,
He brought me back to the door of the house, and behold, waters were issuing out from below the threshold of the house towards the east, for the house faced east. Ezek. 47:1, 8.
This refers to the new Jerusalem ‘The east’ stands for the Lord, and so for the celestial manifestation of love, while ‘waters’ means things that are spiritual. Here the same is meant by ‘the mountain of the east’. Furthermore those who dwelt in Syria were called ‘the sons of the east’, who will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of later on.
‘These were the sons of Shem’ means derivatives of the internal worship meant by ‘Shem’. ‘According to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations’ means according to the disposition of each of them in particular and in general – ‘according to their families’ is according to differences as regards charity, ‘according to their tongues’ is according to differences as regards faith, ‘in their lands’ is in general in relation to matters of faith, ‘in their nations’ is in general in relation to matters of charity.
‘These are the families of the sons of Noah’ means the forms of worship of the Ancient Church in particular. ‘According to their generations’ means insofar as they were capable of being reformed. ‘In their nations’ means the Church’s forms of worship in general.
‘From these the nations on the earth were spread abroad’ means that in these all the forms of that Church’s worship took rise – all forms that entailed goods and those that entailed evils, such goods or evils being meant by ‘the nations’, and the Church by ‘the earth’. ‘After the Flood’ means from the start of the Ancient Church.
[2] In Isaiah,
There will be on that day the root of Jesse which is standing as an ensign of the peoples; towards that root the nations will seek to go, and his rest will be glory. On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to acquire the remnants of His people, who remain from Asshur, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah. Isa. 11:10-12.
Here ‘peoples’ stands for the truths of the Church, ‘nations’ for its goods, between which a clear distinction is made. The subject here is the Lord’s kingdom and the Church, and in the universal sense every regenerate person. The names mentioned mean the things that have been described already. ‘Israel’ means the spiritual things of the Church, ‘Judah’ its celestial things. In the same prophet,
This people walking in darkness have seen a great light. You have multiplied the nation, You have increased its joy. Isa. 9:2, 3.
Here ‘people’ stands for truths, hence the reference to ‘their walking in darkness and seeing a [great] light’. ‘Nation’ stands for goods.
[3] In the same prophet,
What will one answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and in her the wretched members of His people will put their trust. Isa. 14:32.
Here likewise ‘nation’ stands for good, ‘people’ for truth. In the same prophet,
Jehovah Zebaoth will swallow up on this mountain the face* of the covering, of the covering over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. Isa. 25:7.
This refers to a new Church, that is, the Church of the nations. ‘People’ stands for its truths, ‘nations’ for its goods. In the same prophet,
Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isa. 26:2.
Here ‘nation’ plainly stands for goods. In the same prophet,
All the nations will be gathered together, and the peoples will be assembled. Isa. 43:9
This too refers to the Church of the nations. ‘Nations’ stands for its goods, and ‘peoples’ for its truths. And since the two are distinct and separate from each other, both are dealt with; otherwise it would be a pointless repetition. In the same prophet,
The Lord Jehovih said, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and raise My ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom and carry your daughters on their shoulder. Isa. 49:22.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom, ‘nations’ again standing for goods, and ‘peoples’ for truths.
[4] In the same prophet,
You will break out to the right and to the left, and your seed will inherit the nations, and they will dwell in the desolate cities. Isa. 54:3.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and to the Church called the Church of the nations. That ‘the nations’ stands for goods that stem from charity, or what amounts to the same, for people with whom the goods of charity exist, is clear from the promise that their ‘seed’, or faith, ‘will inherit them’. ‘Cities’ stands for truths. In the same prophet,
Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a Prince and Lawgiver to the peoples Lo, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation that knew you not will run to you. Isa. 55:4, 5.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. ‘Peoples’ stands for truths, ‘nations’ for goods. In the Church those who are endowed with goods that stem from charity are ‘nations’ while those who are endowed with truths of faith are ‘peoples’. For goods and truths are attributes of the subjects to which they apply. In the same prophet,
Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Then you will see and overflow, and your heart will be astounded and enlarged, because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the armies of the nations will come to you. Isa. 60:3, 5.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and the Church of the nations. ‘Nations’ stands for goods, while ‘kings’, who go together with ‘peoples’, stands for truths.
[5] In Zephaniah,
The remnants of My people will plunder them, and the residue of My nation will inherit them. Zeph. 2:9.
In Zechariah,
Many peoples and numerous nations will come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem. Zech. 8:22.
‘Jerusalem’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and for the Church, ‘peoples’ those with whom the truths of faith predominate, ‘nations’ for those with whom the goods of charity do so, and therefore they are mentioned separately. In David,
You will deliver me from the strivings of the people; You will set me as the head of nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. Ps. 18:43.
Here similarly ‘people’ stands for those with whom truths predominate, ‘nations’ for those with whom good does so. And because these are what constitute the member of the Church, both are mentioned. In the same author,
The peoples will confess You, O God, all the peoples will confess You; the nations will be glad and exultant, for You will judge the peoples with uprightness, and You will guide the nations into the land. Ps. 67:3, 4.
‘Peoples’ clearly stands for those with whom truths of faith predominate, and ‘nations’ for those with whom the good of charity predominates.
[6] In Moses,
Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation; ask your father and he will show you, and your elders and they will tell you, When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance and separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. Deut. 32:7, 8.
This refers to the Most Ancient Church and the Ancient Churches, which are respectively ‘the days of old’ and ‘the years of generation after generation’. Those with whom the good of charity predominated were called ‘the nations’ to whom an inheritance was given. ‘The sons of man’ and in the next sentence ‘the peoples’ mean those with whom the truths of faith deriving from charity predominated. Since ‘the nations’ means the goods of the Church and ‘the peoples’ its truths, it was therefore said of Esau and Jacob when they were still in the womb,
Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your bowels. Gen. 25:23.
These places now make clear what the Church of the nations is in the genuine sense. The Most Ancient Church was the true Church of the nations, as was the Ancient Church after that.
[7] Since those governed by charity are called ‘nations’ and those governed by faith are called ‘peoples’, the Lord’s priesthood is therefore associated with ‘nations’ because it has reference to celestial things, which are goods, while His kingship is associated with ‘peoples’ because it has reference to spiritual things, which are truths This distinction was also represented in the Jewish Church in which they were ‘a nation’ before they had kings, but became ‘a people’ after they received them.
* lit. the faces
All the families of the nations will bow down before You, for the kingdom is Jehovah’s, and He rules among the nations. Ps. 22:27, 28.
And in the same author,
Give to Jehovah, O families of the peoples, give to Jehovah glory and strength! Ps 96:7.
In the present verse and in the previous verse of this chapter ‘families’ has reference to goods because they were families of nations.
At some height overhead many spirits were present who flowed into my thoughts and held them so to speak in bonds, so that I was very much in obscurity. They were pressing down on me quite strongly. The spirits around me were similarly held by them so to speak in bonds, and so were able to think little apart from that which flowed in from those overhead, and this was enough to make them angry. I was told that those overhead were people who had lived before the Flood, though they were not from those called Nephilim who perished, for their power of persuasion was not so strong as the latter’s.
* Reading et (and) for ut (as)
[2] Their persuasions are such as to destroy everything true and good. As a consequence those into whom they flow are unable to perceive anything, or after that even to think. This also was why the spirits were being removed. When they started to flow in I fell asleep. Then while I slept they flowed in by means of evil desires, so powerfully in fact that had I been awake I could not have withstood them. In my sleep I felt a pressure upon me which I cannot describe, only that I subsequently remembered that they had attempted to kill me by a stifling exhalation, which was like a terrible nightmare. At that point I woke up and noticed that they were near me. But when they realized that I was awake they fled to their own position higher up and flowed in from there.
[3] While they were there it seemed to me as though they were being rolled up in a cloth, as in the incident described in 964. I thought that it was those evil spirits who were being rolled up in it, but in fact it was they who were doing it to others. This is achieved by means of delusions, yet the spirits against whom they act in this way by delusions are not aware of anything other than of being actually rolled up. It seemed that those whom they were rolling up in this way rolled down the slope of some rock, but those who had been so rolled up were released and set free. They were spirits who did not wish to leave and so were preserved by the Lord or else they would have been suffocated. Although they would have revived they would have done so after much suffering. At that point those who had been allowed out from the hell below went back by way of the slope on the rock. From that place came a drilling sound as though many large drills were at work, and I perceived that the sound was the product of extremely painful delusions against the Lord’s existence. Subsequently they were sent down through the gloomy caverns beneath the rock enveloped in mist into their own hell While they were in the world of spirits the whole constitution of the sphere there was altered.
When the time has come to allow souls recently arrived from the world to leave the company of spiritual angels in order to enter that of spirits and at length to enter the community which they were in during their lifetime, they are carried by angels around to many dwelling-places, which are separate communities yet joined to others. At each place they are taken in and then move on to other communities. This continues for some time until they reach the community which they were in during their lifetime; and there they stay. This marks a new beginning to their life. If someone is an impostor, a hypocrite, or deceitful – one who is able to assume a deceptive state and a seemingly angelic disposition – he is sometimes received by good spirits. But in a little while the association is broken, and then he wanders around unaccompanied by the angels, and begs to be received. He is however rejected, and sometimes punished, till at length he comes down to be among those in hell. Those who, after they have been vastated, are borne away to be among angels – they too pass from one community to another. And when they move on from one to another, those whom they are leaving allow them to go with civility and charity; and this continues until they reach the angelic community that accords with their own kind of charity, true piety, honesty, or genuine civility. So that I might know about all this I too have been conducted in a similar way through those dwelling-places, and those who are there have talked to me. I was at that time allowed to reflect on changes of place, that they were merely apparent, and that they were nothing else than changes of state, with the body remaining where it was.
1 Communities of spirits and of angels, as regards position, appear distinct and separate from one another, even though places and distances in the next life are nothing other than varieties of state.
2 Position and distances are relative to the human body, so that people on the right thus seem to be stationed on the right whichever way the body turns. The same applies to those on the left, or in any other direction.
3 No spirits and angels are so far away that they cannot be seen; yet no more come into view than the Lord allows to do so.
4 When the Lord allows it, spirits whom others are thinking about – for example, people who had been known to them in some way during their lifetime – are present in an instant. They come close enough to be heard or touched, or stand a little way off, notwithstanding the fact that they may have been several thousands of miles away, even up among the stars. The reason is that spatial distance is meaningless in the next life.
5 With angels no idea of time exists; it is the same in the world of spirits, but more completely so in heaven. What then must the situation be with the Lord, to whom every single human being is inescapably most fully present and beneath His view and Providence?
These things seem unbelievable but are nevertheless true.
GENESIS 11
1 And the whole earth was of one lip, and its words were one.
2 And so it was that, when they travelled away from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 And they said, one man to the next, Come, let us make bricks, and let us burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had bitumen for clay.
4 And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest perhaps we are scattered over the face* of the whole earth.
5 And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of man were building.
6 And Jehovah said, See, they are one people, and they all have one lip, and this they have started to do; and now they will not be held back from anything which they have thought of doing.
7 Come, let us go down, and let us there confound their lip so that they do not hear each man the lip of his companion.
8 And Jehovah scattered them from there over the face* of the whole earth; and they left off building the city.
9 Therefore He called the name of it Babel, because there Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth; and from there Jehovah scattered them over the face* of the whole earth.
10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a son of a hundred years, and he begot Arpachshad two years after the Flood.
11 And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.
12 And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and he begot Shelah.
13 And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah four hundred and three years; and he begot sons and daughters.
14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and he begot Eber.
15 And Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years; and he begot sons and daughters.
16 And Eber lived thirty-four years, and he begot Peleg.
17 And Eber lived after he begot Peleg four hundred and thirty years; and he begot sons and daughters.
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and he begot Reu.
19 And Peleg lived after he begot Reu two hundred and nine years; and he begot sons and daughters.
20 And Reu lived thirty-two years, and he begot Serug.
21 And Reu lived after he begot Serug two hundred and seven years; and he begot sons and daughters
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and he begot Nahor.
23 And Serug lived after he begot Nahor two hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.
24 And Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and he begot Terah.
25 And Nahor lived after he begot Terah a hundred and nineteen years; and he begot sons and daughters.
26 And Terah lived seventy years, and he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran begot Lot.
28 And Haran died in the presence** of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 And Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah, the daughter of Haran, Milkah’s father and Iskah’s father.
30 And Sarai was barren; she had no offspring.
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in- law, the wife of Abram his son; and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. And they came as far as Haran and remained there.
32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
* lit. the faces
** lit. before the faces
The subject in verses 1-9 is the first Ancient Church, which came after the Flood.
The subject now is the Ancient Church in general and the fact that its internal worship in process of time was falsified and adulterated; and so as a consequence was its external worship, for the character of external worship depends on that of internal. The falsification and adulteration of internal worship is meant here by Babel. The fact that the historical events mentioned up to now, apart from those concerning Eber, are not true but made-up may also be seen from the details given in this chapter concerning the tower of Babel – men set out to build a tower whose head was in heaven; their lips were confused so that no one could hear another; it was Jehovah who confused them in this way. This fact may also be seen from the assertion that this was the origin of Babel and yet verse 10 of the previous chapter says that Babel was built by Nimrod. From this it is also clear that Babel does not mean a city, but some real thing, and that here it means worship whose interior features are not holy though its external appear so.
‘The whole earth was of one lip’ means that people everywhere held to the same doctrine in its general aspects, ‘lip’ meaning doctrine, ‘the earth’ the Church. ‘And its words were one’ means that they held to the same doctrine in its particular details.
[2] In regard to what has been said of the first Ancient Church – that though so wide-spread throughout the world, its lip was nevertheless one and its words one, that is, it shared one doctrine in its general aspects and in its particular details; but for all that, the forms of worship, internal as well as external, were everywhere divergent, as shown in the previous chapter where each nation that is mentioned meant a divergent form of doctrine and of ritual – the situation is as follows: Heaven consists of countless communities. They all vary, and yet all are one, for all are led as one by the Lord; see what has appeared already in 457, 551, 684, 685, 690. A parallel exists in man, in that although internally his body has so many parts, which, like his other organs and limbs, have so many inner parts, each functioning differently from any other, yet all of them, every single one, are nevertheless controlled as one by one soul. A parallel also exists with the human body, which has different ways of exerting its strength and of moving. Nevertheless all are controlled by one motion of the heart and one of the lungs, and together make one. The reason they are able to function as one in this way is that in heaven there is one single influx which is received by everyone according to his own disposition. This influx is an influx of affections from the Lord, from His mercy and life. And although there is one influx only, everything nevertheless conforms and follows as one. And this comes about through the mutual love shared by those in heaven.
[3] Such was the situation with the first Ancient Church that although there were so many forms of internal and external worship, at the general level as many as there were nations, at the specific level as many as there were families making up nations, and at the particular level as many as there were people in the Church, they all nevertheless had ‘one lip’ and ‘their words were one’; that is, they all shared one doctrine in general and in particular. Doctrine is one when all possess mutual love, or charity. Mutual love or charity causes things, though varied, to be one, for it makes one out of varied things. If all, no matter how many – even ten thousand times ten thousand – are governed by charity or mutual love, they have but one end in view, namely the common good, the Lord’s kingdom, and the Lord Himself. Variations in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship are like the variations that exist with the physical senses and with the inner parts of man’s body, which, as stated, all contribute to the perfection of the whole. Indeed the Lord flows in and works by way of charity though in different ways according to the disposition of each individual. And in so doing He arranges every single person into a proper order, on earth as in heaven. In this way the Lord’s will is done, as He Himself teaches, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.
The seraphim kept calling out, Holy, Holy, Holy is Jehovah Zebaoth. The prophet said, Woe is me! I am cut off; for* I am a man with unclean lips, and am dwelling in the midst of a people with unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah Zebaoth. Then flew one of the seraphim to me He touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched upon your lips, and your iniquity goes away, and your sin is atoned for. Isa. 6:3, 5-7.
‘Lips’ stands for man’s interior things, and so for internal worship from which adoration springs. This is what the prophet’s experience represented. Anyone may see that his lips being touched in this way, his iniquity going away, and his sin being atoned for, was a representation of interior things meant by ‘the lips’, which are those of charity and its doctrine.
[2] In the same prophet,
Jehovah will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath** of His lips will He slay the wicked. Isa. 11:4.
The internal sense of this does not mean that Jehovah smites with the rod of His mouth and slays the wicked with the breath** of His lips, but that the wicked does so to himself. ‘The breath of His lips’ is doctrine, which with a wicked person is false. In the same prophet,
I create the fruit of the lips – peace, peace to the far and to the near, and I will heal him. Isa. 57:19.
‘Fruit of the lips’ stands for doctrine.
[3] In Ezekiel,
Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. You have not been sent to people of foreign speech and a hard language*** but to the house of Israel, not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language*** whose words you do not hear. Surely if I sent you to such they would listen to you? And the house of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me; for the whole house of Israel are hardened in the forehead and hard in heart. Ezek. 3:4-7.
‘Foreign speech’**** refers to gentiles who, though subject to falsity taught by doctrine, nevertheless possess charity. These people are spoken of therefore as ‘listening’, whereas those who do not possess charity are called ‘hardened in the forehead and hard in heart’.
[4] In Zephaniah,
I will turn to the people with a clear lip that all of them may call on the name of Jehovah to serve Him with one shoulder. Zeph. 3:9.
‘Clear lip’ plainly stands for doctrine. In Malachi,
The law of truth was in His mouth, and perversity was not found on His lips. For the lips of the priest will keep knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth, for he is the angel***** of Jehovah Zebaoth. Mal. 2:6, 7.
This refers to Levi who represents the Lord. ‘Lips’ stands for doctrine deriving from charity.
In David, Those who say With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us. Ps 12:4.
‘Lips’ stands for falsities. In the same author,
My soul will be satisfied with fat and fatness, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.****** Ps. 63:5.
In Isaiah,
On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak with the lip of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. Isa. 19:18.
‘Lip’ stands for doctrine.
* The Latin (qui) means who, but it is clear from the Hebrew that for or because (quia) is intended.
** or the spirit
*** lit.. deep in lip, and heavy in tongue
**** lit. Deep in lip
***** or the messenger
****** lit. lips of songs
[2] That ‘the Word’ means all doctrine concerning charity and faith derived from it and that ‘words’ means the details that constitute doctrine is clear in David,
I will confess You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgements I will keep Your statutes. How will a young man make pure his path? By observing Your Word. With my whole heart I have sought You; cause me not to wander from Your commandments I have laid up Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Jehovah; teach me Your statutes! With my lips I have declared all the judgements of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies. I meditate on Your commands and look to Your ways. I delight in Your statutes, I do not forget Your Word. Ps. 119:7-16.
‘The Word’ stands for doctrine in general. The fact that here commandments, judgements, testimonies, commands, statutes, way, and lips, are distinguished shows plainly that they are all features of the Word, that is, of doctrine. The same applies wherever else in the Word these terms are used with different meanings.
[3] In the same author,
A love song. My heart is pondering* a goodly theme.** My tongue is the pen of a ready scribe You are the fairest of the sons of man. Grace has poured out from your lips. Ride on the word of truth, and of the meekness of righteousness Your right hand will teach you marvellous things. Ps. 45:1-2, 4.
‘Riding on the word of truth, and of the meekness of righteousness’ is teaching the doctrine of truth and good. Here, as elsewhere in the Word, word, mouth, lip, and tongue mean differing things. The fact that they all have to do with doctrine concerning charity is clear because it is called ‘a love song’, and it is to this doctrine that ‘the fairest of the sons of man’, ‘grace on the lips’, and ‘a right hand that teaches marvellous things’ have reference.
[4] In Isaiah,
The Lord*** has sent a word into Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. Isa. 9:8.
‘A word’ stands for the doctrine of internal and external worship. Here ‘Jacob’ stands for external worship, ‘Israel’ for internal. In Matthew,
Jesus said, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that goes out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4.
In the same gospel,
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not give heed to it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. Matt. 13:19
‘The word’ is again referred to in verses 20-23 of that chapter. In the same gospel,
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. Matt. 24:35.
Here ‘word’ stands for the Lord’s doctrine and ‘words’ for the things that constitute His doctrine.
[5] Since the term ‘words’ stands for everything that constitutes doctrine the Ten Commandments are therefore called ‘words’ in Moses,
Jehovah. wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words. Exod. 34:28.
In the same author,
He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten words, and He wrote them on two tables of stone. Deut. 4:13; 10:4.
In the same author,
Take heed, and guard your soul diligently, lest perhaps you forget the things**** which your eyes have seen. Deut. 4:9.
And there are further examples besides these.
* The first Latin edition reads voluit (has willed) but comparison with the original Hebrew shows that volvit (is turning over or is pondering) is intended.
** lit. a good word
***The Latin has Jehovah but the Hebrew has the name meaning Lord, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
**** lit. the words
[2] Verse one dealt with the Church having one lip and its words being one that is, one doctrine in general and in particular. This verse however deals with the decline of the Church – ‘they travelled from the east’ that is, they began to depart from charity. For to the extent that the Church, or a member of the Church, departs from charity, its worship departs from what is holy, or its worship approaches what is unclean and unholy. The reason ‘they found a valley in the land of Shinar’ means the decline of the Church, that is, of worship, into unholiness is that a valley is a low-lying area between mountains, which, as has been stated, mean the holy things of love or of charity within worship. This also becomes clear from the meaning of ‘a valley’ in the Word where in the original language several expressions for valley occur which mean, when used in that sense, things present in worship that are less or more unholy.
[3] That ‘valleys’ means such things is clear in Isaiah,
The burden of the valley of vision; for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has a day of tumult and of trampling and of confusion in the valley of vision. Isa. 22:1, 5.
‘The valley of vision’ stands for delusions and for reasonings by which worship is rendered false and at length profaned. In Jeremiah,
How do you say, I have not been defiled, I have not walked after the baals? Look at your way in the valley. Jer. 2:23.
‘The valley’ stands for unclean worship. In the same prophet, They have built the high places of Topheth, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Therefore, behold, the days are coming when it will no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. Jer. 7:31, 34, 19:6.
‘The valley of Hinnom’ stands for hell, also for the profanation of truth and good.
[4] In Ezekiel,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys Behold, I, even I, am bringing a sword places. Ezek. 6:3.
In the same prophet,
I will give to Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of those that pass over towards the east of the sea. And they will call it the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ezek. 39:11, 15.
This refers to worship in external things, ‘the valley’ standing for such worship. But when worship has not yet become unholy to that extent, it is described by the word for a valley used here in Gen. 11:2, as in Isaiah,
I will open rivers on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into streams of water. Isa. 41:18.
This refers to people who are in ignorance, that is, without cognitions of faith and charity, and who yet have charity. ‘valley’ here stands for those people, as does ‘valley’ in Ezek. 37:1.
‘And one man said to the next’ means that this was started ‘Come, let us make bricks’ means the falsities which they fashioned for themselves. ‘And let us burn them thoroughly’ means the evils that stem from self-love. ‘And they had brick for stone’ means that they had falsity in place of truth. ‘And they had bitumen for clay’ means that they had evil springing from evil desire in place of good.
[2] But falsity from evil desires comes into being when the origin of falsity is evil desire, that is, self- love and love of the world, as when somebody takes some point of doctrine, preaches it to captivate and take control of people’s minds, and explains or twists that point of doctrine to his own advantage, and confirms it both by reasonings based on facts, and from the literal sense of the Word. The worship that results from this is unholy, however holy it may appear outwardly. For inwardly it is not worship of the Lord but worship of self. Nor does such a person acknowledge any truth, except insofar as he can explain it to his own advantage. Such worship is what is meant by ‘Babel’. But the situation is different with people who, though born and brought up in such worship, do not know that it is falsity, and lead charitable lives. Their ignorance has innocence within it, and their worship has the good flowing from charity within it. The unholiness of worship is attributable not so much to the actual worship as to the nature of the worshipper.
I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people. walking in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks. Isa. 65:2, 3.
‘Burning incense upon bricks’ stands for worship based on fabrications and falsities; and this is why these people are referred to as ‘walking after their own thoughts’. In the same prophet,
On account of the pace and arrogance of heart of Ephraim, and of the inhabitants of Samaria, saying, The bricks have fallen but we will build from hewn stone. Isa. 9:9, 10.
‘Ephraim’ stands for one who, having become intelligent, has then lapsed into wrong, who calls or makes falsities, or ‘bricks’, his truths. ‘Hewn stone’ stands for what is a fabrication. In Nahum,
Draw yourself water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications; go into the mud and tread the clay; renew the brick-kiln. There the fire will devour you. and the sword cut you off. Nahum 3:14, 15.
Here ‘treading the clay’ stands for falsities, ‘renewing the brick-kiln’ for worship based on them. ‘Fire’ is the punishment of evil desires, ‘sword’ the punishment of falsities. In Ezekiel,
Take a brick and lay it before you, and on it carve the city of Jerusalem. Ezek. 4:1.
This text contains the command to besiege it, a prophecy implying that worship was falsified. The fact that ‘brick’ means falsity becomes clearer still from the meaning of ‘stone’ as truth, to be dealt with in what follows shortly.
Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire, and all our pleasant places have been made into a waste. Isa. 64:11.
In the same prophet,
Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble. Your wind is a fire that will consume you. Thus the peoples will be burnings of lime; [like] thorns cut down they will be burned in the fire. Isa. 33:11, 12.
And there are many other examples besides these. ‘Burning’ and ‘fire’ have reference to evil desires because they possess similar characteristics.
[2] Regarding the altar, when sacrificial worship on altars was introduced, an altar in that case meant representative worship of the Lord in general. ‘The stones’ themselves however meant the holy truths belonging to that worship. This was why it was commanded that the altar had to be built of whole and not of hewn stones, and why it was forbidden to use any iron tool on them, Deut. 27:5-7; Josh. 8:31. The reason was that hewn stones, and those on which an iron tool had been used, meant artificialities and thus fabrications in worship. That is to say, they meant things that derive from the proprium, or from the inventions of man’s own thought and heart, which was to profane worship, as is clearly stated in Exod 20:25. For the same reason no tool of iron was used on the stones of the Temple, 1 Kings 6:7.
[3] That the precious stones set in the shoulder-pieces of Aaron’s ephod and in the breastplate of judgement in a similar way meant holy truths has been shown already in 114. This is clear also in Isaiah,
Behold, I will set your stones in carbuncle and lay your foundations in sapphires; and I will make your suns (windows) of ruby, and your gates into precious stones, and all your border into pleasant stones And all your sons will be taught by Jehovah, and great will be the peace of your sons. Isa. 54:11-13
The stones mentioned here stand for holy truths, and this is why it is said that ‘all your sons will be taught by Jehovah’. It is also the reason why it is said in John that the foundations of the wall of the city, holy Jerusalem, were adorned with every kind of precious stone, which are each mentioned by name, Rev. 21:19, 20. ‘The holy Jerusalem’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth, the foundations of which kingdom are holy truths. Holy truths were similarly meant by the tables of stone on which the commandments of the Law, or Ten Commandments, were written. This was why they were made of stone or had a stone base, concerning which see Exod. 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deut. 5:22; 10:1; for the commandments themselves are nothing else than truths of faith.
[4] Now because stones in ancient times meant truths, and because later on when worship on pillars, on altars, and in the Temple began, pillars, altars, and the Temple meant holy truths, the Lord also is therefore called ‘a Stone’: In Moses,
The Mighty One of Jacob – from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. Gen. 49:24.
In Isaiah,
The Lord Jehovih said, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Corner-Stone, precious, of sure foundation. Isa. 28:16.
In David,
The Stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner Ps. 118:22.
The same is meant in Daniel 2:34, 35, 45, by the stone cut out of the rock which smashed Nebuchadnezzar’s statue to pieces.
[5] That ‘stones’ means truths is clear in Isaiah,
By this the iniquity of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit to remove his sin, when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isa. 27:9.
‘The stones of the altar’ stands for truths in worship that have been dissipated. In the same prophet,
Make level the way of the people; level out, level out the highway; gather out the stones. Isa. 62:10.
‘The way’ and ‘the stones’ stand for truths. In Jeremiah,
I am against you, O destroying mountain. I will roll you down from the rocks and I will make you into a mountain of burning. And they will not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. Jer. 51:25, 26.
This refers to Babel. ‘A mountain of burning’ is self-love. ‘Taking no stone from it’ means that there is no truth from this source.
The day of Jehovah’s vengeance – her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into sulphur; and her land will become burning pitch. Isa. 34:8, 9.
‘Pitch’ and ‘sulphur’ stand for falsities and evils that spring from evil desires. And there are further examples besides these.
But now, O Jehovah, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are our potter; and we are all the work of Your hands. Isa. 64:8, 9.
‘Clay’ stands for the member himself of the Church who is being formed, and so stands for good stemming from charity by means of which the formation, that is, the reformation and regeneration, of every man is achieved In Jeremiah,
Like the clay in the hand of the potter so are you in My hand,* O house of Israel. Jer. 18:6.
Here too ‘clay’ has a similar meaning. Whether reference is made to building with clay or to forming from it, it amounts to the same.
* The Latin means so are we in Your hand, but the Hebrew means so are you in My hand, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
‘And they said’ means that this was done. ‘Let us build ourselves a city and a tower’ means that they fabricated a form of doctrine and of worship – ‘a city’ is doctrine, ‘a tower’ worship of self. ‘And its head in heaven’ means to the extent of their ruling over things in heaven. ‘And let us make a name for ourselves’ means that as a result they might gain a reputation for power. ‘Lest perhaps we are scattered over the face* of the whole earth’ means that otherwise they would not receive recognition.
* lit. the faces
The eyes of man’s (homo) loftiness will be humbled, and the height of men (vir) brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted on that day, for the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, and against everyone that is lifted up. and he will be humbled, and against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan, and against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower and against every fortified wall. Isa. 2:11-18.
This refers to self-love, described by the cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, and tower that are high and exalted.
[2] In the same prophet,
There will be brooks, streams of water, on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Isa. 30:25.
Here likewise ‘tower’ stands for self-love and for exaltedness in worship. In the same prophet,
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans! This people was not. Asshur founded her in tziim.* They will erect their watch-towers; they will raise up her palaces, he will make her into a ruin. Isa. 23:13.
This refers to Tyre and laying it waste. ‘Watch-towers’, a different expression from ‘towers’, stands for resulting delusions. In Ezekiel,
I will cause many nations to come up against Tyre, and they will break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock. Ezek. 26:3, 4.
Here likewise ‘towers’ has the same meaning.
[3] The reason why self-love in worship, or worship of self, is called ‘a tower’ is that ‘a city’ means doctrine, as shown already in 402, and cities in former times were fortified by towers with watchmen in them. Towers were also placed on their borders, and they were therefore called towers for watchmen, 2 Kings 9:17; 17:9; 18:8, and watchtowers, Isa. 23:13. In addition, when the Lord’s Church is compared to a vineyard, things of worship and also the preservation of it are compared to a winepress and to ‘a tower in the vineyard’, as is clear in Isa. 5:1, 2; Matt. 21:33; Mark 12:1.
* A Hebrew word, probably meaning desert creatures
* lit. the faces
* lit. the faces
‘Jehovah came down’ means judgement on them ‘To see the city and the tower’ means on account of the fact that they had perverted doctrine and profaned worship. ‘Which the sons of man were building’ means which they fabricated for themselves.
[2] Judgment is used of the time when evil has reached its furthest limit, which in the Word is called coming to a close or the time when iniquity has come to a close. For the fact of the matter is that every evil has its limits to which it is allowed to extend. When it is carried beyond those limits it incurs the punishment of evil. This applies both in particular and in general. The punishment of evil is what is then termed judgement. And since it seems at first as though the Lord does not see or notice the existence of evil – for when someone commits evil without getting punished he imagines that the Lord does not care, but when he does suffer punishment he supposes that this is when the Lord sees for the first time, and indeed that it is the Lord who is punishing him – these are the appearances which lead to the use of the expression ‘Jehovah came down to see’.
[3] ‘Coming down’ is used of Jehovah because ‘the most high’, or His being ‘in the highest’, are phrases used of Him This too is phraseology based on appearances, for He dwells not in the highest but in inmost places, and therefore in the Word most high and inmost are identical in meaning. Judgement itself, or the punishment of evil, takes place at a lower or the lowest level. This is why He is spoken of as ‘coming down’, as He also is in David,
O Jehovah, bow Your heavens and come down.* Touch the mountains and they will smoke; send out lightning and scatter them. Ps. 144:5, 6.
This too stands for the punishment of evil, which is judgement. In Isaiah,
Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isa. 31:4.
In the same prophet, You will come down, the mountains will dissolve at Your presence. Isa. 64:3.
Here likewise ‘coming down’ stands for the punishment of evil, that is, for judgement. In Micah,
Jehovah came forth out of His place, and He came down and trod upon the lofty places of the earth; and the mountains melted beneath Him. Micah 1:3, 4.
* The first Latin edition adds three words which mean and I will speak with You, but no phrase such as this occurs at this point in the Psalm quoted.
‘Jehovah said’ means that it was so. ‘See, they are one people, and they all have one lip’ means that all had the truth of faith and held to the same doctrine. ‘And this they have started to do’ means that they are now starting to become different. ‘And now they will not be held back from anything which they have thought of doing’ means unless their state is now altered.
[2] This is not so apparent during a person’s lifetime as it is in the next life. His prevailing attitude reveals itself as a certain sphere which is felt by everyone around him, and it is the fact that it emanates from every single thing within him that makes that sphere such as it is. The sphere of someone who in every respect regards himself takes to itself – or as is said in the next life, absorbs – everything which gratifies it, thus takes to itself all the delight of the spirits surrounding him. It also destroys all the freedom they have It is inevitable therefore that such a person should be banished from their company. When however ‘the people are one and the lip one’, that is, when they have in view the common good of all, one person never takes to himself the joy of another or destroys the freedom of another, but as far as he can he furthers and increases it. This is why heavenly communities are as one, a oneness that is achieved solely by means of mutual love from the Lord. And the same applies to the Church.
‘Come, let us go down’ means that judgement took place in this manner. ‘And let us there confound their lip’ means that nobody has the truth of doctrine. ‘So that they do not hear each man the lip of his companion’ means that all are at variance with one another.
[2] Such also is the life of those people after death. To them the life of falsity looks like light, while the life of truth looks to them like thick darkness. But when they go near heaven the light of such life turns to total darkness. While they are in the world they are indeed able to utter the truth, and to do so eloquently and with seeming zeal. And because they are all the time thinking of themselves it seems to them as though truth is also in their minds. But because their end in view is worship of themselves, this end conditions their thoughts so that they do not acknowledge truth except insofar as self is present in that truth. Anyone like this, though truth is on his lips, clearly has no truth within him. This is quite evident in the next life, for there such people not only fail to acknowledge the truth which they have professed during their lifetime, but also hate it and persecute it. This they do to the extent that pride or worship of self is not taken away from them.
‘Jehovah scattered them over the face* of the whole earth’ means here, as previously, that they were not acknowledged. ‘And they left off building the city’ means that such doctrine was not received.
* lit. the faces
* lit. the faces
[1324a] That ‘they left off building the city’ means that such doctrine was not received is clear from the meaning of ‘a city’ as doctrine, as shown already in 402, and also from what has been stated above at verses 4, 5, about building a city and a tower These considerations show that such doctrine or worship which inwardly contains love of self, that is, worship of self, was not allowed with this Ancient Church, and the reason is given in the very next verse.
‘Therefore He called the name of it Babel’ means such worship. ‘Because Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth’ means the state of this Ancient Church – that internal worship started to perish, ‘the earth’ being the Church. ‘And from there Jehovah scattered them over the face’ of the whole earth’ means that internal worship ceased to exist.
* lit. the faces
[2] That such worship is ‘Babel’ is clear from many parts of the Word where Babel is described, as in Daniel, where the description of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel saw in a dream – whose head was gold, breast and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay – means that true worship finally deteriorated into the kind of worship called ‘Babel’, and therefore also a stone cut out of the rock smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, Dan. 2:31- 33, 44, 45. The statue of gold which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel set up, and which people were to adore, had no other meaning, Dan. 3:1-end. The same applies to the description of the king of Babel with his nobles drinking wine from the vessels of gold that had come from the Temple in Jerusalem, of their praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone, and of writing therefore appearing on the wall, Dan. 5:1-end; to the description of Darius the Mede commanding that he be adored instead of God, Dan. 6:1-end; and to that of the beasts seen by Daniel in a dream, Dan 7:1-end, as well as to that of the beasts and Babel in John’s Revelation.
[3] That such worship was meant and represented is quite clear not only in Daniel and John but also in the Prophets: in Isaiah,
Their faces were faces of flames; the stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give their light The sun is darkened in its coming up and the moon does not shed its light Tziim lie down there, and their houses are full of ochim, and daughters of the owl dwell there, and satyrs dance there, and iim answer in its palaces, and dragons in its halls of pleasure. Isa. 13:8, 10, 21, 22
This refers to Babel and describes the internal aspect of such worship by ‘faces of flames’, which are evil desires; by ‘the stars’, which are truths of faith, ‘not giving their light’; by ‘the sun’, which is holy love, ‘being darkened’; by ‘the moon’, which is the truth of faith, ‘not shedding its light’; by ‘tziim, ochim, daughters of the owl, satyrs, dim, and dragons’, which are the more interior aspects of worship. For such things belong to self-love or the proprium. This also is why Babel in John is called ‘the mother of whoredoms and abominations’, Rev. 17:5; and in the same book,
A dwelling-place of demons,** and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev. 18:2.
From these places it is evident that when such things are within, it is impossible for any good or truth of faith to be there, and that to the extent that those things enter in, the goods which are the objects of affection, and the truths of faith, depart. They are also called in Isa. 21:9 ‘the graven images of the gods of Babel’.
[4] That it is self-love or the proprium which lies within their worship, or that it is worship of self, is quite clear in Isaiah,
Prophesy this parable against the king of Babel, You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the cloud, I will make myself like the Most High. But you will be brought down to hell. Isa. 14:4, 13-15.
Here, it is plain, Babel means the person who wishes to be worshipped as a god, that is, worship of self is meant.
[5] In the same prophet,
Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You trusted in your wickedness, you said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray; you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. Isa. 47:1, 10.
In Jeremiah,
Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth; and I will stretch out My hand over you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you into a mountain of burning. Though Babel rise up into the heavens, and though she fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me those who lay waste will come to her. Jer. 51:25, 53.
This again shows that ‘Babel’ is worship of self.
[6] The fact that such people have no light of truth, but only total darkness, that is, that they do not possess the truth of faith, is described in Jeremiah,
The word which Jehovah spoke against Babel, against the land of the Chaldeans, There will come up upon her a nation from the north, which will make her land a desolation, and none will dwell in it; both man and beast will scatter themselves, they will go away. Jer. 50:1, 3.
‘The north’ stands for thick darkness, or absence of truth. ‘No man and no beast’ stands for the absence of good. For more about Babel, see at verse 28*** below, where Chaldea is referred to.
* A Greek word, also used in late Medieval or Neo-Latin, which means self-love, self-regard.
** The Latin means dragons, but the Greek means demons, which Sw. has in other pieces where he quotes this verse.
*** i.e. 1368
[2] As regards the first Ancient Church, that called Noah, this was the parent so to speak of those that followed, and as is usually the case with Churches in their earliest phases, it was more untarnished and innocent, as is also clear from verse 1 of this chapter which says that it had one lip, that is, one doctrine. That is to say, everyone regarded charity as the essential. But in the course of time, as usually happens to Churches, that Church also started to decline, chiefly because many people started to divert worship to themselves so as to set themselves above others, as is clear from verse 4 above – ‘they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves’. In the Church such people were inevitably like some fermenting agent, or like firebrands that start a fire. When the danger of profaning what is holy was consequently near at hand, referred to in 571, 582, the state of this Church was, in the Lord’s Providence, altered. That is to say, its internal worship perished but its external worship remained, which here is meant by the statement that ‘Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth’. From this it is also clear that the kind of worship called Babel was not prevalent in the first Ancient Church but in those that followed when people started to be worshipped in place of gods, especially after they had died. This was the origin of so many pagan deities.
[3] The reason internal worship was allowed to perish and external remain was to prevent what is holy being profaned. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal condemnation with it. Nobody is able to profane what is holy unless he possesses cognitions of faith and also acknowledges them. Anyone who does not possess them cannot acknowledge them, still less profane them. It is internal things which may be profaned, for it is in internal things, not external, that holiness resides. The situation is similar with someone who does evil but does not have evil in mind. The evil he does cannot be attributed to him any more than to someone who does not deliberately intend evil, or to anyone devoid of rationality. Thus anyone who does not believe in the existence of a life after death, but who nevertheless has external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life because he does not believe that they exist. The situation is different with those who do know and acknowledge them.
[4] This too is why a person is allowed rather to live engrossed in lusts and pleasures, and so to isolate himself from internal things, than to enter into a knowledge and acknowledgement of internal things and so profane them. The Jews of today therefore are allowed to immerse themselves in avarice so that in this way they may be removed from an acknowledgement of internal things, for they are the kind of people who, if they acknowledged them, would inevitably profane them. Nothing does more to isolate a person from internal things than avarice, for this is the lowest of all earthly desires. The same applies to many inside the Church, and to gentiles outside, though gentiles, least of all people, are able to profane anything. This then is the reason for the statement here that ‘Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth’, and the reason why these words mean that the state of the Church was altered, that is to say, its worship became external, having no internal worship within it.
[5] The same situation was represented and meant by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and later on the Jews, were carried away. This is spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,
And there will be a nation and a kingdom that will not serve the king of Babel, and who will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babel. With the sword and famine and pestilence I will visit this people, until I have consumed it by his hand. Jer. 27:8 and following verses.
‘Serving the king of Babel and putting its neck in his yoke’ is being utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgement of the good and the truth of faith, and so of internal worship.
[6] The point is clearer still in the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah to all the people in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity, thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs. Jer. 29:16, 17.
‘Remaining in the city and not going out to the king of Babel’ represented and meant people who possessed the cognitions of internal things, that is, of the truths of faith, and who profaned them – people on whom, it is said, He was sending ‘the sword, famine, and pestilence’, which are forms of punishment for profanation, and whom He was making ‘like rotten figs’.
[7] That ‘Babel’ means people who deprive others of all knowledge and acknowledgement of truth was also represented and meant by the following words in the same prophet,
I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will carry them off to Babel, and will smite them with the sword. And I will give over all the wealth of this city, and all its labour, and all its precious things; and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and seize them. Jer. 20:4, 5.
Here ‘all its wealth, all its lab our, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah’ means in the internal sense cognitions of faith.
[8] In the same prophet,
With the families of the north I will bring the king of Babel against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them and make them into a ruin, a hissing, and everlasting wastes. And this whole land will be a waste. Jer. 25:9, 11.
Here ‘Babel’ is used to describe the vastation of the interior things of faith, that is, of internal worship. Indeed, as shown already, anyone whose worship is worship of self possesses no truth of faith. He destroys and lays waste, and leads off into captivity, everything that is true. This is why Babel is also called ‘a destroying mountain’ in Jer. 51:25.
For more concerning Babel, see what has been stated already in 1182.
* lit. the faces
* There is no paragraph 1333 in the Latin.
‘Arpachshad lived thirty-five years’ means the beginning of the second state of this Church, and also the second state itself, ‘Arpachshad’ here, as previously, meaning knowledge. ‘And he begot Shelah’ means a derivative from that, ‘Shelah’ being a nation so named which means that which comes from knowledge.
* i.e. 1237
‘Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah four hundred and three years’ means duration and state, ‘Arpachshad’ here, as previously, meaning knowledge, and ‘Shelah’ that which is the offspring of knowledge. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means matters of doctrine.
‘Shelah lived thirty years’ means the beginning of the third state, ‘Shelah’ here, as previously, meaning that which is the offspring of knowledge. ‘And he begot Eber’ means a derivative from this, ‘Eber’ being a nation, the Hebrew nation, which took its name from Eber as its forefather, and which means the worship in general of the second Ancient Church.
[2] Along with external worship, Jacob’s descendants in Egypt, including Moses himself, lost knowledge even of this fact, that their God was called Jehovah. Consequently they had first of all to be taught that Jehovah was the God of the Hebrews, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as becomes clear from the following in Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, You and the elders of Israel shall go in to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now let us go, pray, a three days’ journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Exod. 3:18.
In the same author,
Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah that I should hearken to His voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah, and moreover I will not send Israel away. And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, pray, a three days’ journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Exod. 5:2, 3.
[3] The fact that Jacob’s descendants lost in Egypt, along with the worship, even the name of Jehovah becomes clear from the following in Moses,
Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I tell them? And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am. And He said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me to you. And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is My name for ever. Exod. 3:13-15.
[4] From this it is evident that even Moses did not know it and that they were distinguished from everyone else by the name of Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. Hence also Jehovah is elsewhere called the God of the Hebrews,
You shall say to Pharaoh, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you. Exod. 7:16.
Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews. Exod. 9:1, 13.
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews Exod. 10:3.
In Jonah,
I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven. Jonah 1:9.
And also in Samuel,
The Philistines heard the noise of the shouting and said, What does the noise of this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean? And they learned that the Ark of Jehovah had come to the camp. The Philistines said, Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Acquit yourselves like men, O Philistines, lest you be slaves to the Hebrews. 1 Sam 4:6, 8, 9.
Here also it is evident that nations were distinguished from one another by the gods whose names they called on, and that the Hebrew nation was distinguished by that of Jehovah.
[5] The fact that sacrifices were the second essential feature of the worship of the Hebrew nation is also evident from the words from Exod 3:18; 5:2, 3, quoted above, as well as from the fact that the Egyptians abhorred the Hebrew nation on account of this form of worship, as is clear from the following in Moses,
Moses said, It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing to Jehovah our God what is abhorrent to the Egyptians; behold, we would be sacrificing what is abhorrent to the Egyptians in their eyes; will they not stone us? Exod. 8:26.
Consequently the Egyptians also abhorred the Hebrew nation so much that they refused even ‘to eat bread’ with them, Gen. 43:32. From this it is also evident that not merely the descendants of Jacob constituted the Hebrew nation but everybody who possessed that kind of worship. This also was why in Joseph’s day the land of Canaan was called the land of the Hebrews,
Joseph said. By theft I have been taken away out of the land of the Hebrews. Gen. 40:15.
[6] The fact that sacrifices took place among the idolaters in the land of Canaan becomes clear from many references, for they used to sacrifice to their gods – to the baals and to others What is more, Balaam, who came from Syria where Eber had lived, that is, where the Hebrew nation had originated, before Jacob’s descendants entered the land of Canaan, not only offered sacrifices but also called his God Jehovah. As to the fact that Balaam came from Syria where the Hebrew nation had originated, see Num. 23:7; that he offered sacrifices, Num. 22:39, 40; 23:1-3, 14, 29; that he called his God Jehovah, Num. 22:18, and elsewhere in those chapters. And Gen. 8:20 speaks of Noah offering burnt offerings to Jehovah – though this is not true history but made-up history – for ‘burnt offerings’ means the holiness of worship, as may be seen in that story. These considerations now show what ‘Eber’ or ‘the Hebrew nation’ means.
‘Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years’ means duration and state, ‘Shelah’ here, as previously, being that which is the offspring of knowledge, ‘Eber’ here, as previously, the worship in general of this Church. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means matters of doctrine.
[1345a] That ‘Peleg’ here means external worship follows from the sequence of derivations of worship, and so from his derivation. In verse 25 of the previous chapter where it is said that ‘in his days the land was divided’, this name had a different meaning, for the reason that there he and his brother Joktan together represented that Church.
‘Eber lived after he begot Peleg four hundred and thirty years’ means duration and state, ‘Eber’ and ‘Peleg’ having the same meaning here as previously. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means matters of doctrine existing as forms of ritual.
‘Peleg lived thirty years’ means the beginning of the fifth state, ‘Peleg’ having the same meaning here as previously. ‘And he begot Reu’ means a derivative from it, ‘Reu’ being a nation so named from him as its forefather which means worship even more external.
‘Peleg lived after he begot Reu two hundred and nine years’ means duration and state, ‘Peleg’ and ‘Reu’ haying the same meaning here as previously. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means forms of ritual.
‘Reu lived after he begot Serug two hundred and seven years’ mean duration and state, ‘Reu’ and ‘Serug’ having the same meaning here as previously. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means the forms of ritual belonging to such worship.
‘Serug lived after he begot Nahor two hundred years’ means duration and state, ‘Serug’ and ‘Nahor’ having the same meaning here as previously. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means the forms of ritual belonging to such worship.
‘Nahor lived twenty-nine years’ means the beginning of the eighth state of this Church, ‘Nahor’ here, as previously, meaning worship verging on what is idolatrous. ‘And he begot Terah’ means a derivative from it, ‘Terah’ being a nation so named from him as its forefather which means idolatrous worship.
‘Nahor lived after he begot Terah a hundred and nineteen years’ means duration and state, ‘Nahor’ here, as previously, meaning worship verging on what is idolatrous, ‘Terah’ idolatrous worship. ‘And he begot sons and daughters’ means idolatrous forms of ritual.
‘Terah lived seventy years’ means the beginning of the ninth and final state, ‘Terah’ here, as previously, meaning idolatrous worship. ‘And he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran’ means derivatives from it, Abram, Nahor, and Haran being actual people after whom nations that were idolaters were also named.
Joshua said to all the people, Thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old beyond the River, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Josh. 24:2.
Now fear Jehovah, and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose this day whom you are to serve, whether the gods which your fathers served who were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites. Josh. 24:14, 15.
From this it is quite evident that Terah, Abram, and Nahor were idolaters.
[2] The fact that Nahor was a nation in which idolatrous worship existed is clear also from Laban the Syrian, who dwelt in the city of Nahor and who worshipped the images or teraphim which Rachel carried away with her, Gen. 24:10; 31:19, 26, 32, 34. And the fact that Abraham had one god, Nahor another, and Terah their father yet another, is clear from Gen. 31:53. It is also explicitly stated in Moses that Jehovah was unknown to Abram,
I, Jehovah, appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Shaddai, and by My name Jehovah I was not known to them. Exod. 6:3.
From this it is evident how much this Church with this people declined into idolatrous worship, which is meant here by ‘Terah’. And since Terah means that worship, so do Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
‘These are the generations of Terah’ means the origins and derivatives of the idolatry, from which a representative Church emerged. Terah was the son of Nahor, and also a nation that was named after him as its forefather. He means idolatrous worship. Abram, Nahor, and Haran were the sons of Terah and also nations that were named after them as their forefathers. Here they mean forms of idolatrous worship stemming from them. From Lot also two nations descended which were idolaters.
* A few words seem to have been omitted from the Latin.
[2] For example: Every king who has lived – in Judah or Israel, or even in Egypt and elsewhere – could represent the Lord Their royal status itself is representative, and thus the worst king of all was able to represent Him, such as the Pharaoh who promoted Joseph over the land of Egypt, or Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Dan. 2:37, 38, or Saul and all the other kings of Judah and Israel, no matter what kind of men they were. The anointing of them, by virtue of which they were called ‘Jehovah’s anointed’, carried that representation with it. In the same way all priests, however many there were, represented the Lord. Their priestly status itself is representative. This applies even to priests who were evil and immoral, for in representatives no attention is paid to the character of the person involved. And not only human beings but also animals were representative, for example all those used in sacrifice. Lambs and sheep represented celestial things, doves and turtle doves spiritual, as did rams, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, though these latter represented lower types of celestial and spiritual things.
[3] Nor, as has been stated, was it just living creatures that were representative but also inanimate objects, such as the altar and even the stones of the altar; also the Ark and the Tabernacle together with everything in it; and the Temple too together with everything in it, a fact that anyone is capable of seeing. The lamps, the loaves, and Aaron’s garments were accordingly representative. And not only these but also all the religious ceremonies in the Jewish Church. In the Ancient Churches representatives extended to every object of the senses, such as mountains and hills, and valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, reservoirs, woods, trees in general, and every kind of tree in particular, so that every single tree had some definite meaning. Once the Church of meaningful signs had come to an end these things became representatives. These considerations make clear what is to be understood by representatives. And seeing that not only human beings, no matter who or of what character, but also animals and even inanimate objects, could represent celestial and spiritual things – which are things belonging to the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and those belonging to the Lord’s kingdom on earth – it is consequently clear what a representative Church is.
[4] Representatives were such that to spirits and angels all things that were carried out according to the prescribed ritual appeared holy, as when the high priest, who had washed himself with water, ministered dressed in the robes of his office, and stood before the lighted candles, no matter what kind of man he was, even the most immoral and an idolater at heart. And the same applied to all other priests, for, as has been stated, in representatives no attention is paid to the person, but only to the actual thing being represented. The representation was completely abstracted from the person, as it was from the oxen, young bulls, or lambs that were sacrificed, or from the blood that was poured out around the altar, or again from the altar itself, and so on.
[5] This representative Church was established after all internal worship had perished, when worship became not only wholly external but also idolatrous It was established so that heaven might be joined in some measure to the earth, that is, the Lord might be joined to human beings by means of heaven. And this came about after conjunction by means of the internal things of worship had perished. The nature of this conjunction by means of representatives alone will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. Representatives do not start until the next chapter, where every single thing from then on is purely representative. At the moment the subject is the state of those who were their forefathers, before some of them and their descendants became representative, whose worship, as shown above, was idolatrous.
‘Haran died in the presence’ of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans’ means that interior worship was erased and became wholly idolatrous, ‘Haran’ meaning interior idolatrous worship, ‘Terah his father’, as previously, meaning idolatrous worship in general, ‘land of his birth’ the source from which it derived, and ‘Ur of the Chaldeans’ external worship containing falsities.
* lit. before the faces
[2] As a new Church had now to be established, people were selected with whom the goods and truths of faith might be implanted. All knowledge of the good and truth of faith had been wiped out with them, and they had become external idolaters like the gentiles. In reference to Terah and Abram it has been shown above that they were such, that is to say, they worshipped other gods, and did not know Jehovah or consequently what the good and truth of faith were. They had thus become more fitted to receive the seed of truth than other people in Syria with whom cognitions still remained. The fact that cognitions remained with some is clear from Balaam, who came from Syria. He not only worshipped Jehovah but also offered sacrifices and at the same time was a prophet. These considerations then are what this verse contains, that is to say, that interior worship was erased and became wholly idolatrous.
* lit. before the faces
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans! This people is not. Asshur founded her in the tziim. They will erect their watch-towers, they will raise up her palaces; he will make her into a ruin. Isa. 23:13.
‘The land of the Chaldeans who are not a people’ stands for falsities, ‘Asshur founded’ for reasonings, ‘watch-towers’ for delusions. In the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent into Babel and have broken down all the bars, and the Chaldeans in whose ships there is shouting. Isa. 43:14.
‘Babel’ stands for worship which interiorly contains evil, ‘the Chaldeans’ for worship which interiorly contains falsity. ‘Ships’ means cognitions of truth that have been perverted.
[2] In the same prophet,
sit in silence and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for no more will they call you the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with My people, I rendered My heritage unholy, and I gave them into your hand These two things will come to you suddenly in one day – loss of children and widowhood. In full measure they will come upon you on account of the multitude of your sorceries, and on account of the greatness of your enchantments. Isa. 47:5, 6, 9.
Here it is evident that ‘Chaldea’ means profanation of truth and is called ‘sorceries and enchantments’. In the same prophet,
Go away out of Babel, flee from the Chaldeans. Isa. 48:20.
This stands for flight from profaning good and truth in worship. In Ezekiel,
Make known to Jerusalem her abominations; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur. Hence you multiplied your whoredom even into the land of Chaldea. Ezek. 16:2, 3, 26, 28, 29.
This refers to the Jewish Church in particular. ‘The sons of Egypt’ stands for facts, ‘the sons of Asshur’ for reasonings, ‘the land of Chaldea into which it multiplied its whoredom’ for the profanation of truth.
Anyone may see that Egypt, Asshur, and Chaldea are not used to mean countries, and that no other kind of whoredom is being referred to.
[3] In the same prophet,
Oholah committed whoredom and doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbours. And she did not give up her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt. She added to her acts of whoredom. And she saw men; it was portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans painted in vermilion, girded with belts on their loins, with dyed flowing turbans on their heads, all of them leaders in appearance, the likeness of the sons of Babel, the Chaldeans, the land of their nativity. She loved them passionately as soon as she set eyes on them and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The sons of Babel defiled her by means of their acts of whoredom. Ezek. 23:5, 8, 14-17.
Here ‘the Chaldeans’, called ‘the sons of Babel’, stands for truths that have been profaned in worship. ‘Oholah’ stands for the spiritual Church which is called ‘Samaria’.*
In Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching into the breadths of the earth, to possess habitations that are not its own. A dreadful and terrible nation; and from itself proceeds its judgement and its pride. Its horses are swifter than leopards, and sharper than the evening wolves. Its horsemen spread out, and its horsemen come from afar. They fly in like an eagle hastening to devour. The whole [nation] comes for violence; the panting desire of its face** is set towards the east. Hab. 1:6, 9.
Here the Chaldean nation is described by means of many representatives meaning the circumstances in which truth is profaned in worship.
A further description of Babel and Chaldea is given in two whole chapters – in Jer. 50 and 51 – where it is plainly evident what they both mean. There Babel plainly means in worship the profanation of celestial things and Chaldea the profanation of spiritual things. From these considerations it is now clear what is meant by ‘Ur of the Chaldeans’, that it is external worship which interiorly contains what is unholy and idolatrous. I have also been allowed to learn from these people themselves that their worship was such.
* Ezek. 23:4 identifies Oholah with Samaria.
** lit. faces
‘Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, and the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah, the daughter of Haran, Milkah’s father and Iskah’s father’ means marriages of evil and falsity in idolatrous worship, the relationships being as stated here. The husbands mean evils, and the wives falsities.
‘Sarai was barren; she had no offspring’ means that evil and falsity were no longer reproducing themselves.
‘The days of Terah were two hundred and five years’ means the duration and the state of idolatrous worship meant by Terah. ‘And Terah died in Haran’ means the end of idolatry and the beginning of the representative Church through Abram.
I have spoken frequently to spirits about the idea that place and distance with them are not anything real but only appear to be so, being nothing other than their states of thought and affection, which vary in the way place and distance do and which visually present themselves as such in the world of spirits. This is not so much the case with angels in heaven. They have no idea of place or of time, but only of states. Spirits however who cling to bodily and earthly ideas do not comprehend this because they imagine that everything really is exactly as they behold it. Such spirits can scarcely be led to believe otherwise than that they are living in the body, and refuse to be convinced that they are spirits. Thus they can scarcely be led to believe that any appearances or illusions are possible, desiring to live in illusions, and so they shut themselves off from grasping and acknowledging truths and goods, which are very far from being illusions. They have been shown time and again that change of place is merely an appearance, and also an illusion of the senses. In fact there are in the next life two kinds of changes of place. The first is that mentioned already, in which every spirit and angel in the Grand Man remains all the time in his own position; this is an appearance. The second is that in which spirits appear in a place when in fact they are not there at all; this is an illusion.
[2] The spirits were also told that when plain experience suggested something they ought not therefore to doubt it, even less to deny it, because it did not appear to be so to the senses and they were unable to perceive it. Even in the world of nature many things exist which are contrary to the illusions of the senses, but which people believe because of what visible experience teaches them. Take for example sailing round the world. People who allow themselves to be swayed by illusions would believe that a boat and its crew would fall off the edge when they got to the other side, and that people in the antipodes could never stand on their feet. The same applies to this and many other things in the next life which are contrary to the illusions of the senses but are nevertheless true – for example, the fact that man does not possess life of himself but from the Lord, and many other things. These and other considerations have enabled disbelieving spirits to be brought to believe that it is indeed so.
THE PERCEPTION SPIRITS AND ANGELS HAVE; ALSO SPHERES IN THE NEXT LIFE
Among the marvels in the next life are perceptions, of which there are two kinds. The first, which is angelic, consists in the angels perceiving what is true and good, perceiving what is from the Lord and what from self, and also perceiving the source and nature of their own thoughts, speech, and actions when these spring from self. The second kind is one that is common to all – with angels to the height of perfection, and with spirits according to the particular character of each one – and consists in knowing the character of another as soon as he approaches.
* lit. sons or children
GENESIS 12
1 And Jehovah said to Abram, Go away from your land, and from the place of your nativity and from your father’s house, to the land which I will cause you to see.
2 And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you will be a blessing.
3 And I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you, and in you will all the families of the ground be blessed.
4 And Abram went, as Jehovah had told him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of seventy-five years when he went out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their acquisitions that they had acquired, and [every] soul which they had gained in Haran. And they came out to go into the land of Canaan; and they came into the land of Canaan.
6 And Abram went through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak-grove of Moreh. And the Canaanite was at that time in the land.
7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed will I give this land; and there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.
8 And he removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, Bethel being towards the sea and Ai towards the east.* And there he built an altar to Jehovah and called on the name of Jehovah.
9 And Abram travelled, going on and travelling, towards the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine in the land was serious.
11 And it happened, when he drew near to come into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look upon.
12 And it will be, when the Egyptians see you they will say, This is his wife, and they will slay me and let you live.
13 Say, now, you are my sister, so that it may go well for me for your sake, and my soul may live because of you.
14 And it happened, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15 And Pharaoh’s princes saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
16 And he treated Abram well for her sake; and he had flocks and herds, and asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels.
17 And Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of Sarai,** Abram’s wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife?
19 Why did you say, She is my sister? I might have taken her to be my wife (mulier). And now, behold your wife, take her and go.
20 And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
* lit. Bethel from the sea (an idiom for from the west) and Ai from the east
** lit. because of the word (or matter) of Sarai
Narratives drawing on true history begin here, of which every detail is representative and each word carries a spiritual meaning. The things stated in this chapter regarding Abram represent the Lord’s state from earliest childhood to youth. Since the Lord was born in the same way as any other, He also developed from a state that was obscure to one that had more light. ‘Haran’ is the first state, which is obscure; ‘Shechem’ is the second; ‘the oak-grove of Moreh’ is the third; ‘the mount with Bethel on the west side, and Ai on the cast’ is the fourth; ‘from there towards the south into Egypt’ is the fifth.
From Genesis 1 down to this point, or rather, down to Eber, the narratives have not consisted of true history but of made-up history, which in the internal sense meant things that are celestial and spiritual. In this and subsequent chapters however they are not made-up but true historical narratives, which in the internal sense in like manner mean things that are celestial and spiritual. This may become clear to anyone simply from the consideration that it is the Word of the Lord.
The events described here and in what follows took place in history as they are recorded; yet the historical events as described are representative, and every word carries a spiritual meaning. ‘Abram’ is used to mean in the internal sense the Lord, as stated already. ‘Jehovah said to Abram’ means a first awareness of all things. ‘Go away from your land’ means the bodily and worldly things from which He was to depart. ‘And from the place of your nativity’ means bodily and worldly things that were more exterior. ‘And from your father’s house’ means such as were more interior. ‘To the land which I will cause you to see’ means the spiritual and celestial things that were to be brought to view.
[2] The same applies to the Word of the Lord Its bodily parts are the things that constitute the sense of the letter, and when the mind is fixed on these the internal things are not seen at all. But once the bodily parts so to speak have died, the internal for the first time are brought to view. All the same, the things constituting the sense of the letter are like the things present with man in his body, namely the facts belonging to the memory which come in through the senses and which are general vessels containing interior or internal things. From this one may recognize that the vessels are one thing and the essential elements within the vessels another. The vessels are natural, and the essential elements within the vessels are spiritual and celestial. In the same way the historical narratives of the Word, as with each individual expression in the Word, are general, natural, indeed material vessels that have spiritual and celestial things within them. These things never come into sight except through the internal sense.
[3] This may become clear to anyone simply from the fact that many matters in the Word have been stated according to appearances, indeed according to the illusions of the senses, such as that the Lord is angry, punishes, curses, slays, and many other such statements, when in fact the internal sense contains the reverse, namely that the Lord is never angry or punishes, still less curses or slays. All the same, no harm at all is done to people who in simplicity of heart believe the Word as they find it in the letter so long as they are leading charitable lives, the reason being that the Word teaches nothing other than this – that everyone ought to live in charity with his neighbour and to love the Lord above all things. People doing this are in possession of the internal things, and thus with them the illusions acquired from the sense of the letter are easily dispersed.
[2] Those things that carried a spiritual meaning were gathered from the lips of those people by their descendants, and these turned them into doctrinal teachings which constituted the Word of the Ancient Church after the Flood. These doctrinal teachings in the Ancient Church were things that carried a spiritual meaning, for through them they came to know internal things, and from them thought about spiritual and celestial things. But after this knowledge began to perish, so that they ceased to know that such things were meant and they started to regard those earthly and worldly things as holy and to worship them without any thought as to their spiritual meaning, those same things at that point became representative. From this arose the representative Church which began in Abram and was subsequently established among the descendants of Jacob. From this it may be known that representatives had their origin in the things in the Ancient Church which carried a spiritual meaning, and that these had their origin in the heavenly ideas present in the Most Ancient Church.
[3] The nature of representatives becomes clear from the historical parts of the Word, where all the acts of those forefathers, that is to say, the acts of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and later on of Moses, the judges, and the kings of Judah and Israel, are nothing other than representatives. As has been stated, ‘Abram’ in the Word represents the Lord, and because he represents the Lord, he also represents the celestial man. ‘Isaac’ too represents the Lord, and from that the spiritual man, while ‘Jacob’ likewise represents the Lord, and from that the natural man corresponding to the spiritual.
[4] But the nature of representatives is such that no attention at all is paid to the character of the representative person, only to the thing which he represents. For all the kings of Judah and Israel, no matter what kind of men they were, represented the Lord’s Royalty, and all the priests, no matter what kind of men these were, His Priesthood. Thus bad men as well as good were able to represent the Lord, and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom, for, as stated and shown already, representatives were entirely separate from the person involved. So then all the historical narratives of the Word are representative, and as this is so it follows that all the words of the Word carry a spiritual meaning, that is, they mean something different in the internal sense from what they do in the sense of the letter.
[2] That ‘nation’ in the internal sense, where the Lord and celestial things of love are the subject, means Him and all celestial things may become clear also from what has been introduced in 1258, 1259, regarding the meaning of a nation and nations. This matter may be confirmed further still from the following places: In reference to Abraham further on,
No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. Gen. 17:5.
The soft ‘h’ sound in Abraham was taken from Jehovah’s name because he represented Jehovah, that is, the Lord. Similarly in reference to Sarai,
You will not call her name Sarai, but Sarah will be her name, and I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her; thus will I bless her, and she will become nations; kings of peoples will be from her. Gen. 17:15, 16.
‘Nations’ here stands for the celestial things of love, and ‘kings of peoples’ for the spiritual things of faith deriving from that love, which are the Lord’s alone.
[3] In reference to Jacob likewise,
Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name. And He called his name Israel, and God said, I am God Almighty,* increase and multiply; a nation and an assembly of nations will come into being from you, and kings will go out from your loins. Gen. 35:10, 11.
Here ‘Israel’ stands for the Lord, who Himself, as is well known to some, is in the highest sense Israel. And when He is meant by ‘Israel’ it is evident that ‘a nation and an assembly of nations’ and ‘kings from his loins’ mean the celestial and spiritual things of love, and therefore all in whom the celestial and spiritual things of love are present. In reference to Ishmael, Abram’s son by Hagar, it is said,
The son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation, because he is your seed. Gen. 21:13, 18.
What Ishmael represents will be seen in that place. ‘The seed of Abram’ means love itself, and because of this the word nation is used for those begotten from Ishmael.
[4] That ‘nation’ means the celestial things of love is clear in Moses,
If you will surely hearken to My voice, and keep My covenant and be a peculiar treasure to Me from among all peoples, you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exod. 19:5, 6.
Here ‘a kingdom of priests’, a phrase used to describe the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth, springing from the celestial things of love, is openly called ‘a holy nation’. But the Lord’s kingdom springing from His Royalty is described as such by virtue of the spiritual things of love and is called ‘a holy people’. ‘Kings from the loins’ therefore, as above,** is spiritual things. In Jeremiah,
If these ordinances depart from before Me, said Jehovah, the seed of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me for ever.*** Jer. 31:36.
‘Seed of Israel’ stands for the celestial entity of charity, and when this ceases to exist there is no longer a nation before the Lord.
[5] In Isaiah,
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. You have multiplied the nation. Isa. 9:2, 3.
Specifically this refers to the Church of the nations,****, but in general to all who are without knowledge but lead charitable lives. These are ‘the nation’ because they are members of the Lord’s kingdom. In David,
O that I may see the good of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the joy of Your nation, that I may glory in Your heritage. Ps. 106:5.
Here ‘nation’ plainly stands for the Lord’s kingdom. It was from an ability to perceive that ‘a nation’ meant the celestial entity of love and the good which flows from this that members of the Most Ancient Church came to be distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. By this distinguishing they gained a perception of the Lord’s kingdom; and because they had a perception of the Lord’s kingdom they had a perception of the celestial itself. From that ability to perceive there arose that which held a spiritual meaning, and from this that which was representative.
* lit. the Lightning-Hurler or the Thunderbolt-Hurler. Generally Sw. retains the Hebrew Shaddai, usually translated the Almighty, regarding which see 1992 below; but here Sw. employs the Latin word fulminator.
** i.e.. in Gen. 35:10, 11
*** lit. all the days
**** i.e. the Church established among gentiles
It shall not be so among you, but whoever has the wish to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever has the wish to become first must be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life* as a redemption for many. Matt. 20:26-28; Mark 10:43-45.
This heavenly or celestial entity of love does not wish to exist for itself but for all, thus to impart all that is its own to others. It is in this that heavenly love essentially consists. Since the Lord is love itself, that is, the very essence and life of everyone’s love in heaven, He wishes to impart to the human race everything that is His, which is what He meant when He spoke about the Son of Man coming to give His life as a redemption for many. From this it is clear that ‘name’ and ‘glory’ mean something altogether different in the internal sense from what they do in the external sense. All in heaven therefore who desire to become great and the greatest are cast out, for such desire is contrary to the essence and life of heavenly love which come from the Lord. For that reason also nothing is more contrary to heavenly love than self-love. For these matters, see what has been mentioned from experience in 450, 452, 952.
* lit. soul
Abraham will surely become a great and numerous nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Gen. 18:18.
Concerning Isaac,
In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed. Gen. 26:4.
And concerning Jacob,
In you all the families of the earth will be blessed, and in your seed. Gen. 28:14.
That nations are not able to be blessed, nor were they blessed, in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in their seed, but that they were blessed in the Lord, may become clear to anyone. This is clearly stated in David,
His name will be for ever, before the sun His son’s name; and all nations will be blessed in Him Ps. 72:17.
This refers to the Lord. In the same author,
You set Him to be blessings for ever. Ps 21:6.
This also refers to the Lord. In Jeremiah,
In Him the nations will be blessed, and in Him will they glory. Jer. 4:2.
From these places it is now clear that ‘a blessing’ means the Lord, and when He is called a Blessing that it means that from Him come all celestial and spiritual things which alone are goods. And because they alone are goods they alone are truths as well. To the extent therefore that celestial and spiritual forms of good are present in natural, worldly, and bodily forms, the latter are good and are blessed.
‘I will bless those who bless you’ means pure happiness to those who from their hearts acknowledge the Lord. ‘And curse him who curses you’ means unhappiness to those who do not acknowledge Him. ‘And in you will all the families of the ground be blessed’ means that all truths and goods are received from the Lord.
[2] ‘Blessing Jehovah (or the Lord)’ was an expression used commonly among the ancients, as is clear in the Word, for example in David,
Bless God in the assemblies, even the Lord from the fountain of Israel. Ps. 68:26.
In the same author,
Sing to Jehovah, bless His name, proclaim His salvation from day to day. Ps. 96:2.
In Daniel,
In the vision of the night the arcanum was revealed. Therefore Daniel blessed the God of heaven; he said, Let the name of God Himself be blessed for ever and ever, for wisdom and power are His. Dan. 2:19, 20.
And one also reads of Zechariah and Simeon blessing God, Luke 1:64; 2:28. Here it is evident what ‘blessing the Lord’ implies, namely singing to Him, proclaiming His salvation, declaring His wisdom and power, and so confessing and acknowledging Him from the heart. People who do so are most certainly blessed by the Lord, that is, they are gifted with those things which constitute blessing, namely celestial good, spiritual good, natural good, worldly good, and bodily good, and when these forms of good flow consecutively in this order happiness exists within them.
[3] Since ‘blessing Jehovah (or the Lord)’ and ‘being blessed by Jehovah (or the Lord)’ were expressions used commonly among the ancients it was therefore also common to say ‘Blessed be Jehovah’, as in David,
Blessed be Jehovah, for He has heard the voice of my prayers. Ps. 28:6.
In the same author,
Blessed be Jehovah, for He has made His mercy marvellous to me. Ps. 31:21.
In the same author,
Blessed be God, who has not cast away my prayers, nor His mercy from me. Ps. 66:20.
In the same author,
Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things; and blessed be the name of His glory for ever; let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Ps. 72:18, 19.
In the same author,
Blessed are You, O Jehovah, teach me Your statutes! Ps. 119:12.
In the same author,
Blessed be Jehovah, my rock, who trains my hands. Ps. 144:1.
In Luke,
Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the God of Israel, for He has visited and brought deliverance to His people. Luke 1:67, 68.
As has been stated, ‘Abram’ represents the Lord as regards His Human Essence. ‘And Abram went, as Jehovah had told him’ means an advance towards Divine things. ‘And Lot went with him’ means sensory perception -‘Lot’ representing the Lord as regards His sensory and bodily man. ‘And Abram was a son of seventy-five years’ means that as yet there was not so much of the Divine. ‘When he went out of Haran’ means an obscure state which the Lord was experiencing.
* i.e. the numbers 5 and 70 In the Latin and in the Hebrew the words are literally Abram was a son of five years and seventy years.
‘And Abram took Sarai his wife’ means good to which truth has been joined, ‘Abram’, as stated, being used to mean the Lord – here when He was a boy – and ‘Sarai his wife’ to mean truth. ‘And Lot his brother’s son’ means truth that has been learned through the senses, thus the first that is implanted in childhood. ‘And all the acquisitions that they had acquired’ means all truths that have been learned through the senses. ‘And [every] soul which they had gained in Haran’ means every essential with life in it that was possible in that obscure state. ‘And they came out to go into the land of Canaan’ means that in this manner He drew closer to the celestial things of love. ‘And they came into the land of Canaan’ means that He attained to the celestial things of love.
‘Abram went through the land as far as the place of Shechem’ means the Lord’s second state, when the celestial things of love, which are meant by Shechem, became apparent to Him. ‘As far as the oak-grove of Moreh’ means a third state, namely a first perception, which is ‘the oak-grove of Moreh’. ‘And the Canaanite was at that time in the land’ means the hereditary evil from the mother, in His external man.
Jacob travelled on to Succoth and built a house for himself, and made shelters* for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-Aram; and he camped before the city. And he set up an altar there. Gen. 33:17-20.
Here also ‘Shechem’ means the first appearance of light. In David,
God has spoken in His holiness, I will exult, I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; and Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver, Moab is My washbasin, upon Edom I will cast My shoe, over Philistia I will make a loud noise. Ps. 60:6, 8; 108:7, 9.
Here also ‘Shechem’ has a similar meaning. That names, including Shechem therefore, mean nothing other than real things becomes quite clear from these prophetic utterances of David. Otherwise they would be scarcely more than a heap of names. References to Shechem becoming a city of refuge, Josh. 20:7, and also a priestly city, Josh. 21:21, and a place where the covenant was made, Josh. 24:1, 25, also embody the same.
* lit. tents
You shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are not these across the Jordan, beyond the road towards the seeing of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite who dwells in the plain towards Gilgal, beside the oak-groves of Moreh? Deut 11:29, 30.
These words as well mean the first experience of perception, for the entry of the children of Israel represents the entry of those who have faith into the Lord’s kingdom.
[2] With the Lord no evil of His own doing or that was His own was present, as there is with all human beings, only hereditary evil from the mother, which is here called ‘the Canaanite at that time in the land’. For this matter see what has been stated above in verse 1, in 1414, to the effect that people are born with two heredities in them, the first from the father, the second from the mother. What comes from the father remains for ever, but what comes from the mother is dispelled by the Lord when the person is being regenerated. The Lord’s heredity from His Father however was Divine, while the heredity from the mother was the hereditary evil referred to here, through which He underwent temptations. Regarding His temptations, see Mark 1:12, 13; Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1, 2. But, as has been stated, He had no evil of His own doing or which was His own, nor did He have any hereditary evil from the mother after He had overcome hell by means of temptations. It is for this reason that the expression at that time occurs here, that is to say, ‘the Canaanite was at that time in the land’.
[3] The Canaanites were people who dwelt by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan, as is clear in Moses,
The spies returned and said, We came into the land to which you sent us, and it is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people dwelling in the land are powerful and the cities are very strongly fortified, and also we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekite dwells in the south, and the Hittite, Jebusite, and Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan. Num. 13:27-29.
‘The Canaanite dwelt by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan’ meant evil consequently residing with the external man, such as that acquired by heredity from the mother, for the sea and the Jordan were boundaries.
[4] That this kind of evil is meant by ‘the Canaanite’ is clear also in Zechariah,
And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah Zebaoth on that day. Zech. 14:21.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. It means that the Lord overcame the evil meant by ‘the Canaanite’ and drove it out of His kingdom. Evils of every kind are meant by the idolatrous nations in the land of Canaan, among which were the Canaanites, Gen. 15:19-21; Exod. 3:8, 17; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut. 7:1; 20:17; Josh. 3:10; 24:11; Judg. 3:5. Which evil is meant by each nation specifically will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.
‘Jehovah appeared to Abram’ means that Jehovah showed Himself to the Lord when He was still a boy. ‘And He said, To your seed will I give this land’ means that celestial things would be granted to those who had faith in Him. ‘And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him’ means initial worship of His Father from the celestial, which essentially is love.
‘He removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel’ means the Lord’s fourth state when He was a boy, that is to say, ‘being removed to the mountain on the east of Bethel’ means an advance made in the celestial things of love. ‘And he pitched his tent’ means the holy things of faith. ‘Bethel being towards the sea and Ai towards the east,* means that His state was still obscure. ‘And he built an altar to Jehovah’ means external worship of His Father arising out of that state. ‘And he called on the name of Jehovah’ means internal worship of His Father arising out of that state.
* lit. Bethel from the sea (an idiom for from the west) and Ai from the east
[2] That ‘Bethel’ means the cognitions of celestial things however may become clear from other places where Bethel is mentioned in the Word, as in the next chapter,
Abram went according to his journeys from the south even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the start, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar that he had made there. Gen. 13:3, 4.
Here ‘according to his journeys from the south towards Bethel’ means advancing into the light of cognitions, and this is why no reference is made in this case to ‘Bethel towards the west and Ai towards the east’. When Jacob saw the stairway he said,
This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And he called the name of this place Bethel. Gen. 28:17, 19.
Here similarly ‘Bethel’ means knowledge of celestial things, for a person is a ‘Bethel’, that is, a ‘House of God’, and a ‘Gate of heaven’, when he is governed by the celestial things that have been present as cognitions. While a person is being regenerated he is undergoing introduction, which is effected by means of cognitions of spiritual and celestial things; but once he has been regenerated that introduction has been completed, and he is now governed by the celestial and spiritual things that have been present as cognitions. Further on it is said,
God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; make there an altar to the God who appeared to you. Gen. 35:1, 6, 7.
[3] Here similarly ‘Bethel’ means cognitions.
The presence of the Ark of Jehovah in Bethel, and the visits to that place by the children of Israel to inquire of Jehovah, Judg. 20:18, 26, 27; Sam. 7:16; 10:3, have similar meanings. So also has the reference to the king of Assyria sending one of the priests whom he had deported from Samaria, who resided in Bethel and was teaching them how to fear Jehovah, 2 Kings 17:27, 28. In Amos,
Amaziah said to Amos, O seer, go, flee to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there. And do not prophesy any more in Bethel, for this is the king’s sanctuary and this is a house of the kingdom. Amos 7:12, 13.
[4] After Jeroboam had profaned Bethel, 1 Kings 12:32; 13:1-8; 2 Kings 23:15, Bethel had a contrary representation, as in Hosea 10:15; Amos 3:14, 15; 5:5-7. As regards ‘Ai’ meaning cognitions of worldly things however this too may be confirmed from historical and prophetical parts of the Word, in Josh. 7:2; 8:1-28; Jer. 49:3, 4.
* lit. Bethel from the sea (an idiom for from the west) and Ai from the east
‘Abram travelled, going on and travelling’ means further advance. ‘Towards the south’ means into goods and truths, thus into a state that is bright as regards interior things.
The young child* grew and became strong in spirit; he was in desert places till the day of His manifestation to Israel. Luke 1:80.
In the same gospel,
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. Luke 2:40.
In the same gospel,
Joseph and Jesus’ mother after three days found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and answers. When they saw Him they were astonished, but He said to them, How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be in those things that are My Father’s?** Luke 2:46 49.
He was at that time twelve years old, Luke 2:42. In the same gospel, Jesus advanced in wisdom and in years,*** and in grace with God and men. Luke 2:52.
* In the literal sense this verse refers to John the Baptist; but see 1927 and 5620.
** In those things that are My Father’s’ is a very literal rendering of the Latin, which renders the Greek quite literally.
*** lit. age
[2] That ‘the south’ means those things becomes clear from similar examples in the Word, as in Isaiah,
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth. Isa. 43:6.
‘The north’ stands for those without knowledge, ‘the south’ for those who possess cognitions, ‘sons’ stands for truths, and ‘daughters’ for goods. In the same prophet,
If you bring food out of store for the hungry* and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as the noonday.** Isa. 58:10.
‘Bringing food out of store for the hungry and satisfying the afflicted soul’ stands for good deeds of charity in general. ‘Your light will rise in the darkness’ stands for the fact that truth has made them intelligent, and ‘your thick darkness will be as the noonday’** that good has made them wise. ‘The south’ means good by virtue of its warmth, and truth by virtue of its light.
[3] In Ezekiel,
In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, on which there was so to speak the structure of a city on the south. Ezek. 40:2.
This refers to the new Jerusalem or the Lord’s kingdom, which because it is bathed in the light of wisdom and intelligence is ‘on the south’. In David,
Jehovah will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgement as the noonday.** Ps. 37:6.
In the same author,
You will not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilence that walks in thick darkness, of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.** Ps. 91:5, 6
‘Not being afraid of the destruction that lays waste at noonday’** stands for not fearing the condemnation which comes upon those who possess cognitions but pervert them. In Ezekiel,
Son of man, set your face*** towards the south and drop [your words] to the south and prophesy towards the forest of the field in the south; and you shall say to the forest of the south, All faces in it from south to north will be scorched in it. Ezek. 20:46, 47
‘The forest of the south’ stands for those who possess the light of truths but extinguish it, and so stands for those within the Church who are such as these.
[4] In Daniel,
Out of one of them there came forth a little horn, and it grew much towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. And it grew even towards the host of heaven. Dan. 8:9, 10.
This stands for people who assail goods and truths. In Jeremiah,
Give glory to Jehovah your God before He causes darkness and before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and you look for light and He turns it into the shadow of death and places it in thick darkness. The cities of the south will be shut up, with none opening them. Jer. 13:16, 19.
‘Cities of the south’ stands for cognitions of truth and good. In Obadiah,
Those carried away from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will inherit the cities of the south. Obad. verse 20.
Here similarly ‘the cities of the south’ stands for truths and goods, and so for the truths and goods themselves to which they are heirs. The subject here is the Lord’s kingdom.
[5] As regards ‘Abram travelled, going on and travelling, towards the south’ meaning, as has been stated, the Lord’s advance into goods and truths, thus into a state that is bright as regards interiors, cognitions are what open up the path to seeing celestial and spiritual things. By means of cognitions a path is opened up from the internal man to the external man in which recipient vessels reside, as many as there are cognitions of good and truth. It is into the latter as their own particular vessels that celestial things flow.
* lit. bring out for the hungry your soul
** lit. the south
*** lit. faces
‘There was a famine in the land’ means a lack of cognitions which still existed with the Lord when He was a boy. ‘And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn’ means instruction in cognitions from the Word, ‘Egypt’ meaning knowledge comprised of cognitions, ‘sojourning’ receiving instruction. ‘For the famine in the land was serious’ means a great lack in His External Man.
[2] That ‘famine’ means a lack of cognitions is clear from elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah,
They do not look closely at the work of Jehovah, and they do not regard what His hands have done. Therefore My people will go into exile because they have no knowledge, and their honourable men will be famished,’ and their multitude parched with thirst. Isa. 5:12, 13.
‘Honourable men famished* stands for a lack of celestial cognitions, ‘multitude parched with thirst’ for a lack of spiritual cognitions. In Jeremiah,
They have lied against Jehovah and said, It is not He; and no evil will come upon us; neither shall we see sword and famine. And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Jer. 5:12, 13.
‘Sword and famine’ stands for becoming robbed of cognitions of truth and good. ‘Prophets’ stands for those who teach, in whom ‘the word is not’. That ‘being consumed by sword and famine’ means becoming robbed of cognitions of truth and good, and that these have to do with vastation, ‘sword’ as to spiritual things, ‘famine’ as to celestial things, is clear from many parts of the Word, such as Jer. 14:13-16, 18; Lam. 4:9; and elsewhere.
[3] So also in Ezekiel,
I will bring more famine upon you, and will break for you the staff of bread; and I will send famine and evil beasts upon you, and they will rob you of your children. And I will bring the sword upon you. Ezek. 5:16, 17.
‘Famine’ stands for when one has been robbed of celestial cognitions, or cognitions of good, and therefore falsities and evils occur. In David,
And He summoned a famine over the land, He broke every staff of bread. Ps. 105:16.
‘Breaking the staff of bread’ stands for being deprived of celestial nourishment, for the life of good spirits and of angels is sustained by no other food than cognitions of good and truth, and by goods and truths themselves. This is the origin of the meaning in the internal sense of famine and bread. In the same author,
He has satisfied the longing soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with good. Ps. 107:9.
This stands for those desiring cognitions. In Jeremiah,
Lift up your hands for the soul of your little children who faint from famine at the head of every street. Lam 2:19.
‘Famine’ stands for an absence of cognitions, ‘streets’ for truths. In Ezekiel,
They will dwell securely and not be made afraid; and I shall raise up for them a plant for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land. Ezek. 34:28, 29.
This stands for their being deprived no longer of the cognitions of good and truth.
[4] In John,
They will not hunger any more, nor thirst any more. Rev. 7:16.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom where they have an abundance of all celestial cognitions and goods, meant by ‘not hungering’, and of spiritual cognitions and truths, meant by ‘not thirsting’. The Lord said something similar, in John,
I am the Bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:35.
In Luke,
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Luke 6:21.
In the same gospel,
He has filled the hungry with good things. Luke 1:53.
This refers to celestial goods and the cognitions of these. In Amos there is a plain statement that ‘famine’ means the lack of cognitions,
Behold, the days are coming, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. Amos 8:11, 12.
* lit. their glory will be mortals of famine
[2] That ‘Egypt’ means all kinds of knowledge that serve a use, thus at this point knowledge comprised of cognitions which is able to serve as vessels for celestial and spiritual things, becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
They have led Egypt astray, the corner-stone of the tribes. Isa. 19:13.
Here it is called ‘the corner-stone of the tribes’, which was to serve as the base on which the things of faith meant by ‘the tribes’ were to rest. In the same prophet,
On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. Each will be called Ir Heres. On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah; and it will be a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt, for they will cry to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He will send a savior and a prince to them, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah on that day and will offer sacrifice and minchah, and will make vows to Jehovah and perform them. And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to Jehovah; and He will be entreated by them, and He will heal them. Isa. 19:18-22.
Used in a good sense here, ‘Egypt’ stands for people who possess facts, or natural truths, which are the vessels for spiritual truths.
[3] In the same prophet,
On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur.* On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isa. 19:23-25.
Here ‘Egypt’ means knowledge consisting of natural truths, ‘Asshur’ reason or rational things, and ‘Israel’ spiritual things, which follow one another in that order. Hence the statement that ‘on that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur’.
[4] In Ezekiel,
Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign. Ezek. 27:7.
This refers to Tyre, which means the possession of cognitions. ‘Fine linen with embroidered work’ stands for the truths contained in all kinds of knowledge which are of service; belonging as they do to the external man facts ought to be of service to the internal man. In the same prophet,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih, At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples among whom they were scattered, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt. Ezek. 29:13, 14.
Here also ‘Egypt’ has much the same meaning, as is also said of Judah and Israel in many other places that they were to be gathered from the peoples and brought back from captivity. In Zechariah,
And it will be that whoever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah Zebaoth, there will be no rain upon them And if the family of Egypt does not go up, and does not come . . . Zech. 14:17, 18.
Here also ‘Egypt’ is used in a good sense to have a similar meaning.
[5] That knowledge or human wisdom is meant by ‘Egypt’ becomes clear also in Daniel 11:43 where knowledge of celestial and of spiritual things is called ‘the secret hoards of gold and silver’ and also ‘the precious things of Egypt’. And of Solomon it is said that his wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians, 1 Kings 4:30. And the house built by Solomon for Pharaoh’s daughter had no other representation, 1 Kings 7:8 and following verses.
[6] The Lord’s being taken into Egypt when He was an infant had no other meaning than that which here is meant by Abram, though He was also taken there so that He might fulfill all things that had taken place and were representative of Himself. The passage of Jacob and his sons down into Egypt represented in the inmost sense nothing other than the Lord’s initial instruction in cognitions from the Word, as is also evident from what follows. In reference to the Lord the following is said in Matthew,
The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Rise, take the boy and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I tell you. He rose and took the boy and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, so that what had been said by the prophet might be fulfilled, when he said, Out of Egypt have I called My son. Matt. 2:13-15, 19-21.
This promise is stated in Hosea as follows,
When Israel was a boy I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. Hosea 11:1.
From this it is clear that ‘the boy Israel’ is used to mean the Lord, His instruction when a boy being expressed by the words, ‘Out of Egypt have I called My son’.
[7] In the same prophet,
By a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt and by a prophet he was preserved. Hosea 12:12, 13.
Here similarly ‘Israel’ is used to mean the Lord. ‘A prophet’ means one who teaches, thus teaching consisting of cognitions. In David,
Turn us back, O God Zebaoth, cause Your face** to shine and we shall be saved. You caused a vine to set out from Egypt, You drove out the nations and planted it. Ps. 80:7, 8.
This too refers to the Lord, who is called ‘the vine out of Egypt’ as regards the cognitions in which He was receiving instruction.
* The Hebrew of his text in Isaiah may be read in two different ways – serve Asshur or serve with Asshur. Most English versions of Isaiah prefer the second of these.
** lit. Faces
[2] Something similar is meant by Jacob and his sons going down into Egypt, as in Isaiah,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih, My people went down to Egypt at first to sojourn there, and Asshur oppressed them without cause. Isa. 52:4.
Here ‘Asshur’ stands for reasonings. This is also why in the Jewish Church people who were receiving instruction were called ‘sojourners, sojourning in their midst’ who, it was commanded, were to receive the same treatment as the native-born, Exod. 12:48, 49; Lev. 24:22; Num. 15:13-16, 26, 29; 19:10. Regarding sojourners it is said in Ezekiel,
You shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. You shall divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves and for sojourners, sojourning in your midst. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel, they shall cast lots with you for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. In the tribe with which the sojourner has sojourned, there shall you give him his inheritance. Ezek. 47:21-23.
This refers to the new Jerusalem, or the Lord’s kingdom. ‘Sojourners sojourning’ is used to mean people who allow themselves to receive instruction, consequently the gentiles. That ‘sojourners’ stands for people who are receiving instruction is clear from the fact that it is said ‘in the tribe with which he has sojourned, there shall an inheritance be given him’. ‘Tribes’ stands for the things that constitute faith.
[3] ‘Sojourning’ is also similar in meaning to travelling and dwelling. ‘Travelling’ means the established patterns and order of life, while ‘dwelling’ means living, both dealt with already in 1293. For the same reasons the land of Canaan is also called ‘the land of the sojournings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’, in Gen. 28:4; 36:7; 37:1; Exod 6:4. And Jacob said to Pharaoh,
The days of the years of my sojournings; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings. Gen. 47:9.
Here ‘sojourning’ stands for life and for forms of instruction.
‘And it happened, when he drew near to come into Egypt’ means when He started to learn, ‘Egypt’, as has been stated, meaning knowledge comprised of cognitions. ‘That he said to Sarai his wife’ means that He thought in the following way about truths to which celestial things were allied, ‘Sarai his wife’ meaning truth allied to the celestial things that resided with the Lord. ‘Behold now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look upon’ means that truth from a celestial origin is delightful.
‘And it will be, when the Egyptians see you’ means knowledge comprised of cognitions, it being the nature of that knowledge when celestial cognitions are seen that is described. ‘And they will say, This is his wife’ means that they will call those cognitions celestial ‘And they will slay me and let you live’ means that they would have no interest in the celestial things, only in the mere cognitions, which they would carry away
[1474a] Verse 13 Say, now, you are my sister, so that it may go well for me for your sake, and my soul may live because of you.
‘Say, now, you are my sister’ means intellectual truth, which is ‘a sister’. ‘So that it may go well for me for your sake’ means in this way the celestial could not have any violence done to it. ‘And my soul may live because of you’ means that in this way the celestial could be saved.
‘It happened, when Abram came into Egypt’ means when the Lord started to receive instruction. ‘That the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful’ means that the knowledge which is comprised of cognitions is by nature such as to be to itself highly pleasing.
‘Pharaoh’s princes saw’ means the first and foremost commandments, which are ‘pharaoh’s princes’. ‘And they praised her to Pharaoh’ means that they were pleasing. ‘And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house’ means that they sought to capture the mind (animus).
The princes of Zoan are foolish, the wise counselors of Pharaoh. . . . How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old? The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph deluded. Isa. 19:11, 13.
Here ‘the princes of Zoan and the wise counselors of Pharaoh’ stands for facts that are first and foremost. And since wisdom flourished initially in Egypt, as stated already, it is called ‘a son of the wise, and a son of the kings of old’. And there are many other places in the Word where in the same way ‘princes’ stands for features that are first and foremost.
1484[a] Verse 16 And he treated Abram well for her sake; and he had flocks and herds, and asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels.
‘He treated Abram well for her sake’ means that the facts residing with the Lord were multiplied. ‘And he had flocks and herds, and asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels’ means all things in general which constitute factual knowledge.
[1486a] Verse 17 And Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of Sarai,* Abram’s wife.
‘Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues’ means that facts were destroyed. ‘And his house’ means which He had gathered together. ‘Because of Sarai,* Abram’s wife’ means because of the truth that was to be allied to the celestial.
* lit. because of the word (or matter) of Sarai
I am creating new heavens and a new earth. They will build houses and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit. Isa. 65:17, 21, 22.
Here ‘houses’ means where there are wisdom and intelligence, thus where there are the cognitions of good and truth, for the Lord’s kingdom is the subject, that is, ‘new heavens and a new earth’. In Jeremiah,
Build houses and inhabit them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jer. 29:5.
Here the meaning is similar. In David,
Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah, who delights greatly in His commandments! Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness stands for ever. Ps. 112:1, 3.
Here ‘wealth and riches’ stands for the wealth and riches of wisdom and intelligence, thus for cognitions, which are ‘in his house’, that is, residing with him.
[2] ‘House’ is also used in the contrary sense: in Zephaniah,
I will visit those who say in their hearts, Jehovah has not done good nor has He done evil; and their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation, and they will build [rouses and not inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards and not drink [their] wine. Zeph 1:12, 13.
In Haggai,
Go up into the mountain and bring wood and build the house. You looked for much, and behold it was little; and when you brought it home* I blew it away. For what reason? said Jehovah. Because of My house which has been left derelict while you run each to his own house. Therefore above you the heavens have withheld their dew. Hagg. 1:8-10.
‘Houses’ stands for facts through which, by means of reasoning, falsities
come. In Isaiah,
The vineyard of Jehovah is the house of Israel.** Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field until there is no room and you dwell alone in the midst of the land! Will not many houses be a desolation, large and good ones, without inhabitant? Isa. 5:7-9.
Here also ‘houses’ stands for facts through which come falsities. In Amos,
Behold, Jehovah commands, and He will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts. Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough there with oxen? that you turn judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11, 12.
Here similarly ‘houses’ stands for falsities and derivative evils, ‘horses’ for reasoning, ‘judgement’ for truths which are ‘turned into poison’, and ‘the fruits of righteousness’ for goods which are ‘turned into wormwood’.
[3] Thus in various parts of the Word ‘houses’ stands for human minds in which intelligence and wisdom ought to be present. Here ‘the house of Pharaoh’ stands for facts by means of which comes intelligence and by means of this wisdom. Similar things were also meant by ‘the house which Solomon built for Pharaoh’s daughter’, 1 Kings 7:8 and following verses. Because ‘a house’ stands for minds that have intelligence and wisdom within them, and that have within them affections that belong to the will, therefore the word ‘house’ in the Word has a wide range of meaning, but what it means in a specific instance becomes clear from the things to which it has reference. In addition man himself is called ‘a house’.
* lit. into the house
** These words seem to have been added as an afterthought and without reference. They have been restored to their correct place.
* lit. because of the word (or matter) of Sarai
‘Why did you say, She is my sister?’ means that He knew no other at that time than that He possessed intellectual truth. ‘I might have taken her to be my wife (mulier)’ means that this being so He could have done violence to the truth that was to be joined to what is celestial. ‘And now, behold your wife, take her and go’ means that truth was to be joined to what is celestial.
[2] To enable people to know what is implied in all this, something must be said about order. Order consists in the celestial flowing into the spiritual and adapting this to be of service to itself; the spiritual in the same way flowing into the rational and adapting this to itself; the rational in the same way into factual knowledge and adapting this to itself. But when a person is receiving instruction during earliest childhood, the same order in fact exists, but it appears to be otherwise; that is to say, he appears to progress from facts to rational things, from these to spiritual, and so at length to celestial things. The reason why his instruction appears to follow such a course is that a way must thereby be opened to celestial things, which are inmost. All instruction is simply the opening of a way; and as the way is opened – or what amounts to the same, as vessels are opened – an ordered influx accordingly takes place, as has been stated, of rational things derived from celestial-spiritual things with celestial- spiritual things flowing into rational, and celestial things into celestial-spiritual. Such celestial things are presenting themselves uninterruptedly, and are also preparing for themselves and forming the vessels which are being opened. This is also made clear by the fact that in themselves factual knowledge and rational conception are dead, but that they give the appearance of being alive because of the interior life flowing into them. This may become plain to anyone from the powers of thought and of forming judgements.
[3] Hidden within those powers lie all the secrets of analytical art and science, which are so many that not one ten-thousandth part of them can ever be explored; and these secrets lie hidden not only with the adult person but also with children. All their thought and everything they speak from it is full of such things – though not one, not even the most learned, is aware of this; yet this could not be unless celestial and spiritual things within had been presenting themselves, flowing in, and bringing forth all these thoughts and utterances.
‘Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him, [and they sent him away]’ means that facts went away from the Lord. ‘And his wife’ means that they also went away from the truths that were joined to celestial things. ‘And all that he had’ means all things that belonged to celestial truths.
Out of Egypt I called My son. Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15.
And further still from what is said in Moses,
The dwelling of the sons of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it happened at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that very day it happened that all the hosts of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt. Exod. 12:40, 41.
Those four hundred and thirty years were measured not from the time that Jacob entered Egypt but from Abram’s sojourning in Egypt. Thus ‘My son out of Egypt’ in Hosea 11:1 means, in the internal sense, the Lord. The matter gains further confirmation from the fact that ‘Egypt’ in the Word means nothing other than knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462.
[2] And that these arcana are contained in this section may become additionally clear from the fact that similar things are said of Abram when he sojourned in Philistia, namely that he called his wife his sister, Gen. 20:1-end, and also of Isaac, who, when he too sojourned in Philistia, called his wife his sister, Gen. 26:6-13. These actions would never have been recorded in the Word, and set in almost identical circumstances, unless these arcana had been lying hidden within. Furthermore this is the Word of the Lord which cannot possibly have any life unless there is an internal sense which has regard to Him.
[3] The arcana which lie hidden in this section, and in those regarding Abram and Isaac in Philistia, have to do with the way in which the Lord’s Human Essence was joined to His Divine Essence, or what amounts to the same, how the Lord became Jehovah as regards His Human Essence also. They also have to do with the fact that His initiation, which is the subject in this chapter, began in childhood. Besides all this these descriptions also embody more arcana than anyone can possibly believe, and those that can be mentioned are so few as to be scarcely anything at all. In addition to the very deep arcana concerning the Lord, they also embody arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of a person so that he may become celestial, as well as his instruction and regeneration so that he may become spiritual; and not only concerning the individual in particular but also concerning the Church in general. The descriptions here also embody arcana regarding the instruction of young children in heaven. In short they have to do with all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. These arcana are not at all clearly visible in the sense of the letter, the reason being that historical details engulf and obscure them; but they are clearly visible in the internal sense.
It has been stated already that in the next life the character of another is recognized as soon as he starts to approach, even though he does not say anything. From this one may see that man’s interiors are engaged in a kind of undiscerned activity, and that from this the nature of the spirit is perceived. That this is so has become clear to me from the fact that the sphere emanating from this activity not only spreads itself a long way out but also that sometimes, when the Lord permits, it becomes in various ways perceptible to the senses.
* There is no paragraph 1503 in the Latin.
[2] This has made clear to me how easily a person can be confirmed in falsities and evils if he does not believe in the truths which come from the Lord. The density of such spheres depends on the nature of the falsities that are present; and those spheres cannot possibly coexist with the spheres of spirits who abide by truths. If those spheres draw near, a repugnance arises; and if, because it is permitted to do so, the sphere of falsity prevails, the good enter into temptation and into distress. I have also perceived the sphere of disbelief, which is such that those to whom it belongs do not believe anything they are told, and scarcely believe that which they are given to see with their eyes. There is also the sphere of those who believe nothing apart from what they apprehend with the senses.
[3] I also once saw a certain spirit dressed in black who was sitting at a mill and, it seemed, was grinding flour. To the side of him I saw little mirrors. Subsequently I saw some things which were the product of delusion but which were airy. I wondered who he was, but he came to me and said that it was he who had been seated at the mill, and that he possessed such ideas as that every single thing was the product merely of delusion and that nothing was real, on account of which, he added, he had become what he was.
THE LIGHT IN WHICH ANGELS ARE LIVING
Many experiences have made it quite clear to me that spirits and angels possess all of the senses except taste, and that these are far keener and more perfect than man’s ever are. Not only do angels see and form relationships with one another, experiencing as they do so supreme happiness resulting from mutual love; there are also more things which they see in their world than man can ever believe. The world of spirits and the heavens are full of representative phenomena like those seen by the prophets, and so many in number that if a person’s sight were opened to behold them just for a few hours he would inevitably be dumbfounded. The light in heaven is such as to be unbelievably superior to the light in the physical world at midday. Yet no light from this world reaches those who are in heaven since they are above or within the sphere where that light shines; instead they have Light from the Lord, who is their Sun. To angels even the midday light of the world is like pitch darkness, and when they are allowed to peer at the light, it is as though they were peering into sheer darkness, as I have been given to know from experience. From this it becomes clear how different the light of heaven is from the light of the world.
* i. e. things that are material; compare 1639.
The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Isa 30:26.
And in John, where reference is being made to the Lord’s kingdom which is called the New Jerusalem,
The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shed light in it; for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Rev. 21:23.
And elsewhere in the same book,
There will be no night there, nor do they need a lamp or light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. Rev 22:5.
And in addition when the Lord appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders, it is said that they saw the God of Israel under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for clearness, Exod 24:10. Because the Lord’s celestial and spiritual appears before the external sight of the angels as the Sun and the Moon, ‘the sun’ in the Word therefore means what is celestial, and ‘the moon’ what is spiritual.
The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun. Isa. 30:26.
But I was not allowed to behold the Sun. The Moon appeared in front of me to the right.
GENESIS 13
1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and everything he had, and Lot with him, towards the south.
2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, silver and gold.
3 And he went in accordance with his journeys from the south and even to Bethel, even to the place where his tent had been at the start, between Bethel and Ai,
4 To the place of the altar that he made there in the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.
5 And Lot also who went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents.
6 And the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their acquisitions were great, and they could not dwell together.
7 And there was strife between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.
8 And Abram said to Lot, Let there not be strife, now, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are men who are brothers.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself, now, from me. If you go to the left then I will go to the right, but if you go to the right I will go to the left.
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and he saw all the plain of Jordan, that the whole of it was well-watered, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar.
11 And Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan; and Lot travelled from the east, and they were separated, man from his brother.
12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
13 And the men (vir) of Sodom were evil and great sinners before Jehovah.
14 And Jehovah said to Abram after Lot had been separated from him, Lift up your eyes, now, and look from the place where you are, towards the north, and towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the west.
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed even for ever.
16 And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, so also will your seed be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land, the length of it and the breadth of it, for to you will I give it.
18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Jehovah.
The subject in this chapter is the external Man in the Lord which was to be joined to His Internal Man. The external Man is the Human Essence, the Internal the Divine Essence. The former is represented here by Lot, but the latter by Abram.
As has been stated, narratives in the Word that draw on true history began with the previous chapter. Down to that point, or rather down to Eber, they were made-up history. The continuation of the Abram story here means in the internal sense the Lord and in particular His life as it was at first before His External Man had been joined to His Internal to the point of their functioning as a unit, that is, before His external Man as well had become celestial and Divine. The historical details are what represent the Lord, while the actual words mean those things that are being represented. But because they are historical descriptions the mind of the reader. inevitably dwells upon them, especially nowadays when the majority, indeed almost everybody, does not believe in the existence of an internal sense at all, let alone within individual words. And perhaps they will still not acknowledge the existence of it even though it has been shown so clearly up to this point. There is the further reason that the internal sense seems to be so withdrawn from the sense of the letter that it is scarcely recognizable. Yet they can know of it merely from the consideration that historical records by themselves cannot ever constitute the Word, for there is no more of the Divine in them when they are separated from the internal sense than in any other historical narrative. It is the internal sense that makes it Divine. The fact that the internal sense is the Word itself is clear from many things that have been revealed, such as
Out of Egypt have I called My son. Matt. 2:15.
besides many others like this. The Lord Himself also, after the Resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Himself in Moses and the Prophets, Luke 24:27, thus that nothing has been written in the Word which does not have regard to Him, to His kingdom, and to the Church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word, but the sense of the letter consists for the most part of worldly, bodily, and earthly images which cannot possibly constitute the Word of the Lord. Nowadays people are such that they do not perceive anything except matters of this sort. They scarcely know what spiritual and celestial things are. It was different with the member of the Most Ancient Church or of the Ancient Church. If he were living today and reading the Word he would not pay any attention to the sense of the letter, which he would regard as nothing at all, but only to the internal sense. Members of those Churches are utterly amazed that anyone perceives the Word in any other way. All the books of the ancients therefore were written in such a fashion that they had a different import in the interior sense from what they had in the letter.
These details and those that follow in this chapter also in the internal sense represent the Lord; they continue the subject of His life from childhood. ‘Abram went up out of Egypt’ means away from the facts which went away from the Lord, ‘Abram’ in the internal sense being the Lord, here when still a boy; ‘Egypt’ here, as previously, being knowledge. ‘He and his wife’ means celestial truths which at that time resided with the Lord. ‘And everything he had’ means everything belonging to celestial things. ‘And Lot with him’ means the power of sensory perception. ‘Towards the south’ means into celestial light.
[2] Because the Lord was born as any other is born and needed to be taught as any other has to be, He had also to learn facts; this was represented and meant by Abram’s sojourning in Egypt. And the consideration that empty facts ultimately went away from Him was also represented by Pharaoh’s giving his men orders to send him away, and his wife, and everything he had – verse 20 of the previous chapter. The fact that the pleasures which belong to the will parts of the mind and which constitute the sensory or most external man also went away from Him is represented in this chapter by Lot separating himself from Abram, for Lot represents the sensory man.
‘Abram was very rich in cattle’ means the goods with which the Lord was at that time enriched. ‘Silver’ means truths. ‘And gold’ means goods deriving from truths.
[2] That ‘silver’ in the internal sense of the Word wherever it is mentioned means truth, or in the contrary sense falsity, is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment, and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isa. 60:17.
Here it is evident what each metal means. The subject is the Lord’s Coming, His kingdom, and the celestial Church. ‘Instead of bronze, gold’ is celestial good in place of natural good; ‘instead of iron, silver’ is spiritual truth in place of natural truth; ‘instead of wood, bronze’ is natural good in place of bodily good; ‘instead of stone, iron’ is natural truth in place of truth acquired through the senses. In the same prophet,
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water, and he who has no money,* come, buy and eat! Isa. 55:1.
‘He who has no money’* is the person who does not know the truth but who nevertheless possesses the good that stems from charity, as is the case with many people inside the Church, and with gentiles outside it.
[3] In the same prophet,
The islands will wait for Me, the ships of Tarshish at their head, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 60:9.
This refers specifically to a new Church, or a Church among gentiles, and in general to the Lord’s kingdom. ‘Ships from Tarshish’ stands for cognitions, ‘silver’ for truths, and ‘gold’ for goods, which are those things they ‘will bring to the name of Jehovah’. In Ezekiel,
For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and you made for yourselves figures of the male. Ezek. 16:17.
Here ‘gold’ stands for cognitions of celestial things, ‘silver’ of spiritual things. In the same prophet,
You were adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was fine linen and silk, and embroidered cloth. Ezek. 16:13.
This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Lord’s Church is meant, whose adornment is being described in this manner. In the same prophet,
Behold, you who are wise, there is no secret they have hidden from you; by your wisdom and by your intelligence you have acquired riches for yourself, and you have acquired gold and silver in your treasuries. Ezek. 28:3, 4.
Here, in what is said in reference to Tyre, ‘gold’ is plainly identified with the riches of wisdom, and ‘silver’ with the riches of intelligence.
[4] In Joel,
You have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:5.
This refers to Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, which mean cognitions, and these are ‘the silver and the gold they took into their temples’. In Haggai,
The elect of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold. The glory of this latter house will be greater than that of the former. Hagg. 2:7-9.
This refers to the Lord’s Church to which ‘gold and silver’ have reference. In Malachi,
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi. Mal. 3:3.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. In David,
The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver refined in an earthen crucible, poured seven times. Ps. 12:6.
‘Silver purified seven times’ stands for Divine truth. At the time of their exodus out of Egypt the children of Israel were commanded that every woman should ask of her neighbour, and of her who sojourned in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments, and that they should put them on their sons and on their daughters, and so despoil the Egyptians, Exod. 3:22; 11:2, 3; 12:35, 36. Anyone may see from the children of Israel would never have been ordered to steal and despoil the Egyptians of those possessions in that way if these did not represent some arcana. But what those arcana are may become clear from the meaning of ‘silver and gold, garments, and Egypt’, and from the fact that what these possessions represented is similar to the words here ‘rich in the silver and gold from Egypt’, used in reference to Abram.
[5] Just as ‘silver’ means truth so in a contrary sense it means falsity, for people under the influence of falsity imagine falsity to be the truth, as is also clear in the Prophets. In Moses,
You shall not covet the silver and the gold of the nations, nor take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. You shall utterly detest it. Deut. 7:25, 26.
‘The gold of the nations’ stands for evils, and ‘their silver’ for falsities. In the same author,
You shall not make gods of silver to be with Me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. Exod. 20:23.
In the internal sense these words mean nothing other than falsities and evil desires, falsities being meant by ‘gods of silver’, and evil desires by ‘gods of gold’. In Isaiah,
On that day everyone will spurn his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you – a sin. Isa. 31:7.
‘Idols of silver and idols of gold’ stands for similar things that are false and evil ‘Which your hands have made’ stands for what is a product of the proprium. In Jeremiah,
They are foolish and stupid; that wood is a way of learning vanities! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the smith and of the hands of the moulder. Their clothing is violet and purple These are all the work of the wise. Jer. 10:8, 9.
Here ‘silver’ and ‘gold’ quite clearly stand for similar things that are false and evil.
* or silver
‘He went in accordance with his journeys’ means as accorded with order. ‘From the south and even to Bethel’ means from the light of intelligence into the light of wisdom. ‘Even to the place where his tent had been before’ means towards the holy things which were there before He had been endowed with cognitions. ‘Between Bethel and Ai’ means here, as previously, the celestial and the worldly aspects of cognitions.
[2] Few if any people know how a person is led to true wisdom. Intelligence is not wisdom but it leads to wisdom, for having an understanding of what truth and good are is not the same as being a true and good person; but being wise is. Wisdom can be used only in reference to a person’s life, to what kind of person he is. To wisdom, or life, he is introduced through coming to know and being aware, that is, through knowledge and cognitions. With every person there are two parts of the mind – the will and the understanding – the will being the primary part and the understanding the secondary; and the nature of his life after death is as the nature of the will part, not the understanding part, of his mind. A person’s will is being formed by the Lord from infancy on into childhood, and this is achieved through the innocence that has been instilled into him, and through the exercise of charity towards parents, nursemaids, and other young children of his own age, and through further things that he is quite unaware of and which are celestial. Unless those celestial things were first instilled in a person while an infant and child he could not possibly become truly human. In this way the first degree is formed.
[3] But because a person is not human unless he is provided with understanding as well, will alone does not make a human being but understanding and will together. And understanding cannot be acquired except by means of knowledge and cognitions, and therefore he has to be endowed with these step by step from childhood onwards. In this way the second degree is formed. Once the understanding part of the mind has been furnished with knowledge and cognitions, especially cognitions of truth and good, he is for the first time able to undergo regeneration. And when he is being regenerated, truths and goods are implanted by the Lord by means of cognitions within the celestial things he has been granted by the Lord since infancy. The result is that the ideas now in his understanding make one with those celestial things. And once the Lord has joined them together so, he is endowed with charity from which he starts to act and which constitutes conscience. This is how he comes to receive new life for the first time, something that is achieved step by step. The light of this life is called wisdom, which then plays the leading role and is set above intelligence. In this way the third degree is formed. If this has happened to a person during his lifetime he goes on being perfected in the next life. These considerations show what the light of intelligence is, and what the light of wisdom.
[2] A state of ignorance or lack of knowledge in no way rules out holiness when-there is innocence in it, for holiness dwells in ignorance that is innocent. With everybody apart from the Lord, holiness is unable to dwell anywhere else than in ignorance. If it does not dwell in this it is not holiness. Among the angels themselves, who possess a supreme light of intelligence and wisdom, holiness still dwells within ignorance, for they know and acknowledge that of themselves they know nothing and that whatever they do know comes from the Lord. They also know and acknowledge that all their knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom are as nothing in comparison with the Lord’s infinite knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, thus that all of theirs is lack of knowledge. Anyone who does not acknowledge that there is an infinite number of things he does not know compared with what he does know cannot possess the holiness present with angels that goes with ignorance or lack of knowledge. This holiness that goes with ignorance does not consist in knowing less than others but in the acknowledgement that from oneself one does not know anything at all, and that the things one does not know are infinite in comparison with the things one does know. But above all it entails regarding factual knowledge and intellectual concepts as being of small importance compared with celestial things, that is, things constituting the understanding as being of small importance compared with those constituting life. In the Lord’s case, because He was to join human things to Divine things He advanced according to order and now reached first of all that celestial state such as had been His when a boy, in which state worldly things also were present. By passing on from this into a state even more celestial, He at length came into the celestial state of infancy, in which state He fully joined the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.
‘To the place of the altar’ means the holy things of worship. ‘That he made in the beginning’ means which He had when a boy. ‘And there Abram called on the name of Jehovah’ means internal worship in that state.
‘And Lot also who went with Abram’ means the external man residing in the Lord ‘He had flocks and herds and tents’ means the things that the external man has in abundance, ‘flocks and herds’ being the possessions of the external man, ‘tents’ the details of his worship, which were separating themselves from the internal man.
[2] From these considerations it becomes clear that as an inevitable result facts and cognitions which cannot agree with spiritual truths will worm their way into the external man, and that pleasures and delights which cannot agree with celestial goods will worm their way in, even as all those things do which regard bodily, worldly, and earthly things as ends in themselves- which things when regarded as ends drag the external man outwards and downwards and so remove the external man from the internal man. For this reason unless such things have first been dispelled the internal man cannot in any way agree with the external, and therefore before the internal man is able to agree with the external such things have to be removed. The removal or separation of those things in the Lord is represented and meant by Lot’s separation from Abram.
I will cause destruction in you, that you will be without inhabitant; and the region of the sea will be dwellings dug out [for shepherds] and folds for the flock. Zeph. 2:5, 6.
In Jeremiah,
I will disperse in you the shepherd and the flock, and I will disperse in you the farmer and his team. Jer. 51:23.
In the same prophet,
Go up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. Their tents and their flocks shall they take. Jer. 49:28, 29.
The nettle will inherit those things, the bramble will be in their tents. Hosea 9:6.
In Habakkuk,
I saw the tents of Cushan, the curtains of the land of Midian shook, Jehovah was angry with the rivers. Hab. 3:7, 8.
In Jeremiah,
Shepherds and their flocks will come against the daughter of Zion; they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will graze, each off his own space. Jer. 6:3.
In David.
He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Ps. 78:51.
In the same author,
I have chosen to stand by the threshold in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Ps. 84:10.
‘The land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together’ means that the things which belonged to the celestial internals could not remain together with the former ones. ‘For their acquisitions were great, and they could not dwell together’ means the things that were acquired by the internal man could not agree with those acquired in the external.
[2] From these considerations it is clear that many things exist with the external man which are able to dwell or accord with the internal. But there are also many things which do not accord, that is, with which the internal man is unable to dwell, namely all that streams forth from self-love and love of the world; for everything resulting from these loves regards self or the world as its end in view. With these, celestial things that go with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour cannot agree, for celestial things regard the Lord as the end in view, and His kingdom and all that belongs to Him and His kingdom similarly as ends. The ends which self-love and love of the world have in view look to things of a more external or lower kind, whereas those which love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour have in view look to things of a more internal or higher kind. From these considerations it becomes clear that they are too discordant ever to remain together.
[3] To know what produces a correspondence and agreement of the external man with the internal and what produces disagreement one has only to reflect on the ends, or what amounts to the same, on the loves by which one is ruled; for people’s loves constitute the ends they have in view, indeed whatever is loved by them is looked upon as an end. Such reflexion will show what one’s life is really like and what it will be like after death, since it is from a person’s ends, or what amounts to the same, his ruling loves, that his life is formed. The life of each individual is never otherwise. If the things which do not agree with eternal life, that is, with spiritual and celestial life – which is eternal life – are not removed during a person’s lifetime they have to be removed in the next life. But if they are irremovable that person is bound to be unhappy for ever.
[4] These things have now been mentioned so that it may be known that in the external man there are things which agree with the internal and things which do not, that those which do agree cannot possibly remain together with those that do not, and also that those things in the external man which do agree come from the internal man, that is, from the Lord by way of the internal man; as for example, in the case of a face radiant with charity, or a charitable face, or in the case of the innocence seen in the expressions on the faces and in the actions of young children, as has been stated. The things which do not accord however belong to man and his proprium. From this one may know what ‘the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together’ means. Here, in the internal sense, the Lord is the subject; and since the Lord is the subject so also is every likeness and image of Him, namely His kingdom, the Church, and every member of that kingdom or of the Church; and therefore here the things residing with men are presented. These same things that resided with the Lord before He overcame evil, that is, the devil and hell, by His Own power, and so became celestial, Divine, and Jehovah even as to His Human Essence, must be seen in relation to His state at that time.
‘There was strife between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen’ means that the internal man and the external did not agree, ‘Abram’s herdsmen’ being used to mean celestial things, ‘Lot’s herdsmen’ things of the senses. ‘And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land’ means evils and falsities in the external man.
* The same word (pastor) is used for a herdsman as for a shepherd.
[2] Because hereditary evil from the mother was present before the Lord had been endowed with facts and cognitions, that is, before ‘Abram sojourned in Egypt’ it is said in verse 6 of the previous chapter that ‘the Canaanite was in the land’ but not that the Perizzite was there, whereas in the present verse, now that He had been endowed with facts and cognitions, it is said that ‘the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt in the land’. From these considerations it is clear that ‘the Canaanite’ means evil and ‘the Perizzite’ falsity. It is also clear from the consideration that the mention of the Canaanite and the Perizzite does not bear any relation to the historical events among which it occurs, for nothing is said about either of them in what has gone before or in what follows. The same is also true with the mention of the Canaanite in verse 6 of the previous chapter. From this it is evident that some arcanum lies concealed here which one cannot know except from the internal sense.
[3] To some it may come as a surprise to say that hereditary evil from the mother was present with the Lord, but as such evil is spoken of so plainly here, and as in the internal sense the Lord is the subject, there can be no doubt that it was present. For no human being can possibly be born from another human being without deriving evil from him or her. But the hereditary evil that is derived from the father is one thing, that from the mother is another. Hereditary evil from the father is more internal and remains for ever, since it can never be rooted out. Such evil did not exist with the Lord because He was born of Jehovah as His Father, and thus was Divine, or Jehovah, as regards internals. But hereditary evil from the mother belongs to the external man, as it did with the Lord, and it is called ‘the Canaanite in the land’, and derivative falsity ‘the Perizzite’. The Lord was in this sense born as any other, and had weaknesses as any other has them.
[4] That the Lord derived hereditary evil from the mother is quite clear from the fact that He underwent temptations. Nobody can ever be tempted who has no evil, for it is the evil present with man that tempts and by means of which he is tempted. That the Lord was tempted, undergoing temptations so serious that no other could ever endure one ten thousandth part of them, that He suffered all alone, and by His own power overcame evil, or the devil and the whole of hell, is also clear. Those temptations are spoken of in Luke as follows,
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He was tempted for forty days by the devil, so that He ate nothing in those days. But after the devil had ended every temptation he departed from Him for a time. From there He returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. Luke 4:1, 2, 13, 14.
[5] And in Mark,
The Spirit, driving Jesus, made Him go away into the wilderness; and He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted; and He was with the wild beasts. Mark 1:12, 13.
Here ‘beasts’ means hell. In addition to this He is spoken of as being tempted to the point of death, so that His sweat was [like] drops of blood,
And when He was in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became as great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. Luke 22:44.
[6] No angel can possibly be tempted by the devil, the reason being that as an angel abides in the Lord, evil spirits cannot approach him, even when they are a long way off, but are instantly seized with horror and fright. Much less could hell have approached the Lord if He had been born Divine, that is, without evil from the mother clinging to Him.
[7] That the Lord bore the iniquities and evils of the human race is also a statement commonly made by preachers, yet the diversion of iniquities and evils to Himself can never come about except through a hereditary channel. The Divine cannot take evil upon Itself, and therefore in order that He might overcome evil by His own powers – which no human being has ever been able to do or ever can do – and in so doing might make Himself alone Righteousness, He was willing to be born like any other. Otherwise there would have been no need for Him to be born at all, for the Lord could have assumed Human Essence without going through the process of birth, as He had indeed sometimes done when seen by members of the Most Ancient Church, and also by prophets. Therefore in order that He might be furnished with evil against which He was to fight and over which He was to conquer, and in so doing might join together in Himself the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, He came into the world.
[8] In the Lord however there was no evil of His own, that is, He committed no actual evil, as He Himself also says in John,
Who of you is going to convict Me of sin? John 8:46.
From these considerations it may now be quite evident what is meant by the statement immediately preceding – ‘there was strife between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsman’. The reason was that ‘the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling in the land’.
Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, You have brought trouble on me by making me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. Gen. 34:30.
Here similarly ‘the Canaanite’ means evil and ‘the Perizzite’ falsity.
[2] In Joshua,
Joshua said to the sons of Joseph, If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and cut down for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, if Mount Ephraim is too narrow for you. Josh 17:15.
Here ‘the Perizzites’ means false assumptions and ‘the Rephaim’ false persuasions which they were to wipe out, for ‘Mount Ephraim’ in the internal sense means intelligence.
[3] In the Book of Judges,
After the death of Joshua the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah, saying, Who will go up for us against the Canaanite to start and fight against him? And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand. And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Go up with me into my lot, and let us fight against the Canaanite, and I will also go with you into your lot And Simeon went with him, and Judah went up. and Jehovah gave the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand. Judg. 1:1-5.
Here ‘Judah’ also represents the Lord as regards celestial things, and ‘Simeon’ as regards derivative spiritual things. ‘Canaanite’ is the evil, and ‘Perizzite’ the falsity, that were overcome. This is how this reply, or Divine oracle, is to be understood.
‘Abram said to Lot’ means that the internal man so addressed the external. ‘Let there not be strife, now, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen’ means that there ought to be no disagreement between the two ‘For we are men who are brothers’ means that they were in themselves united.
[2] There are two sides to the internal man, namely the celestial and the spiritual, and these two form a single entity if the spiritual has its origin in the celestial. Or what amounts to the same, there are the two sides to the internal man known as good and truth. These two form a single entity if truth has its origin in good. Or what also amounts to the same, there are the two sides to the internal man, love and faith. These two form a single entity if faith has its origin in love. Or what yet again amounts to the same, there are the two sides to the internal man, will and understanding. These two form a single entity if the understanding has its origin in the will. The light from the sun can serve to make the point plainer still. If both warmth and light are present in light from the sun, as they are in spring-time, all things consequently start to grow and thrive. But if, as in winter, there is no warmth in the light from the sun all things at that time consequently fade and die.
[3] From this it is clear what constitutes the internal man. What constitutes the external man however is evident from the fact that with the external man everything is natural; for the external man is one and the same as the natural man. The internal man is said to be united to the external when the celestial- spiritual comprising the internal man flows into the natural comprising the external man and causes them to act as one. The natural as a consequence becomes celestial and spiritual as well, though it is a lower variety of celestial and spiritual. Or what amounts to the same, the external man as a consequence becomes celestial and spiritual as well, though it is a more exterior variety of celestial and spiritual man.
[4] The internal man and the external man are completely distinct and separate since celestial and spiritual things are what move the internal man but natural things the external man. But although they are distinct they are nevertheless united, that is to say, when the celestial-spiritual comprising the internal man flows into the natural comprising the external man and reorganizes it as its own. In none but the Lord has the Internal Man been united to the external Man. It has happened to nobody else except insofar as the Lord has united and does unite them. It is solely love and charity, that is, good, which effects union, and there can never be any love and charity, that is, any good, unless it comes from the Lord. Such is the union which these words of Abram are meant to convey – ‘let there not be strife, now, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are men who are brothers’.
[5] The words ‘between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen’ are used for the following reason: just as the internal man has two elements, namely the celestial and the spiritual which, as has been stated, form a single entity, so too does the external man. The celestial side of the external man is called natural good, the spiritual side natural truth. ‘Let there not be strife between me and you’ has regard to good – that is, let there be no conflict between good in the internal man and good in the external, while ‘let there be no strife between my herdsmen and your herdsmen’ has regard to truth – that is, let there be no conflict between truth in the internal man and truth in the external.
‘Is not the whole land before you?’ means all good. ‘Separate yourself, now, from me’ means that it cannot manifest itself unless that which does not accord is reduced to nothing. ‘If you go to the left then I will go to the right, but if you go to the right I will go to the left’ means separation.
‘And Lot lifted up his eyes’ means that the external man received light from the internal. ‘And he saw all the plain of Jordan’ means the goods and truths that resided with the external man. ‘That the whole of it was well-watered’ means that they are able to grow there. ‘Before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah’ means before the external man was destroyed by desires for evil and by persuasions of falsity. ‘Like the garden of Jehovah’ means rational concepts in the external man. ‘Like the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar’ means facts acquired from affections for good. These statements mean that the external Man appeared to the Lord as it is in its beauty when joined to the Internal Man.
[2] For this reason all things in the land of Canaan were representative. Those in the midst of the land, or that were inmost, represented His internal Man – Mount Zion and Jerusalem, for example, representing respectively celestial things and spiritual things. More outlying districts represented things more remote from internals. And the most outlying districts, or those which formed the boundaries, represented the external man. There were several boundaries to the land of Canaan, but in general they were the two rivers Euphrates and Jordan, and also the Sea,* for which reason the Euphrates and the Jordan represented external things. Here therefore ‘the plain of Jordan’ means, as it also represents, all things residing in the external man. The meaning of the land of Canaan is similar when used in reference to the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, to the Lord’s Church on earth, to the member of that kingdom or Church, or abstractly to the celestial things of love, and so on.
[3] Almost all the cities therefore, and indeed all the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, and other features in the land of Canaan, were representative. The river Euphrates, being a boundary, represented, as shown already in 120, sensory evidence and facts that belong to the external man, and so too did the Jordan and the plain of Jordan, as becomes clear from the following places: In David,
O my God, my soul bows itself down within me;** therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan, and the Hermons from the little mountain. Ps 42:6.
Here ‘the land of Jordan’ stands for that which is lowly and so is distant from the celestial, as a person’s externals are from his internals.
[4] The crossing of the Jordan when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan and the dividing of its waters at that time also represented the approach to the internal man by way of the external, as well as a person’s entry into the Lord’s kingdom, and much more besides, Josh. 3:14 on to the end of Chapter 4. And because the external man is constantly hostile towards the internal and strives for domination over it, the arrogance or the pride of the Jordan came to be phrases used by the Prophets, as in Jeremiah,
How will you compete with horses? And confident in a land of peace how do you deal with the pride of the Jordan? Jer. 12:5.
‘The pride of the Jordan’ stands for those things belonging to the external man which rear up and wish to have dominion over the internal, such as reasonings, meant here by ‘horses’, and ‘the confidence’ they give.
[5] In the same prophet,
Edom will become a desolation. Behold, like a lion it will come up from the arrogance of the Jordan against the habitation of Ethan. Jer. 49:17, 19.
‘The arrogance of the Jordan’ stands for the pride of the external man against the goods and truths of the internal. In Zechariah,
Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the magnificent ones have been laid waste! Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down. The sound of the howling of shepherds [is heard], for their magnificence has been laid waste; the sound of the roaring of young lions, that the pride of the Jordan has been laid waste. Zech. 11:2, 3.
The fact that the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan is clear from Num. 34:12, and the eastern boundary of the land of Judah, in Josh. 15:5.
* i.e. the Great or Mediterranean Sea
** lit. upon me
Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of ]Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isa. 51:3.
When however the rational is spiritual, that is, when it has a spiritual origin, as was the case with the Ancient Church, the expression ‘the garden of God’ is used, as in Ezekiel,
Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Ezek. 28:12, 13.
A person’s rational is compared to a garden because this is how it is represented in heaven. It is man’s rational that manifests itself in just this way when that which is celestial-spiritual flows into it from the Lord. Indeed it is this which presents to view the paradise gardens whose magnificence and beauty surpass everything the human mind can imagine. This is the effect which the influx of celestial-spiritual light from the Lord produces, as dealt with already in 1042, 1043. It is not the loveliness and beauty of these gardens that stir the emotions but the celestial-spiritual elements that live within them.
[2] There are three constituent parts of the external man – rational, factual, and external sensory. The rational part is more interior, the factual more exterior, and the external sensory the most external. The rational is the part by means of which the internal man is joined to the external, the character of the rational determining the character of this conjunction. The external sensory part consists in the present instance in sight and hearing. But in itself the rational has no existence if affection does not flow into it, making it active so as to receive life. Consequently the rational receives its character from that of the affection flowing into it. When the affection for good flows in, that affection for good becomes with the rational an affection for truth; and the contrary happens when the affection for evil flows in. Because the factual part attaches itself to the rational and serves as its agent it also follows that the affection flows into and reorganizes the factual part. For nothing has life in the external man apart from affection. The reason is that the affection for good comes down from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which imparts life to everything into which it flows, even to affections for evil, that is, to evil desires.
[3] Actually the good of love from the Lord flows in constantly, doing so through the internal man into the external. But anyone who is governed by an affection for evil, that is, by an evil desire, corrupts that good. Nevertheless the life brought to it remains. Such may be seen from a comparison with objects on which the sun’s rays fall. There are some objects which accept them in a most beautiful way, converting them into the most beautiful colours, as a diamond, ruby, jacinth, sapphire, and other precious stones do. Other objects however do not accept them in that manner but convert them into the ugliest colours. The same point may be shown from the very characters of people. There are some who accept the good actions of another with every display of affection, while others convert them into evil. From this it becomes clear what the knowledge acquired from affections for good is which is meant by ‘the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar’ when the rational is ‘like the garden of Jehovah’.
‘Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan’ means that the external man was such. ‘And Lot travelled from the east’ means those things residing with the external man which depart from celestial love. ‘And they were separated, man from his brother’ means that those things bring the separation about.
[3] But this is not the major cause of the severance of the external man from the internal man, for the greater number of people possess such unbelief, the highly learned more than the simple. That which causes the severance is chiefly self-love, and also love of the world, though not so much as self-love does. The reason a person does not know this is that his life is devoid of charity, and when his life is devoid of charity, how can he see that the life of self-love and its desires is so contrary to heavenly love? Also there is within self-love and its desires a kind of flame, and from it a feeling of delight which so affect a person’s life that he can scarcely conceive of eternal happiness consisting of anything else. For this reason also many people suppose that eternal happiness means becoming great following the life of the body and being served by others, even by angels, while they themselves are not willing to serve anybody except for the concealed motive of being served themselves. When at such times they assert that they wish to serve the Lord alone, it is a lie, for people who are ruled by self-love wish that even the Lord should serve them. And to the extent this does not happen they depart, so strong is the desire in their hearts to become lords and rule the entire universe. What kind of government it would be when the majority, or indeed all, are like this, anyone can think out for himself. Would it not be a government like that exercised in hell where everyone loves himself more than anybody else? This is what lies hidden within self-love. From this it may become clear what the nature of self-love is, and also from the fact that it conceals within itself hatred of all who do not submit themselves to it as its slaves. And because it conceals hatred, it also conceals forms of revenge, cruelty, deceit, and further unspeakable things.
[4] Mutual love however, which alone is heavenly, consists in not only saying but also acknowledging and believing that one is utterly undeserving, and something worthless and filthy, which the Lord in His infinite mercy is constantly drawing away and holding back from the hell into which the person constantly tries, and indeed longs, to cast himself. He acknowledges and believes this because it is the truth. Not that the Lord or any angel wishes him to acknowledge and believe it just to gain his submission, but to prevent his vaunting himself when he is in fact such. This would be like excrement calling itself pure gold, or a dung-fly a bird of paradise. To the extent therefore that a person acknowledges and believes that he really is what he in fact is, he departs from self-love and its desires, and loathes himself. To the extent that this happens he receives from the Lord heavenly love, that is, mutual love, which is willing to serve all. These are the people meant by the least who become the greatest in the Lord’s kingdom, Matt. 20:26-28; Luke 9:46-48.
[5] These considerations show what it is that severs the external man from the internal – chiefly self- love. And the chief thing that unites the external man to the internal is mutual love, which is in no way attainable until self-love departs, for they are complete opposites. The internal man is nothing else than mutual love. The human spirit itself, or soul, is the interior man which lives after death. It is organic, for it is joined to the body so long as the person lives in the world. This interior man – that is, his soul or spirit – is not the internal man, but the internal man is within the interior when the latter has mutual love within it. The things that belong to the internal man are the Lord’s, so that one may say that the internal man is the Lord. Yet because the Lord grants an angel or man, so long as his life has mutual love in it, a heavenly proprium so that he has no idea but that he does good from himself, an internal man is therefore attributed to a person as though it were his own. The person in whom mutual love dwells however acknowledges and believes that everything good and true is not his own but the Lord’s. He acknowledges and believes that his ability to love another as himself – and if he is like the angels, more than himself – is a gift from the Lord and that he ceases to enjoy that gift and its happiness to the extent he departs from acknowledging that it is the Lord’s.
‘Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan’ means that the internal man dwelt in the celestial things of love. ‘And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain’ means the external man dwelt in factual knowledge. ‘And moved his tent as far as Sodom’ means a reaching out towards evil desires.
‘The men of Sodom were evil and great sinners before Jehovah’ means the evil desires towards which facts were reaching out.
‘Jehovah said to Abram’ means that Jehovah so spoke to the Lord. ‘After Lot had been separated from him’ means when the desires of the External Man had been removed so that they did not obstruct. ‘Lift up your eyes, now, and look from the place where you are’ means the Lord’s state at that time from which He was able to perceive things to come. ‘Towards the north, and towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the west’ means all men, as many as there are in the entire universe.
Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who sees Me sees the Father So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:6, 8-11.
[2] With the Lord however after He had cast out hereditary evil and so purified the organic elements of the Human Essence, these too received life so that the Lord, who was already Life as regards the internal Man, became Life as regards the External Man as well. This is what ‘glorification’ means in John,
Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31, 32.
In the same gospel,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. Now therefore, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:1, 5.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:8.
‘For all the land which you see I will give to you’ means the heavenly kingdom which was to be the Lord’s. ‘And to your seed even for ever’ means people who were to have faith in Him.
A Boy is born, a Son is given to us; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
In Daniel,
I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Dan 7:13, 14.
The Lord Himself also says the same: in Matthew,
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22.
Elsewhere in Matthew,
[All] power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matt. 28:18.
In John,
You have given to the Son power over all flesh in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. John 17:2, 3.
And ‘sitting on the right hand’ has the same meaning, as in Luke,
From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.
[2] As regards all power in heaven and on earth being given to the Son of Man, it should be recognized that the Lord already had power over all things in heaven and on earth before He came into the world, for He was God from eternity and He was Jehovah, as He Himself plainly declares in John,
Now, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.
And in the same gospel,
Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.* John 8:58.
In fact He was Jehovah and God to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood, and was seen by them. He was also Jehovah and God to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood; and He was the One whom all the religious observances of the Jewish Church represented, and the One they worshipped. The reason the Lord says that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, as though it had not been His till then, is that ‘the Son of Man’ is used to mean His Human Essence which became Jehovah as well after it had been united to His Divine Essence. Power was given to Him at that point, which would not have been possible until He was glorified, that is, until His Human Essence as well, through union with the Divine Essence, had life in Itself and likewise became Divine and Jehovah, as He Himself declares in John,
As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
[3] It is His Human Essence or External Man that is named ‘the Son of Man’ in the passage quoted from Daniel, and ‘a Boy born, a Son given to us’ in the passage quoted from Isaiah. The fact that the heavenly kingdom would be given to Him, and all power in heaven and on earth, was shown and promised to Him then, and is the meaning of the statement ‘all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed after you for ever’. This was before His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, a union which took place when He had overcome the devil and hell, that is to say, when by His own strength and powers He had cast out all evil, which alone causes the severance.
* The Latin means I was, but the Greek means I am, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life. John 3:35, 36.
[2] And in the same gospel,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. John 1:12, 13.
From these places it is clear what faith, or believing in Him, is, that is to say, that it resides with those who receive Him and believe in Him, and who are born ‘not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man’. ‘The will of the flesh’ is that which-is contrary to love and charity, for that is what ‘flesh” means, 999; and ‘the will of man (vir)’ is that which is contrary to faith stemming from love or charity, for this is what ‘man’ means. Indeed the will of the flesh and the will of man are such as cause division, whereas love and the faith that comes from it are such as serve to join. People therefore with whom love and the faith that comes from it reside are those who are ‘born of God’. And because they are born of God they are called ‘the sons of God’ and are His ‘seed’ to whom the heavenly kingdom is given, which is the meaning in this verse of the statement, ‘All the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed even for ever’.
[3] The fact that the heavenly kingdom cannot be given to people whose faith is devoid of charity, that is, who say they have faith but hate their neighbour, may become clear to anyone provided he is willing to reflect on the matter. For there can be no life to such faith when hatred, that is, hell, constitutes the life, for hell consists solely of forms of hatred, not of those forms of it which a person receives through heredity but of the forms of the hatred which he has acquired to himself through his own actions in life.
‘I will make your seed as the dust of the earth’ means being multiplied beyond measure. ‘That if anyone can number the dust of the earth, so also will your seed be numbered’ means an absolute assurance.
[2] The statement that his seed, that is, the faith that is the expression of love, or simply love, was to be multiplied beyond measure means in the highest sense the Lord, and in particular His Human Essence, for the Lord as regards the Human Essence is called ‘the seed of the woman’, dealt with in 256. When the Lord’s Human Essence is meant, the infinite celestial and spiritual is understood by the words ‘multiplied beyond measure’; but when faith that is the expression of charity, or simply charity, among the human race is meant by ‘the seed’, the multiplication without measure of that seed in everyone who leads a charitable life is understood. Such multiplication takes place in the next life with everyone who leads a charitable life. With him the multiplication of charity and of the faith deriving from it, together with their associated happiness, is so great that one can only describe it as being beyond measure and defying description. When the human race is meant by ‘the seed’, the multiplication of this in the Lord’s kingdom is also beyond measure – not only from those who are inside the Church, and their children, but also from those who are outside the Church, and their children. Consequently the Lord’s kingdom or heaven is boundless. That boundlessness will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere.
‘Arise, walk through the land’ means in order that He might survey the heavenly kingdom. ‘The length of it and the breadth of it’ means the celestial dimension and the spiritual dimension of it. ‘For to you will I give it’ means that it was His.
[2] That ‘breadth’ is truth is quite clear from the Prophetical part of the Word, as in Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching’ into the breadths of the earth. Hab. 1:6.
‘Chaldeans’ stands for people under the influence of falsity, ‘marching* into the breadths of the earth’ for the destruction of truths, for these words are used in reference to the Chaldeans. In David,
O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in a broad place. Ps. 31:8.
‘Standing in a broad place’ stands for abiding in the truth. In the same author,
Out of my distress I called on lain; He answered me in a broad place. Ps. 118:5.
‘Answering in a broad place’ stands for answering with the truth. In Hosea,
Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.
‘Pasturing in a broad place’ stands for teaching the truth.
[3] In Isaiah,
Asshur will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck; and the outstretching of its wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isa. 8:8.
‘Asshur’ stands for reasoning which would ‘deluge the land’, or the Church; ‘wings’ stands for reasonings from which falsities result; ‘filling the breadth of the land’ stands for its being full of falsities, or things contrary to the truth. Because the length of the land meant good and its breadth truth it is said that the New Jerusalem when measured lies four-square, its length being the same as its breadth, Rev. 21:16. From this anyone may see that length and breadth have no other meaning, since the New Jerusalem is nothing else than the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth. Because of the meaning things have in the internal sense it became commonplace in former times to refer to celestial and spiritual things by means of things on earth, such as length and breadth, just as height and depth are used nowadays in everyday speech when people are referring to wisdom.
* lit. walking
‘Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron’ means that the Lord arrived at a perception more interior still. This is the sixth state. ‘And there he built an altar to Jehovah’ means worship as the outcome of that state.
[2] The implications of ‘the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron’ meaning perception more interior still are as follows: To the extent that those things belonging to the external man are joined to celestial things belonging to the internal man perception grows and becomes more interior. Conjunction with celestial things confers perception, for within the celestial things that belong to love to Jehovah dwells the life itself of the internal man, or what amounts to the same, within celestial things which belong to love, that is, within celestial love, Jehovah is present. This presence is not perceived in the external man however until the conjunction has taken place. All perception is the result of conjunction.
[3] From the internal sense here it is clear what the situation was in the Lord’s case: His External Man, or Human Essence, was joined step by step to the Divine Essence as cognitions multiplied and became fruitful. No one can ever, insofar as he is human, be joined to Jehovah, or the Lord, except by means of cognitions, for it is by means of cognitions that a person is made human. This applied to the Lord too since He was born as any other is born, and received instruction as any other does. Yet in the cognitions He had as receptacles celestial things were being instilled continually, with the result that His cognitions were constantly being made into the recipient vessels of celestial things; and these vessels also were themselves made celestial.
[4] Constantly the Lord advanced in this manner towards the celestial things of infancy, for, as stated already, the celestial things which belong to love are being instilled in a person from earliest infancy to childhood and on into adolescence as well. Since he is a human being, at that time and later on he is endowed with knowledge and cognitions. If a person is such that he can be regenerated, that knowledge and those cognitions are filled with celestial things that belong to love and charity, and are accordingly implanted within the celestial things he was endowed with from infancy through to childhood and adolescence, and in this way his external man is joined to his internal. First of all they are implanted in the celestial things he was endowed with in adolescence, then in those he was endowed with in childhood, and finally in those he was endowed with in infancy. At that point he is ‘the little child’ regarding whom the Lord said ‘of such is the kingdom of God’. This implanting is done by the Lord alone, and therefore nothing celestial with man either does or can exist with man that does not come from, and belong to, the Lord.
[5] The Lord however from His own power joined His External Man to His Internal Man and filled His cognitions with celestial things, and He implanted them in celestial things, doing so according to Divine Order. First of all He implanted them in the celestial things of childhood, then in the celestial things of the age of childhood and back to infancy, and finally in the celestial things of His infancy. In this way He at the same time became as regards the Human Essence Innocence itself and Love itself, from which derive all innocence and all love in heaven and on earth. Such Innocence is true Infancy because it is simultaneously Wisdom. But the innocence of infancy is of no use at all unless by means of cognitions it becomes the innocence of wisdom, and this is why little children in the next life are endowed with cognitions. As the Lord implanted cognitions in celestial things, so He had perception, for, as stated, all perception is the result of conjunction. He had His first perception when He implanted the facts acquired in childhood, a perception meant by ‘the oak-grove of Moreh’; and He had His second, which is the subject here, and which is more interior, when He implanted cognitions, a perception meant by ‘the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron’.
When a person’s interior sight – the sight of his spirit – is opened, he then sees things in the next life, things that can never be manifested before his bodily eyes. The visions that the prophets had were nothing else. As has been stated, representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, as well as meaningful signs, are to be seen constantly, so much so that nothing ever comes before the eyes of angels that is not a representative or a meaningful sign. This is the origin of representatives and of meaningful signs in the Word, for the Word derives from the Lord through heaven.
[2] There were certain souls recently arrived from the world who, on account of the assumptions they had adopted during their lifetime, doubted whether things of this sort could possibly be found in the next life where there is no wood or stone. They were brought up to that place, and from there they talked to me. In their amazement they said that it was beyond description, that they could never think of any way of representing how far beyond description it was, and that forms of joy and happiness shone from every detail – and this in ever-changing variety. Souls who are introduced into heaven normally make first of all for the paradise gardens. The angels however look at those gardens quite differently. It is not the gardens that delight them but what they represent, the celestial and spiritual things which give rise to them. These also account for the paradise gardens which the Most Ancient Church had.
He carried me away in the spirit on to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, having a wall great and high, having twelve gates. The structure of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear* glass. The foundations of the wall were furnished with every precious stone, the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. Rev. 21:10, 12, 18-20.
Similar scenes were witnessed by the prophets as well. Countless things such as these are seen in broad daylight by angels and angelic spirits, and what is astonishing, they are perceived by each of the senses. This no one is ever able to believe who has done away with spiritual ideas by means of the terms and definitions employed in human philosophy and by means of reasonings; yet they are utterly true. That they are true could have been grasped from the fact that they have been seen so often by saints.
* The Latin means golden, but the Greek means pure or clear, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
THE SPEECH OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS
It is well known from the Word of the Lord that many in former times spoke to spirits and angels, and that those people heard and saw many things that exist in the next life; but that after those times heaven was so to speak closed, so completely that at the present day there is scarcely any belief in the existence of spirits and angels, let alone in anyone being able to talk to them. For people today suppose that to talk to those who cannot be seen, and to those whose existence they deny in their hearts, is an impossibility. But since in the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been allowed for some years now almost constantly to hold conversations with them and to enjoy their fellowship as one among them, let me now relate what I have been given to know about their speech with one another.
[2] The reason for this is that the language with which spirits are familiar is not a language composed of words but a language composed of ideas comprising thought. This language is the universal of all languages; and when spirits are present with someone on earth the ideas comprising their thought fall into words which belong to that person’s vocabulary. This takes place in such a corresponding and fitting manner that the spirits know no other than that those words are their own and that they are speaking in their own language, when in fact they are speaking in the person’s language. I have spoken on several occasions to spirits about these matters. All souls, the moment they enter the next life, receive this gift of being able to understand what all people in any part of the world are saying, just as if they had been born among those people, for they perceive whatever a person is thinking. In addition to this they receive other abilities which are more perfect still. This explains why after death of the body souls are able to talk to and mix with all people, no matter what region these came from or what language they spoke.
[2] I have also been allowed to perceive when they were coming and when they were going away; in which direction they were going and how far; whether they were many or few; and other things besides these. I have at the same time perceived from their speech what kind of spirits they were, for from their speech, as likewise from the sphere emanating from them, it is quite evident what their character and disposition is, and what their real beliefs and affections are. For example, if they are deceivers, even though at the time they are expressing no deceit, the general and specific nature of their deceitfulness is nevertheless perceptible from their every word and idea. It is the same with all other forms of wickedness and evil desires, so much so that there is no need to scrutinize them closely, for the image of every spirit exists in his every word and idea.
[3] One is also able to perceive whether an idea belonging to their speech is closed or open, and to perceive as well what derives from themselves, what comes from others, and what springs from the Lord It is very much like the expressions on the human face, for from a person’s face, without his saying anything, one usually tells whether there is presence, or deceitfulness, or gladness, or natural or else forced cheerfulness, or real friendliness, or bashfulness, or even insanity. Sometimes these things are also apparent from the person’s tone of voice. Why then should the same not be so in the next life where perception is far superior to any discernment such as this? Indeed even before a spirit speaks one knows from his thought alone what he intends to say, since thought flows in more swiftly and sooner than speech does.
[2] Sometimes in their discussions they also employ visual, and thus living representations. Their discussion, for example, may be about shame, and whether shame is possible without reverential awe. Among men this cannot be discussed except through many reasonings based on proofs and examples; and even then it remains in doubt. But with spirits the matter is resolved within a minute by considering the states of the feeling of shame, varied in their sequence, and also the states of reverential awe, and in this way perceiving the agreements and the disagreements, while at the same time seeing these in the representatives woven into the discussion, from which in an instant they perceive the conclusion thus flowing of itself from differences of opinion that are reconciled in this fashion. All other questions are resolved in a similar way. Souls enter into this ability immediately after death, at which time good spirits love nothing more than teaching newcomers and the uninformed.
[3] Spirits themselves do not realize that they speak to one another in so superior a kind of speaking, and that they are furnished with so excellent a gift, unless they are led by the Lord to reflect on the matter, for that speech comes to them naturally and is now instinctive. The situation is like that of a person whose mind is intent on the meaning of things and not on the words he uses and the way he speaks, in that unless he sometimes stops to reflect he is not aware of what kind of speech he is using.
GENESIS 14
1 And so it was in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
3 All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea
4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Kamaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El-paran, which is over into the wilderness.
7 And they resumed and came to An-mishpat, that is, to Kadesh, and smote all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites inhabiting Hazezon-tamar.
8 And the king of Sodom went out, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, and they drew up for battle with them in the valley of Siddim –
9 With Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar – four kings with five.
10 And the valley of Siddim was pits after pits of bitumen; and the king of Sodom and [the king] of Gomorrah fled, and they fell there; and the rest fled to the mountain.
11 And they took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food and went their way.
12 And they took Lot and his acquisitions, Abram’s brother’s son, and went their way; and he was dwelling in Sodom.
13 And one who had escaped came and told it to Abram the Hebrew; and he was dwelling among the oak- groves of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshkol, and the brother of Aner; and these men were Abram’s allies.
14 And Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, and he brought out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.
15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the acquisitions, and also Lot his brother and his acquisitions he brought back, and the women and the people as well.
17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he had resumed from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s valley.
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; and he was a priest to God Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.
20 And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand; and he gave him a tenth of everything.
21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people and take the acquisitions for yourself.*
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.
23 That not a thread, nor even the latchet of a shoe, nor anything that is yours will I take, lest you say, I have made Abram rich.
24 Except for what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who came with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre – these will take their share.
*lit. Give me the soul[s], and keep the acquisition[s] for yourself
The subject in this chapter is the conflicts constituting the Lord’s temptations, which are represented and meant by the wars described here.
The details contained in this chapter appear as if they were not representative, for the subject is merely the wars between a number of kings, and Lot’s reclamation by Abram, and, towards the end, Melchizedek; so that these details do not seem to possess a single heavenly arcanum within them. Yet like all such details, these conceal very deep arcana in the internal sense which follow in a continuous sequence from the things preceding them, and also link themselves in a similar sequence to those that follow.
[2] The descriptions which precede have dealt with the Lord and the instruction He received, and also with His External Man which was to be joined to the internal by means of knowledge and cognitions. But because His external Man was such, as has been stated, that from what was inherited from the mother it had within it things which prevented their becoming joined together, things which had first to be cast out by means of conflicts and temptations before His external Man could be united to the Internal – that is, His Human Essence to the Divine Essence – this chapter therefore deals with those conflicts themselves. The latter in the internal sense are represented and meant by the wars which it describes. Within the Church it is well known that Melchizedek represented the Lord, and that the Lord is thus meant in the internal sense when Melchizedek is spoken of. From this one may also conclude that not only such details regarding Melchizedek but all others are indeed representative, for not one small word can have been written in the Word that has not been sent down from heaven and consequently in which angels do not see heavenly things.
[3] In most ancient times furthermore many things were represented by wars, which people called ‘The Wars of Jehovah’. The latter meant nothing other than the conflicts fought by the Church and by those who belonged to the Church, that is, their temptations, which are nothing else than battles and wars against the evils present within themselves and so against the devil’s crew who activate evils and endeavour to destroy the Church and the member of the Church. That wars in the Word have no other meaning becomes quite clear from the fact that the Word cannot have as its subject anything other than the Lord, His kingdom, and the Church, since it is Divine, not human, and consequently heavenly, not worldly. This being so the wars described in the sense of the letter cannot have any other meaning in the internal sense. This may become clearer still from what follows.
‘So it was in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim’ means just so many kinds of apparent goods and truths which are not in themselves goods and truths, and which were present with the Lord’s External Man – each of the kings and each of the nations meaning some such good or truth. ‘That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar’ means just so many kinds of evil desires and false persuasions against which the Lord fought.
[2] Nobody can possibly fight against evils and falsities until he knows what evil and falsity are, not therefore until he has received instruction. A person does not know what evil is, still less what falsity is, before he is capable of understanding and of forming judgements for himself, which is the reason why a person does not enter into temptations until he has reached the age of maturity. Thus everyone is tempted in adult life, but the Lord was tempted even in childhood.
[3] Everyone fights first of all from the goods and truths he has received by means of cognitions, and it is from them and by means of them that he forms judgements concerning evils and falsities. Everyone furthermore when he first starts to fight imagines that these goods and truths from which he fights are his own, that is, he ascribes them to himself, and at the same time ascribes to himself the power by which he resists. This is allowed because a person cannot at the time know anything different. Before anyone has been regenerated he cannot possibly know, so as to be able to say that he knows, acknowledges, and believes, that no good or truth at all comes from self, but that everything good and true comes from the Lord; nor can he possibly know that he is unable by his own power to resist any evil or falsity. Indeed he does not know that evil spirits are activating and implanting the evils and falsities, still less that he is in communication with hell by means of evil spirits, and that hell presses on him like the sea against every part of a dike, which he can by no means resist by his own strength. Yet because he cannot do otherwise, until he has been regenerated, than imagine that he resists by his own strength, this too is permitted; and in this condition he is admitted into conflicts, or temptations. Subsequently however he becomes more and more enlightened.
[4] When a person’s state is such that he imagines that good and truth originate in himself and that the power to resist is his own, the goods and truths from which he fights against evils and falsities are not really goods and truths, however much they appear to be so, for they have that which is his own within them, and he places self-merit in victory, boasting as though it were he that had overcome evil and falsity, when in fact it is the Lord alone who fights and overcomes. That this is indeed so none can know except those who are being regenerated by means of temptations.
[5] Because the Lord in earliest childhood was led into very serious conflicts against evils and falsities it was inevitable that at that time even He should think that way. This happened both because it was according to Divine order that His Human Essence should through continuous conflicts and victories be brought to the Divine Essence and united to it, and because the goods and truths from which He fought against evils and falsities belonged to the External Man. And because those goods and truths were not completely Divine they are for that reason called appearances of good and truth. His Divine Essence brought the Human Essence to itself in this way in order that it might overcome by its own power. The arcana here however are more than can possibly be described. In short, in those first conflicts the goods and truths residing with the Lord from which He fought were permeated by things inherited from the mother, and insofar as they were permeated by things inherited from the mother they were not Divine. Gradually however, as He overcame evil and falsity they were purified and made Divine.
[2] The fact that the Lord underwent and suffered the severest of temptations, more severe than anybody else has ever done, is not so well known from the Word, where all that is mentioned is His being in the wilderness forty days and being tempted by the devil. But although the temptations He experienced at that time have been described only briefly, those brief statements nevertheless embody all, as in Mark 1:12, 13, which records that He was there with wild animals, which mean the worst of the hellish crew. And the events afterwards recorded about the devil taking Him up on to the pinnacles of the temple and on to a high mountain are nothing else than representatives of very severe temptations He experienced in the wilderness, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on.
They are spirits of demons, performing signs, to go out to the kings of the land and of the whole earth, to assemble them for the war of that great day of God Almighty. Rev 16:14.
Here anyone may see that no other kind of war on the great day of God Almighty is meant.
[2] In the same book,
The beast that comes up from the Abyss will make war. Rev. 11:7.
Here ‘the Abyss’ is hell. In the same book,
The dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:17.
It** was allowed to make war on the saints. Rev. 13:7.
All these wars are conflicts such as constitute temptations. Nor are the wars of the kings of the south and of the north, and the other wars of Dan. 8 and 11, and also those involving Michael, Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7, anything different.
[3] That wars have no other meaning is clear from the rest of the Prophets as well, as in Ezekiel,
You have not gone up into the breaches and made a hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in war on the day of Jehovah. Ezek. 13:5.
This refers to the prophets. In Isaiah,
They will beat their swords into hoes, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. Isa. 2:4.
Clearly no other wars [than spiritual wars] are meant here, and therefore instruments of war, such as swords, spears, shields, and many others, mean nothing else in the Word than things that belong to such wars.
[4] In the same prophet,
To the thirsty bring water; O inhabitants of the land of Tema, meet with his bread the fugitive,*** for they will flee**** before the swords, before the drawn sword, and before the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. Isa. 21:14, 15.
In Jeremiah,
Shepherds and their flocks will come against the daughter of Zion, they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will graze, each off his own space. Declare a sacred war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Jer. 6:3-5.
Here, since it is waged against ‘the daughter of Zion’, that is, the Church, no other kind of war is meant.
[5] In the same prophet,
How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men will tall in her streets, and all the men of war will be cut down on that day. Jer. 49:25, 26.
‘The city of praise and of joy’ stands for the things that belong to the Church, ‘the men of war’ for those who fight.
[6] In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,***** and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish****** the bow, and the sword, and war from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety. Hosea 2:18.
Here similarly ‘war’ stands for conflicts, and the various instruments of war stand for the things belonging to spiritual conflict which are ‘broken’ when a person comes into the calmness of peace as evil desires and falsities come to an end.
[7] In David,
Behold the works of Jehovah who makes solitary places in the earth, making wars cease even to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and snaps the spear, He burns the chariots with fire. Ps. 46:8, 9.
Here too the meaning is similar. In the same author,
In Salem is the dwelling-place of God, and His habitation in Zion. There He broke the bow’s fiery arrows, the shield and the sword, and war. Ps. 76:2, 3.
Because the priests represented the Lord who alone fights on man’s behalf, their duties are called military service, Num. 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47.
[8] It is a constant truth that Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord, fights and overcomes the devil present with a person when he is involved in the conflicts brought by temptations, even though to that person this does not appear to be so. For evil spirits have no power at all to exert the slightest influence on man unless they are permitted to do so, and angels cannot act to avert anything at all unless enabled to do so by the Lord. Thus it is the Lord alone who endures every conflict and overcomes, something that was also represented at various times by the wars that the children of Israel waged against the nations. That He alone does so is also stated in Moses,
Jehovah your God is going******* before you, He Himself will fight for you. Deut. 1:30.
In the same book,
Jehovah your God is going******* with you to fight for you with your enemies, to save you. Deut. 20:4.
[9] So too in Joshua, such as 23:3, 5. For all the wars that were being waged at that time against the idolatrous inhabitants of the land of Canaan represented the Lord’s conflicts with hell, and consequently the conflicts of His Church, and of members of the Church. This also accords with the following statements in Isaiah,
As the lion roars, and the young lion, over its prey (when a multitude of shepherds run towards him he is not dismayed by their voice nor daunted by the tumult they make) so Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isa. 31:4.
[10] For the same reasons also Jehovah, or the Lord, is called ‘a Man of War’, as in Moses,
Jehovah is a Man of War, Jehovah is His name. Exod. 15:3.
In Isaiah,
Jehovah will go forth as a Mighty Man, as a Man of Wars. He will stir up zeal; He will cry out, yes, He will shout aloud, He will prevail over His enemies. Isa. 42:13.
This also is why many things that war entails are attributed to the Lord, such as ‘crying out’, and ‘shouting aloud’ here.
[11] Spirits and angels also appear as men of war, when a representation is being made, as in Joshua,
Joshua lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a man was standing before him, with his sword drawn in his hand. He said to Joshua, I am the Prince of the army of Jehovah; and Joshua fell on his face******** to the earth. Josh. 5:13, 14.
These things were seen taking the form they did because they were representative, and this also is why descendants of Jacob called their wars the Wars of ]Jehovah.
It was similar in the Ancient Churches among whom there were books which also were called The Wars of Jehovah, as is clear in Moses.
It is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah. Num. 21:14, 15.
These were written about in a way not unlike the wars described in this chapter; but wars involving the Church were meant. Such a manner of writing was common in those times, for they were interior men and their thoughts were of more exalted things.
* i.e. in 1659
** i.e. the beast
*** lit. the wanderer
**** lit. they will wander
***** lit.. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
****** lit. break
******* lit. walking
******** lit. faces
‘All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim’ means that they were immersed in the unclean things that go with evil desires. ‘Which is the Salt Sea’ means the foul things that accompany derivative falsities.
[2] ‘Which is the Salt Sea’ means the foul things which accompany derivative falsities. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘the Salt Sea’, which would seem to be the same place as ‘the valley of Siddim’, for the words used are ‘the valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea’. But the latter phrase has been added for the reason that ‘the Salt Sea’ means the falsities that burst forth from evil desires; indeed not one such desire exists which does not produce falsities. The life belonging to evil desires may be compared to a coal fire, and the falsities to the dim light that comes from it. Just as fire cannot exist without light, neither can evil desire do so without falsity. Every evil desire stems from some filthy love, for that which is loved is desired and is therefore called desire, the desire itself containing within itself an extension of that particular love. And what favors or supports that love or desire is called falsity. This shows why the phrase ‘the Salt Sea’ has here been added to ‘the valley of Siddim’.
[3] Since evil desires and falsities are what vastate a person, that is, deprive him of all the life belonging to the love of good and to the affection for truth, such vastation is described in various places as a salt region, as in Jeremiah,
He who makes flesh his arm will be like a bare shrub in the solitary place, and will not see when good comes; and he will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited. Jer. 17:5, 6.
In Ezekiel,
Its swamps and its marshes are not healed, they will be given up to salt. Ezek. 47:11.
In David,
Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and the outgoings of waters into a dryness, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the wickedness of those inhabiting it. Ps. 107:33, 34.
In Zephaniah,
Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation for ever. Zeph. 2:9.
[4] In Moses,
The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, and it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim. Deut. 29:23.
‘The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning’ stands for goods and truths that have been vastated – ‘brimstone’ for the vastation of good, ‘salt’ for the vastation of truth. Indeed heat and saltiness are destructive of the land and its crops in the way that evil desire is destructive of goods, and falsity of truths. Since ‘salt’ meant vastation, it was also customary to sow the cities they had destroyed with salt, to prevent their being rebuilt, as in Judg. 9:45. Salt is also used in the contrary sense to mean that which renders fertile, and that which so to speak adds flavor.
[1666a] Verse 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
‘Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer’ means that evils and falsities did not reveal themselves in childhood but were subservient to apparent goods and truths. ‘And in the thirteenth year they rebelled’ means the onset of temptations in childhood.
[2] Here however they are the goods that belong to earliest childhood, which though they appear to be goods are not in fact goods as long as hereditary evil is befouling them, for they have ingrained in them and clinging to them that which derives from self-love and love of the world. Whatever belongs to self-love or love of the world appears at the time to be good, but it is not. Nevertheless it must still be called good during the time it resides in an infant or child who as yet does not know what is truly good. Their ignorance or lack of knowledge excuses it, and their innocence makes it appear as good. The situation is different however when a person has undergone instruction and knows what good and evil are. Such good and truth as exist with a child before instruction is meant by Chedorlaomer.
[3] Their being subservient for twelve years means the whole time that such good and truth remain, for in the internal sense ‘twelve’ means all things constituting the faith that belongs to charity, that is, faith springing from charity, as also with Elam in Gen. 10:22. And as long as such good and truth reside in a person, whether in childhood or in any other period of his life, evils and falsities can achieve nothing, that is, evil spirits do not dare to do anything or to initiate anything evil, as is quite evident in the case of infants, well-behaved children, and simple hearted people. With them, even though evil spirits, that is, the worst of the devil’s crew, were present they could nevertheless achieve absolutely nothing but are held in subjection, which is the meaning here of their being subservient for twelve years to Chedorlaomer.
[4] The reason they are kept in subjection during that time and are subservient is that the individual has not yet acquired to himself a sphere of evil desires and of falsities. Indeed evil spirits and genii are not allowed to operate except into those things a person has acquired through his own actions, not into those he has by heredity. Consequently before a person acquires such spheres to himself, evil spirits are subservient; but as soon as he does acquire them, those evil spirits present with him stream in and try to gain dominion, for they are then situated within his own sphere, and there find a certain delight or their very life – ‘where the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together’.*
* Matt. 24:28
[2] Evils, or evil spirits, are in rebellion to the extent that a person who wishes to be governed by goods and truths confirms within himself certain evils and falsities, that is, to the extent that evil desires and falsities introduce themselves into his goods and truths. It is in evil desires and falsities that the life of evil spirits consists, but in goods and truths that the life of angels consists; and from this, infestation and conflict arise. This is so with all who have conscience, and was all the more so with the Lord when a boy, who had perception. With those who have conscience a dull pain arises, but with those who have perception intense pain; and the more interior the perception, the more intense is that pain. From this it becomes clear what the temptation of the Lord, who had interior and inmost perception, was like in comparison with men’s.
[2] Among those who lived before the Flood, especially among those called the Nephilim, most dreadful false persuasions existed. The Nephilim were such that in the next life by their persuasions they deprive other spirits they encounter of their whole ability to think. As a result it seems to those spirits as though they are scarcely alive, let alone capable of thinking anything true. For in the next life, as has been shown, there is a communication of the thoughts of all; and therefore when persuasiveness such as this flows in, it inevitably kills so to speak all power to think that the others have. Such were the unspeakably horrible nations against whom the Lord fought in earliest childhood and whom He overcame. And unless the Lord by His Coming into the world had overcome them, nobody at all would be alive today on this planet, for everyone is governed by the Lord through spirits. Today those same people, on account of their delusions, are hemmed in all round by what looks like a misty rock, out of which they are constantly endeavouring to rise up, though to no avail – see 1265-1272, and in many places before that. They and their like are also the people meant by Isaiah,
The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To the end that You have visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all remembrance of them. Isa. 26:14.
[3] And in David,
Will you work a wonder for the dead? Will the Rephaim rise up and confess You? Ps. 88:10.
‘The dead’ here is not used to mean the dead but the condemned. At the present day too, especially from the Christian world, there are people who in a similar way have persuasions, but not of so dreadful a nature as those possessed by people before the Flood. False persuasions which occupy both the will and the understanding parts of man’s mind – as did the persuasions of those before the Flood, and of those meant by the Rephaim, Zuzim, and Emim – are of one kind. But false persuasions that occupy only the understanding part, having their origin in false assumptions confirmed within oneself, are of another kind. The latter kind are not so powerful as the former, nor so deadly, but they nevertheless cause much annoyance to the other spirits in the next life, partially taking away from them their capacity to think. Spirits such as these arouse in man outright confirmations of falsity, so that a person inevitably sees falsity as truth, and evil as good. It is their sphere which is of such a nature. As soon as any truth is called forth by angels those spirits smother and extinguish it.
[4] A person can discover whether such spirits govern him by merely considering whether he thinks the truths of the Word to be falsities and confirms himself in this so that he is not able to see otherwise. He can in that case be quite sure that such spirits reside with him and have dominion. It is similar with those who persuade themselves that all private gain is the common good, and who imagine that nothing contributes to the common good if it is not to their own private gain. Evil spirits residing with such a person supply so many confirmations that he does not see otherwise. Such people as regard all private gain as the common good, or who disguise it with the appearance of its being the common good, in the next life act in much the same way with regard to the common good there. That this is the nature of the influx of the spirits residing with man I have been given to know to the life from uninterrupted experience.
‘The Horites in their Mount Seir’ means false persuasions deriving from self-love. ‘As far as El-paran, which is over into the wilderness’ means the range of their extension.
[2] These are spoken of in Moses as follows,
This also is considered to be a land of Rephaim; Rephaim dwelt formerly in it, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim; they were a people great and many and tall like the Anakim. And Jehovah destroyed them from before them; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place. He did the same for the sons of Esau who dwelt in Seir, in that He destroyed the Horites from before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place. Deut. 2:20-22.
These things represent and mean the same as what the present verse says about Chedorlaomer, namely that ‘Chedorlaomer and the kings with him smote the Horites in Mount Seir’. For, as has been stated, Chedorlaomer represents the Lord’s Good and Truth during childhood, and so the Lord’s Human Essence at that time as regards Good and Truth, by which He destroyed false persuasions, that is, the hells filled with so devilish a crew, which set out to destroy the world of spirits, and consequently the human race, with its false persuasions.
[3] And because Esau or Edom represented the Lord as regards the Human Essence, Mount Seir also, and Paran as well, represented those things that belonged to His Human Essence, namely the celestial things of love, as is clear from the blessing uttered by Moses,
Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. From His right hand came a fiery law for them. He indeed loves the peoples. Deut. 33:2, 3.
‘Jehovah dawned from Mount Seir and shone from Mount Paran’ means nothing else than the Lord’s Human Essence. Anyone may see that ‘dawning from Mount Seir and shining from Mount Paran’ does not mean mountains and their inhabitants but Divine realities, thus the celestial things of the Lord’s Human Essence, from which Jehovah is said to have dawned and to have shone.
[4] As for ‘Seir’, its meaning is clear from the Song of Deborah and Barak in the Book of Judges,
O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water, the mountains flowed down, this Sinai before Jehovah God of Israel. Judg. 5:4, 5.
Here ‘going forth from Seir and setting out from the field of Edom’ has no other meaning.
[5] This is plainer still in Moses in the prophetic utterance of Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east, that is, he came from Syria where a residue of the Ancient Church existed,
I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise up out of Israel. And Edom will be an inheritance and Seir will be an inheritance of his enemies. Num. 24:17, 18.
Here ‘seeing Him, but not now; beholding Him, but not near’ is the Lord’s Coming into the world – His Human Essence being called ‘a star that would arise out of Jacob’, and also ‘Edom’ and ‘Seir’. That neither Edom nor Seir were to be the inheritance may become clear to anyone. ‘Seir, the inheritance of his enemies’ or ‘The mountain of his enemies’ has the same meaning as in many other places where it is said that enemies were to be driven out and possession was to be taken of their land.
[6] That Mount Paran, or El-paran, mentioned in this verse also has the same meaning is clear from Habakkuk as well,
God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His fame has covered the heavens, and the earth has been filled with His praise. Hab. 3:3.
It should be realized however that mountains and lands have and take their meaning from their inhabitants, from the Horites when these dwelt there, and when they had been driven out, from those who drove them out, such as from Esau or Edom, or else from some others. Mount Paran is used therefore in both senses, the genuine and the contrary. In the genuine sense it stands for the Lord’s Human Essence, in the contrary sense for self-love. The Lord’s Human Essence is celestial love itself, while the contrary to celestial love is self-love. Thus ‘the Horites’ in this verse means false persuasions deriving from self-love.
[7] There are false persuasions that originate in self-love, and there are false persuasions that originate in love of the world. The former persuasions – those originating in self-love – are the most foul, whereas those originating in love of the world are not so foul. The former, or false persuasions originating in self-love, are the very opposite of the celestial things of love, whereas the latter, or false persuasions originating in love of the world, are the opposite of the spiritual things of love. Persuasions originating in self-love carry with them the desire to rule over all things, and insofar as the restraints placed upon them are loosened they hasten to fulfill that desire, even to the extent of desiring to rule over the entire universe, and, as has been shown, over Jehovah as well. Consequently persuasions of that kind are not tolerated at all in the next life. But persuasions originating in love of the world do not go so far. They do not go beyond the insanity of not being satisfied with their lot. They vainly strive after heavenly joy, and wish to acquire other people’s goods, but are not so intent on ruling. But the differences among these persuasions are countless.
[2] Anyone who has not been given to know heavenly arcana may imagine that there was no necessity for the Lord’s Coming into the world to fight with the hells, and by means of the temptations He suffered to war successfully against them and overcome them, since Divine Omnipotence could at any point have subdued them and confined them to their own particular hells. That it was nevertheless necessary stands as an unchanging truth. To disclose merely the most general aspects of those arcana however would take up a whole work, and would also provide opportunities for reasonings about Divine mysteries which, though disclosed, people’s minds would not grasp. Nor would the majority wish to grasp them.
[3] It is enough therefore if people know and, since it is so, believe it to be an eternal truth that unless the Lord had come into the world and by means of the temptations which He suffered had overcome and conquered the hells, the human race would have perished, and that if He had not done so none who have lived on this planet even from the time of the Most Ancient Church could have been saved.
‘They returned and came to An-mishpat, that is, to Kadesh’ means a continuation. ‘And they smote all the territory of the Amalekites’ means kinds of falsities. ‘And also the Amorites inhabiting Hazezon-tamar’ means kinds of evils derived from these.
[2] That ‘Kadesh’ means truths over which there is strife is clear in Ezekiel where the boundaries of the Holy Land are described,
The corner of the south southwards will be from Tamar to the waters of Meriboth (strife) Kadesh. an inheritance towards the Great Sea, and the corner of the south southwards. Ezek. 47:19; 48:28.
Here ‘the south’ stands for the light of truth. Its boundary, by which strife over truths is meant, is called ‘Kadesh’.
[3] Kadesh was also the place where Moses struck the rock from which water came out, water that was called Meribah on account of the strife there, Num. 20:1, 2, 11, 13. ‘A rock’, as is well known, means the Lord, and ‘water’ in the internal sense of the Word means spiritual things, which are truths. They were called ‘the waters of Meribah’ because there was strife over them The fact that they were also called ‘the waters of the strife of Kadesh’ is clear in Moses,
You rebelled against My Word* in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, in that you sanctified Me by the waters in their eyes. These are the waters of the strife of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. Num. 27:14; Deut. 32:51.
It was likewise to Kadesh that the spies returned from the land of Canaan, and it was there that those who were unwilling to enter the land murmured and strove, Num. 13:26.
[4] From these references it is clear that An-mishpat, or the fountain of judgement or the fountain of Mishpat-Kadesh, means strife over truths, and thus a continuation. Since the details here are historically true and so describe actual events, it may seem as though such things were not represented or meant by the places which Chedorlaomer came to and by the nations that he smote. All historical details in the Word however are representative and carry a spiritual meaning, and this applies both to places and to nations, and to accomplished facts as well, as becomes quite clear from everything that appears both in the historical and the prophetical sections of the Word.
* lit. My Mouth
[2] The Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites, referred to in verses 5, 6, mean false persuasions that have their origins in desires for evil, that is, in evils, whereas here ‘the Amalekites and the Amorites in Hazezon-tamar’ means falsities from which evils derive. Falsity deriving from evil is one thing, falsity and evil deriving from that falsity another. Falsities spring either from evil desires which belong to the will or from accepted ideas which belong to the understanding. Falsities that spring from evil desires belonging to the will are foul and do not easily allow themselves to be rooted out, for they cling to a person’s life itself. A person’s life itself is that which desires, that is, which loves. As long as he is making that life firm within himself, that is, confirming that desire or love, all things of a confirmatory nature are false and are implanted in his life. Such were the people before the Flood.
[3] Falsities however which spring from accepted ideas belonging to the understanding cannot be rooted in the same way in the will part of man’s mind. Like false or heretical doctrines, these have their origin outside of the will, coming instead from the absorption of such matters in early childhood, and after that from the confirmation of them in adult years. Yet because they are false they inevitably produce evils of life. For example, when anyone believes that he merits salvation through works and confirms himself in that belief, a sense of merit, of his own righteousness, and of assurance [of salvation] are the evils that result from it. On the other hand, when anyone believes that a truly devout life is not possible unless merit is attached to works, the evil which results from that belief is that he destroys all such devoutness in himself and gives himself up to evil desires and pleasures. It is the same with many other examples that could be taken. Such are the falsities and derivative evils dealt with in this verse.
[2] All spirits in the next life are distinguished as follows: Those who wish evil on others are hellish or devilish spirits, whereas those who will good to others are good and angelic spirits. A person may know whom he is among, whether among those from hell or those who are angelic, from this: If he intends evil to his neighbour, thinks nothing but evil regarding him, and when possible actually does it, and takes delight in this, he is among spirits from hell and also becomes one himself in the next life. The person however who intends good to his neighbour, thinks nothing but good regarding him, and when possible actually does it, is among angelic spirits, and also becomes an angel in the next life. This is how one spirit is to be distinguished from another; so let the individual examine himself in this way to discover what he himself is really like.
[3] Refraining from evil when one is unable to do it or when one dare not do it amounts in the end to nothing; and doing good for selfish reasons also amounts to nothing. These are external considerations that are taken away in the next life. There it is a person’s thought and intention that determine what he is. There are many spirits who because they were accustomed to do so in the world are able to speak virtuously, but it is discerned in an instant whether their mind or intention is in agreement with what they say. If it is not, a person is cast away among spirits in hell who are of his own genus and species.
‘The king of Sodom went out, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar’ means, as previously, evils and falsities which reign generally. ‘And they drew up for battle with them’ means that they made an attack. ‘In the valley of Siddim’ here, as previously, means uncleanness. ‘With Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar’ means truths and goods in the External Man, ‘Chedorlaomer king of Elam’ meaning truths, ‘Tidal king of Goiim’ goods, and the other two those that are derivatives from these. ‘Four kings with five’ means the union existing with the latter four and the lack of union with the other five.
[l685a] That ‘Chedorlaomer king of Elam’ means truths and ‘Tidal king of Goiim’ goods, and the other two those that are derivatives from these, is clear from the fact that the same kings are listed here in a different order from what they are in verse 1 above. There Chedorlaomer king of Elam stands in third position but here in first, while Tidal king of Goiim stands in fourth position there but in second here. It is truth that goes into battle first, for the battle is fought from truth since it is from the truth that a person recognizes what falsity is and what evil is. Such conflicts never arise therefore until a person has been endowed with knowledge and cognitions of truth and good. Hence ‘Chedorlaomer’, who is here mentioned first, means the truth that resided with the Lord. The same is also clear from the meaning of ‘Elam’ as faith deriving from charity, which amounts to the same thing as truth, as shown already at Chapter 10:22. From this it follows that ‘Tidal king of Goiim (or Nations)’ means good, and that the other two kings mean truths and goods that derive from the good and truth meant by Chedorlaomer and Tidal.
‘The valley of Siddim was pits after pits of bitumen’ means the uncleanness of falsities and evil desires. ‘And the king of Sodom and {the king] of Gomorrah fled, and they fell there’ means that those evils and falsities were overcome. ‘And the rest fled to the mountain’ means that it did not happen to all of them, ‘a mountain’ meaning self-love and love of the world.
After the devil had ended every temptation he departed from Him for a time. Luke 4:13,
as well as from His undergoing temptations right through to His death on the Cross, and so to the last hour of His life in the world. From these considerations it is evident that the whole of the Lord’s life in the world from earliest childhood consisted in constant temptation and constant victory. The last was when on the Cross He prayed for His enemies, and so for all people in the whole world.
[2] In the part of the Word where the Lord’s life is described – in the Gospels – no other temptation, apart from the last, is mentioned than His temptation in the wilderness. More than this was not disclosed to the disciples; and the things which were disclosed seem in the sense of the letter so slight as to amount to scarcely anything at all. For the things that are said, and the replies that are given, do not seem to constitute any temptation at all; yet in fact His temptation in the wilderness was more severe than the human mind can possibly comprehend and believe. Nobody can know what temptation is except someone who has experienced it. The temptation that is recorded in Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13, incorporates in a summary form all temptations, namely this, that out of His love towards the whole human race He fought against self-love and love of the world, with which the hells were filled completely.
[3] All temptation is an attack against the love present in a person, the degree of temptation depending on the degree of that love. If love is not attacked there is no temptation. Destroying another person’s love is destroying his very life, for his love is his life. The Lord’s life was love towards the whole human race; indeed it was so great and of such a nature as to be nothing other than pure love. Against this life of His, temptations were directed constantly, and this was happening, as has been stated, from earliest childhood through to His last hour in the world. The love that was the Lord’s very life is meant by His being hungry and by the devil’s saying,
If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered, It is written that man will not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Luke 4:2-4; Matt. 4:2-4.
[4] That He fought against love of the world, or against all that constitutes love of the world, is meant by the devil’s taking Him on to a high mountain and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and saying,
To you I will give all this power and their glory, for it has been given to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship before me, it will all be yours. But answering him Jesus said, Get behind Me, satan! for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Luke 4:5-8; Matt. 4:8-10.
[5] That He fought against self-love, and all that constitutes self-love, is meant by these words,
The devil took Him into the holy city, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will give His angels charge regarding you, and on their hands they will bear you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Matt. 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-12.
Constant victory is meant by the statement that after temptation angels came and ministered to Him, Matt. 4:11; Mark 1:13.
[6] To sum up, the Lord was attacked by all the hells from earliest childhood right through to the last hour of His life in the world. The hells were constantly overpowered, subdued, and vanquished by Him; and this He did solely out of love towards the whole human race. And because this love was not human but Divine, and because the intensity of the love determines that of the temptation, it becomes clear how severe His conflicts were, and on the part of the hells how fierce. That all this was indeed the case I know for sure.
[2] That ‘mountains’ in the Word means self-love and love of the world becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
The eyes of man’s (homo) loftiness will be humbled, and the height of men (homo) brought low; the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower. Isa. 2:11, 12, 14, 15.
‘High mountains’ plainly stands for self-love, and ‘hills that are lifted up’ for love of the world.
[3] In the same prophet,
Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low. Isa. 40:4.
This too plainly stands for self-love and love of the world. In the same prophet,
I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up every plant on them. Isa. 42:15.
Here similarly ‘mountains’ stands for self-love, and ‘hills’ for love of the world. In Ezekiel,
The mountains will be overturned, and the terraced ridges will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. Ezek. 38:20.
[4] In Jeremiah,
Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth, and I will stretch out My hand against you and roll you down from the rocks and make you into a mountain of burning. Jer. 51:25.
This refers to Babel and Chaldea, which, as shown already, mean self-love and love of the world. In the Song of Moses,
A fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell, and will devour the land and its increase, and will set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Deut. 32:22.
‘The foundations of the mountains’ stands for the hells, as is explicitly stated. They are called ‘the foundations of the mountains’ because self-love and love of the world reign there and have their origin in them.
[5] In Jonah,
The waters surrounded me, even to my soul, the deep closed around me, seaweed was wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the bars of the land were upon me for ever. Yet You brought up my life* from the pit, O Jehovah my God. Jonah 2:5, 6.
The Lord’s temptations against the hells are described in this prophetic manner by Jonah when in the stomach of the great fish, as also in other parts of the Word, especially in David. A person undergoing temptation is within the hells. Being in the hells is not at all a question of place but of state.
[6] Since ‘mountains’ and ‘towers’ mean self-love and love of the world, it may therefore become clear what is meant by the reference to the Lord being led by the devil on to a high mountain and on to the pinnacle of the temple, namely that He was led into conflicts that constitute temptations – the most extreme conflicts of all – against self-love and love of the world, that is, against the hells. Mountains are also used, as is usual, in the contrary sense; in that sense they mean celestial and spiritual love, as shown already in 795, 796.
* lit. my lives
[2] It is also the Lord alone who fights in the temptation-conflicts of those who do undergo these. Man by his own power can accomplish nothing in the slightest against evil or hellish spirits, for they are so closely linked to the hells that if one were vanquished another would rush to take his place, and so on for ever. They are like the sea pressing against every part of a dike. If the dike were to develop a split or crack the sea would never cease to pour through and flood the land until nothing was left standing. It would be like this with man if the Lord alone did not bear up against the conflicts experienced by man in temptations.
‘They took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah’ means that they were stripped of the power to do evil. ‘And all their food’ means that [they were stripped of] the power to think what was false. ‘And went their way’ means that in this condition they were left.
[2] With regard to their being stripped of the power to do evil and to think falsity, the situation is that in the conflicts brought about by temptations evil spirits are permitted to draw forth all the evil and falsity residing in a person, and to fight from that person’s evil and falsity. But once they have been overcome they are no longer allowed to do so, for, being within that person, they instantly perceive that good and truth have been confirmed. Such perception exists more completely with spirits than with men. From the very sphere of a person confirmed in truth and good they recognize in an instant what the situation is, what response they will get, and much else. This is quite clear in the case of a spiritual and regenerate person, with whom evil spirits are present just as much as they are with one who is not regenerate; but with the regenerate person they have been subdued and are subservient. These are the things meant by their being stripped of the power to do evil and to think falsity.
‘They took Lot and his acquisitions, Abram’s brother’s son, and went their way’ means that apparent goods and truths, which are not in themselves goods and truths, took possession of the External Man and everything there. ‘And he was dwelling in Sodom’ means the state of that [External] Man.
‘One who had escaped came and told it to Abram the Hebrew’ means that the Lord perceived from His Interior Man, ‘Abram the Hebrew’ being the Interior Man to whom the Internal or Divine Man was joined. ‘And he was dwelling among the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite’ means the state of perception coming from the Rational Man. ‘The brother of Eshkol and the brother of Aner, and these men were Abram’s allies’ means the state of the Rational Man in relation to the External Man as regards the nature of its goods and truths.
[2] What the interior man is scarcely anyone knows, and therefore let this be described briefly. The interior man is situated between the internal man and the external man, it being by means of the interior man that the internal man communicates with the external. Without the interior man between them no communication from one to the other is ever possible. The celestial is distinct and separate from the natural, and still more from the bodily; and unless there is something in between through which communication is established the celestial cannot possibly operate into the natural, still less into the bodily. The interior man is called the rational man, and because that man is situated between the two, it communicates in one direction with the internal man where there is good itself and truth itself, and in the other with the external man where there is evil and falsity. By means of this communication with the internal man a person is able to think about celestial and spiritual things, or look upwards, which animals cannot do; and by means of his communication with the external man a person is able to think about worldly and bodily things, or look downwards almost in the way animals do which likewise possess ideas of earthly things. In short, the interior man, or the man between internal man and external, is the rational man itself, which is spiritual or celestial when looking upwards but merely animal when looking downwards.
[3] It is well known that a person can be aware of the fact that he is speaking in one way while thinking in another, and doing one thing while willing another, and that presence and deception are present; also that reason or rationality exists, and that this is something interior since it is able to dissent; also that with one who is to be regenerated something interior exists which battles with that which is exterior. This interior something which thinks differently and wills differently from that which is exterior, and which battles with it, is the interior man. Within this interior man conscience resides in the case of the spiritual man and perception in the case of the celestial man. This Interior Man, which was joined in the Lord’s case to the Divine Internal Man, is that which is here called ‘Abram the Hebrew’.
When your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. Deut. 15:12.
Here the expressions ‘a Hebrew men’ and ‘a Hebrew women’ are used because servitude is the subject. In Jeremiah,
At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you for six years. Jer. 34:9, 14.
Here similarly the name ‘Hebrew’ occurs because servitude is the subject, though the sons of Jacob are not called Hebrews in other places in the Prophets. In Samuel,
The Philistines said, Take heart and acquit yourselves like men, lest you be slaves to the Hebrews as they have served you. 1 Sam. 4:9.
Here the meaning is similar.
[2] In Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go so that they may serve Me. Exod. 9:1, 13; 10:3.
Here too because of their servitude they were called Hebrews. Potiphar’s wife referred to Joseph as a Hebrew,
She called to the men of her house, and said to them, See, he has brought us a Hebrew man to make sport of us. Gen. 39:14.
He is called ‘a Hebrew’ because he was a slave there. The chief of the cup-bearers said to Pharaoh,
There was with us a Hebrew lad, a slave of the chief of the guards, and he interpreted our dreams to us. Gen. 41:12.
In addition the Egyptians called the children of Israel Hebrews, because they were slaves, or in slavery, as is well known from Exod. 1:15, 16, 19, and elsewhere.
‘Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive’ means that the Interior Man perceived the nature of the state of the External Man. ‘And he brought out his trained men, born in his house’ means those goods residing with the External Man which were now released from the yoke of slavery. ‘Three hundred and eighteen’ means the nature of those goods. ‘And pursued as far as Dan’ means the beginning* of purification.
* cp 1710
[2] The situation is this: When the Interior Man meant by ‘Abram the Hebrew’ perceived that the goods and truths from which the battle was being fought were not in fact goods and truths except in appearance, and that these had possession of the entire External Man meant by ‘Lot his brother’s son’, the Interior Man, or rather the Divine Internal Man by means of the Interior Man, purified them. How this is done nobody can possibly know except one to whom it has been revealed. Indeed the influx of the internal man into the external man by way of the interior man situated between them is an arcanum, especially at the present time when few if any know what the interior man is, still less what the internal man is. As to what the internal man and the interior man are, see just above at verse 13.
[3] But the nature of this influx will be mentioned briefly here. The internal man residing in everyone is the Lord’s alone, for the Lord there stores away the goods and truths which He confers on man from earliest childhood. By way of these He flows from the internal man into the interior or rational man, and by way of this into the external man; and in this way man is enabled to think and be man. But the influx from the internal man into the interior man in between, and so into the external man, is twofold, passing either through celestial things or through spiritual, or what amounts to the same, either through goods or through truths. The influx through celestial things, or goods, occurs solely with regenerate persons, who have had either perception or conscience conferred on them, so that such influx is either by way of perception or else by way of conscience. Consequently influx by way of celestial things does not exist except among those with whom love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are present. By way of spiritual things, or truths, however, the Lord flows into every person; and without that influx no one would have been able to think, nor thus to speak. When a person is such that he perverts goods and truths and does not care at all about celestial and spiritual things, no influx of celestial things, or goods, takes place. But though the road for celestial things and goods is closed, still an influx of spiritual things or truths takes place, that road being kept open all the time. This makes clear the nature of the interior man or man situated between internal man and external, which is the rational man.
[4] Here ‘Abram’ means the internal man within the interior man situated between internal and external. When celestial things, or goods, flow in from the internal man into the interior man, the internal man takes to itself the interior man and makes it its own; yet the latter remains distinct and separate from the internal man. Similarly when the internal man flows into the external man through the interior man between the two, it takes this man also to itself, and makes it its own; yet that external man remains distinct and separate from the interior. So now, once the Internal Man perceived within the Interior Man that the state of the External Man was such – that is to say, that it ‘had been taken captive’ meaning that not genuine but apparent goods and truths had taken possession of it, from which goods and truths He fought against so many foes – that Internal Man flowed in, restored all things to order, and released the External Man from the things that infested it. The Internal Man accordingly purified the External Man, that is to say, so that there were present not apparent but genuine goods and truths, which were thus joined to the Internal or Divine Man – that conjunction being effected, as has been stated, through the Interior Man.
[5] In one respect the Lord was not like any other human being, for His Interior Man as regards celestial things, or goods, was Divine, and from birth was joined to the Internal Man. The Internal Man together with this Interior Man was His Father, Jehovah Himself. But in another respect He was like others, in that His Interior Man as regards spiritual things, or truths, was joined to the External Man, and so was Human; but this too was by His own power made Divine, that is, Jehovah, through conflicts constituting temptations and through repeated victories. It is the External Man that is called ‘Lot’; but in the previous state the expression ‘brother’s son’ is used, in the present state ‘Abram’s brother’. It was called ‘his brother’s son’ when apparent truths and goods had possession of it, but ‘his brother’ when genuine goods and genuine truths did so.
To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah. from Dan even to Beersheba. 2 Sam. 3:10.
In the same book,
The whole of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba will be assembled together. 2 Sam. 17:10.
In the same book,
David said to Joab, Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba. 2 Sam. 24:2, 15.
In the Book of Kings,
Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every one under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba. 1 Kings 4:25.
From these quotations it is evident that Dan was the furthest boundary of Canaan, in which direction the enemies were pursued that were infesting the goods and truths of the External Man. But because Dan was a boundary of Canaan, and so inside Canaan, they were driven still further away so that they should not remain there – namely to ‘Hobah on the left of Damascus’, as is clear from the verse that comes next – and in this way purification was accomplished. As stated already, ‘the land of Canaan’ means in a holy sense the Lord’s kingdom, and thus the celestial element of love, or the good of love, chiefly the good residing in the Lord.
‘He divided himself against them by night’ means the shade which the apparent goods and truths were in. ‘He and his servants’ means the Rational Man and those things in the External Man that were obedient. ‘And he smote them’ means an act of reclamation. ‘And he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus’ means to that particular extent.
[2] What evil and falsity are like, and how much evil and falsity lie concealed in such deeds, cannot possibly be seen so clearly in the life of the body as in the next life, where these are presented to view altogether as in broad daylight. But it is different if a person acts out of ignorance that has not been confirmed, for in that case those evils and falsities are easily dispersed. But if people confirm themselves in the notion that they are able to do good and to withstand evil by their own powers, and that thus they merit salvation, such a notion remains attached, and causes the good to be evil, and the truth to be falsity. Yet for all this, order requires that a person should do good as though from himself, and ought not therefore to stay his hand and think to himself, ‘If I am unable to do anything good at all from myself I must wait for immediate influx’ and so remain inactive. This is also contrary to order. Man ought to do good as though from himself; but when he stops to reflect on the good he is doing or has done, let him think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord present with him has accomplished it.
[3] If by thinking as described he gives up acting as of himself he is not a subject into whom the Lord can operate. The Lord cannot flow into anyone who deprives himself of everything into which power has to be introduced. He is like someone who is not willing to learn anything except through a revelation made to him; or like someone who is not willing to teach anything unless the words are put into his mouth; or like someone who is unwilling to attempt anything unless he is directed as one without a will. But if this were done he would be more indignant still at being like an inanimate object. In fact however that which is animated by the Lord in a person is the very thing which makes it seem as though it were from himself. That man does not live from himself is an eternal truth; yet if he did not appear to do so he could not possibly live at all.
You have taken up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyun your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves And I will cause you to go away beyond Damascus. Amos 5:26, 27.
The northern boundary of the holy land or the Lord’s kingdom is also called the boundary of Damascus in Ezek. 47:16 18; 48:1. When it is said in the present verse that ‘they were smitten and driven away as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus’, the extent to which apparent goods and truths were purified is meant. But unless the nature of those apparent goods and truths is known and by what means they were purified to make them genuine, no proper explanation of the meaning here of ‘Hobah on the left of Damascus’ is possible, apart from the general observation that they were purified.
‘He brought back all the acquisitions’ means that the Interior Man brought all things in the External Man back into a state of agreement. ‘And also Lot his brother and his acquisitions he brought back’ means the External Man and all that belonged to it. ‘The women and the people’ means both goods and truths.
[2] This is not a matter that can be explained briefly, yet to gain some notion concerning it, let the following be said. A person who is engaged in the conflicts that constitute temptations, and who overcomes, more and more acquires to himself power over evil spirits, that is, over the devil’s crew, till at length they do not dare to tempt him at all. Every time a victory is won, the Lord brings back into a state of order the goods and truths from which the battle was fought, and so they are purified. And to the degree that these are purified, the celestial things of love are implanted in the exterior man, and a correspondence is achieved. This is what is meant by ‘bringing back all the acquisitions’.
[3] Anyone who thinks that the external man can be brought back into correspondence without the conflicts brought about by temptations is mistaken; for temptations are the means by which evils and falsities are dispelled, also by which goods and truths are introduced, and by which the things belonging to the external man are brought into obedience so that it may serve the interior or rational man, and through the latter may serve the internal man, that is, the Lord who operates by way of the internal man. That these things are effected by temptations nobody can know except the person who has been regenerated by means of temptations. But how this is accomplished can hardly be described even as to its most general features, for it is accomplished without the person’s knowing the origin and manner of its accomplishment, since it is a Divine operation by the Lord.
‘The king of Sodom went out to meet him’ means that the evil and falsity submitted to Him. ‘After he had returned from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him’ means the release and reclamation of the apparent goods and truths. ‘At the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s valley’ means the state of the External Man as regards goods and truths at that time.
‘Melchizedek’ means the celestial things of the Lord’s Interior Man. ‘King of Salem’ means a state of peace as regards interior or rational things. ‘He brought out bread’ means celestial things and the refreshment received from them. ‘And wine’ means spiritual things and the refreshment received from them. ‘And he was a priest’ means the holiness of love. ‘To God Most High’ means the Internal Man, which is Jehovah.
[2] The celestial things of the interior man are all those that belong to celestial love, as often stated already. These celestial things with the Lord’s Interior Man, or the Lord’s Interior Man as to these celestial things, is called ‘Melchizedek’. The Internal Man within the Lord was Jehovah Himself; and when the Interior Man, following the conflicts brought about by temptations, had been purified, that became Divine and Jehovah as well, as likewise did the External Man. But now, while the Interior Man was still passing through a state involving the conflicts brought about by temptation and had not yet been purified to any great extent by means of such conflicts, it is called as to celestial things ‘Melchizedek’, that is, ‘king of holiness and righteousness’.
[3] That this is indeed so is also evident in David where similarly the Lord’s conflicts during temptations are the subject, and where at length His Interior Man as regards celestial things is called Melchizedek,
Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies as Your foot-stool; Jehovah will send the rod of strength from Zion; have dominion in the midst of Your enemies. Your people will be prompt to offer themselves on the day of Your power, in the beauty of holiness. From the womb of the morning You have the dew of Your birth. Jehovah has sworn and will not repent, You are a Priest for ever, after the manner of* Melchizedek. The Lord on Your right hand has smitten kings on the day of His anger. Ps. 110:1-5.
These verses of Psalm 110 refer, as does this chapter in Genesis, to the Lord’s temptation-conflicts with the hells, as becomes clear from every word. The fact that the statements in this Psalm refer to the Lord, He Himself teaches in Matt. 22:43-45; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-44. ‘Making enemies a foot-stool’, ‘having dominion in the midst of enemies’, ‘the day of power’, and ‘smiting kings on the day of His anger’ mean the conflicts that constitute temptations, and victories.
* The Latin means according to my word but the Hebrew means after the manner (or the word) of, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
In Judah is God known; in Israel His name is great, and in Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling- place in Zion. Ps. 76:1, 2.
While a person is undergoing the conflicts brought about by temptations the Lord grants him by turns a state of peace, and so refreshes him. A state of peace is meant here by ‘Salem’ and also by ‘the bread and wine’ mentioned next, which means celestial and spiritual things and thus a state of celestial and spiritual things in peace, which state is refreshment itself.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you for so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:6, 8-11.
[2] It is the Lord’s Human Essence that is called the Son of Man. This too, after the conflicts brought about by temptations, was united to the Divine Essence, so that the Human Essence as well became Jehovah. In heaven therefore they know no other Father Jehovah but the Lord – see what has appeared already in 15. With the Lord everything is Jehovah, not only His Internal Man and Interior Man, but also His External Man, including the body itself. He alone therefore has risen into heaven with the body as well, as is quite clear in the Gospels where His resurrection is described, and also from the Lord’s own words,
Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, for it is I Myself. Handle Me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. Luke 24:38-40.
‘He blessed him’ means the enjoyment of celestial and spiritual things. ‘And said, Blessed be Abram by God Most High’ means that the Lord’s Interior Man had the enjoyment of goods coming from His Internal Man. ‘Possessor of heaven and earth’ means the conjunction of the Internal Man, or Jehovah, with the interior and the Exterior Man.
[2] That ‘God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth’ here means the conjunction of the Internal Man with the Interior and Exterior Man in the Lord becomes clear from the consideration that the Lord as regards the Internal Man was Jehovah Himself; and because the Internal Man or Jehovah guided and instructed the External Man – as the Father did the Son – the External Man considered in relation to Jehovah is therefore called the Son of God, but in relation to the mother the Son of Man. The Lord’s Internal Man, which is Jehovah Himself, is that which is here called ‘God Most High’, and until complete conjunction or union had taken place it is called ‘Possessor of heaven and earth’, that is, Possessor of all that resided in the Interior and Exterior Man, which, as has been stated, is here meant by ‘heaven and earth’.
[2] From that Love the Being (Esse) of all life is derived, that is, Life itself is derived; for that Being is present within Love and is Love itself. And because Jehovah alone, since He alone is Love, is the Being (Esse) of life, or Life itself, every single thing has its being (esse) and its life from Him. Nor can anyone except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord alone, be and live from himself. And because no one except the Lord alone can do so, men’s seeming to themselves to live from themselves is an illusion of the senses. Angels perceive clearly that they do not live from themselves but from the Lord, since they live in the Being (Esse) of the Lord’s life because they abide in His Love. Yet to them more than to all others there is granted, together with indescribable happiness, the appearance of living as if from themselves. This therefore is what is meant by living in the Lord, something that is not possible unless one lives in His Love, that is, in charity towards the neighbour.
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. Isa. 54:5.
Here it is explicitly stated that ‘the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel’, who is the Lord alone, is ‘Jehovah Zebaoth’ and ‘the God of the whole earth’. In the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God. Isa. 48:17.
In the same prophet,
I am helping you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 41:14.
The expressions ‘the Holy One of Israel’ and ‘the God of Israel’ occur many times. That the Lord is the Holy One of Israel and the God of Israel is quite clear from where it is said that they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for purity, Exod. 24:10.
[2] None other was acknowledged and called Jehovah by the Jewish Church because that Church worshipped the one God Jehovah, and more importantly, because all the religious observances of that Church represented Him — though the majority did not know this – and because all things in the internal sense of the Word had Him as their meaning. In Isaiah,
He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from all faces. And it will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us. This is Jehovah, whom we have waited for; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Isa. 25:8, 9.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord.
[3] In the same prophet,
Behold, the Lord Jehovih will come with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather into His arm, He will carry the tiny lambs in His bosom,* and will lead those that give suck. Isa. 40:10, 11.
This refers explicitly to the Lord who is ‘the Lord Jehovih’. ‘He will come with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him’ stands for the fact that He would by His own power overcome the hells. ‘Pasturing the flock’, ‘gathering into His arm’, ‘carrying the tiny lambs in His bosom’, and ‘leading those that give suck’ have reference to His love, or mercy.
[4] In the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah, God Himself who created the heavens, who formed the earth and made it, who Himself established it and created it not an emptiness, and formed it to dwell in: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. Am not I Jehovah and there is no God else besides Me? A just God, and a Saviour, there is none besides Me. Look to Me and be saved, all ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other. Isa. 45:18, 21, 22.
Here it is explicitly stated that the Lord alone is Jehovah and God. ‘To create the heavens and form the earth’ is to regenerate, and so ‘the Creator of heaven and earth’ is the Regenerator, see 16, 88, 472, and elsewhere. This is why the Lord is in various places called Creator, One who forms, and Maker.
[5] In the same prophet,
You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our rather, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. Isa. 63:15, 16.
This refers explicitly to the Lord who alone is the Redeemer. In Moses,
Take notice of His face,** and hearken to His voice, lest you provoke Him, for He will not endure your transgression, for My name is in the midst of Him. Exod. 23:21.
‘Name’ is the essential nature, see 144, 145, while ‘in the midst’ is the inmost, 1074.
[6] In Isaiah,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6, 7.
This plainly refers to the Lord. In Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming and I will raise up for David a righteous branch and He will reign as King, and act with understanding, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell with confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6.
This plainly refers to the Lord. In Zechariah,
Jehovah will be King over all the earth; in that day there will be one Jehovah, and His name one. Zech. 14:9.
This is plainly a reference to the Lord. ‘Name’ stands for Essential Nature.
* In other places where he quotes these verses Sw. punctuates them, in keeping with the Hebrew, as follows – He will gather the (tiny) lambs, He will carry them in His bosom.
** lit. faces
‘The king of Sodom said’ means the evil and falsity that had been overcome. ‘To Abram’ means the Lord’s Rational. ‘Give me the people and take the acquisitions for yourself’* means that He was to give them life and they would not care about anything else.
* lit. Give me the soul[s], and keep the acquisition[s] for yourself
[2] The reason why evil and falsity were overcome, or why evils and falsities are overcome by means of the conflicts constituting temptations, and so why goods and truths are acquired, is that this is the manner in which evils and falsities are dispelled. Once these have been dispelled goods and truths take their place, and in the end are confirmed more and more and so strengthened. Indeed it is evil spirits who activate evils and falsities, and unless they do so a person scarcely knows that they are evils and falsities. But once activated they are evident. And the longer the conflicts brought about by temptations persist, the more evident such evils and falsities become, till at length they are regarded with abhorrence.
[3] And as evils and falsities are dispelled, so goods and truths take their place; and the more a person contracts an abhorrence of evils and falsities, the more love the Lord instills for goods and truths. Furthermore the greater that abhorrence of evils and falsities becomes, the less do evil spirits dare to approach, for they cannot stand this aversion to and abhorrence of the evils and falsities constituting their life. Sometimes they are seized with terror the moment they start to approach. And the more love there is for goods and truths, the more do angels love to be with man, and this to the angels is heaven; for their own life exists with them when the goods of love and the truths of faith exist with them.
[2] The life that evil spirits have and love desperately is the life belonging to the desires that derive from self-love and love of the world – consequently the life that goes with hatred, revenge, and cruelty; and they imagine that no delight can exist in any other kind of life. They are like men, for they have been men and retain this conviction from their life when they were men. They centre all life in the delight that accompanies such desires; indeed they know no other than that this life is the only life, and that when they lose it they will die completely. The nature of the life they love is clear from those like them in the next life. There it is converted into a life that stinks most disgustingly, yet what is remarkable, they perceive that stench as something most delightful, as becomes clear from what has been told from experience in 820, 954.
[3] The same applies to the devils who, having been cast out of the demoniac by the Lord, begged for fear of their lives to be sent into the pigs, Mark 5:7-13. That these were people who during their lifetime had surrendered themselves to foul avarice becomes clear from the fact that such people seem to themselves in the next life to spend their time among pigs. They do so because the life of pigs corresponds to avarice, and therefore they find it delightful, as is clear in what has been told from experience in 939.
* lit. Give me the soul[s], and keep the acquisition[s] for yourself
[2] As long as the Lord was in a state of temptations He spoke to Jehovah as though to another; but insofar as His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence He spoke to Jehovah as to Himself. This is clear from many places in the Gospels, and also from many in the Prophets and in David. The reason is quite clear from what has been stated already about that which was inherited from the mother. Insofar as this remained He was so to speak absent from Jehovah; but insofar as it had been eradicated He was present with and was Jehovah Himself.
[3] The Lord’s conjunction with angels may serve to illustrate the point: sometimes an angel does not speak from himself but from the Lord, and at such times he does not know otherwise than that he is the Lord; but at those times his externals are Lying dormant. It is different when the externals are active. The reason for this is that the angers’ infernal man is the possession of the Lord, and to the extent that things which are their own do not get in the way, it is the Lord’s and indeed is the Lord. With the Lord however complete conjunction, or an eternal union with Jehovah, was effected, so that His Human Essence as well is Jehovah.
[2] That these things are meant by a shoe is clear also from other places in the Word, such as when Jehovah appeared to Moses from the middle of the bush and said to Moses,
Do not come near here; put off your shoes from on your feet, for the place or which you are standing is holy ground. Exod. 3:5.
Similarly, in what the commander of Jehovah’s army said to Joshua,
Put off your shoe from on your foot, for the place on which you are standing is holy. Josh. 5:15.
From this anyone may see that a shoe would not take away anything from the holiness provided the individual were holy in himself, but that this was said because ‘a shoe’ represented the lowest natural and bodily that was to be cast off.
[3] That it is the unclean natural and bodily is also clear in David,
Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I will cast My shoe. Ps. 60:8.
The commandment to the disciples embodies the same,
If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Matt. 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5.
Here ‘dust of your feet’ is similar in meaning to a shoe, for ‘the sole of the foot’ means the lowest natural, that is to say, uncleanness resulting from evil and falsity. They were commanded to do this because at that time they lived in an age of representatives, and imagined that heavenly arcana were stored away solely in these and not in naked truths.
[4] Because ‘the shoe’ meant the lowest natural, shedding, that is, ‘taking off the shoe’ meant that the lowest things of nature were to be shed, as in the case, mentioned in Moses, of any man who refused to fulfill the obligations of a brother-in-law,
He who refuses to fulfill the obligations of a brother-in-law – his sister-in-law shall go up to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from upon his foot and spit in his face;* and she shall answer and say, So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house. And his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe taken off. Deut. 25:5-10.
This stands for being devoid of all natural charity.
[5] That ‘a shoe’ means as well, in a good sense, the lowest natural is clear from the Word, as in Moses when referring to Asher,
Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable to his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your** shoe will be iron and bronze. Deut. 33:24, 25.
Here ‘shoe’ stands for the lowest natural – ‘iron shoe’ for natural truth, ‘bronze shoe’ for natural good – as is clear from the meaning of iron and bronze, 425, 426. And because the shoe meant the lowest natural and bodily part, it therefore became a figurative expression for the least and basest thing of all, for the lowest natural and bodily part is the basest of all in man; and this is what John the Baptist meant when he said,
There is coming one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to untie. Luke 3:16; Mark 1:7; John 1:27.
* lit. faces
** The Latin means His, but the Hebrew means Your, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
[2] What these words are used to mean in the internal sense cannot become clear unless the situation in the next life is known. Among evil and hellish spirits self-love and love of the world reign; consequently they imagine that they are the gods of the universe and can accomplish much. When they have been overcome, even though they realize that they can achieve nothing at all, the notion of their own power and dominion still remains with them, and they imagine that they themselves are able to contribute much to the Lord’s power and dominion. Consequently in order that they may reign together with good spirits they offer them their services. But because it is nothing but evil and falsity by means of which they imagine they can achieve anything, while with the Lord, or celestial love, nothing but good and truth reside, the reply made here to the king of Sodom, who represents such people, means that nothing of that nature existed with the Lord, that is, none of the Lord’s power came from evil and falsity.
[3] Dominion from evil and falsity is the complete reverse of dominion from good and truth. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in the desire to make slaves of everybody else, but dominion from good and truth consists in the desire to make them free men. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in destroying all people, but dominion from good and truth in saving them. From these considerations it is clear that dominion from evil and falsity is the devil’s, while dominion from good and truth is the Lord’s. That these types of dominion are complete opposites becomes clear from the Lord’s words in Matt. 12:24-30, and from His saying that nobody can serve two masters, Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13.
‘Except for what the young men have eaten’ means good spirits. ‘And the share of the men who came with me’ means angels. ‘Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre’ means the things residing with them. ‘These will take their share’ means that these things were placed under their power and control.
[2] That angels fight against those who are evil becomes clear from what has been stated in various places already about the angels that reside with man – how they protect man and ward off the evils with which spirits from hell assault him, dealt with already in 50, 227, 228, 697, 968. Yet all the power they have derives from the Lord. Good spirits are indeed angels as well but lower ones, for they are in the first heaven, while angelic spirits are in the second, and angels properly so called are in the third, dealt with in 459, 684. Such is the form of government in the next life that good spirits are subordinate to angelic spirits, and angelic spirits to angels themselves, so that they all constitute one angelic community. Good spirits and angelic spirits are those called ‘young men’ here, while angels themselves are called ‘men’.
His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6, 7.
‘Name’ is here used to mean His nature, that is to say, that He is Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.
[2] In Jeremiah, where also the Lord is spoken of,
This is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6.
Here it is quite clear that the ‘name’ is Righteousness. Then in Moses, where also the Lord is spoken of,
He will not endure your transgression for My name is in the midst of Him. Exod. 23:21.
Here too ‘name’ stands for Essence – that it is Divine. The same is in addition clear from many other places in the Word where it is said that men called on the name of Jehovah, that they should not take Jehovah’s name in vain; and in the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be Your name. The same applies with the names of angels, as it does here with the names Eshkol, Aner, and Mamre, who represent angels, in that those names mean the things that exist with angels.
[2] The most ancient manner of writing represented real things by the use of persons and of expressions which they employed to mean things entirely different from those persons or expressions. Secular authors of those times compiled their historical narratives in this way, including those things which had to do with public life and private life. Indeed they compiled them in such a way that nothing at all was to be taken literally as written, but something other was to be understood beneath the literal narrative. They even went so far as to present affections of every kind as gods and goddesses, to whom the heathen subsequently offered up divine worship, as every well-educated person may know, for ancient books of that kind are still extant. This manner of writing they derived from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, who used to represent heavenly and Divine things to themselves by means of visible objects on earth and in the world, and in so doing filled their minds and souls with joys and delights when they beheld the objects in the universe, especially those that were beautiful on account of their form and order. This is why all the books of the Church in those times were written in the same style. Job is one such book; and Solomon’s Song of Songs is an imitation of them too. Both the books mentioned by Moses in Num. 21:14, 27, were of this nature, in addition to many that have perished.
[3] Because it had come down from antiquity this style was later venerated both among the gentiles and among the descendants of Jacob, so much so that whatever was not written in this style was not venerated as Divine. This is why when they were moved by the prophetic spirit – as were Jacob, Gen. 49:3-27; Moses, Exod. 15:1-21; Deut. 33:2-end; Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east in Syria, where the Ancient Church continued to exist, Num. 23:7-10, 19 24; 24:5-9, 17-24; Deborah and Barak, Judg. 5:2-end; Hannah, 1 Sam. 2:2-10; and many others – they spoke in that same manner, and for many hidden reasons. And although, with very few exceptions, they neither understood nor knew that their utterances meant the heavenly things of the Lord’s kingdom and Church, they were nevertheless struck and filled with awe and wonder, and sensed that those utterances carried what was Divine and Holy within them.
[4] But that the historical narratives of the Word are of a similar nature, that is to say, that the particular names and particular expressions used represent and mean the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, the learned world has not yet come to know, except that the Word is inspired right down to the tiniest jot, and that every single detail has heavenly arcana within it.
As stated already, the speech of spirits with man is effected by means of words, whereas the speech of spirits among themselves is effected by means of ideas – the first origins of words – such as comprise thought. Those ideas however are not so obscure as man’s ideas while he is living in the body, but are distinct and separate, like those that compose speech. Following the decease of the body human thought becomes more distinct and clear, and the ideas comprising thought become discrete and separate, so that they come to serve as distinct speech-forms; for obscurity has been dispelled together with the body, and thus thought, now freed, so to speak, from the shackles by which it was held, and therefore from the shades that enveloped it, becomes more spontaneous. As a consequence, insight into every specific idea, and the perception and utterance of it, become more immediate.
[2] Others whom I heard spoke by belching forth words as if from their belly. These are such as are unwilling to pay any attention to the sense of a thing, but are compelled to speak through others. I have heard some who spoke with a rough sound split in two, so to speak. They came up to my left side beneath the elbow, and also up to my left ear. I have also heard some who could not speak loudly enough to be heard, but were like those who have a heavy cold. They belong to those spirits who, by worming their way into the delights of others, extract their secrets from them for the purpose of doing harm.
[3] There are spirits, small in stature, who though few in number nevertheless speak like a huge crowd, sounding like thunder. I once heard them overhead and thought there was a large crowd of them, but one of them at that point came to my left side below the arm and spoke in like manner with a voice that thundered. He also moved away and did the same thing. Where such spirits come from will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described elsewhere. But these kinds of speech are quite rare. It is remarkable how these many forms of speech are heard as loudly and clearly by one whose interior organs of hearing have been opened, and also by spirits, as the sounds and speech of men on earth are heard. But by one whose interior organs have not been opened they are not heard at all.
SACRED SCRIPTURE, OR THE WORD, AND HOW IT CONCEALS WITHIN ITSELF DIVINE MATTERS WHICH ARE FULLY VISIBLE TO GOOD SPIRITS AND TO ANGELS
When the Word of the Lord is being read by someone who loves the Word and leads a charitable life – even by one who, because he is simple-hearted, believes what is written and has not formed opinions that are contrary to the truth of faith that lies within the internal sense – the Lord also sets the Word before the angels. The Lord does so in such beauty and such loveliness, using representatives as well, with indescribable variations, each of which accords with the angels’ entire state at the time, that every detail is perceived as if it had life. This life is that which is present within the Word and from which the Word was given birth when it was sent down from heaven. By reason of this, although in the letter it appears rough and imperfect, the Word of the Lord is such that inwardly there are concealed spiritual and celestial things, which are fully visible to good spirits and to angels while it is being read by man.
* There are no paragraphs 1765 and 1766 in the Latin.
[2] But shortly after that I noticed that he was carried up to the angelic spirits who were in a forward position and slightly to the right, on the very threshold of heaven. From there he then spoke to me, saying that he saw things more exalted than human minds could ever take in. While all this was happening I was reading Deuteronomy 1, about the Jewish people – how the men were sent to explore the land of Canaan and what was in it. As I read it he said that he discerned nothing of that which occurs in the sense of the letter, only the things in the spiritual sense, and that these were marvels beyond his powers of description. This was merely at the threshold of the heaven of angelic spirits, so what must the marvels be within that heaven itself, and what must they be within the angelic heaven!
[3] Certain spirits who were with me at the time, and who had not previously believed that the Word of the Lord was of such a nature, began to repent of their unbelief. They said that in their present state they now believed because they had heard that spirit say he had heard, seen, and perceived that it was so.
[4] But other spirits continued in their unbelief, saying that it was not so but all a delusion. They also were therefore suddenly carried up, and spoke to me from where they were. They now confessed that it was anything but a delusion, for now they perceived from amid spiritual realities that it was so, their perception indeed being far keener than can possibly be imparted to any of the senses during the life of the body.
[5] Shortly afterwards others also were carried up into the same heaven. I had known one of them during his lifetime, and he bore similar witness. Among other things he also said that he was so dazed by the glory of the Word in its internal sense that he was unable to describe it. Speaking at this time with some kind of compassion he said it was remarkable that people on earth know nothing at all of such matters. He said in addition that from where he was he was able to see deeply into my thoughts and my affections, perceiving in them more things than he could mention, such as causes; such as influxes – where these come from, and from whom; such as my ideas, how they were mingled with earthly things, and that these were to be completely separated; besides many other things.
[2] At that time this same part of the Word was heard by many other spirits, but these all grasped it in different ways. With some it filled the ideas comprising their thought with many lovely and delightful feelings, and so with a kind of life – with each one according to his capacity to receive it. At the same time it filled them with an effecting power that penetrated to their inmost being. With some that power was so great that it seemed to them that they were being raised up towards the interior parts of heaven, and nearer and nearer the Lord – each according to the degree of his affection for truths, and for the goods joined to the truths.
[3] Also at that same time the Word was brought to some spirits who had no conception of an internal sense of the Word, but only of an external or literal sense, to whom the letter did not seem to possess any life. From all this it was clear what the Word is like when the Lord imparts life to it, namely that it possesses such an effecting power that it penetrates to people’s inmost being; also what it is like when He does not impart life to it, namely nothing but the letter possessing scarcely any life at all.
[2] The warmth which was communicated to me of those who had taken even greater delight in the Word of the Lord and its inner contents which the Lord Himself had taught was more interior. Starting in the breast, it went up from there towards the chin, and also down towards the loins. The warmth of those who have taken still greater delight in it and have been stirred by still greater affection for it was even more inwardly delightful and spring-like. Beginning indeed in the loins it rose upwards towards the breast, and from there it spread by way of the left arm to the hands. I was informed by the angels that this is what actually happens and that when those spirits draw near, such varieties of warmth are felt, though the spirits themselves do not feel them because they are within them, just as infants, children, and young people do not usually feel their own warmth – which they possess in greater measure than adults and elderly persons, because they are within that warmth.
[3] I have also felt the warmth of those who, it is true, have taken delight in the Word but who have not been anxious to have an understanding of it. This warmth was confined to the right arm. As regards such warmth, evil spirits as well are able by their devices to produce a warmth which counterfeits delight and which they can communicate to others. But it is a purely external warmth having no origin in things that are internal. This warmth is such as cools off and becomes something utterly disgusting, as does the warmth of adulterers and that of people who have become engrossed in filthy pleasures.
GENESIS 15
1 After these events* the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you, your exceedingly great reward.
2 And Abram said, O Lord Jehovih, what will You give me, seeing that I go childless,** and the steward of my house is this Damascene, Eliezer?
3 And Abram said, See, to me you have not given seed, and behold, a son of my house is my heir.
4 And behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, This man will not be your heir, but he who comes out of your own loins will be your heir.
5 And He brought him outside and said, Look, now, towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So will your seed be.
6 And he believed in Jehovah, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7 And He said to him, I am Jehovah, who brought you forth out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit.
8 And he said, O Lord Jehovih, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And He said to him, Take for Me*** a three year old heifer, and a three year old she-goat, and a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a fledgling.
10 And he took for himself all these, and parted each of them down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut apart.
11 And birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 And as the sun was going down a deep sleep came over Abram, and, behold, a dread of a great darkness was coming over him.
13 And He said to Abram, Know for sure that your seed will be strangers in a land not theirs. And they will serve them,**** and these will afflict them for four hundred years.
14 And also the nation which they are going to serve will I judge; and afterwards they will go out with great acquisitions.
15 And you will come to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
16 And in the fourth generation they will return from here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to a close.
17 And the sun went down and there was thick darkness; and behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.
18 On that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the river Phrath.*****
19 The Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
20 And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
21 And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.
* lit. words
** lit. and I am walking childless
*** The Latin means for you, but the Hebrew means for Me.
**** i.e. as slaves
***** i.e. the Euphrates
Continued here in the internal sense are matters concerning the Lord after He had undergone in childhood the very severe conflicts brought about by temptations – conflicts directed against the love He cherished towards the entire human race, and in particular towards the Church. As He was therefore anxious about the future state of these, a promise was made to Him. But at the same time He was shown what the state of the Church was to become in its final days, when it was beginning to breathe its last, but nevertheless that a new Church would gather strength to take the place of the previous one; and the heavenly kingdom would be vastly increased.
As stated already, the narratives contained here draw on true history; that is to say, Jehovah did in fact speak to Abram as described; the land of Canaan was promised to him as an inheritance; he was in fact commanded as described to arrange a heifer, she-goat, ram, turtle dove and fledgling; birds of prey came down on the carcasses; a deep sleep came over him, and in that sleep a horror of darkness; and when the sun had set he did in fact see what looked like a smoking furnace with a flaming torch passing between the parts; besides all the other details mentioned. These events are historically true, but even so every single one, down to the smallest event that took place, is representative; and the actual words used to describe those events, down to the smallest part of a letter, carry a spiritual meaning, that is, every single detail has an internal sense within it. For every single detail in the Word is inspired, and being inspired cannot derive from other than a heavenly origin; that is, celestial and spiritual things lie concealed in its inner recesses. If this were not so it could not possibly be the Word of the Lord.
[2] These are the things which the internal sense contains. When this sense lies open to view the sense of the letter passes out of sight, as though it did not exist, as also conversely when attention is paid solely to the historical sense, or sense of the letter, the internal sense passes out of sight, as though it did not exist. The relationship of the two senses is like that of heavenly light to the light of the world, and conversely like that of the light of the world to heavenly light. When heavenly light is seen, the light of the world is like thick darkness, as I have been made to know from experience. But when anyone is in the light of the world, heavenly light, if it is seen, would be like thick darkness. It is similar with human minds: to the person who limits everything to human wisdom, or worldly knowledge, heavenly wisdom is seen as something obscure and blank; but to one who possesses heavenly wisdom, human wisdom is like something totally obscure which, unless it had heavenly rays of light within it, would be as thick darkness.
‘After these events* the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision’ means that after the conflicts in childhood revelation followed, ‘a vision’ meaning an inmost revelation, which is an accompaniment of perception. ‘Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you’ means protection against evils and falsities, which is able to be trusted. ‘Your great reward’ means the end in view realized in victories.
* lit. words
[2] Since the Lord underwent the most dreadful and the cruelest temptations of all it was inevitable that He too should be driven into feelings of despair which He put to flight and overcame by His own power, as becomes quite clear from His temptation in Gethsemane, which is described in Luke as follows,
When Jesus was at the place He said to the disciples, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. But He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and kneeling down He prayed, saying, Father, if You are willing, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will but Yours be done. And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And when He was in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became as great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. Luke 22:40-45.
In Matthew,
He began to be sorrowful and in agony. Then He said to the disciples, My soul is utterly dejected even to death. And He went forward a little and praying fell on His face, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will. Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup cannot pass from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done. And He prayed for the third time, saying the same thing.* Matt. 26:36-44.
In Mark,
He began to be terrified and in great agony. He said to the disciples, My soul is wrapped in dejection, even to death. He went forward a little, fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from Him. He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to You; remove this cup from Me; yet not as I will but as You will. This happened a second and a third time. Mark 14:33-41.
[3] These quotations show the nature of the Lord’s temptations – that they were the most frightful of all; that He suffered agony from the inmost parts of His being, even to the sweating of blood; that He was at the time in a state of despair over the end in view and over the outcome; and that He received comfort repeatedly. The words ‘I am Jehovah your shield, your exceedingly great reward’ in a similar way embody the comfort received after the conflicts brought about by the temptations which were described in the previous chapter.
* lit. word
[2] The reason why in reference to the Lord ‘a shield’ means protection against evils and falsities, and in reference to man trust in the Lord, is that it was a means of protection to the breast, and ‘the breast’ meant good and truth – good because the heart is within it, and truth because the lungs are within it. That ‘a shield’ has this meaning is clear in David,
Blessed be Jehovah my rock who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war; my mercy, and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I trust. Ps. 144:1, 2.
Here ‘battle’ and ‘war’ are the battle and war of temptations, and in the internal sense, of the Lord’s temptations. ‘A shield’ in reference to Jehovah is protection, and in reference to man trust, as is quite evident.
[3] In the same author,
O Israel, trust in Jehovah! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in Jehovah! He is their help and their shield. You who fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah! He is their help and their shield. Ps. 115:9-11.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same author,
Jehovah is my fortress, my God in whom I will trust. He will cover you with His wing, and under His wings will you put your trust. His truth is a buckler and target. Ps. 91:2, 4.
Here ‘buckler and target’ stands for protection against falsities.
[4] In the same author,
Jehovah is my rock (petra) and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock (rupee) in whom I trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation. Jehovah is a shield for all who trust in Him. Ps. 18:2, 30.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same author,
You who test the heart* and reins, a righteous God; my shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. Isa. 7:9, 10.
‘Shield’ stands for trust. In the same author,
You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand will support me. Ps. 18:35.
‘Shield’ stands for trust.
[5] In the same author,
The shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted. Ps. 47:10.
‘Shields’ stands for trust. In the same author,
Jehovah God is a sun and shield; grace and glory will Jehovah give; no good thing will be withheld from those walking blamelessly. Ps. 84:11.
‘Shield’ stands for protection. In Moses,
Your blessings, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved in Jehovah, the shield of your help, and One who is the sword of your excellency! Your enemies will be mistaken in regard to you. Deut. 33:29.
‘Shield’ stands for protection.
[6] Even as weapons of war are attributed to those engaged in conflicts brought about by temptations, so also are the same weapons attributed to the enemies assailing and tempting. When attributed to the latter, the contrary meanings held by those weapons is being expressed; for example, ‘a shield’ in this case means the evils and falsities from which those enemies fight, and which they defend, and in which they put their trust, as in Jeremiah,
Prepare shield and buckler, and advance for battle. Harness the horses, and mount, O horsemen! Take up your stations in your helmets, polish your lances, put on your breastplates. Jer. 46:3, 4.
There are many more examples besides these.
* lit. hearts
‘Abram said, O Lord Jehovih’ means the Lord’s perception, ‘Abram’ being the Interior Man, ‘the Lord Jehovih’ the Internal Man in relationship to the Interior Man. ‘What will You give me, seeing that I go childless’* means that there was no internal Church. ‘And the steward of my house’ means the external Church. ‘This Damascene, Eliezer’ is the external Church.
* lit. and I am walking childless
[2] Behold, the Lord Jehovih is coming with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs in His arm, and will carry them in His bosom, and will lead those that give suck. Isa. 40:10, 11.
Here ‘the Lord Jehovih is coming with might’ has reference to victory in the conflicts brought about by temptations. ‘His arm will give Him dominion’ stands for His winning it by His own power. What the ‘reward’ is that is referred to in the previous verse is stated here, namely that it is the salvation of the whole human race, that is, ‘He pastures His flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in His arm, carries them in His bosom, and leads those giving suck’, all of which things belong to inmost or Divine love.
[3] In the same prophet,
The Lord Jehovih opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backwards. I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pluck them. I hid not my face* from insults and spitting; and the Lord Jehovih will help me. Behold, the Lord Jehovih will help me. Isa. 50:5-7, 9.
This plainly refers to temptations. And there are other examples besides these.
* lit. faces
* lit. and I am walking childless
[2] The external things of the Church when they are without the internal things are of no value. It is to those internal things that they owe their existence, and in character they are the same as those internal things. The situation with them is as it is with man: with him what is external or bodily is in itself something valueless unless that which is internal exists to give it soul and life. As is the character therefore of that which is internal, so is the character of that which is external; or, as is the character of the disposition and mind (animus et mens), so is the worth of all the things which come forth through that which is external or bodily. The things of the heart make man, not those of the lips and gestures. It is the same with the internal things of the Church. Nevertheless the external things of the Church are as the external things with man, in that they serve as stewards or overseers; or what amounts to the same, the external or bodily man may be called the steward or overseer of the house when ‘the house’ is that which belongs to interior things. From this it is evident what ‘childless’ means, namely a time when no internal dimension of the Church exists, only an external, as it was at the time regarding which the Lord made complaint.
‘Abram said, See, to me You have not given seed’ means that there was no internal dimension of the Church, which is love and faith. ‘Behold, a son of my house is my heir’ means that in the Lord’s kingdom there would be only that which is external.
[2] In a general sense faith embraces everything that is taught by the Church; but doctrinal teachings separated from love or charity do not in any way constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for such teachings are no more than knowledge which is present in the memory and which also exists with the worst of people, even with those in hell. But doctrinal teachings which originate in charity, that is, which are a product of charity, do constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for this dimension is essentially its life. The life itself constitutes the internal aspect of all worship, and so too do all doctrinal teachings that flow from the life that belongs to charity. It is these teachings when they comprise faith that are meant here, and it is faith such as this that constitutes the internal dimension of the Church, as may become clear from the single consideration that anyone who is leading a charitable life has an awareness of all things of faith.
[3] Just examine, if you care to do so, any doctrinal teachings, so that you may see what they are and what they are like. Do they not all have regard to charity, and so to faith that derives from charity? Take simply the Ten Commandments, the first of which is that you should worship the Lord God. Anyone who possesses the life of love or charity worships the Lord God, for it is in this that the life within him consists. Another commandment says that you should keep the Sabbath. Anyone in whom the life of love, that is, in whom charity, is present keeps the Sabbath holy since nothing delights him more than worshipping the Lord and declaring His glory day by day. The commandment that you should not kill has regard entirely to charity. Anyone who loves his neighbour as himself shudders at doing him any injury whatever, and even more at killing him. Likewise with the commandment that you should not steal, for the person who possesses the life of charity would rather give from what is his own to his neighbour than take away anything from him. Equally the commandment that you should not commit adultery. A man in whom the life of charity is present is minded rather to protect his neighbour’s wife lest anyone should do such great harm to her, and regards adultery as a crime committed against conscience, such as destroys conjugial love and the responsibilities that go with it. Coveting things that belong to the neighbour is also contrary to the mind of those in whom the life of charity is present, for the essence of charity is to will good to others from oneself and what is one’s own, thus they in no way covet what belongs to another.
[4] These Commandments, included among the Ten, are more external matters of doctrine concerning faith, which are not simply retained as knowledge in the memory of him in whom charity and the life of charity are present, but are in his heart. They are also inscribed upon him because they are grounded in his charity and so in his very life, in addition to other things of a dogmatic nature that are inscribed upon him which in a similar way he knows from charity alone. For he lives in accordance with a conscience for that which is right. Anything right or true which he is unable to understand and examine in this fashion he nevertheless believes in simplicity – that is, in simplicity of heart – to be right or true because the Lord has so said. Nor is anything wrong with such belief, even if that which is believed is not in itself true, only an appearance of truth.
[5] People may believe for example that the Lord can be angry, punish, tempt, and the like. Also, they may believe that in the Holy Supper the bread and wine have some spiritual meaning, or that flesh and blood are present in some way or other which they are able to explain. But whether they express the one or the other of these views about the Holy Supper, it makes no difference provided that two things are characteristic of these persons: Few people in fact give the matter any thought at all, and if any do give it any thought it makes no difference which view is held provided, a) It is done from a simple heart because it is what they have been taught, and b) They are leading charitable lives. When they hear that the bread and wine mean in the internal sense the Lord’s love towards the whole human race, and the things that go with that love, and man’s reciprocated love to the Lord and towards the neighbour, they believe it instantly and rejoice that it really is so. This is never the case with those who possess doctrine yet lack charity. They dispute everything and condemn anyone who does not speak- though they say it is to believe – as they do. From these considerations it may become clear to anyone that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute the internal dimension of the Church.
[2] In the Lord’s kingdom there are those who are external, those who are more interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits who dwell in the first heaven are external, angelic spirits who dwell in the second heaven are more interior, and angels who dwell in the third heaven are internal. Those who are external are not as close to or near the Lord as those who are more interior, and these in turn are not so close or near as those who are internal. Out of Divine love, or mercy, the Lord wills to have everyone near to Himself, so that they do not stand outside, that is, in the first heaven. His will is that they should dwell in the third heaven. and if possible not merely with Him but abiding in Him. Such is the nature of Divine or the Lord’s love. But since at that time none but external things existed with the Church, He complained of this in the words that occur here – ‘Behold, a son of my house is my heir’ – by which is meant that in His kingdom there would thus be only that which is external. But comfort followed, and a promise of internal things, as described in the verses that follow next. What the external aspect of the Church is has been stated already in 1083, 1098, 1100, 1151, 1153.
[3] By itself doctrine does not constitute the external aspect of the Church, still less the internal, as stated above. Nor on the Lord’s part is it its teachings that make one Church distinct and separate from another, but its life in accordance with those teachings, all of which, as long as they present what is true, regard charity as their basic principle. What else does doctrine do but teach men the kind of people they ought to be?
[4] In the Christian world it is their doctrines that cause Churches to be distinct and separate, and because of these they call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists or the Reformed, and Evangelicals, among other names. It is solely by reason of their doctrines that they are called by these names. This situation would never exist if they were to make love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour the chief thing of faith. In this case their doctrinal differences would be no more than shades of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith which truly Christian people would leave to individual conscience, and in their hearts would say that a person is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. If this were so all the different Churches would become one, and all the disagreements which stem from doctrine alone would disappear. Indeed the hatred one man holds against another would be dispelled in an instant, and the Lord’s kingdom on earth would come.
[5] The Ancient Church which existed immediately after the Flood, though scattered among many kingdoms, was of this nature. That is to say, people differed much from one another in matters of doctrine, but for all that, they made charity the chief thing. Also they regarded worship, not from the standpoint of doctrinal teachings which are matters of faith, but from that of charity which is a matter of life. This is what is meant by ‘they all had one lip and their words were one’, Gen. 11:1, regarding which see 1285.
‘Behold, the word of Jehovah came to him’ means a reply. ‘Saying, This man will not be your heir’ means that that which is external will not be the heir of His kingdom. ‘But he who comes out of your own loins’ means people in whom love to Him and love towards the neighbour are present. ‘He will be your heir’ means that these will become the heirs.
* The Latin text is confused or incomplete at this point.
[2] Insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the third heaven he is an heir of the Lord’s kingdom; also, insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the second heaven he too is an heir; and in a like manner, insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the first heaven he is an heir as well. It is the internal that makes each of them an heir. With angels who are more internal that which is internal exists in greater measure than with those who are more external, and therefore they are nearer to the Lord and the more His heirs. That which is internal is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. In the measure that they have love and charity therefore they are sons and heirs, for in the same measure they inherit the Lord’s life.
[3] But no one can possibly be brought from the first or external heaven into the second or more interior heaven until he has been taught the goods of love and the truths of faith. Insofar as he is taught these he is able to be brought to and to enter the company of angelic spirits. Something similar must occur before these angelic spirits are able to be brought to or to enter into the third heaven, that is, into the company of angels. By means of such teaching, more interior and then internal things are formed, and are made suitable to receive the goods of love and truths of faith, and so to receive the perception of what is good and true. No one is able to see with perception what he does not know and believe. Thus no one can be granted an ability to see perceptively any good of love or truth of faith except through cognitions, which enable him to know what good or truth is and the nature of it. This is so with all people, even with young children, all of whom receive teaching in the Lord’s kingdom. But these are taught without difficulty because they have not been imbued with false ideas. Yet they are taught general truths only, and when they receive them, there is no limit to the things they can perceive.
[4] It is the same as when a person has been persuaded of some truth in its general or overall presentation of itself. He then sees easily and so to speak from himself, or spontaneously, the particular facets that make up the general aspects, and the individual details that make up the particular facets, which are confirmatory. For stirred by an affection for a truth in its general presentation, he is also as a consequence stirred by the confirmatory facets and details of the same truth. Those particular facets and details, accompanied by delight and pleasantness, enter into the general affection and thereby perfect it constantly. Such facets and details are the internal things by virtue of which people are called heirs, that is, by which they are able to inherit the Lord’s kingdom. But those people first begin to be heirs or to receive the inheritance when an affection for what is good, that is, when mutual love, exists in them, into which they have been introduced by means of cognitions of good and truth and by means of affections for these. And insofar as an affection for good, that is, insofar as mutual love, is present in these people, they are heirs or recipients of the inheritance; for mutual love is that very life itself which they receive from the Lord’s essence, as from their Father. These considerations may also become clear from what follows next in verse 5.
[2] From these considerations it is clear that ‘going out of the loins’ here means in the internal sense people in whom love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour are present, as in Isaiah,
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God, teaching you to profit, making you go in the way you should walk. O that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; and your seed would have been like the sand, and those who have gone out of your loins like its grains. Isa. 48:17-19.
‘Seed like the sand’ stands for good, ‘those who have gone out of your loins like its grains’ for truth. Thus it stands for people in whom love is present, for with them alone does a love of good and truth exist.
[3] In addition the loins in the Word also mean love or mercy, the reason being that the generative organs, especially the mother’s womb, represent and so mean chaste conjugial love and the love of children which is derived from that love, as in Isaiah,
The yearning of Your loins and of Your compassion* towards me have held themselves back. Isa. 63:15.
In Jeremiah,
Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me? Is he not a delightful child? Therefore My loins are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on him. Jer. 31:20.
[4] From this it is clear that love itself, or the Lord’s mercy itself and compassion towards the human race, are what the internal sense means by ‘the loins’, and by ‘going out of the loins’. Consequently ‘those who have gone out of the loins’ means people in whom love is present. Concerning the Lord’s kingdom as mutual love, see what has appeared already in 548, 549, 684, 693, 694
* lit. compassions
‘He brought him outside’ means the sight possessed by the Interior Man, which from external things sees internal things. ‘And He said, Look, now, towards heaven’ means a representation of the Lord’s kingdom in a mental view of the universe. ‘And count the stars’ means a representation of goods and truths in a mental view of the constellations. ‘If you are able to count them’ means the fruitfulness of love and the multiplication of faith. ‘And He said to him, So will your seed be’ means heirs of the Lord’s kingdom.
[2] It is the same with the things belonging to the earth. When, for example, such a person sees the dawning of the day he does not think of the dawn but of the rise of all things from the Lord, and of advancement into the daylight of wisdom. Similarly when he sees cultivated gardens, trees, and flowers, his eye is not fixed on any tree and on its blossom, leaf, and fruit, but on the heavenly things which these represent. Nor is it fixed on any flower and its beauty and loveliness but on those things which these represent in the next life. For not one thing of beauty and delight ever exists in the sky above or on earth beneath that is not in some respect representative of the Lord’s kingdom; see what has been stated in 1632. Such is the ‘looking towards heaven’ which means a representation of the Lord’s kingdom in a mental view of the universe.
[3] The reason why every single thing in the sky above and on the earth beneath is representative is that it has come into being, and is constantly coming into being, that is, is kept in being, from the influx of the Lord through heaven. It is as it is with the human body, which comes into being and is kept in being by means of its soul, for which reason every single thing in the body is representative of the soul. Inherent in the soul there are use and end in view, but in the body the accomplishment of these. All effects, without exception, are in the same way representatives of the uses which are the causes behind those effects, while the uses are representative of the ends which constitute first beginnings.
[4] People whose concern is for Divine ideas never dwell on the objects of external sight, but from and in those objects they are continually seeing internal things. The most internal things of all are those that constitute the Lord’s kingdom, and thus are those which consist in the greatest of all ends. It is similar with the Word of the Lord. The person whose concern is for Divine ideas never regards the Word of the Lord from the letter, but regards the letter and the literal sense as that which represents and means the celestial and spiritual things of the Church and of the Lord’s kingdom. To that person the literal sense exists solely as the means which enable him to think about these. Such was the nature of the Lord’s sight.
[2] The fact that everything in the sky above and on the earth beneath is representative of celestial and spiritual things has become clear from the plain evidence that things similar to those that appear before the eyes in the sky and on the earth are also manifested visually in the world of spirits, and this as clearly as in broad daylight. There they are nothing other than representatives. For example, when a starry sky appears and the stars in it are motionless one knows instantly that they mean goods and truths; and when the stars appear wandering one knows instantly that they mean evils and falsities. And from the way in which the stars shine and sparkle the nature of them is made clear too, besides countless other considerations. Consequently if anyone is willing to be wise in his thinking he may know where all things on earth originate, namely in the Lord. And the reason why these things do not present themselves on earth in non-physical ideas but in actual physical objects is that all things, both celestial and spiritual, which derive from the Lord are living and essential, or substantial (as they are called), and therefore manifest themselves as actual objects within the natural order, see 1632.
[3] That ‘the stars’ represents and means goods and truths becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
The stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give their light. The sun is darkened in its going forth, and the moon does not shed its light And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Isa. 13:10, 11.
The subject here is the day of a visiting with punishment. Anyone may see that here ‘the stars’ and ‘the constellations’ are not used to mean stars and constellations but truths and goods, ‘the sun’ to mean love, and ‘the moon’ to mean faith; for falsities and evils which ‘darken’ are being referred to.
[4] In Ezekiel,
When I have blotted you out I will cover the heavens; I will darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezek. 32:7, 8.
Here the meaning is similar. In Joel,
The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:10; 3:15.
Here the meaning is similar. In David,
Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heavens of heavens! Ps. 148:3, 4.
Here the meaning is similar.
[5] That ‘stars’ does not mean stars but goods and truths, or what amounts to the same, people who are wholly taken up with goods and truths, as angels are, is stated plainly in John,
I saw the Son of Man holding in His right hand seven stars. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches; while the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven Churches. Rev. 1:16, 20.
[6] In the same book,
The fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night likewise. Rev. 8:12.
Here it is quite clear that good and truth were darkened. In Daniel,
There came forth a little horn, and it grew very much towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. And it grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Dan. 8:9, 10.
Clearly ‘the host of heaven’ and ‘the stars’ are goods and truths, which
were ‘trampled on’.
[7] These places also show what is meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew,
At the close of the age, immediately after the affliction of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt. 24:29.
And in Luke,
There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in despair, at the roaring of the sea and of the ocean. Luke 21:25.
Here ‘the sun’ does not at all mean the sun, nor ‘the moon’ the moon, nor ‘stars’ the stars, nor ‘sea’ the sea, but the things which these represent; that is to say, ‘the sun’ means the celestial things of love, ‘moon’ the spiritual things, ‘stars’ goods and truths, or cognitions of good and truth, which around the close of the age when no faith, that is, no charity, exists, are thus darkened.
He believed in Jehovah’ means the Lord’s faith at that time. ‘And He reckoned it to him as righteousness’ means that in this the Lord first became righteousness.
[2] The Lord however, in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself, but for all throughout the universe. He did not fight therefore to become the greatest in heaven, for that is contrary to Divine love. He scarcely did so to become the least. He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved, as He Himself also declares in Mark,
The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life* as the price of redemption for many. Mark 10:37, 43-45.
This is the love, that is, the faith, out of which the Lord fought, and which is meant by ‘believing in Jehovah’.
* lit. soul
[2] When one who is begotten from a human father, that is, from the seed of a human father, fights for himself, he cannot possibly do so out of any other love than love of self and love of the world, thus not out of heavenly love but out of hellish, for such is the nature of the proprium he possesses from his father in addition to the proprium he has acquired by his own actions. Consequently the person who imagines that he fights the devil from himself is grossly mistaken. So too the person who wishes to make himself righteous by his own powers, that is, to believe that the goods of charity and the truths of faith come from himself, and consequently to merit heaven through them, is acting and thinking contrary to the good and truth of faith. For it is a truth of faith, that is, it is the truth itself, that the Lord is the one who does battle. Thus because he is acting and thinking contrary to a truth of faith, he deprives the Lord of what is His and makes what is the Lord’s his own; or what amounts to the same, he replaces the Lord with himself and so with that in himself which is from hell. It is for this reason that people wish to become great or the greatest in heaven, and thus it is that they believe quite wrongly that the Lord fought against the hells so that He might be the greatest. The human proprium has delusions such as these within it which have all the appearance of being truths but which are quite the reverse.
[3] That the Lord came into the world so as to become righteousness, and that He alone is righteousness, was also foretold by the Prophets. Thus it was possible to know of this even before His Coming, and also to know that He could not become righteousness except by means of temptations and victories over all evils and over all the hells, as in Jeremiah,
In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell with confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him. Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:6.
In the same prophet,
In those days and at that time I will cause a shoot of righteousness to sprout forth for David, and he will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell with confidence. And this is what they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 33:15, 16.
In Isaiah,
He saw and there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. Isa. 59:16, 17.
And see especially Isa. 63:3, 5. ‘His own arm’ stands for His own power. Since the Lord alone is righteousness, the expression a habitation of righteousness is also used, in Jer. 31:23; 50:7.
‘He said to him, I am Jehovah’ means the Lord’s Internal Man which is Jehovah, from whom perception came. ‘Who brought you forth out of Ur of the Chaldeans’ means the first state of the External Man. ‘To give you this land to inherit’ means the Lord’s kingdom, of which He alone is the Possessor.
[2] From this it becomes clear that internally the Lord was Jehovah. Since however the external which the Lord received from the mother was to be united to the Divine, or Jehovah – and this, as has been stated, was accomplished by means of temptations and victories – it inevitably appeared to Him that when He spoke to Jehovah, it was as if to another. But in fact He spoke to Himself, that is to say, insofar as He had become joined to Jehovah. The perception which the Lord possessed – being most perfect, far superior to that of every other who has ever been born – sprang from His Internal Man, that is, from Jehovah Himself; and this is meant here in the internal sense by ‘Jehovah said to him’.
‘He said, O Lord Jehovih’ means a conversing, so to speak, of the Interior Man with the Internal Man. ‘By what shall I know that I shall inherit it?’ means temptation directed against the Lord’s love which wished to be made quite certain of the outcome.
[2] Since few people know what temptations really are, let a brief explanation of them be given here. Evil spirits never contend against any other things than those which a person loves, and the more intensely he loves them the more fiercely do those spirits contend. Evil genii are the ones that contend against the things of affection for what is good, and evil spirits are the ones that do so against the affection for what is true. As soon as they detect even the smallest thing that a person loves or get a scent, so to speak, of what is delightful and precious to him, they attack it instantly and try to destroy it, and so the whole person, since his life consists in his loves. Nothing ever gives them greater delight than to destroy a person; nor would they leave off but would continue even for ever, if the Lord did not drive them away. Those who are ill-disposed and deceitful worm their way into those very loves by flattering them, and in this way they bring a person in among themselves. And once they have so brought him in, they very soon try to destroy his loves and so to slay that person, which they do in a thousand unimaginable ways.
[3] Nor are the attacks which they make solely those in which they reason against goods and truths – the making of such attacks being nothing to them, for if they were defeated a thousand times over they would carry on with them because their supply of reasonings against goods and truths can never be exhausted. Rather, in their attacks, they pervert goods and truths, setting these ablaze with a certain kind of evil desire and of persuasion, so that the person himself does not know any other than that similar desire and persuasion reign within him. At the same time they infuse those goods and truths with delight which they seize from the delight which that person has in some other thing. In these ways they infect and infest him most deceitfully, doing it all so skillfully by leading him from the one thing to another that if the Lord did not come to his aid, that person would never know other than that it was indeed so.
[4] They act in similar ways against the affections for truth that constitute conscience. As soon as they become aware of anything, whatever the nature of it, that is a constituent part of that conscience, they mould an affection out of the falsities and weaknesses that exist with that person, and by means of that affection they dim the light of truth and so pervert it, or else they cause him anxiety and torment. In addition to this they keep his thought firmly fixed on one single thing; and they fill that thought with delusions, at the same time secretly incorporating evil desires within those delusions. Besides this they use countless other devices which cannot possibly be described so as to be understood. These are a few of the ways – and only very general ones – by which they are able to get at a person’s conscience, which above all else they take the greatest delight in destroying.
[5] These few, indeed very few, observations show the nature of temptations – in general that the nature of a person’s temptations is as the nature of his loves. They also show the nature of the Lord’s temptations, that these were the most dreadful of all, for as is the intensity of the love so is the dreadfulness of the temptations. The Lord’s love – a most ardent love – was the salvation of the whole human race; it was therefore a total affection for good and affection for truth in the highest degree. Against these all the hells contended, employing the most malicious forms of guile and venom, but the Lord nevertheless conquered them all by His own power. Victories have this effect, that after they have been won, wicked genii and spirits do not dare to attempt anything; for their life consists in their being able to destroy, but when they perceive that a person is able to withstand them, they flee even when they are making their first assault, as they usually do when they draw near to merely the threshold of heaven. They are straightaway gripped with horror and dread and hurl themselves back in retreat.
‘He said to him’ means perception. ‘Take a three year old heifer, and a three year old she-goat, and a three year old ram’ means things that are the representatives of the celestial things of the Church, ‘a heifer’ being those that are the representatives of exterior celestial things, ‘a she-goat’ of interior celestial, ‘a ram’ of spiritual-celestial; and they had to be ‘three years old’ because they were to embody all things of the Church as to periods and states. ‘And a turtle dove and a fledgling’ means things that are the representatives of the spiritual things of the Church, ‘turtle dove’ being those that are exterior, ‘fledgling’ those that are interior.
* The Latin means for you, but the Hebrew means for Me.
[2] But as to the specific meaning of each kind, this would take too long to explain here. Here it is enough if one knows that celestial things are meant by the animals and spiritual things by the birds, and that some specific celestial or spiritual thing is meant by each kind of animal or bird. The Church itself, and everything to do with the Jewish Church, was representative of such things as constitute the Lord’s kingdom, where nothing but that which is celestial or spiritual exists, that is, nothing but that which belongs to love and faith, as also becomes quite clear from the meaning of clean and useful beasts, dealt with in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776. And because in the Most Ancient Churches beasts meant celestial goods, in the Church existing at a later time when purely external, though representative, worship was highly esteemed and approved of, those beasts became representatives.
[3] Because the state of the Church is the subject here and because the nature of its state in the future is foretold, Abram was shown the same visually by means of similar representatives, exactly as recorded here. Yet quite apart from this, such things are nevertheless meant in the internal sense, as anyone may know and contemplate. For what would have been the need to take a three year old heifer, a three year old she-goat, a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a fledgling, and to divide them in two parts and to lay them out so, unless each single thing had carried a spiritual meaning? But what these details mean becomes clear from what follows below.
[2] That ‘a three year old heifer’ accordingly means the whole time or state of the Church even to its end, that is to say, when it has been vastated, or laid desolate, also becomes clear in Isaiah,
My heart cries out upon Moab, his fugitives flee even to Zoar, a three year old heifer, for at the ascent of Luhith he will go up weeping, for on the road to Horonaim they will raise a cry of ruination. Isa. 15:5.
Also in Jeremiah,
Gladness and exultation have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I will make the wine cease from the winepresses. None will tread the hedad; the hedad will not be a hedad.** From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, a three year old heifer, for the waters of Nimrim also will become desolations. Jer. 48:33, 34.
Nobody could possibly perceive what these details mean unless he knew what is meant by Moab, Zoar, the ascent of Luhith, the shout of Heshbon even to Elealeh, Jahaz, Horonaim, the waters of Nimrim, and a three year old heifer. That a final vastation is meant is plainly evident.
* or third age or third century
** A Hebrew word which is a shout of exaltation
‘And he took for himself all these’ means this was carried out. ‘And he divided them down the middle’ means the Church and the Lord. ‘And he laid each part opposite the other’ means a parallelism and correspondence as regards celestial things. ‘But the birds he did not divide’ means that no such parallelism and correspondence existed in the case of spiritual things.
[2] The majority of these have the appearance of being truths but in fact they are not so – like those things which belong to the literal sense of the Word, being also representatives of truth, and meaningful signs of truth, and so not in themselves truths. Some are even falsities, which nevertheless are able to serve as vessels and recipients. With the Lord however only those exist which are wholly and essentially truths, and therefore no parallelism or correspondence exists involving those apparent truths. Yet they may be rendered suitable to serve celestial things – which are matters of love and charity – as vessels. These apparent truths are what constitute the cloud in the understanding part of the mind, dealt with already, into which the Lord infuses charity and so forms conscience.
[3] Take, for example, people who keep to the sense of the letter of the Word and imagine that it is the Lord who brings on temptation, that it is He who at such times tortures a person’s conscience, and who imagine that because He permits evil He is the author of evil, that He thrusts the wicked down into hell, and similar ideas. These are not truths, but apparent truths. And because they are not in themselves truths there is no parallelism and correspondence. Nevertheless the Lord leaves these things in man as they are and in a remarkable fashion adapts them by means of charity so that they may serve as vessels for celestial things. The same applies as well to the worship, the teachings, the practices, even the idols, of honest gentiles. In the same way the Lord leaves these things as they are, yet adapts them by means of charity so that they too may serve as vessels. The same was true of so many of the forms of ritual in the Ancient Church, and subsequently in the Jewish Church. In themselves they were nothing more than religious observances that contained no truth in them and which were tolerated and permitted, even prescribed, because they had been held sacred by parents, and so had been implanted in and impressed upon their minds as truths since they were children.
[4] These and other such things are what are meant by the statement that the birds were not divided. For the things that are once implanted in a person’s beliefs and are held sacred, provided they are not contrary to Divine order, are left by the Lord as they are; and although no parallelism or correspondence exists He nevertheless adapts them. The same things were also meant in the sacrifices of the Jewish Church by the birds not being divided, for to divide is to set one part opposite the other so that they exactly correspond. But because those things to which reference has been made are not exactly correspondent, they are in the next life blotted out in the case of those who allow themselves to be taught, and truths themselves are implanted in their affections for good. For the sake of this representation and meaning, birds in the Jewish Church were not divided, as is clear in Moses,
If his gift to Jehovah is a burnt offering of a bird, he is to bring a gift of turtle doves or of young pigeons; he will tear it with its wings, he is not to divide it. Lev. 1:14, 17.
Likewise in sacrifices for sin, Lev. 5:7, 8.
‘Birds of prey came down on the carcasses’ means evils and derivative falsities that wished to destroy. ‘And Abram drove them away’ means that the Lord put them to flight.
[2] When a Church is raised up by the Lord it is faultless to begin with. At that time one person loves another as his brother, as is well known from the Primitive Church after the Lord’s Coming. In those days all members of the Church lived with one another as brothers; they also called one another brothers, and loved one another mutually. In the course of time however charity faded and passed away, and as it passed away evils took its place, and along with the evils falsities too wormed their way in. From this schisms and heresies resulted, which would never have existed if charity had continued to reign and live. In those days they would not even call schism schism, or heresy heresy, but a matter of doctrine adhered to in accordance with the particular belief of that schism or heresy. That matter of doctrine they would leave to each individual’s conscience, provided it did not deny anything fundamental, that is, the Lord, eternal life, or the Word, and provided it was not contrary to Divine order, that is, to the Ten Commandments.
[3] The evils and derivative falsities which in the Church take the place of charity as it passes away are what is here meant by the birds of prey that Abram drove away, that is, that the Lord, whom Abram represents here, put to flight. Abram drove away nothing else than birds of prey, and nothing whatever of evil and falsity. Nor in heaven do they know of Abraham except as any other human being who of himself has no power to accomplish anything – for the Lord alone has such power, as is also stated in Isaiah,
You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. Isa. 63:16.
[2] As far as it is possible the Lord is constantly putting evils and falsities to flight, but He does so by means of conscience. When the bonds of conscience are loosed no channel exists by which the Lord may flow in, for the Lord’s influx with man is an influx by way of charity into his conscience. But when this comes about a new channel, an external one, is formed and takes the place of charity, that is to say, influx now comes through a fear of the law, fear of loss of life, honour, wealth, and consequent reputation. But these bonds are not those of conscience; they are merely external bonds which enable a person to live in society with others and to appear friendly, whatever he may be like within.
[3] This channel, or these bonds, are of no value whatever in the next life, for in that life things that are external are taken away, and such as the person is within remains. There are very many who have led good lives, private and public, have harmed no one, and have performed acts of friendship and kindness; indeed they have done good to very many. Yet they acted solely for themselves, for the sake of honour, gain, and similar considerations. In the next life these are among those in hell since they have nothing good and true within them at all, only evil and falsity. Indeed they have nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery within them, which do not show themselves before anyone – not showing themselves, that is, insofar as those fears which constitute external restraints prevail.
‘As the sun was going down’ means the period of time and the state just before the close. ‘And a deep sleep came over Abram’ means that the Church was at that time in darkness. ‘And, behold, a dread of great darkness was coming over him’ means that it was a dreadful darkness, darkness’ being falsities.
[2] Take as an example the vastation, the punishment, and the condemnation which are ascribed to the Lord many times in the Word. These are in fact attributable to the member of the Church, who vastates, punishes, and condemns himself. It appears to the eyes of the individual as though the Lord vastated, punished, and condemned; and because the appearance is such, it is so expressed according to appearances. For unless a person were taught by means of appearances he would never allow himself to be taught at all. What is contrary to the appearance he neither believes nor comprehends until at a later time he has the power of judgement and has been granted the faith that is grounded in charity.
[3] The same applies to the Church. When it is in darkness the Lord is so obscured before the eyes of its members that He does not appear, that is, He is not acknowledged. Yet it is not at all the Lord who is covered in obscurity but the person in whom and with whom the Lord would be. Nevertheless obscuration is attributed to the Lord, as is ‘deep sleep’ here, by which is meant a dark state of the Church.
[2] The Lord spoke of it in the same way in Matthew,
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt. 24:29.
He did not mean that the sun of the world will be darkened but the celestial entity of love and charity. Nor will the moon be darkened but the spiritual entity of faith. Nor will the stars fall from heaven but the cognitions of good and truth with the member of the Church, which are ‘the powers of the heavens’. Nor will these things take place in heaven but on earth, for heaven is never plunged into darkness.
[3] ‘A dread of great darkness fell on him’ means His horror at such great devastation. In the measure that the heavenly or celestial things of love find acceptance in anyone, so great is his horror when he perceives the close. This applied to the Lord more than anybody else, since His love was heavenly and Divine love itself.
[4] ‘Darkness’ means falsities, as is clear from very many places in the
Word, as in Isaiah,
Woe to those who put darkness for light, and light for darkness! Isa. 5:20.
‘Darkness’ stands for falsities and ‘light’ for truths. In the same prophet, He will look to the land, and behold, darkness, distress; and the light has been darkened. Isa. 5:30.
‘Darkness’ stands for falsities, ‘darkened light’ for the fact that truth does not appear.
[5] In the same prophet,
Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. Isa. 60:2.
In Amos,
The day of Jehovah is that of darkness and not light. Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, thick darkness and no brightness in it? Amos 5:18, 20.
In Zephaniah,
The great day of Jehovah is near. A day of wrath is that day, a day of anguish and repression, a day of vastation and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and shadow. Zeph. 1:14, 15.
Here ‘the day of Jehovah’ stands for the final period and state of the Church, while ‘darkness and thick darkness’ stands for falsities and evils.
[6] The Lord too calls falsities ‘darkness’, in Matthew,
If your eye has been evil, the whole body has been made full of darkness. If therefore the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matt. 6:23.
‘Darkness’ is used to mean falsities that have overtaken people who possess cognitions, a greater darkness than that found in those called gentiles, who have no cognitions.
[7] Similarly in the same gospel,
The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. Matt. 8:12; 22:13.
‘Outer darkness’ stands for the quite dreadful falsities of those inside the Church, for those people shut out the light and oppose truths with falsities, something gentiles are not able to do. In John,
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; but the light appears in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4, 5.
‘The darkness’ stands for falsities inside the Church.
[8] Falsities outside the Church too are called ‘darkness’ but these are capable of receiving light. Of them it is said in Matthew,
The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matt. 4:16.
‘Darkness’ stands for falsities that go with not knowing, such as exist with gentiles.
[9] In John,
This is the judgement, that light has come into the world, but men have preferred darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. John 3:19.
‘Light’ stands for truths, and ‘darkness’ for falsities. ‘The light’ also stands for the Lord since He is the source of all truth, while ‘darkness’ stands for the hells since they are the source of all falsity.
[10] In the same gospel,
Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness. John 8:12.
In the same gospel,
Walk, as long as you have the light, lest darkness overtakes you, for he who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. I have come as light into the world in order that all who believe in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:35, 46.
‘Light’ stands for the Lord, the source of all good and truth, ‘darkness’ for falsities, which are dispersed by the Lord alone.
[11] The falsities that prevail in the last times and which are called ‘the darkness’ here, that is, to which ‘the dread of great darkness’ has reference, were represented and meant by the darkness that came over the whole earth from the sixth to the ninth hour, and also by the sun’s being darkened at that time, by which was represented and meant that no love, that is, no faith, existed any more, Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44, 45.
‘He said to Abram’ means perception. ‘Know for sure’ means that it is a certainty. ‘Your seed will be strangers’ means that charity and faith will be scarce. ‘In a land that is not theirs’ means where there will be a Church which does not so to speak consist of people in whom faith and charity are present. ‘And they will serve them’* means oppression. ‘And these will afflict them’ means their grievous temptations. ‘For four hundred years’ means the duration and state [of those temptations].
* i.e. as slaves
[2] The fact that faith would be scarce in the last times was foretold by the Lord when He described the close of the age, in Matt. 24:4-end; Mark 13:3-end; Luke 21:7-end. Everything that is stated in these places implies that in those times charity and faith will be scarce, and that at length there will not be any at all. Something similar was foretold through John in the Book of Revelation, and also occurs many times in the Prophets, besides what appears in the historical sections of the Word.
[3] But by the faith that is going to perish in the last times nothing other than charity is meant. No other faith can possibly exist, except faith that is grounded in charity. The person who has no charity is incapable of possessing any faith at all, charity being the soil in which faith is implanted, its heart from which it derives its being and life. The ancients for this reason compared love and charity to the heart, and faith to the lungs, both of which lie inside the breast. That comparison is also a perfect simile; for to imagine a life of faith without charity is like imagining life from the lungs alone without the heart, which is an impossibility, as may become clear to anyone. The ancients therefore used to call all things that belonged to charity those of the heart, and all that belonged to faith devoid of charity those of the lips alone, that is, of the lungs passing by means of breath into speech. From this came the sayings of old about the need for goods and truths to go forth from the heart.
I will refine you, but not with silver; I will single you out in the furnace of affliction. Isa. 48:10.
‘Affliction’ stands for temptation. In Moses,
You shall remember all the way in which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness to afflict you and to tempt you. Jehovah fed you with manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, to afflict you and to tempt you, to do good to you in [your] latter end. Deut. 8:2, 16.
‘To afflict’ plainly means to tempt.
[2] In the same author,
And the Egyptians ill-treated us and afflicted us, and imposed hard service upon us, and we cried out to Jehovah the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. Deut. 26:6, 7.
Here the same things are mentioned as in the present verse, that they served as slaves and were afflicted, by which – as also by their afflictions in the wilderness, which in addition represented the Lord’s temptations – the temptations of believers were meant.
[3] As in Isaiah,
He was despised, a man of sorrows, on account of which as it were men hid their faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa. 53:3, 4.
These words mean the Lord’s temptations. The words ‘He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows’ are not used to mean that believers will not undergo any temptation, nor that He transferred their sins on to Himself and so bore them Himself. Rather, they mean that He who overcame the hells through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories would in the same manner – all by Himself, even as to His Human Essence – endure the temptations experienced by believers.
[4] The Lord too calls temptations afflictions: in Mark,
These are the ones sown upon rocky ground. When they have heard the word they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. Then, when affliction and persecution arise because of the word they immediately stumble. Mark 4:16, 17.
‘Affliction’ clearly stands for temptation. ‘Having no root in themselves’ is having no charity, for it is in charity that faith is rooted, and those who are not endowed with that root give way in temptations. In John,
In the world you have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.
‘Affliction’ stands for temptation.
[5] In Matthew,
Nation will be roused against nation and kingdom against kingdom. All these are the start of sorrows. At that time they will deliver you up to affliction. There will be great affliction then such as has not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened. Matt. 24:7-9, 21, 29.
This refers to the close of the age, or last times of a Church. ‘Affliction’ stands for temptations, external and internal, external temptations being persecutions by the world, internal by the devil. The non-existence of charity is meant by ‘nation against nation’ and ‘kingdom against kingdom’, and by ‘the sun’ – that is, the Lord, love and charity – being ‘darkened’.
[2] A Last Judgement of the Most Ancient Church took place when all charity and faith were at an end and when no perception existed, as was the situation just before the Flood. The Flood itself, which has been dealt with above, was the Last Judgement of that Church. At that point heaven and earth, that is, the Church, passed away, and a new heaven and a new earth, that is, a new Church called the Ancient Church, was created, which too has been dealt with. This Church as well had its final period, namely when all charity was growing cold and all faith was being blacked out. This was about the time of Eber. This period was the Last Judgement of that Church, which was the heaven and earth that passed away.
[3] The new heaven and the new earth was the Hebrew Church. This too had its final period or Last Judgement when it had become idolatrous. A new Church was as a consequence established, and this was accomplished among the descendants of Jacob. That which was called the Jewish Church was nothing other than a Church representative of charity and faith. In that Church, that is, among the descendants of Jacob, no charity or faith existed, and therefore no Church existed but merely the representative of a Church. This was so because direct communication of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens with any true Church on earth was not possible, and therefore an indirect communication by means of representatives was effected. The last period or Last Judgement of this so- called Church was when the Lord came into the world, for at that time representatives came to an end, that is to say, the sacrifices and similar practices did so; and to bring these to an end the Jews were expelled from the land of Canaan.
[4] After this a new heaven and a new earth were created, namely a new Church which must be called the Primitive Church, which was begun by the Lord and after that gradually grew stronger, and which at first possessed charity and faith. The destruction of this Church is foretold by the Lord in the Gospels and by John in the Book of Revelation, and it is this destruction which is called the Last Judgement. Not that heaven and earth are now going to pass away but that a new Church will be raised up in some part of the world, while the present one continues in existence with its external worship just as the Jews do with theirs. As is quite well known, their worship includes no charity or faith at all, that is, nothing of the Church. So much for the Last Judgement in general.
[5] In particular there is a last judgement for everyone immediately after he has died, for at this point he passes over into the next life, in which, once he has entered into the life that was his in the body, he undergoes a judgement that points either to death or to life. This last judgement involves every detail of the person. With him whose judgement is to death every single detail condemns him, for there is nothing in his thought and will, not the smallest thing, that does not show the same as his individual last judgement or draw him towards death. But with him whose judgement is to life, every single detail of his thought or will in a similar way possesses the image of his individual last judgement and bears him towards life. For as is the person in general, so is he in every detail of his thought and affection. These are the things meant by the Last Judgement.
[2] Consequently, when such expressions occur, those who see into the internal sense, as angels do, have no thoughts of such things as have to do with death and burial but with such as have to do with the continuation of life; for they look upon death as nothing else than a casting off of the things which belong to merely earthly matter and to time, and as the continuing of life proper. Indeed they do not know what death is, for death does not enter into any of their thinking. It is the same with people’s ages. By the phrase used here, ‘at a good old age’, angels have no perception at all of old age; indeed they do not know what old age is, for they themselves are constantly moving towards the life of youth and early manhood. It is life such as this, consequently the celestial and spiritual things belonging to it, that are meant when the expression ‘a good old age’ and others like it occur in the Word.
‘In the fourth generation they will return from here’ means the period of time and the state of restoration. ‘For the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to a close’ means the final period of time when there is no longer any good.
[2] But what is meant in the internal sense by the statement that ‘the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to a close’ is an arcanum. The experience of the evil in the next life is that they are not punished until their evils have reached their peak; this applies to evils both in general and in particular. Indeed the balance of everything in the next life is such that evil punishes itself, that is, those who are evil run into the punishment of their evil, but only when this evil has reached its peak. Every evil has its own limits – varying from one individual to another – beyond which it is not allowed to go. When one who is evil goes beyond it he meets head on with punishment. This is so in every particular case.
[3] The same applies in general, in that those who are evil thrust themselves down into hell, not instantaneously but gradually. This has its origin in the universal law of order established by the Lord that the Lord never sends anyone down into hell but that evil itself, or the person himself who is evil, thrusts himself down, doing so gradually, until evil has reached its close and no trace of good is any longer apparent. As long as there is some trace of good he is being raised up from hell, but when there is nothing but evil, he is thrust down into hell. Good and evil must first of all be separated from each other since they are opposites. No one is allowed to incline in both directions. This is what is meant by ‘the iniquity of the Amorites having to come to a close’. With the good however it is different; they are constantly being raised up by the Lord towards heaven, while their evil is gradually wiped away.
[4] It is similar with the state of the Church: visitation does not come until evil has reached a close, that is, when good of charity and truth of faith exist no longer. That close is referred to quite often in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,
A close and a settlement I have heard from the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth over all the earth. Isa. 28:22.
In Jeremiah,
O Babel, you who dwell on many waters, great in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your gain. Jer. 51:13.
In Daniel,
Seventy weeks have been decreed concerning your people and your holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sins and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Dan. 9:24.
At length upon the bird of abominations will come desolation, until a closing and settlement is poured out upon the devastation. Dan. 9:27.
[5] The Lord Himself too foretells the close in these words in Luke,
They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive among all the gentiles,* and at length Jerusalem will be trodden down by the gentiles’ until the times of the nations are fulfilled. Luke 21:24.
‘Falling by the edge of the sword’ means from falsities, for ‘a sword’ in the Word is the punishment of falsity. ‘Jerusalem’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and the Church, 402, ‘the gentiles’ for evils, 1260. Thus the meaning is that ‘the close’ has been reached when the Church has become possessed by evils and falsities, and so has been destroyed by its own self.
* or the nations
‘And the sun went down’ means the final period when the close came. ‘And there was thick darkness’ means when hatred existed in place of charity. ‘And behold, a smoking furnace’ means grossest falsity. ‘And a flaming torch’ means the heat of evil desires. ‘Which passed between those pieces’ means that it divided off those that belonged to the Church from the Lord.
[2] But of this anyone may know who has any power of thought; for if he were to describe hatred, or to represent it, or to portray it if he were able to in any way, he would not do so except by the use of devil-like forms such as these persons steeped in evil also assume after death. And what is extraordinary, such people can still declare that in the next life they will go to heaven, in some cases for merely saying that they have faith – though in fact the only forms occurring in heaven are those of charity, the nature of which may be seen in what has been told from experience in 553. Let those people now consider how these two forms – of hatred and of charity – can be in agreement in the same place.
[3] That ‘darkness’ means falsity and ‘thick darkness’ evil becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. Isa. 60:2.
In Joel,
Let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble, for the day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. Joel 2:1, 2.
In Zephaniah,
A day of wrath is that day, a day of vastation and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness. Zeph. 1:15.
In Amos,
Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, and thick darkness, and no brightness in it? Amos. 5:20.
In these places ‘the day of Jehovah’ stands for the final period of the Church, which is also the subject here. ‘Darkness’ stands for falsities, ‘thick darkness’ for evils; hence both are mentioned. Otherwise there would be a repetition of the same thing, or a pointless excess of words. The term used in the original language however to express thick darkness in this verse embodies both within itself – falsity as well as evil, or gross falsity that produces evil, as well as gross evil that produces falsity.
[2] That in the Word such are meant by a furnace, smoke, and fire, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Everyone is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes brier and thorn, and kindles the entangled boughs of the wood, and they surge up in an uprising of smoke. Through the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth the earth has been darkened, and the people has become as fuel for the fire; a man will not spare his brother. Isa. 9:17-19.
Here ‘fire’ stands for hatred, ‘the rising up of smoke from it’ for falsities of that kind. Hatred is described by the statement that ‘a man will not spare his brother’. Such people, when looked at by angels, appear exactly like the things described here.
[3] In Joel,
I will give portents in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire, and columns of smote. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. Joel 2:30, 31.
Here ‘fire’ stands for hatred, ‘columns of smoke ‘for falsities, ‘sun’ for charity, and ‘moon’ for faith.
[4] In Isaiah,
The land will become burning pitch. Night and day it will not be quenched; its smoke will go up eternally. Isa. 34:9, 10.
‘Burning pitch’ stands for dreadful evil desires, ‘smoke’ for falsities.
[5] In Malachi,
Behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble; and the day that is coming will burn them up; it will leave them neither root nor branch. Mal. 4:1.
‘A burning furnace’ stands for the same things as before. ‘A root’ stands for charity, ‘a branch’ for truth, which will not be left.
[6] In Hosea,
Ephraim has become guilty through Baal. It will be like chaff that is driven by the whirlwind from the threshing-floor, and like smoke from a chimney. Hosea 13:1, 3.
‘Ephraim’ stands for one with understanding who has become such.
[7] In Isaiah,
The strong will be as tow, and his work as a spark, and both of them will burn together, with none to quench them. Isa. 1:31.
This stands for the fact that people governed by self-love – or what amounts to the same, by hatred against the neighbour – will be burnt up by their own evil desires. In John,
Babylon has become the dwelling-place of demons. Those cried out who saw the smoke of her burning. The smoke goes up for ever and ever. Rev. 18:2, 18; 19:3.
[8] In the same book,
He opened the pit of the abyss, from which there went up smoke out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun was darkened, and the air, with the smoke of the pit. Rev. 9:2.
In the same book,
Out of the mouths of the horses there went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these a third part of mankind was killed – by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which went forth out of their mouths. Rev. 9:17, 18.
In the same book,
He who worships the beast will drink* from the wine of God’s anger, poured unmixed as it is in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone. Rev. 14:9, 10.
In the same book,
The fourth angel poured out his bowl into the sun, and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; therefore men were burned by the fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. Rev. 16:8, 9.
And it is in like manner said that
They were thrown into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Rev. 19:20; 20:14, 15; 21:8.
[9] In all of these places ‘fire’ stands for the evil desires, ‘smoke’ for the falsities, which will reign in the last times. These thing as they actually exist in the next life were seen by John following the opening of his interior sight. Similar things are also seen by spirits, and by souls after death. These references show what hell-fire is, that it is nothing other than hatred, revenge, and cruelty, or what amounts to the same, self-love, which passes into such a visible form. As long as a person is in his bodily life, no matter how different his outward appearance might seem to be, he cannot be seen by the angels, when they look at him closely, in any other way than this; that is, his hatred is not seen by them except as ‘flaming torches’ nor the falsities coming from it except as ‘smoking furnaces’.
[10] Of this fire the Lord speaks in Matthew as follows,
Every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:9.
‘Good fruit’ is used to mean charity, and anyone who deprives himself of this ‘cuts himself down and casts himself into such a fire’. In the same gospel,
The Son of Man will send His angels, who will gather out of His kingdom all offences, and those who work iniquity, and will send them into the furnace of fire. Matt. 13:41, 42, 50.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same gospel,
The king will say** to those on his left hand, Depart from me, O cursed ones, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt. 25:41.
Here the meaning is similar.
[11] Where it is said that they were to be sent into eternal fire, the Gehenna of fire, and that their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched in Matt. 18:8, 9; Mark 9:43-49, the meaning is similar. In Luke,
Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Luke 16:24.
Here the meaning is similar.
[12] People who have no knowledge of the arcana of the Lord’s kingdom imagine that the Lord sends the wicked down into hell, that is, into the kind of fire which, as has been stated, is the manifestation of hatred. But the truth of the matter is altogether different, for it is the person himself, or the devil- spirit himself, who casts himself down. Yet because it appears as though the Lord casts down, it has been spoken of in the Word in that way – according to the appearance, indeed according to the illusions of the senses. This was especially necessary with the Jews, who were totally unwilling to accept anything if it did not coincide with their own sensory perceptions, no matter what illusions these might entail. This is why the sense of the letter, especially the prophetical sections, is full of such ideas, as in Jeremiah,
[13] Thus said Jehovah, Execute judgement in the morning, and deliver him who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the wickedness of their works. Jer. 21:12.
‘Executing judgement’ is declaring the truth. ‘Delivering him who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor’ is doing a good work of charity. ‘Fire’ stands for the hellish punishment of those who do not do these things, that is, who pass their time clinging to falsity that is the product of hatred. In the sense of the letter such fire and anger are attributed to Jehovah, but in the internal sense it is quite the reverse.
[14] Similarly in Joel,
The day of Jehovah, fire devours before him, and behind him a flame burns. Joel 2:1, 3.
In David,
Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth devoured; glowing coals flamed forth from Him; and there was thick darkness under His feet. Ps. 18:8, 9.
In Moses,
A fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell, and will devour the land and its increase, and will set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Deut. 32:22.
Here ‘a fire’ stands for the hatred, ‘smoke’ for the falsities, that reside with a person, which are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord for the reasons that have been stated. To the hells also it seems that Jehovah or the Lord does the things described, but quite the reverse is the case. It is they who do them because they dwell in the fires of hatred. From this it is evident how easily a person can sink into delusions if the internal sense of the Word is not known.
[15] It was similar with the smoke and fire which the people saw coming from Mount Sinai when the Law was given; for Jehovah or the Lord is seen by everyone according to his character and disposition. By celestial angels He is seen as the sun, by spiritual angels as the moon, by all who are good as light of varying delightfulness and loveliness; but by the evil as smoke and as devouring fire. And because the Jews had no charity at all when the Law was given, but self-love and love of the world reigned among them, and so nothing but evils and falsities, He was therefore seen by them as smoke and fire, while in the same instant He was seen by angels as the sun and heavenly light.
[16] The fact that He was seen thus by the Jews, because their character was such, is clear in Moses,
The glory of Jehovah dwelt over Mount Sinai. And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. Exod. 24:16, 17.
In the same book,
Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it, because Jehovah came down upon it in fire and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. Exod. 19:18.
And elsewhere in the same author,
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire even to the heart of heaven, with darkness and cloud and thick darkness. And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Deut. 4:11, 12; 5:22.
Also in the same,
When you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to Me and you said, Why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall die. Deut. 5:23-25.
[17] The same would be the case if anyone else who spends his time hating and performing filthy deeds that are the product of hatred were to see the Lord. He would inevitably see Him from his own hatred and the filthy deeds that are the product of it. These things being the recipients of the rays of good and truth from Him, they would convert those rays into that type of fire, smoke, and thick darkness. The same places that have been quoted also show what’ a smoking furnace’ is, and what ‘a burning torch’ is, namely the grossest falsity and the filthiest evil which took possession of the Church in its last times.
* Reading bibet (he will drink) for bibat (let him drink)
** Reading dices (will say) for dicit (says)
I will make the men (vir) who transgressed My covenant and who did not keep the terms of the covenant which they made before Me like the calf which they cut in two and passed between its parts. The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their souls, and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air* and the beasts of the earth. Jer. 34:14,** 18-20.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** 14 is omitted from the printed text, but is present in the Latin
‘On that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram’ means the joining together of the Lord’s Interior Man and His Internal Man, or Jehovah. ‘Saying, To your seed I will give this land’ means the comfort experienced after these temptations and their horrors, to the effect that people who have charity and faith in Him will become His heirs. ‘From the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Phrath’ means the extension of spiritual and celestial things, ‘to the river of Egypt’ being the extension of spiritual things, ‘to the river Phrath’ the extension of celestial things.
* i.e. the Euphrates
[2] That these things brought comfort to the Lord following temptations and their horrors becomes clear without explanation. For after those grim events which He had witnessed – that is to say, after He had put to flight the evils and falsities meant by ‘the birds of prey that came down on the carcasses and that Abram drove away’, described in verse 11 – gross falsities nevertheless entered into Him, such as horrified Him, meant by ‘the dread of a great darkness which came over Abram in a deep sleep’, described in verse 12. This, together with the fact that in the end sheer falsities and evils took possession of the human race – meant by ‘the smoking furnace and flaming torch which passed’ between the pieces’, referred to in verse 17 – inevitably caused Him distress and grief. Comfort therefore follows now, like that in verses 4 and 5 above, namely that His seed will inherit the land, that is, those who have charity and faith in Him will become heirs of His kingdom. The salvation of the human race was for Him the only comfort, for He was moved by Divine and celestial love and became, even as regards the Human Essence, that Divine and celestial love, in which solely the love for all is countenanced and entertained.
[3] That such is the nature of Divine love becomes clear from the love of parents towards their children, in that it increases with every descending degree of affinity, that is, it becomes greater towards later descendants than towards immediate offspring. Nothing ever exists without a cause or origin, and therefore this love towards descendants, present in the human race and ever increasing with each successive generation, cannot exist without them. The cause and origin of that love are attributable solely to the Lord, from whom all conjugial love and love of parents towards children flow. The source of that love is His love, which is such that He loves all as a father loves his sons, and wishes to make all his heirs, and provides an inheritance for those yet to be born, as he does for those born already.
[2] The reason why ‘the river of Egypt’ means the extension of spiritual things is that ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge which, together with the rational concepts and the intellectual concepts which a person has, constitute spiritual things, as stated already in 1443 and elsewhere in this volume. And as to why in the internal sense ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. That ‘the river Euphrates’ means the extension of celestial things becomes clear from the lands which that river bounded and marked off from the land of Canaan, and by which in many other places facts and the cognitions of celestial things are meant. Here however because it is called ‘the river’, and ‘the great river’, they are nothing other than celestial things and the cognitions of them, for ‘the great river’ and greatness are used in reference to these.
The Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite’ means the falsities that were to be cast out from the Lord’s kingdom. ‘The Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Rephaim’ means false persuasions. ‘The Amorite and the Canaanite’ means evils. ‘The Girgashite and the Jebusite’ means falsities derived from evils.
[2] As regards the nations that were to be cast out of the Lord’s kingdom, in the next life evil and devilish spirits like nothing more than to surface in the world of spirits and to infest good spirits. But as often as they do so they are cast out, in much the same way as the falsities and evils that have taken possession of one who is being regenerated are overpowered and dispersed, and in their place truths and goods are implanted that belong to the Lord’s kingdom.
[3] These falsities and evils were represented by the nations that were driven out of the land of Canaan by the descendants of Jacob. They were represented as well by the Jews themselves who at a later period were driven out from there. The same occurred with many other nations of old by whom similar things had been represented, such as the Horites who were driven from Mount Seir by the descendants of Esau, mentioned in Deut. 2:12, 22; then the Avim who were driven out by the Kaphtorim, mentioned in Deut. 2:23; also the Emim or Rephaim who were driven out by the Moabites, mentioned in Deut. 2:9-11; as well as the Zamzummim who were driven out by the Ammonites, mentioned in Deut. 2:19-21; besides many others referred to in the Prophets.
How many things are contained within a single expression of the Word has been demonstrated to me by an opening up to view of the ideas that comprise thought. In the next life this can be done – it being one of the marvels there – in so vivid a way that the ideas themselves may be seen in visible form, thus as coloured images so to speak. The ideas belonging to one who had led a life of charity or mutual love, and who during his lifetime had taken great delight in the Word, were opened up to view in that manner. Countless things that were beautiful were seen, together with those which were movingly delightful and pleasant. I was told that the things which are seen within such visible forms may be opened up further again as to their interiors, and once these have been opened, that still more beautiful and delightful things are manifested, together with those that constitute happiness itself. All angelic ideas are such, for they are laid open from the Lord Himself.
[2] To spirits who were surprised that in the next life the ideas comprising thought can be opened to view in such a manner, this matter was illustrated by taking as an example the sight of the eye, of which the powers of vision are so dull and dim that the smaller things of the natural world which have countless details in them are not seen except as something opaque, black, and patternless. But when the same objects are looked at under a microscope, things that are more interior are brought to view, linked one to another in a lovely sequence, and flowing in a delightful order. At the same time it was recognized that those objects too could have been opened up further still by a more powerful microscope. This illustration made clear the nature of internal sight, of which the powers of vision are nothing other than ideas; for in themselves those ideas are so gross that scarcely anything more gross is able to exist in that sphere, though man thinks otherwise. But more regarding ideas will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated later on.
* By an optical cylinder Sw. probably means an anamorphoscope.
[2] When discussing this matter with spirits I have been given to say that when they are conversing among themselves they are not able to utter one single word of human language, still less utter any name. Astonished by this some went away and tried to do so, but on returning they said that they had been unable to pronounce them because those words were so grossly material that they belonged below their own sphere, for such words were produced by an audible emission of air articulated by organs of the body, or else by means of an influx into the same organs by an internal route leading to the organ of hearing. From this it also became perfectly clear that no part of any expression which occurs in the Word was able to pass over to spirits. Still less could it pass over to angelic spirits, whose speech is even more universal, 1642. And least of all could it pass over to angels, 1643, with whom nothing remains of even the first ideas that spirits possess; instead angels have spiritual truths and celestial goods. Such truths and goods are varied in an indescribable manner in their least forms – which are continuous and knit together in a harmonious sequence – together with the first springs of representatives whose very great delightfulness and beauty flow from the happiness belonging to mutual love, and whose happiness flows from all their delight and beauty, because the Lord’s life is inspired into them
[2] After their attempt had failed, the leaders then tried to enter the inner parts of my body and to penetrate through to my heart, into which they were also allowed to enter. All along I perceived what was happening from an unmistakable sensation of it, for everyone whose interiors which belong to the spirit have been opened is enabled at the same time to perceive such things within his physical senses. But I was brought at that point into some kind of heavenly state, one in which I made no attempt to drive away those [unwelcome] visitors, still less to avenge the wrong that had been done. They now said that there was peace but shortly after this they were seemingly deprived of rationality, and began to breathe revenge and to complete what they were intent on doing. But it was all in vain. At length they dispersed of themselves.
As regards spirits and angels in general, all of whom are the souls of people living on after the death of the body, they possess far more perfect sensory powers than men, that is, the powers of sight, hearing, smell, and touch, but not of taste. Spirits however are not able, and angels are even less able, to see anything whatever in the world with their sight, that is, with the sight of the spirit. For the light of the world, or of the sun, is to them as pitch darkness, just as man cannot with his sight, that is, with the sight of the body, see anything whatever in the next life; for to him the light of heaven, or the Lord’s heavenly light, is as pitch darkness.
[2] Nevertheless, when it pleases the Lord, spirits and angels are able to see the things that exist in the world through the eyes of one in the world, though the Lord does not allow such a thing to happen with anyone except someone for whom the Lord makes it possible to converse with spirits and angels, and to be together with them. Through my own eyes they have been allowed to see the things that are in the world, and to see them as plainly as I myself saw them, and also to hear the people talking to me. On occasions it has come about that through me some have seen their friends whom they had had during their lifetime, as present then as formerly; and at this they have been dumbfounded. They have also seen their married partners and their children, and have wished me to tell them that they were present and could see them, and to report about their state in the next life. But I was forbidden to tell this to them and to reveal to them that they were seen as described, the reason for this being that they would have said I was insane or would have thought that such reports were delirious wanderings of the mind. For I knew very well that although they would say with their lips that spirits exist and that the dead have risen, they would still not believe it in their hearts.
[3] When my interior sight was first opened and through my eyes they saw the world and what was in it, spirits and angels were so astonished that they said it was the greatest miracle of all time, and a new found joy entered into them that in this way a communication now existed of earth with heaven, and of heaven with earth. This delight lasted for several months, but after that it became commonplace, and now they do not wonder at it at all. I have been informed that spirits and angels present with other people do not see anything at all of things in the world, but merely perceive the thoughts and affections of those with whom they are present.
[4] From these considerations it has become clear that man was created in such a way that while living on earth among men he might live at the same time in heaven among angels, and vice versa. He was so created that heaven and earth might co-exist and act as one, with men knowing what was going on in heaven and angels what was going on in the world. And when they departed the earthly life men might accordingly pass from the Lord’s kingdom on earth into the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, passing not as into a different kingdom, but as into the same one in which they had been when they lived in the body. But because man has become so bodily-minded he has closed heaven against himself.
* Volume One of the Latin ends here.
PREFACE
[Each chapter in Volume Two of the Latin (Chapters 16-21) was published separately. This Preface therefore may be said to belong before Chapter 16 only. Another Preface occurs before Chapter 18.]
Volume One consisted of an explanation of fifteen chapters of Genesis, stating what these contain in the internal sense. Adjoined to each chapter also were things I have been allowed in the Lord’s Divine mercy to see and hear in the world of spirits and in the angelic heaven. Now comes Volume Two in which such matters are going to be appended in a similar way to each chapter. That which will be appended to this Chapter 16 is concerned with ‘Visions and Dreams’, including those that are prophetical which are described in the Word. I know few people will believe that anyone is able to see the things that manifest themselves in the next life and is consequently able to report anything on the state of souls after death; for few believe in the resurrection, indeed fewer of the learned than of the simple do so. It is true that they speak of it with their lips, for the reason that the doctrine of faith teaches that they will rise again; nevertheless they deny it in their hearts.
[2] In fact some go on to declare quite openly that they will not believe it until somebody rises from the dead, and they see, hear, and touch that person. If this were to be done however it would have to be done for every individual – though in fact no one like this who is a denier at heart would be persuaded by it, but thousands of objections would enter in, which would harden his mind in its negative attitude. Others however say that they will indeed rise again, but on Judgement Day, regarding which they have adopted the idea that at that time all things in the visible universe are going to perish. Yet because people have been awaiting that day for so many centuries, they too are in doubt. What is meant by the Last Judgement spoken of in the Word will be stated briefly, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, at the end of Chapter 17 below.
[3] From this it may be seen what people are like in the Christian world at the present day. The Sadducees referred to in Matt. 22:23 and following verses openly denied any resurrection, yet they did better than those at the present day who, though they say that they do not deny it because, as has been stated, the doctrine of faith teaches it, do nevertheless at heart deny it, so that their words are contrary to their belief, and their belief contrary to their words. To prevent them confirming themselves any further in that false notion however I have been allowed, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, while still in the physical body in the world, to be in the spirit in the next life – for a human being is a spirit clothed with a body. In that world I have been allowed to talk to souls who have risen again not long after their decease. Indeed I have been allowed to talk to almost everyone who has died and with whom I was acquainted during their lifetime, and also day by day for several years now to talk to spirits and angels, and to see the remarkable things in that world which have never entered anyone’s imagination. And in none of these experiences have I been in any way deluded.
[4] Because so many people assert that they will believe if someone comes back to them from the next life it now remains to be seen whether, despite the hardness of their hearts, they will be persuaded. This I can say quite definitely, that those entering the next life from the Christian world are the worst of all for hating the neighbour, hating faith, and denying the Lord – for in that life what is in the heart declares itself, not what is simply on the lips. They are also worse adulterers than all others. And because heaven is thereby beginning to be taken away from those inside the Church, it becomes clear, as I have also been permitted to know quite definitely, that the last times are at hand. With regard to the internal sense of the Word – what it is, and the nature of it – please see what has been stated and shown in Volume One, in 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, 1502 (end), 1540, 1659, 1756, especially in 1767-1777 and 1869-1879, and in 1783, 1807; and in this Volume in 1886-1889 inclusive.
My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will dwell in the land, they, and their sons, and their sons’ sons even for ever. And David my servant will be their Prince for ever. Ezek. 37:24, 25.
And in Hosea,
The children of Israel will return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king. Hosea 3:5.
These promises were written by prophets who lived later than David, yet it is explicitly stated by them that he ‘will be’ their king and prince. From this it may become clear to anyone that in the internal sense David means the Lord. The same applies in all other places, including the historical descriptions, where David is referred to by name.
[2] As regards the names of kingdoms, regions, cities, and men meaning real things, this becomes quite clear in the Prophets. Take this single example in Isaiah,
Thus said the Lord, Jehovih Zebaoth, Do not be afraid – O My people, inhabitant of Zion – of Asshur; he will smite you with a rod, and he will lift up the staff over you in the way of Egypt. Jehovah Zebaoth will lift up the scourge over him, as when Midian was smitten in the rock of Horeb, and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up in the way of Egypt. He will come against Aiath; he will pass over into Migron; he will command his arms towards Michmash. They will cross the Mabarah. Geba will be a lodging-place for us. Hormah* will tremble. Gibeah of Saul will flee. Make a noise with your voice, O daughter of Gallim. Hearken, O Laish. Wail, O Anathoth. Madmenah will wander about. The inhabitants of Gebim will gather themselves together. This very day he is in Nob to stay. The mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, will shake her fist. He will cut down the entangled boughs of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isa. 10:24, 26-34.
[3] These verses include little more than mere names, which would not make any sense at all if, without exception, those names did not mean real things; and if the mind remained fixed on those names, no acknowledgement that it was the Word of the Lord would ever be made. But who is going to believe that all those names in the internal sense contain arcana of heaven? Or that through them the state of people is described who endeavour by means of reasonings based on facts to penetrate the mysteries of faith? Or that by means of each name some particular aspect of that state is described? Or that those reasonings are dispersed by the Lord by means of the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith? That ‘Asshur’ means reasoning, which is the subject in these verses from Isaiah, becomes quite clear from what has been shown regarding ‘Asshur’ in 119, 1186; and that ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge, from what has been shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. See these paragraphs and consider whether or not this is true. It is the same with all other names, and with individual expressions.
* Sw. appears to have copied Hormah from the Schmidius Latin Bible. The Hebrew is Haramah which is generally rendered Ramah in Latin and English versions.
GENESIS 16
1 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no child. And she had an Egyptian servant-girl, and her name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now, Jehovah has prevented me from bearing; go in now to my servant-girl; perhaps I shall be built up from her; and Abram hearkened to Sarai’s voice.
3 And Sarai, Abram’s wife (uxor), took Hagar her Egyptian servant-girl, after Abram had been dwelling ten years in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to Abram her husband (vir) as his wife (mulier).
4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant-girl into your bosom, and she saw that she had conceived, and I am despised in her eyes. May Jehovah judge between me and you!
6 And Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your servant-girl is in your hand; do to her what is good in your eyes. And Sarai humiliated her, and she fled from her face.
7 And the angel of Jehovah found her near a spring of water in the desert, near the spring on the road to Shur.
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s servant-girl, where are you coming from, and where are you going? And she said, From the face of Sarai my mistress I am fleeing.
9 And the angel of Jehovah said to her, Return to your mistress and humble yourself beneath her hands.
10 And the angel of Jehovah said to her, I will multiply your seed greatly and it will not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of Jehovah said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction.
12 And he will be a wild-ass man; his hand will be against all, and the hand of all against him; and he will dwell in opposition to* all his brothers.
13 And she called the name of Jehovah who spoke to her, You are a God who sees me; for she said, Have I not also here seen after Him who sees me?
14 Therefore she called the spring, The spring of the Living One who sees me; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bared.
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was a son of eighty-six years when Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram.
* lit. against the faces of
The subject in this chapter is the first rational with the Lord which was conceived from the influx of the Internal Man into the External Man’s affection for knowledge. The Internal Man is Abram, while the External Man’s affection for knowledge is Hagar the Egyptian servant-girl; and the rational born from these two is Ishmael. The nature of this rational is described, and further on, in Chapter 21, it is said that it was ‘driven out of the house’ after the Lord’s Divine Rational represented by Isaac had been born.
Verse 1 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no child. And she had an Egyptian servant-girl, and her name was Hagar.
‘Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no child’ means that the Rational Man did not as yet exist, ‘Sarai’ being truth allied to good, ‘Abram’ the Lord’s Internal Man, which is Jehovah. ‘And she had an Egyptian servant-girl’ means the affection for knowledge. ‘And her name was Hagar’ means the life of the exterior or natural man.
[2] The Lord’s Rational Man is the subject in the present chapter. The Divine Rational itself is represented by Isaac, but the first rational before it had become Divine is represented by Ishmael. Here therefore the statement that ‘Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no child’ means that the Divine Rational did not as yet exist. As stated already, the Lord was born in the same way as any other, and as regards what He derived from Mary His mother He was like any other. And because the rational is formed through facts and cognitions which enter in by way of the external senses, or the senses that belong to the external man, His first rational was therefore born as it is with any other. But since everything human in Him was made Divine by His own power, so was the rational made Divine. His first rational is described in the present chapter, and once more in Chapter 21, where again in verses 9-21 Hagar and Ishmael are the subject, where it is said that Ishmael was cast out when Isaac, who represents the Divine Rational, had grown up.
[2] As regards Jehovah or the Lord being the only Man and that it is by virtue of Him that men are called ‘men’, also that one is more so man than another, see 49, 288, 477, 565. This matter becomes additionally clear from the fact that Jehovah or the Lord manifested Himself as Man to the patriarchs of the Most Ancient Church, subsequently to Abraham as well, and also to the prophets. This too was why the Lord was pleased, when no man remained on earth any more, that is, when nothing celestial or spiritual was left to mankind any more, to take on human nature by being born as any other, and to make that human nature Divine. In this respect also He is the only Man. In addition to this the whole of heaven presents before the Lord the image of a human being, because it is a presentation of Himself, and as a consequence heaven is called the Grand Man, chiefly from the fact that in heaven the Lord is the All in all.
[2] No one can have much understanding of anything said about these matters until he knows what intellectual truth is in the genuine sense and also in what way the rational is born, namely from the internal man as the father, and from the exterior or natural man as the mother. Unless the two are joined together nothing rational ever comes into being. The rational is not born from knowledge and cognitions, as people suppose, but from the affection for them, as becomes clear merely from the fact that nobody can possibly become rational unless some delight in or affection for such knowledge and cognitions burns within him. The affection constitutes the maternal life itself, while the celestial and spiritual within that affection constitute the paternal life. Consequently it is the degree and the quality of a person’s affection that determine the degree and the quality of the rationality that is developed in him. In themselves facts and cognitions are nothing other than things that are dead, or instrumental causes, which are made alive by the life that belongs to affection. This is how everyone’s rational man is conceived. The reason why the servant-girl was Egyptian and why that fact is mentioned is that ‘Egypt’ means knowledge, as has been shown already in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462,
‘Sarai said to Abram’ means that it was so perceived by Him. ‘Behold, now, Jehovah has prevented me from bearing’ means the state prior to the birth of the Interior or Divine Rational Man. ‘Go in now to my servant-girl’ means a joining to the more exterior man. ‘Perhaps I shall be built up from her’ means the possibility of the rational being born in that way. ‘And Abram hearkened to Sarai’s voice’ means it could not have been achieved in any other way.
[2] The influx of the internal man occurs as an influx into the cognitions and factual knowledge that are present in the exterior man – affection being the means. Meanwhile, before they are present, a communication does indeed exist, but solely through those affections that control the external man; so that not more than very general stirrings and certain appetites occur there, and also certain blind inclinations such as reveal themselves in small children. But this life grows by degrees more definite as vessels are formed in the memory by means of cognitions and in the inner memory by rational concepts. As these vessels are formed and arranged into a sequence – into such a sequence in fact that they stand mutually related to one another like blood relatives and relatives by marriage, or like communities and families – so the correspondence is perfected of the external man with the internal man, and even better so through rational concepts, which are intermediate.
[3] But if the cognitions by means of which those vessels are formed are not truths, a lack of congruity still exists, for the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the internal man do not discover any correspondence for themselves except within truths. Such truths constituting the organic forms of the two memories* are the genuine vessels into which the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith may be introduced fittingly; for when they are so introduced they are arranged by the Lord according to the pattern and image of the communities of heaven, that is, of the Lord’s kingdom – insomuch that the person becomes, in miniature, heaven or the Lord’s kingdom, as also in the Word the minds of those people are called in whom the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are present. But these matters have been stated for the benefit of those minds that like to go more deeply.
* i.e. the interior memory and the exterior memory, see 2469ff.
[2] This intellectual truth represented by Sarai is the spiritual itself which flows in by way of heaven, and so by an internal route. It resides in everyone and is continually coming to meet the cognitions that are introduced by means of perceptions gained by the senses and implanted in the memory. No one is conscious of that intellectual truth within himself as it is too pure to be perceived by a general idea. It is like a kind of light which enlightens the mind and imparts the ability to know, think, and understand. Since the rational cannot come into being except also by means of the influx of intellectual truth, represented by Sarai, it inevitably exists in relation to that truth as its son. When the rational is formed from truths that have been allied to goods, more so when it is formed from goods from which truths derive, it is a true son. Previous to that also it is recognized as a son, yet not as a true son but as one born from a servant-girl. All the same, it is adopted as such, and for the reason here stated, that it was ‘to be built up from her’.
* lit. a childless mother
[2] That which causes him to be born without any knowledge is hereditary evil received from his father and from his mother. Because of that evil all his faculties are turned in a contrary direction insofar as goods and truths are concerned, so that the latter are not able through an immediate influx of celestial and spiritual things from the Lord to be translated into correspondent forms. This is the reason why man’s rational has to be formed in an entirely different manner or way, that is to say, by means of facts and cognitions entering in through the senses, and so by the external route, thus by what is a reversal of order. In this way, miraculously so, a person is made rational by the Lord. This is described by ‘going in to the servant-girl’, which means the joining of the internal man to the exterior man, and by the statement that ‘Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai’, which means that it could not have been achieved in any other way.
[3] Because the Lord was born as any other is born and had a heredity from the mother, He was like any other in this respect also, the purpose being that through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories He might restore all things to order. His Rational as well therefore was conceived and born as it is with any other, yet with the difference that the Divine, or Jehovah – and so the life belonging to love towards the whole human race, on whose behalf and for whose salvation He fought in all His temptations – resided in every single thing that was His inmostly.
‘Sarai, Abram’s wife, took’ means the affection for truth, which in the genuine sense is ‘Sarai the wife’. ‘Hagar her Egyptian servant-girl’ means the life of the exterior man and the affection for knowledge. ‘After Abram had been dwelling ten years in the land of Canaan’ means the remnants of good and of truth deriving from that good which the Lord acquired to Himself and by means of which this rational was conceived. ‘And she gave her to Abram her husband as his wife’ means a joining together prompted by the affection for truth.
[2] Regarded in themselves good and truth do not possess any life, but they derive their life from love or affection. They are merely the instruments that serve life. Consequently as is the love producing the affection for good and truth, so is the life; for the whole of life constitutes the whole of love or affection. This is why ‘Sarai his wife’ in the genuine sense means the affection for truth. And because the Intellectual desired the Rational as its offspring, and because what she says is an expression of that desire or affection, this verse contains the explicit wording, ‘Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave to Abram her husband’ which would be an unnecessary repetition – for in themselves these words would be quite superfluous – if such matters were not embodied within the internal sense.
[3] Intellectual truth is distinct and separate from rational truth, and rational truth from factual truth, just as what is internal, what is intermediate, and what is external are. Intellectual truth is internal, rational truth is intermediate, while factual truth is external. These are quite distinct and separate because one is interior to another. With everyone intellectual truth, which is internal, or that present within the inmost part of him, is not his own but is the Lord’s with him. From this the Lord flows into the rational, where truth first appears as if it were the person’s own, and through the rational into his faculty of knowing. From these considerations it is clear that nobody can possibly think as of himself from intellectual truth, but from rational truth and factual truth because these do appear as if they were his.
[4] Only the Lord, when He lived in the world, thought from intellectual truth, for that truth was His own Divine truth joined to good, or the Divine spiritual joined to the Divine celestial. In this respect the Lord was different from all others. Man in no way possesses the ability to think from the Divine existing within himself as his essential self, nor can that ability possibly exist within man, only within Him who was conceived from Jehovah. Because He thought from intellectual truth, that is, from the love or affection for intellectual truth, from that truth also He desired the Rational. This is why it is stated here that ‘Sarai, Abram’s wife’, by whom is meant the affection for intellectual truth, ‘took Hagar the Egyptian and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife (mulier)’.
[5] No other arcana concealed here can be brought out and explained intelligibly because the human being dwells in very great obscurity regarding his own internals. Indeed he has no conception of these, for he identifies the rational and the intellectual degrees of the mind with the factual degree, not knowing that these degrees are distinct and separate, so distinct in fact that the intellectual is able to exist without the rational, as also can the rational, while subordinate to the intellectual, exist without the factual. This must inevitably seem absurd to those wholly immersed in factual knowledge, but it is nevertheless the truth. It is not possible however for anyone to have truth present in the factual degree of his mind, that is to say, to have an affection for it and a belief in it, if truth is not present in the rational, into which and through which the Lord flows in from the intellectual degree. These arcana do not lie open to man’s view except in the next life.
[2] Later on, when he grows up, this good, innocent, and peaceful state of early childhood departs from him little by little; and insofar as he is introduced into the world, he enters into its pleasures and delights, and so into evils, and the heavenly things or the goods of early childhood start to be dispersed. Yet they still remain, it being by means of these that the states are moderated which a person takes to himself and acquires later on. Without them he cannot possibly be truly human, for states in which evil desires or any evils occur, if not moderated by means of states in which the affection for good is present, would be more dreadful than those of any animal. Those states of good are what are called remnants, which are conferred by the Lord and implanted in a person’s natural disposition, this being done when the person is not aware of it.
[3] In later life he has further new states conferred on him; but these are not so much states of good as of truth, for as he grows up he has truths bestowed on him, and these in a similar way are stored away within his interior man. By means of these remnants, which are those of truth, and which have been born from the influx of spiritual things from the Lord, a person has the ability to think, and also to understand what the good and truth of civil or public life and moral or private life are, and also to receive spiritual truth, that is, the truth of faith. Yet he has no ability to do these things except by means of the remnants of good which he received in early childhood. Of the existence of remnants, and the fact that they are stored away in man in his interior rational, man is completely unaware. That unawareness is due to thinking that nothing flows in but that everything is innate within him, and thus present within him when he is an infant, though the reality is altogether different from that. Remnants are referred to in various places in the Word, and by them are meant those states by which a person becomes human, and this from the Lord alone.
[4] The remnants which resided with the Lord however were all the Divine states which He acquired to Himself and by means of which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. These are in no way comparable with the remnants that reside with man, for the latter are not Divine but human. The remnants the Lord had are what is meant by the ten years Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. When angels hear the Word they have no knowledge of what ‘ten’ is; but the moment ten is mentioned by man the idea of remnants comes to them, for ‘ten’ and ‘tenths’ in the Word mean remnants, as is clear from what has been stated and shown in 576, 1738. And when they perceive that ‘Abram had been dwelling ten years in the land of Canaan’ the idea of the Lord comes to them, and with it simultaneously countless things meant by the remnants residing with the Lord when He was in the world.
[2] As it flows in, life is not directed towards anything except the end in view, for with everyone that end is his love, and it is love alone which is living. All else in him is purely derivative, getting its life from the end in view. Anyone may see what kind of life he possesses, if only he will find out what kind of end he has in view. He does not have to find out the nature of all his ends, for these are countless, as many as his intentions and almost as many as the judgements and conclusions arrived at by his thoughts. These are merely secondary ends derived from the main one or tending towards it. All he has to find out is the end which he prefers above all others, and in comparison with which all others are as nothing. If he has self and the world as his end, let him recognize that his life is that of hell; but if he has the good of the neighbour, the common good, the Lord’s kingdom, and above all the Lord Himself as his end, let him recognize that his life is that of heaven.
[2] It is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not apprehend this, but supposes that if it did not live of itself it would possess no life at all; indeed it is angry if anything different is asserted, as I have noticed frequently in the case of spirits who cling to the illusions of the senses.
[3] It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord. Again, the rational conceived first does not apprehend this because of its sensation that these are as if from itself; and also it supposes that if good and truth are not from itself, it is unable to think, let alone perform, anything good and true, and that if it did have some other source it would give up its own efforts and constantly wait for influx into itself.
[4] It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good, and not even the smallest amount of evil, comes from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not believe this either, but it supposes that because the Lord rules over every single thing, even evil derives from Him. And because He is all powerful and present everywhere and is Goodness itself but does not abolish the punishments of evil people in hell, it supposes that He wills the evil of punishment, when in fact He does not do evil to anyone and does not will that anyone should be punished.
[5] It is an intellectual truth that the celestial man has from the Lord a perception of good and truth. But the first rational either denies the existence of perception altogether or else it supposes that if it did perceive from another and not from its own self it would be like one who is inanimate, or devoid of life. Indeed the more that the thinking of the rational is based on the facts that arise from sensory evidence and the more it is based on philosophical arguments, the less it apprehends these and all other intellectual truths, for the illusions that result are enveloped in shadows darker still. This is why the learned are less believing than others.
[6] Since the rational conceived first is such, it is clear that ‘it despises its mistress’, that is, it despises intellectual truth. Intellectual truth is not open to view, that is, it is not acknowledged, until illusions and appearances have been dispersed, and these are never dispersed as long as a person reasons about truths themselves on the basis of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. But the moment he believes in simplicity of heart that it is the truth because the Lord has declared it to be so, the shadows of illusions are at that point dispelled, and then there is nothing to stop him apprehending it.
[7] With the Lord however no illusions were present; but when His rational was first conceived there were appearances of truth which were not truths in themselves, as is evident from what has been stated in 1661. This also explains why His rational when first conceived despised intellectual truth, but step by step, as the rational became Divine, the clouds of appearances were dispersed and intellectual truths in their light were for Him open to view. This was represented and meant by the expulsion of Ishmael from the house when Isaac grew up. That the Lord did not despise intellectual truth but that He perceived and saw that His new rational did so will be clear from what follows in 1914.
‘Sarai said to Abram’ means that the affection for truth so perceived. ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant-girl into your bosom’ means its unwillingness to take any blame. ‘And she saw that she had conceived’ means the initial life of the rational. ‘And I am despised in her eyes’ means here, as previously, that at its conception this rational despised truth itself that was allied to good. ‘May Jehovah judge between me and you!’ means the Lord’s righteous anger.
[2] The Lord’s being able from the interior man to perceive and see the nature of the new rational within Himself becomes clear from the fact that what is interior is able to perceive that which occurs in the exterior, or what amounts to the same, what is higher is able to see that which occurs in that which is lower, but not the reverse. Moreover, those who have conscience are able and are accustomed to do the same, for when anything contrary to the truth constituting conscience enters their thought or the intentions of their will, they not only recognize it for what it is but also pour blame upon it; indeed it grieves them that their own nature is such. This is all the more true of those who have perception, for perception is more interior within the rational. What then could the Lord not do who had Divine celestial perception and whose thought sprang from the affection for intellectual truth which is above the rational? Therefore He could not be anything else but righteously angry since He knew that no evil or falsity at all stemmed from Himself and that from the affection for truth He strove anxiously with all His might so that the rational might be pure. From this it becomes clear that the Lord did not despise intellectual truth, yet perceived that the first rational with Him did so.
[3] What thinking from intellectual truth is cannot be explained intelligibly, all the less so because nobody except the Lord has ever thought from that affection and that kind of truth. Anyone who thinks from them is above the angelic heaven, for the angels of the third heaven do not think from intellectual truth but from the interior part of the rational. But to the extent that the Lord united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, He thought from Divine Good itself, that is, from Jehovah.
[4] The early fathers of the Most Ancient Church, who had perception, thought from the interior rational. The fathers of the Ancient Church, who did not have perception but conscience, thought from the exterior or natural rational. But all who do not have conscience never think from the rational at all, since they have no rational however much they appear to do so. Instead they think from the sensory and the bodily experience of the natural. People who do not have conscience are unable to think from the rational for the reason, as has been stated, that they have no rational. The rational man is one in whom the good and truth of faith are the substance of his thought and never one who thinks in opposition to these. Those in whom evil and falsity are the substance of their thought are insane as to their thought and therefore the rational cannot be attributed to them.
‘Abram said to Sarai’ means perception. ‘Behold, your servant-girl is in your hand’ means that this rational was conceived from the controlling power of the affection for truth allied to good. ‘Do to her what is good in your eyes’ means complete control over. ‘And Sarai humiliated her’ means subjection.
‘And she fled from her face’ means the anger of this rational conceived first.
[2] Conscience is a kind of general and thus obscure dictate which presents those things that flow in from the Lord by way of the heavens. Those things that flow in manifest themselves in the interior rational man where they are enveloped so to speak in cloud. This cloud is the product of appearances and illusions concerning the goods and truths of faith. Thought is, in truth, distinct and separate from conscience; yet it flows from conscience, for people who have conscience think and speak according to it. Indeed thought is scarcely anything more than a loosening of the various strands that make up conscience, and a converting of these into separate ideas which pass into words. Hence it is that the Lord holds those who have conscience in good thoughts regarding the neighbour and withholds them from evil thoughts. For this reason conscience can never exist except with people who love the neighbour as themselves and have good thoughts regarding the truths of faith. These considerations brought forward here show how conscience differs from thought, and from this one may recognize how perception differs from thought.
[3] The Lord’s perception came directly from Jehovah, and so from Divine Good, whereas His thought came from intellectual truth and the affection for it, as stated above in 1904, 1914. No idea, not even an angelic one, is adequate as a means to apprehend the Lord’s Divine perception, and thus this lies beyond description. The perception which angels have – described in 1384 and following paragraphs, 1394, 1395 – adds up to scarcely anything at all when contrasted with the perception that was the Lord’s. Because the Lord’s perception was Divine, it was a perception of everything in heaven; and being a perception of everything in heaven it was also a perception of everything on earth. For such is the order, interconnection, and influx that anyone who has a perception of heavenly things has a perception of earthly as well.
[4] But after the Lord’s Human Essence had become united to His Divine Essence, and had become at the same time Jehovah, the Lord was then above what is called perception, for He was above the order which exists in the heavens and from there upon earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and therefore one may say that Jehovah is Order itself, for from Himself He governs order, not merely, as is supposed, in the universal but also in its most specific singulars, for it is these singulars that make up the universal. To speak of the universal and then separate such singulars from it would be no different from speaking of a whole that has no parts within it and so no different from speaking of something consisting of nothing. Thus it is sheer falsity – a figment of the imagination, as it is called – to speak of the Lord’s Providence as belonging to the universal but not to its specific singulars; for to provide and govern universally but not specifically is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, yet, strange to say, philosophers themselves, including the more eminent, understand this matter in a different way and think in a different way.
[2] These things were said to Sarai, who represents intellectual truth which the Lord Himself had and was the source from which He thought, as stated above in 1904, 1914, and from this truth He had complete control over the rational and also over the natural that was part of the exterior man. Anyone who thinks from intellectual truth and perceives from Divine good – which good was also His because it was the Father’s, for He had no other soul – cannot do other than act from the power that is his own. Since therefore by His own power He tamed and cast out the evil present by heredity, it was by His own power as well that He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence – the one being a consequence of the other.
[3] One who is conceived from Jehovah has no other Internal, that is, has none but Jehovah as his soul; for that reason He was as regards His very life itself Jehovah Himself. Jehovah, or the Divine Essence, cannot be divided in the way a human father’s soul from which a child is conceived can be divided. To the extent the offspring moves away from the likeness of its father it moves away from the father himself, more and more so as it grows older. This is why a father’s love for his children diminishes as they grow older. In the Lord’s case it was different. As He grew older He did not so move away as regards the Human Essence but constantly drew closer until perfect union was achieved. From this it is clear that He is identical with Jehovah the Father, as He Himself also plainly teaches in John 14:6, 8-11.
‘The angel of Jehovah found her’ means thought in the interior man, ‘the angel of Jehovah’ here being the interior thought which came from the Lord’s Internal. ‘Near a spring of water in the desert’ means natural truth that has not yet acquired any life. ‘Near the spring on the road to Shur’ means that this truth was an assemblage of things which come from facts.
[2] This was the case with the angels who uttered the Word of the Lord, as I have been given to know from much similar experience in the next life, experience that will be presented in the Lord’s Divine mercy further on. This is the reason why angels were sometimes called Jehovah, as is quite clear from the angel that appeared in the bramble-bush to Moses, concerning whom the following is recorded,
The angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the middle of the bramble-bush. Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the middle of the bramble-bush God said to Moses, I am who I am. And God said again to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Exod. 3:2, 4, 14, 15.
From these verses it is evident that it was an angel who appeared to Moses as a flame in the bramble- bush and that he spoke as Jehovah, because the Lord or Jehovah was speaking through him.
[3] So that man may be spoken to by means of articulated sounds heard in the natural world, the Lord employs angels as His ministers by filling them with the Divine and by rendering unconscious all that is their own, so that for the time being they know no other than that they themselves are Jehovah. In this way the Divine of Jehovah which belongs in highest things comes down into the lowest constituting the natural world in which man sees and hears. It was similar in the case of the angel who spoke to Gideon, of whom the following is said in the Book of Judges,
The angel of Jehovah appeared to Gideon and said to him, Jehovah is with you, O mighty man of strength. And Gideon said to him, Forgive me for asking,* O my Lord; why has all this befallen us? And Jehovah looked on him and said, Go in this might of yours. And Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with you. Judg. 6:12-14, 16.
And further on,
Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovih! Inasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face.** And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to you; do not fear. Judg. 6:22, 23.
Here similarly it was an angel, but his state was such at that time that he knew no other than that he was Jehovah, or the Lord. Elsewhere in the Book of Judges,
The angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will not break my covenant with you, even for ever. Judg. 2:1.
Here similarly the angel speaks in the name of Jehovah, declaring that he brought them out of the land of Egypt, though in fact it was not the angel who led them out but Jehovah, as is stated many times elsewhere.
[4] From this it may become clear how angels spoke through the prophets – that it was the Lord Himself who spoke, yet through angels, and that the angels spoke nothing at all from themselves. That the Word come from the Lord is clear from many places, as also in Matthew,
To fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a son. Matt. 1:22, 23.
And there are other places besides this. It is because the Lord speaks through angels when He speaks to man that the Lord is also called an angel in various places in the Word. In these instances ‘anger’ means, as stated, some essential quality residing with the Lord and deriving from Him, as is the case here where it is the Lord’s interior thought. This also is the reason why in this chapter the angel is named Jehovah and also God, as in verse 13, ‘And Hagar called the name of Jehovah who was speaking to her, You are a God who sees me’.
[5] In other places ‘angels’ is used in a similar way to mean some specific attribute that is the Lord’s, as in John,
The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. Rev. 1:20.
There are no angels of Churches, but by ‘angers’ is meant that which constitutes the Church, and thus which is the Lord’s in regard to the Churches. In the same book,
I saw the wall of the Holy Jerusalem, great and high, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and names written which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Rev. 21:12.
Here ‘twelve angels’ has the same meaning as ‘the twelve tribes’, namely all things of faith, and so the Lord from whom faith and all that belongs to it is derived. In the same book,
I saw an angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel. Rev. 14:6.
Here ‘an anger’ means the gospel that is the Lord’s alone.
[6] In Isaiah,
The angel of His presence*** saved them;**** in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and lifted them up and carried them all the days of eternity. Isa. 63:9.
Here ‘the angel of His presence” is used to mean the Lord’s mercy towards the entire human race in redeeming it. Similarly in Jacob’s blessing of the sons of Joseph,
May the angel who has redeemed me from every evil bless the boys. Gen. 48:16.
Here also the redemption, which is the Lord’s, is meant by ‘the angel’. In Malachi,
Suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Mal. 3:1.
Here it is plainly evident that the Lord is meant by ‘the angel’. The expression ‘the angel of the covenant’ is used here because of His Coming into the world. In Exodus it is plainer still that ‘an angel’ means the Lord,
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. He will not tolerate your transgression, for My name is within him. Exod. 23:20, 21.
From this it is now clear that ‘an angel’ in the Word is used to mean the Lord; but just what aspect of the Lord is evident from the train of thought in the internal sense.
* lit. In me or On me
** lit. faces to faces
*** lit. faces
**** The Latin means us but the Hebrew means them which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
The boy grew and became strong in spirit; he was however in desert places till the days of his manifestation to Israel. Luke 1:80.*
It may be confirmed from very many places in the Word that ‘spring of water’ and ‘desert’ have these meanings, but as ‘springs’ and also ‘a desert’ are frequently mentioned in places further on where they have the same meanings, confirmations will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be given in those places. What truth is when it has yet to acquire life will be clear from what is to be stated next.
* This verse in fact refers to John the Baptist; but see 1457.
[2] The Lord, who from Himself was to govern the whole of heaven, imposed such order while He was in the world on the truths and goods present with His External Man, that is, with His Human Essence. But because He perceived that such order did not exist with His rational conceived first, as was stated above at verses 4 and 5, He thought about and perceived the reason why. This was that natural truths arising from facts did not as yet have any life in them, that is, that heavenly order had not been imposed on them. Furthermore truths of faith never possess any life unless a person is leading a charitable life, charity being that form from which all truths of faith flow, and that in which they inhere; and when they inhere in and flow from charity they possess life. It is in charity that life resides, never in truths devoid of charity.
[3] That ‘Shur’ means factual knowledge that as yet has not acquired life is clear from the meaning of this name. Shur was a desert not far from the Sea Suph, and so lay in the direction of Egypt, as is clear in Moses,
Moses made Israel journey from the Sea Suph, and they went out to the desert of Shur; from there they went three days in the desert, and did not find any water. Exod. 15:22.
That it lay in the direction of Egypt is again clear in Moses where the descendants of Ishmael are the subject,
They dwelt from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt.* Gen. 25:18.
And in Samuel,
Saul defeated Amalek from Havilah as you come to Shur, which is opposite Egypt’.* 1 Sam. 15:7.
And elsewhere in 1 Samuel,
David spread out against the Geshurites, and the Gizrites, and the Amalekites, who inhabited the land from of old, as you come to Shur and as far as the land of Egypt. 1 Sam. 27:8.
These quotations show that ‘Shur’ means primary factual knowledge, in particular such as is still in the desert, that is, not yet joined to all the rest in accordance with the form which heavenly communities possess, for ‘Egypt’ which it was opposite** means knowledge in every sense, as shown already in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462.
* lit. towards the faces of Egypt
** lit. towards the face of which it was
‘He said, Hagar, Sarai’s servant-girl’ means information. ‘Where are you coming from, and where are you going?’ means [information] regarding the state. ‘And she said, From the face of Sarai my mistress I am fleeing’ means the reply and anger.
‘The angel of Jehovah said’ means the reply given by the Lord’s Interior Man. ‘Return to your mistress’ means that the reply indicated that it ought not to place trust in itself but in interior truth and the affection for it. ‘And humble yourself beneath her hands’ means that it ought by self-compulsion to place itself under the controlling power of that interior truth.
[2] It is a Divine truth that in the Word every expression, which to man seems to be utterly simple and unwrought, possesses an incalculable number of facets, more in fact than the whole of heaven. And the arcana contained there can be displayed by the Lord to angels in unending variety continuing for ever. To the rational this is so hard to believe that it is never willing to give any credence to it. Nevertheless it is the truth.
[3] It is a Divine truth that nobody is ever rewarded in the next life for good deeds if he has set merit by them, and if he has done them for the sake of his own gain, position, and reputation. Nor is anyone ever punished for bad deeds if he has acted with a truly good end in view; for in the next life it is the ends that are regarded, and deeds in the light of those ends. This too the rational is not able to believe, but because this which it does not believe is the truth, no trust should be placed in a rational which does not base its conclusions on internal things but on external.
[4] It is a Divine truth that the one who seeks the least joy in the next life receives the greatest from the Lord, and the one who seeks the greatest has the least; also that within heavenly joy there is never any element of being pre-eminent over another, for insofar as such pre-eminence occurs hell is present; also that within heavenly glory there is not the least trace of worldly glory. These considerations too are repugnant to the rational; but they ought nevertheless to be believed because they are true.
[5] It is also a Divine truth that the more someone believes that none of his wisdom originates in himself the wiser he is, and the more he believes it does originate there, and so attributes sound judgement to himself, the more stupid he is. This too the rational denies, for it supposes that what does not originate in itself is nothing. Countless Divine truths exist such as these few given as examples, which show that no trust should be placed in the rational, since the rational is immersed in illusions and appearances. It therefore rejects truths when these are stripped of illusions and appearances, all the more rejecting them the more that self-love and its desires are present, as well as reasonings, and false assumptions regarding faith. See also the examples presented above in 1911.
[2] There are certain spirits who during their lifetime, having heard that all good originated in the Lord and that man was unable from himself to perform any good at all, had for these reasons held to a principle of not compelling themselves in anything and of remaining utterly passive; for they had supposed that, what they had heard being true, any effort at all made by them was totally ineffectual. They had therefore waited for immediate influx into the effort of their will and had not compelled themselves to do anything good. Indeed when anything evil had crept in, since they did not feel from within any resistance to it, they had gone so far as to abandon themselves to it, imagining that it was permissible to do so. But those spirits are such that they do not possess so to speak any selfhood, and so do not possess any mind of their own, and are therefore among the more useless; for they suffer themselves to be led just as much by the evil as by the good, and suffer much from the evil.
[3] But those who have practiced self-compulsion and set themselves against evil and falsity – even though at first they had imagined that they did so of themselves, or by their own power, but had after that been enlightened to the effect that their effort originated in the Lord, even the smallest of all the impulses of that effort – in the next life cannot be led by evil spirits, but are among the blessed. This shows that a person ought to compel himself to do what is good and to speak what is true. The arcanum Lying within this is that in so doing a person has a heavenly proprium bestowed on him from the Lord. This heavenly proprium is formed within the effort of his thought; but if he does not maintain that effort through self-compulsion – as this appears to be the way it is maintained – he does not by any means do so by abstaining from self-compulsion.
[4] To make this matter clearer let it be said that within all compulsion towards what is good a certain freedom exists, which is not recognized as freedom while a person is exercising self-compulsion, but is nevertheless inwardly present. Take for example one who is willing to risk death for the sake of some particular end, or one who is willing to endure physical pain for the sake of his health. There is a willingness and so a certain freedom in those actions, though while he is taking risks or suffering pain these remove any feeling of willingness or freedom. So also with those who compel themselves to do what is good. Present within them there is a willingness and thus freedom, which is the source of and the reason for their self-compulsion. That is to say, they compel themselves for the reason that they may obey the things which the Lord has commanded and that their souls may become saved after death; and within these a still greater reason is present, though the person himself is not aware of it, namely the Lord’s kingdom, and indeed the Lord Himself.
[5] This applies most of all in times of temptation. In these, when a person practices self-compulsion and sets himself against the evil and falsity that are implanted and prompted by’ evil spirits, more freedom is present than there would ever be in any state outside those times of temptation, though the person cannot comprehend it then. It is an interior freedom, which produces in him the will to subdue evil and which is great enough to match the power and might of the evil assailing him; otherwise he would not be able to fight at all. This freedom comes from the Lord who implants it in his conscience and by means of it causes him to overcome evil as though he did so from his own proprium. By means of that freedom the person receives a proprium into which the Lord is able to exert good. Without a proprium acquired, that is, conferred, by means of freedom, no one can possibly be reformed, since he is unable to receive a new will, which is conscience. The freedom so conferred is the actual plane into which the influx of good and truth from the Lord passes. Consequently people who in times of temptation do not put up any resistance from that will or freedom conferred on them go under.
[6] Present in all freedom is a person’s life, because present there is his love. Whatever a person does from love appears to him as freedom. But within that freedom, when the person practices self- compulsion, setting himself against evil and falsity and doing what is good, heavenly love is present which the Lord instills at that time and by means of which He creates that person’s proprium. It is the Lord’s will therefore that this proprium should appear to the person to be his own, though in fact it is not. This proprium which a person receives in this manner during his lifetime by means, as it seems, of compulsion, the Lord replenishes in the next life with limitless forms of delight and happiness. Such people are also by degrees enlightened, or rather are confirmed, in the truth that their self-compulsion has not commenced at all in themselves but that even the smallest of all the impulses of their will has been received from the Lord. They are also led to see that the reason why their compulsion had appeared to commence in themselves was that the Lord might give them a new will as their own, and in this way the life belonging to heavenly love might be imparted to them as their own. Indeed the Lord’s will is to share with everyone that which is His, thus that which is heavenly, so that it may appear to be that person’s and to be within him, though in fact it is not his. A proprium such as this exists with angels, and insofar as they accept the truth that everything good and true comes from the Lord the delight and happiness belonging to such a proprium exist with them.
[7] People however who despise and reject everything good and true and who are unwilling to believe anything that conflicts with their evil desires and their reasonings are unable to compel themselves and so are unable to receive this proprium imparted to conscience, that is, to receive a new will. From what has been stated above it is also evident that self-compulsion is not the same as being compelled, for no good ever results from being compelled, as when one person is being compelled by another to do good. What is being discussed here is self-compulsion which is the product of a certain freedom unknown to the individual, for the Lord is never the source of any compulsion. From this comes the universal law that everything good and true is implanted in freedom. Otherwise the ground never becomes receptive and able to foster what is good; indeed there is no ground for the seed to grow in.
‘The angel of Jehovah said’ means the interior man’s thought. ‘I will multiply your seed greatly’ means the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the controlling power of intellectual truth allied to good. ‘And it will not be numbered for multitude’ means being multiplied immeasurably.
[2] As regards multiplication and fruitfulness within man’s rational, this cannot be understood unless one knows about influx, regarding which the following may be said of it in general: Within everybody, as stated already, there is the internal man, the rational man, which is in the middle, and the external man. The internal man is the inmost part of him by virtue of which he is a human being and which makes him distinct and separate from animals, which do not possess that inmost part. The internal man is so to speak the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for celestial and spiritual things that are the Lord’s, to come into a person. What goes on there the individual cannot comprehend since it is entirely above his rational from which he thinks. To this inmost or internal man the rational which appears as the person’s own is subordinate. Into this rational by way of that internal man flow heavenly things of love and faith from the Lord; and by way of this rational they flow on into the facts that belong to the external man. But how these things flowing in are received depends on the individual person’s state.
[3] Unless the rational is submissive to goods and truths that are the Lord’s this rational either stifles, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in, the more so when they flow into facts in the memory that are derived from sensory evidence. These things when so received are meant by the seed that falls either on the pathway, or over stony ground, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches in Matt. 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7. But when the rational is submissive and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is like the ground or good soil into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.
‘The angel of Jehovah said to her’ means the interior man’s thought. ‘Behold, you are with child’ means the life of the rational man. ‘You will bear a son’ means the truth of this [rational man]. ‘And you will call his name Ishmael’ means its state of life. ‘Because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction’ means since it was submitting itself.
[2] His reasoning against good and truth – which good and truth he denies in his heart, yet has heard of and therefore knows of – does not mean that he has a rational. Many are able to reason in the same way who without any compunction rush into every kind of wicked action, and who differ from others only in this respect, that those people who suppose they have a rational, but in fact do not, display a certain correctness in the things they say and a presence of honourableness in the things they do, and are held to these habits by means of external restraints, such as fear of the law, and of the loss of possessions, position, reputation, or life. If these restraints, which are external, were taken away, some of these people would behave even more insanely than those who have no compunction at all. Nobody therefore can be said to have a rational merely on account of an ability to reason. Indeed those who do not have a rational usually speak from sensory experience and factual knowledge with far greater skill than those who do have it.
[3] This is absolutely clear from evil spirits in the next life who, though they were considered to be the most rational of people during their lifetime, are nevertheless more insane than those who are obviously so in the world, when the external restraints which had been responsible for their correctness in the things they said and for the presence of honourableness in the things they did are removed, as such restraints usually are with all in the next life. Indeed they plunge without shame, fear, or horror into everything that is wicked. Not so when external restraints are removed in the case of people who were rational when they lived in the world; they are saner men still because they have internal restraints, which are the restraints of conscience, by which the Lord has kept their thoughts bound to the laws of truth and good, which constituted their rational concepts.
[2] Furthermore everyone who is not free desires to become so, for this is his life. From this it is evident that nothing is in any way pleasing to the Lord that is not done in freedom, that is, spontaneously or willingly. For when anyone worships the Lord under circumstances in which he is not free he worships Him with nothing of himself. In his case that which moves the external is the external, that is, it is moved under compulsion – the internal being non-existent, or else incompatible, and even contradictory. When a person is being regenerated he compels himself from the freedom the Lord imparts to him, and humbles, and indeed afflicts, his rational, so that it may submit itself, and in consequence he receives a heavenly proprium. This proprium is then gradually perfected by the Lord and it becomes more and more free, so that as a result it becomes the affection for good and for truth deriving from that good, and possesses delight. And in that affection and delight there is happiness such as the angels experience. This freedom is what the Lord Himself is referring to in John.
The truth makes you free. If the Son makes you free, you are truly free. John 8:32, 36.*
[3] What this freedom is, is totally unknown to those who do not have conscience, for they identify freedom with feelings of being at liberty and without restraint to think and utter what is false, and to will and do what is evil, and not to control and humble, still less to afflict, those feelings. Yet this is the complete reverse of freedom, as the Lord again teaches in the same place,
Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. John 8:34.
People acquire this slave-like freedom from the hellish spirits who reside with them and who inject it into them. When the life of those hellish spirits takes possession of them so do the loves and desires of those same spirits; for an unclean and utterly disgusting delight blows upon them, and being carried away so to speak in a stream they imagine themselves to be in freedom; but it is hellish freedom. The difference between this hellish freedom and heavenly freedom is that the former spells death and drags them down into hell, while the latter, that is, heavenly freedom, promises life and lifts them up to heaven.
[4] That all true internal worship springs from freedom, not from compulsion, and that unless it springs from freedom it is not internal worship, is clear from the Word, from the sacrifices – free- will, votive, and peace or eucharistic- which were called offerings and oblations, mentioned in Num. 15:3 and following verses; Deut. 12:6; 16:10, 11; 23:23; and elsewhere. In David,
With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to You; I will confess Your name, O Jehovah, for it is good. Ps. 54:6.
From the thruma,** or the collection which the people were to contribute towards the Tabernacle and sacred vestments, referred to in Moses,
Speak to the children of Israel and let them receive for Me a collection; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive My collection. Exod. 25:2.
And elsewhere in Moses,
Everyone who is willing in heart shall bring it, Jehovah’s collection. Exod. 35:5.
[5] The humbling of the rational man, or affliction of it – as stated, from freedom – was also represented by the affliction souls underwent during festivals, referred to in Moses,
It shall be a statute to you for ever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls. Lev. 16:29.
And elsewhere in Moses,
On the tenth day of the seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls. Every soul who does not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off from his peoples. Lev. 23:27, 29.
It is for this reason that unleavened bread in which no fermentation has taken place is called the bread of affliction in Deut. 16:2, 3. Affliction is referred to in David in the following way,
O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and performs righteousness, who swears to the affliction of himself and changes not. Ps. 15:1, 2, 4.
[6] That ‘affliction’ is the taming and subduing of evils and falsities rising up from the external man into the rational man may become clear from what has been stated. Thus it is not any reduction of oneself to poverty and misery – not a renunciation of bodily enjoyments – that is meant by affliction. No taming and subduing of evil can result from doing that; indeed it may give rise to an additional evil, namely the desire to receive merit for such a renunciation; and what is more, man’s freedom suffers, in which alone, as its ground, the good and truth of faith is able to be sown. Affliction also means temptation; see what has been said already in 1846.
* In 9096, where this verse is quoted, the verbs are future tense, as in the Greek.
** A Hebrew word meaning an offering
‘He will be a wild-ass man’ means rational truth, which is described. ‘His hand will be against all’ means that it will fight against those things that are not true. ‘And the hand of all against him’ means that falsities will fight back. ‘And he will dwell in opposition to* all his brothers’ means incessant strife against things of faith, but rational truth will nevertheless be the conqueror.
* lit. against the faces of
[2] How can anyone believe that rational truth separated from rational good is of such a nature? I myself would not have known if I had not been taught from actual experience. Whether you refer to it as rational truth or as the person whose rational is of that nature, it amounts to the same thing. The person whose rational is such as consists in truth alone, even though this is the truth of faith, and does not at the same time consist in the good of charity, is altogether such. He is quick to find fault, makes no allowances, is against all, regards everyone as being in error, is instantly prepared to rebuke, to chasten, and to punish, shows no pity, does not apply himself and makes no effort to redirect people’s thinking; for he views everything from the standpoint of truth, and nothing from the standpoint of good. In short, he is a hard man. The one thing to soften his hardness is the good of charity, for good is the soul of truth, and when good draws near and implants itself in truth the latter becomes so different that it can hardly be recognized. ‘Isaac’ represents the Lord’s Rational Man which sprang from good, not from truth separated from good. So it was that Ishmael was cast out and after that dwelt in the desert, and that his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt, Gen. 21:9-21, all of which events are representative of a person who is endowed with a rational such as that.
[3] Mention is made of wild asses in the prophetical parts of the Word, as in Isaiah,
The palace will be deserted, the multitude of the city forsaken; the hill and the watchtower will become dens, even for ever the joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks. Isa. 32:14.
This refers to the devastation of intellectual concepts – which when devastated of truths are called ‘the joy of wild asses’ and when devastated of goods ‘a pasture of flocks’ – so that the rational does not exist. In Jeremiah,
The wild asses stood on the hills, they panted for air like sea-monsters; their eyes failed because there was no herbage. Jer. 14:6.
This refers to a drought, or absence of good and truth. Reference is made to the wild asses ‘panting for air’ when people lay hold of inane ideas instead of realities which are truths. ‘Their eyes failed’ stands for failing to grasp what truth is.
[4] In Hosea,
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim has sought lovers* with a prostitute’s hire. Hosea 8:9.
This refers to Israel or the spiritual Church. ‘Ephraim’ stands for the understanding part of it. ‘Going up to Assyria’ stands for reasoning about whether the truth is indeed the truth. ‘A wild ass alone’ stands for the rational thus destitute of truths. In the same prophet,
For he will be among his brothers like a wild ass, Jehovah’s east wind will come rising up from the desert, and his spring will become dry, and his fountain dried up. It will strip his treasury of all precious vessels. Hosea 13:15.
This refers to ‘Ephraim’ by whom the understanding part of the spiritual Church is meant, and to the dissolution of the rational which is like ‘a wild ass’. In David,
Jehovah God will send forth springs into the rivers; they will go among the mountains. They give drink to every wild beast of the fields; the wild asses quench their thirst. Ps. 104:10, 11.
‘Springs’ stands for cognitions, ‘wild beasts of the fields’ for goods, ‘the wild asses’ for the truths of reason.
* lit. loves
[2] The whole of the genuine rational consists of good and truth, that is, of what is celestial and what is spiritual. Good or what is celestial is its actual soul or life, truth or what is spiritual is that which draws its life from that good. A rational devoid of life received from celestial good is as is described here, that is to say, it fights with all, and all fight with it. Rational good never fights, no matter how much it is assailed, because it is gentle and mild, long-suffering and yielding, for its nature is that of love and mercy. But although it does not fight, it nevertheless conquers all. It does not ever think of combat, nor does it glory in victory. It is of this nature because it is Divine and is of itself immune from harm; for no evil can assail good, indeed it cannot even remain in the sphere where good is. Just as soon as it approaches, evil retreats of itself and falls back; for evil is of hell, while good is of heaven. Much the same is the case with that which is celestial-spiritual, that is, with truth from a celestial origin, or truth that derives from good, for such truth is truth formed from good – insomuch that one may call it the form of good.
[3] But truth separated from good, which is represented here by Ishmael and is described in this verse, is altogether different, for it is like a wild ass, fighting with all and all with it. Indeed it hardly does anything else than think about and long for conflict. Its general delight or ruling affection is conquest, and when it conquers, it glories in victory. This is why it is described as a wild ass, that is, as a mule living in the wilderness or an ass in the wild, that is unable to live with others. A life such as this is what the life of truth devoid of good is like, and indeed what the life of faith devoid of charity is like. When therefore a person is being regenerated the regeneration is achieved, it is true, by means of the truth of faith, yet it is being achieved at the same time by means of the life of charity which the Lord instills in proportion to the increases in the truths of faith.
They dwelt from Havilah to Shur which is opposite Egypt** as you come towards Asshur. (His lot) fell opposite all his brothers.*** Gen. 25:18.
The internal sense of these words is evident from the meaning of Havilah, Shur, Egypt, and Assyria. ‘Havilah’ means that which is connected with intelligence, as is evident from what has been shown in 115. ‘Shur’ means truth stemming from facts, dealt with above in 1928, ‘Egypt’ everything that is connected with knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and ‘Assyria’ that which is connected with reason, 119, 1186. From the meanings of these names when used together so as to present a single concept it is clear that Ishmael represents such a rational. In the next life such truth is represented in various ways, but always as that which is strong, powerful, and hard, to such a degree that it cannot be resisted at all. The mere thought of such truth produces in spirits a sense of terror for the reason that its nature is such that it does not yield, and so does not retreat. These considerations also show what is meant by ‘dwelling in opposition to* all his brothers’. Anyone may recognize that an arcanum lies within this description, but up to now the nature of it has not been known.
* lit. against the faces of
** lit. towards the faces of Egypt
*** lit. towards the faces of all his brothers
‘And she called the name of Jehovah who spoke to her’ means the state of the Lord’s Interior Man when it thought about these things. ‘You are a God who sees me’ means influx. ‘For she said, Have I not also here seen after Him who sees me?’ means influx into the life of the exterior man without the rational serving as a go-between. ‘Therefore she called the spring’ means the resulting state of truth. ‘The spring of the Living One who sees me’ means the truth that was thus clearly visible. ‘Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bared’ means the nature of [this truth].
[2] Spirits present with me have seen things in the world through my eyes as clearly as I myself have done, regarding which see 1880. Some of them however who were still swayed by the illusions of the senses supposed that they had been seeing through their own eyes. But they were shown that this was not so, for when my eyes were closed they saw nothing existing in this physical world. So also with man; it is not the eye which sees but his spirit by means of the eye. The same point is also evident from dreams in which one sometimes sees as though in the daytime. It is very similar with this interior sight, which is that of the spirit. This too does not see of itself but from a sight more interior still, which is that of the rational. Nor again does the rational see of itself, but there is a sight more interior still, which is that of the internal man, referred to in 1940. Yet not even this internal man sees of itself; it is the Lord who does so by means of the internal man. He Alone sees, since He Alone has life and enables man to see, and to seem to himself to see of himself. Such is the situation with influx.
* i.e. in verse 7
‘Hagar bore Abram a son’ means the rational man born from that coming together and conception. ‘And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael’ means the nature of it.
You will call his name Ishmael because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction. And he will be a wild- ass man; his hand will be against all, and the hand of all against him; and he will dwell in opposition to* all his brothers.
For the meaning of these words, see the explanation of those two verses. It is the nature of this rational that is described here.
* lit. against the faces of
‘Abram was a son of eighty-six years’ means the Lord’s state as regards celestial goods acquired through conflicts brought about by temptations. ‘When Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram’ means when the life belonging to the affection for knowledge gave birth to the rational.
* i.e. 80 and 6 – in the Latin and in the Hebrew the words are literally Abram was a son of eighty years and six years
[2] When composed solely of these, that is to say, of facts and cognitions devoid of a life that looks to use, the rational resembles the description given here – it is like a wild ass, ill-tempered, aggressive, whose life is parched and arid from a certain desire for truth that is defiled by self-love. But when facts and cognitions have use as the end in view they acquire life from the uses, though the exact nature of that life is the same as that of the use. With people who learn cognitions so as to become more perfect in faith grounded in love – for true and real faith consists in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour- the supreme use of all is present and they are acquiring spiritual and celestial life from the Lord. And when that life exists with them they possess the ability to perceive everything that belongs to the Lord’s kingdom. This life exists with all angels, and because that life exists with them, so do intelligence and wisdom themselves.
Few people know what visions really are or which visions are genuine. But as for several years now I have been almost constantly with those who are in the next life, as becomes quite clear from Volume One, and have seen the amazing things there, and so have learned from actual experience about visions and dreams, let the following be told concerning them.
[2] Subsequently I spoke to the spirits about those sights and they confessed that they had seen the first as clearly as I had done but not the second except so obscurely that they could not tell what it was. This gave rise to anger within them, and after that gradually to envy, when they were told that the angels and young children had seen it; and I was allowed to experience with my senses their feeling of envy so that nothing should escape me insofar as it contributed to what I had to learn about. Their envy was such that it not only caused them extreme annoyance but also agony and interior pain, and solely because they did not see the second sight as well as the first. They were consequently led through different kinds of envy until they experienced pain in the region of the heart.
[3] While they were passing through this state I talked to them about their envy. I said that they might have been contented with having seen the first vision, and that they could have seen the second as well if they had been good spirits. But this too merely roused their anger, which increased their envy to such an extent that after that they could not bear the faintest recollection of the experience without feeling pain. The states and the successive stages of their envy, together with the degrees of it, the increases in it, and the varied intermingled feelings of distress in mind and heart, are indescribable. In this way I was shown how much the wicked are tormented by envy alone when they see from afar the blessedness of the good, or indeed when they simply think about it.
[2] Those in whom such dreams originate are angelic spirits at the entrance to the paradise gardens. They are commissioned also to keep watch over certain people who are asleep, to prevent them being molested during that time by evil spirits. They perform their task with very great delight, so much so that they vie with one another to be there, and they love to fill man with joys and delights such as they see within his affection and disposition. Those who have become angelic spirits are drawn from those who during their lifetime took delight in and loved in every way to make other people’s lives delightful. When a person’s hearing has been opened far enough he hears as from afar a sweet rhythmic sound like singing coming from these spirits. They declared that they did not know from where such things as these, and representatives so beautiful and delightful, came to them all in a moment; but they were told that they came from heaven. They belong to the province of the cerebellum, for the cerebellum, as I have learned, remains awake even during periods of sleep when the cerebrum is sleeping. This was the source of the dreams, together with the perception of what these meant, which members of the Most Ancient Church had. And from those people were derived most of the representatives and meaningful signs of the Ancients, beneath which things deeply hidden were manifested, 1122.
[2] I was once sleeping very soundly, in an altogether sweet repose. When I awoke certain good spirits began to accuse me of having molested them, so violently, they said, that they thought they had been in hell; they put the blame on me. I answered them that I knew nothing whatever about the matter, but that I had been fast asleep and therefore could not possibly have been the one to molest them. At this they were dumbfounded and at length realized that those sirens had been up to their tricks. Something similar was also demonstrated to me after that so that I might know what that band of sirens is like.
[3] These sirens are mainly females, who during their lifetime have studied how to attract male companions to themselves by interior devices – by worming their way in through external allurements, by captivating the baser mental instincts in all sorts of ways, by penetrating into each one’s affections and delights, but with an evil motive, namely that of manipulating. Their nature is such in the next life therefore that they seem to be able of themselves to do anything. They take in from others and think up for themselves different devices which they absorb with ease like sponges soaking up water, filthy or clean alike. They accordingly soak up and practice what is profane as well as what is holy with the intent, as stated, of manipulating. I have been allowed to perceive how foul they are inwardly, polluted by adultery and hatred. I have also been given to perceive how overpowering their sphere is. These sirens force their own interior thought and feelings into a state of persuasion, so that these may go hand in glove with their exterior thought and feelings towards the things they intend. In this way sirens compel and lead spirits to think as they themselves do.
[4] No reasonings are in evidence among them, and yet they employ a whole mass of reasonings that are breathed into people’s evil affections by applying themselves to those persons’ natural instincts. In this way they gain entry into the baser parts of the minds of others whom they lead on and by persuasion either overwhelm or captivate. There is nothing they study more than how to destroy conscience, and when they have destroyed it gain possession of people interiorly and even obsess them, though the individual is not conscious of it. Nowadays external obsession is not allowed as it once was in former times, but internal possession by spirits such as these does take place. People who are devoid of conscience are obsessed in this way. The interior aspects of their thought are insane in a very similar way, but those aspects are concealed by and covered with an outward propriety and presence of honesty displayed for the sake of personal position, wealth, and reputation. This they can even recognize for themselves if they pay any attention to what they think.
[2] This is also quite clear from very many statements in the Word which are by no means intelligible in the sense of the letter, and which, if they did not possess that soul or life within them, would not be acknowledged to be the Word of the Lord. Nor would they be seen to be Divine to anyone who has not been trained from infancy to believe that the Word is inspired and so is holy. Who from the sense of the letter would know of the meaning of those statements in Genesis 49 which Jacob made to his sons before he died?
Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the path, biting the horse’s heels, and its rider will fall backwards. Verse 17.
A troop will plunder Gad, and he will plunder the heel. Verse 19.
Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving beautiful words. Verse 21.
Judah will bind to the vine his ass’s foal and to the choice vine his she-ass’s colt. He will wash his garment in wine and his clothing in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Verses 11, 12.
Very many places in the Prophets contain similar statements. But what these words mean is not at all evident except in the internal sense in which every single detail links together in a very lovely order.
[3] What the Lord declared in Matthew about the last times is similar,
At the close of the age the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Matt. 24:29, 30.
These words do not mean at all the darkening of the sun and the moon, or the falling of the stars from the sky, or the mourning of tribes. Instead they mean that charity and faith – sun and moon in the internal sense – are going to be darkened in this fashion. They mean that the cognitions of good and truth – ‘the stars’ which are here called ‘the powers of the heavens’ – are going to fall away and disappear. And they mean all things of faith, which are ‘the tribes of the earth’, as has also been shown in Volume One, in 31, 32, 1053, 1529-1531, 1808.
These few observations now show what the internal sense of the Word is and also that it is remote, in some places very remote, from the sense of the letter. Yet be that as it may, the sense of the letter represents truths, and also sets forth appearances of truth for a person to see by when he does not see by the light of truth.
GENESIS 17
1 And Abram was a son of ninety-nine years, and Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will
multiply you more and more.
3 And Abram fell on his face,* and God spoke to him, saying,
4 As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 And no longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 And I will make you more and more fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an eternal covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.
8 And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession; and I will be their God.
9 And God said to Abraham, And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.
10 This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you, and your seed after you: Every male among you is to be circumcised.
11 And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 And a son eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, and he who is the purchase of silver, from every son who is a foreigner and not of your seed.
13 He must be circumcised** who is born in your house or who is the purchase of your silver; and My covenant shall be in your flesh as an eternal covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from his peoples; he has broken My covenant.
15 And God said to Abraham, Sarai your wife you will not call by her name Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
16 And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. And I will bless him, and he will become nations; kings of peoples will be from her.
17 And Abraham fell on his face* and laughed, and said in his heart, Will one be born to a son of a hundred years? And will Sarah, a daughter of ninety years, give birth?
18 And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before You!
19 And God said, Truly Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him as an eternal covenant, for his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and I will make him fruitful and I will multiply him more and more Twelve princes will he beget, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 And I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at the set time next year.
22 And He finished speaking to him, and God went up from over Abraham.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all born in his house, and every one purchased with his silver, every male among the men (vir) of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that same day, just as God had spoken to him.
24 And Abraham was a son of ninety-nine years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 On that very day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 And all the men of his house, he that was born in the house and he who was the purchase of silver, from the son who is a foreigner, were circumcised together with him.
* lit. faces
** lit. By being circumcised he shall be circumcised
The subject here is the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, and also the conjunction of the Lord with the human race by means of His Human Essence.
* i.e. self-love and love of the world; see 2040/41.
Verse 1 And Abram was a son of ninety-nine years, and Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless.
‘Abram was a son of ninety-nine years’ means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man, ‘Abram’ meaning the Lord in that state and at that age. ‘And Jehovah appeared to Abram’ means manifestation. ‘And He said to him’ means perception. ‘I am God Shaddai’ means, in the sense of the letter, the name of Abram’s God, by means of which the Lord was represented before them at first. ‘Walk before Me’ means the truth of faith. ‘And be blameless’ means the good [of charity].
[2] It is similar with the number ‘ninety-nine’. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of ‘a hundred years’, Abram’s age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord’s Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word ‘a hundred’ has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and ‘ten’ means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are – for nowadays what they are is not known – provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.
[3] These considerations show what is meant by ‘ninety-nine’. Being one less than a hundred, that number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. ‘Ishmael’ represented the first rational with the Lord, the nature of which has been shown adequately enough above in the previous chapter. But ‘Isaac’ represents the Lord’s Divine Rational, as will be clear later on. Anyone may see that an arcanum is embodied within the following circumstance: Abram having remained such a long time in the land of Canaan – twenty-four years now, ten before Ishmael’s birth, and thirteen after – and not as yet having had a son by Sarai his wife, he then first received the promise of a son, when he had now reached ninety-nine and would be a hundred when this son was born. The arcanum is that by means of these experiences he might represent the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and in fact of His Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with His Rational.
Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.
In the same gospel,
You have never heard His voice nor seen His shape. John 1:37.
And again in the same gospel,
No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father, He has seen the Father. John 6:46.
[2] The Infinite itself which stands above all the heavens and above man’s inmost being cannot be manifested except by means of the Divine Human, which exists solely with the Lord. Communication of the Infinite with finite beings is not possible at all from any other source. This also explains why, when Jehovah appeared to members of the Most Ancient Church and subsequently to members of the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood, and also after that to Abraham and the prophets, He was manifested to them as a human being. That it was indeed the Lord, He Himself openly teaches in John,
Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day, and saw it and was glad. Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:56, 58.
This is also taught in the Prophets, for example in Daniel who saw Him as ‘a son of man’, Dan. 7:13.
[3] From these quotations it becomes clear that the Infinite Being (Esse), which is Jehovah, could not possibly be manifested to man except through the Human Essence, that is, through the Lord, and so has not been manifested to anyone except the Lord alone. So that He could be present with and be joined to mankind, after mankind had removed itself entirely from the Divine and had immersed itself in foul desires and so in merely bodily and earthly things, He adopted the Human Essence itself by being born. He did so in order that the Infinite Divine could be joined to man even though man was so remote. Otherwise mankind would have died the death of those for ever damned. As for all the other arcana concerning the manifestation of Jehovah in the Lord’s Human, when His state was a state of humiliation, before He had fully united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and glorified it, these will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be explained later on, to the extent that they are capable of being understood.
[2] But in the case of the house of Terah, Abram and Nahor’s father, this was not so. That house was one of the gentile families there which had not only lost the name of Jehovah but also served other gods; and instead of Jehovah they worshipped Shaddai, whom they called their own god. The fact that they had lost the name of Jehovah is clear from the places quoted in Volume One, in 1343; and the fact that they served other gods is explicitly stated in Joshua,
Joshua said to all the people, Thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old beyond the River, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Now fear Jehovah, and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose this day whom you are to serve, whether the gods which your fathers served who were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites. Josh. 24:2, 14, 15.
The fact that Nahor as well, Abram’s brother, and the nation that descended from him, served other gods is also clear from Laban the Syrian, who lived in the city of Nahor and worshipped the images or teraphim which Rachel stole, Gen. 24:10; 31:19, 30, 32, 34 – see what has been stated in Volume One, in 1356. That instead of Jehovah they worshipped Shaddai, whom they called their god, is plainly stated in Moses,
I, Jehovah, appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Shaddai, and by My name Jehovah I was not known to them. Exod. 6:2, 3.
[3] These references show what Abram was by disposition in his younger days, namely an idolater like other gentiles, and that even up to and during the time he was in the land of Canaan he had not cast the god Shaddai away from his mind; and this accounts for the declaration here, ‘I am God Shaddai’, which in the sense of the letter means the name of Abram’s god. And from Exod. 6:2, 3, that has just been quoted, it is evident that it was by this name that the Lord was first represented before them – before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[4] The reason the Lord was willing to be represented before them first of all through the name Shaddai is that the Lord is never willing to destroy quickly, still less immediately, the worship implanted in someone since earliest childhood. He is unwilling to destroy it because it would be an uprooting and so a destroying of the deeply implanted feeling for what is holy which is expressed in adoration and worship, a feeling which the Lord never crushes but bends. The holiness which is expressed in worship and has been inrooted since earliest childhood is such that it does not respond to violence but to gentle and kindly bending. The same applies to gentiles who during their lifetime have worshipped idols and yet have led charitable lives one with another. Because the holiness expressed in their worship has been inrooted since earliest childhood it is not removed all of a sudden in the next life but gradually. For people who have led charitable lives one with another are able to have implanted in them without difficulty the goods and truths of faith; these they subsequently receive with joy, charity being the soil itself. This is what happened in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that is to say, the Lord allowed them to retain the name God Shaddai; indeed He went so far as to speak of Himself as God Shaddai, which He did because of what that name meant.
[5] Some translators render Shaddai as the Almighty, others as the Thunderbolt-hurler. But strictly speaking it means the Tempter, and the One who does good following temptations, as is clear in Job who, because he suffered many temptations, mentions Shaddai so many times, such as the following places in his book make clear,
Behold, blessed is the man whom God reproves; and despise not the chastening of Shaddai. Job 5:17.
The arrows of Shaddai are with me, the terrors of God are arrayed against me. Job 6:4.
He will forsake the fear of Shaddai. Job 6:14.
I will speak to Shaddai, and I desire to dispute with God. Job 13:3.
He has stretched forth his hand against God, and emboldens himself against Shaddai. Job 15:25.
His eyes will see his destruction and he will drink of the wrath of Shaddai. Job 21:20.
As for Shaddai, you will not find him. He is great in power and judgement, and in the abundance of righteousness. He will not afflict. Job 37:23.
Also in Joel,
Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction from Shaddai will it come. Joel 1:15.
This becomes clear also from the actual word Shaddai, which means vastation, thus temptation, for temptation is a variety of vastation. But because the name had its origins among the nations in Syria, he is not called Elohim Shaddai but El Shaddai; and in Job he is called simply Shaddai, with El, or God, mentioned separately.
[6] Because comfort follows temptations people also attributed the good that comes out of temptations to the same Shaddai, as in Job 22:17, 23, 25, 26; and they also attributed to him the understanding of truth which resulted from those temptations, 32:8; 33:4. And because in this way he was regarded as a god of truth, for vastation, temptation, chastisement, and reproving belong in no way to good but to truth, and because the Lord was represented by means of it before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the name was retained even among the Prophets. But with the latter Shaddai was used to mean truth, as in Ezekiel,
I heard the sound of the cherubs’ wings, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of Shaddai as they were coming, a sound of tumult, like the sound of a camp. Ezek. 1:24.
In the same prophet,
The court was full of the brightness of the glory of Jehovah, and the sound of the wings of the cherubs was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of the god Shaddai when he speaks. Ezek. 10:4, 5.
Here Jehovah stands for good, Shaddai for truth. ‘Wings’ likewise in the Word means in the internal sense things that are matters of truth.
[7] Isaac and Jacob too used the name God Shaddai in a similar way, namely as one who tempts, rescues from temptation, and after that does good to them. Isaac addressed his son Jacob when he was about to flee on account of Esau,
God Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you. Gen. 28:3.
Jacob addressed his sons when they were about to journey into Egypt to buy grain and were so greatly afraid of Joseph,
May God Shaddai grant you mercy before the man, and may He send back with you your other brother and Benjamin. Gen. 43:14.
Jacob, by now Israel, when blessing Joseph, who had experienced the evils of temptation more than his brothers and had been released from them, declared,
By the God of your father, and He will help you; and with Shaddai, and He will bless you. Gen. 49. 25.
This then explains why the Lord was willing to be represented at first as God Shaddai whom Abram worshipped when He declared,
I am God Shaddai.
And later on He referred to Himself in a similar way before Jacob, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply. Gen. 35:11.
And a further reason is that the subject of the internal sense in what has gone before has been temptations.
[8] The worship of Shaddai with them had its origin, as it did with a certain nation which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be described later on, and also with those who belonged to the Ancient Church, in the fact that quite often they heard spirits who reproached them and who also afterwards consoled them. The spirits who reproached them were perceived as being on the left side below the arm; at the same time angels were present from the head who overruled the spirits and toned down the reproaching. And because they imagined that everything declared to them through the spirits was Divine, they called the reproaching spirit Shaddai. And because he also afterwards gave consolation they called him God Shaddai. Since they had no understanding of the internal sense of the Word, people in those days, including the Jews, possessed that kind of religion in which they imagined that all evil and so all temptation came from God just as all good and thus all comfort did. But that in actual fact this is not at all the case, see Volume One, in 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1874, 1875.
‘I will make My covenant between Me and you’ means the union of the Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with the Interior Man. ‘And I will multiply you more and more’ means endless fruitfulness of the affection for truth.
‘Abram fell on his face’* means adoration. ‘And God spoke to him, saying’ means a degree of perception, the name ‘God’ being used because God Shaddai whom Abram worshipped represents the Lord, and also because truth that was to be united to good is the subject.
* lit faces
[2] It is well known from the Word, in the Gospels, that the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah, His Father, and that He did so as though to Someone other than Himself, even though Jehovah was within Him. But the state that the Lord experienced at such times was the state of His humiliation, the nature of which has been discussed in Volume One, namely this, that at such times as these He was in the infirm human derived from the mother. But to the extent He cast this off and took on the Divine His state was different, which state is called the state of His glorification. In the first state He adored Jehovah as Someone other than Himself, even though He was within Him, for, as has been stated, His Internal was Jehovah. In the latter state however, that is to say, the state of glorification, He spoke to Jehovah as to Himself, since He was Jehovah Himself.
[3] The truth of all this however cannot be grasped unless one knows what the internal is and how the internal operates into the external, and furthermore how the internal and external are distinct and separate and yet joined together. The matter may be illustrated however by means of something similar, namely by means of the internal with man and of its influx and operation into the external with him. For the fact that man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, see what has appeared already in 1889, 1940. Man’s internal is that which makes him human and distinguishes him from animals. It is by means of this internal that man lives on after death and for ever, and by means of it the Lord can raise him up among angels. It is the prior or primary form from which anyone becomes and is a human being, and it is by means of this internal that the Lord is united to man. The heaven itself that is nearest to the Lord consists of these human internals, but being above even the inmost angelic heaven these internals therefore belong to the Lord Himself. In this way the entire human race is directly present beneath the eyes of the Lord. Distance, a visible feature of this sublunary world, does not exist in heaven, still less above heaven – see what has been mentioned from experience in 1275, 1277.
[4] These inward aspects of men possess no life in themselves but are recipient forms of the Lord’s life. To the extent then that anyone is under the influence of evil, both that of his own doing and that which is hereditary, he has been so to speak separated from this internal which is the Lord’s and resides with the Lord, and so has been separated from the Lord. For although that human internal is joined to the person and cannot be separated from him, yet to the extent he moves away from the Lord he does in a way separate himself from it, see 1594. But such separation is not a complete severance from that human internal – for if it were, man would no longer be able to live after death; but it is a lack of harmony and agreement with it on the part of his capacities which are beneath it, that is, of his rational and external man. Insofar as disharmony and disagreement are present there is no conjunction, but insofar as they are absent man is joined to the Lord by means of the internal, which is achieved in the measure that he is moved by love and charity, for love and charity effect conjunction. Such is the situation with man.
[5] But the Lord’s Internal was Jehovah Himself, since He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided or become the relative of another, like a son who has been conceived from a human father. For unlike the human, the Divine is not capable of being divided but is and remains one and the same. To this Internal the Lord united the Human Essence. Moreover because the Lord’s Internal was Jehovah it was not, like man’s internal, a recipient form of life, but life itself. Through that union His Human Essence as well became life itself. Hence the Lord’s frequent declaration that He is Life, as in John,
As the Father has Life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have Life in Himself. John 5:26.
And elsewhere besides this in the same gospel, 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25. ‘The Son’ is used to mean the Lord’s Human Essence. To the extent therefore that the Lord was in the human which He received by heredity from the mother, He appeared to be distinct and separate from Jehovah, and worshipped Jehovah as Someone other than Himself. But to the extent He cast off this human, the Lord was not distinct and separate from Jehovah but one with Him. The first state, as has been mentioned, was the state of the Lord’s humiliation, but the second the state of His glorification.
* lit faces
‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you’ means union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence. ‘And you will be the father of a multitude of nations’ means union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, ‘father’ meaning that which comes from Him, ‘multitude’ truth, ‘of nations’ resulting good.
[2] It is an arcanum not yet disclosed that union was accomplished reciprocally, an arcanum that can hardly be explained intelligibly, for as yet the nature of influx has not been known to anyone, and without a knowledge of influx no idea can possibly be gained of what reciprocal union is. It is possible to shed light to some extent on the matter however from influx as it takes place with man, for with man too reciprocal conjunction exists. From the Lord by way of man’s internal, which is dealt with just above in 1999, life is flowing in constantly into man’s rational, and by way of the rational into the external and even into the facts and cognitions he has. These it not only adapts to receive life but also sets them in order and so enables man to think and ultimately to be rational. Such is the conjunction of the Lord with man, and without it man would never be able to think, let alone be rational. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that present within a person’s thought there are countless arcana belonging to the science and art of analysis, so countless that even to all eternity it is not possible to explore them thoroughly. Such arcana do not flow in through the senses or the external man, but through the internal man. Man for his part however, through facts and cognitions, goes to meet this life flowing from the Lord, and in so doing joins himself reciprocally.
[3] But as for the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, this was infinitely superior, for the Lord’s Internal was Jehovah Himself, and so Life itself, whereas man’s internal is not the Lord, and so not life but a recipient of life. The Lord’s relationship with Jehovah was union, whereas that of man with the Lord is not union but conjunction. The Lord united Himself to Jehovah by His own power and on that account became righteousness as well, whereas man in no way joins himself to Him by his own power but by the Lord’s. This being so, it is the Lord who joins man to Himself. Such reciprocal union is what the Lord means where He attributes what is His own to the Father, and what is the Father’s to Himself, as in John,
Jesus said, He who believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me I have come as light into the world in order that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:44-46.
These words conceal very deep arcana – arcana in fact regarding the union of good with truth, and of truth with good, or what amounts to the same, regarding the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of Human Essence with Divine Essence. Hence His declaration, ‘He who believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me’, and shortly after, ‘He who believes in Me’, in between which two statements comes another concerning that union in which He says, ‘He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me’.
[4] In the same gospel,
The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself; the Father who dwells within Me He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. Truly I say to you, He who believes in Me [will also do] the works that I do. John 14:10-12.
These words hold the same arcana within them, that is to say, those relating to the union of good with truth, and of truth with good; or what amounts to the same, of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence. Hence His declaration, ‘The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself; the Father who is within Me, He does the works’, and shortly afterwards, ‘The works that I do’, in between which two statements likewise comes another concerning the union, in which He says, ‘I am in the Father and the Father in Me’. This is the mystical union that many people speak about.
[5] From this it is clear that He was not someone other than the Father even though He spoke of the Father as though He were someone other. The reason for His doing so was the reciprocal union that was going to be accomplished and was accomplished, for He openly states so many times that He is one with the Father, as He does in the places just quoted –
He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. John 12:45.
Also,
The Father who dwells within Me; believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:10, 11.
And in the same gospel,
If you knew Me you would know my Father also. John 8:19.
In the same gospel,
If you know Me you know My Father also. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? John 14:7-10.
And in the same gospel,
I and the Father are one. John 10:30.
This is why in heaven they know no other Father than the Lord since the Father is within Him, and He is one with the Father; and when they see Him they see the Father, as He Himself has said; see 15.
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
It is clear to anyone that ‘the Boy’ born to us, and ‘the Son’ given to us,
is the Lord, who is named ‘Father of Eternity’. In the same prophet,
You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; from eternity is Your name. Isa. 63:16.
Here also it is the Lord who is called ‘Jehovah our Father’, for there is no other Redeemer. In Malachi,
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Mal. 2:10.
‘Creating’ stands for regenerating, as shown in Volume One, in 16, 88, 472. Furthermore throughout the Old Testament Word Jehovah is used to mean the Lord, for He it was that all the Church’s religious ceremonies represented; and He it is to whom everything that the Word contains in the internal sense has reference.
‘No longer will your name be called Abram’ means that He will cast off the human. ‘But your name will be Abraham’ means that He will put on the Divine. ‘For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations’ means here, as previously, that from Him comes all truth and resulting good.
Jehovah bless you and keep you; Jehovah make His face* shine upon you and be merciful to you; Jehovah lift up His face* upon you and give you peace.
So shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel. Num. 6:24-27.
From this it is evident what ‘name’ and ‘putting Jehovah’s name upon the sons of Israel’ means, namely that Jehovah blesses, keeps, enlightens, is merciful, and gives peace, and that such is Jehovah’s or the Lord’s nature.
[2] In the Ten Commandments,
You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who has taken His name in vain. Exod. 20:7; Deut. 5:11.
Here taking God’s name in vain does not mean His name but every single thing deriving from Him, and so every single thing belonging to the worship of Him, which must not be treated with disdain, still less be blasphemed and defiled by what is filthy. In the Lord’s Prayer,
Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in heaven so on earth. Luke 11:2.
Nor in this instance is ‘name’ used to mean name but all things that belong to love and faith, for these are God’s, or the Lord’s, and derive from Him. Since the latter are holy, the Lord’s kingdom comes, and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, when they are upheld as being holy.
[3] That ‘name’ means such things is clear from all the places in the Old Testament Word and in the New where the word ‘name’ is used, as in Isaiah,
You will say on that day, Confess Jehovah, call on His name, make His deeds known among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Isa. 12:4.
Here ‘calling on the name of Jehovah’ and ‘making mention that it is exalted’ does not in any way mean making the name itself an object of worship, or believing that Jehovah is called on by the mere uttering of His name, but by knowing His nature, and so every single thing that derives from Him. In the same prophet,
Therefore in the Urim give honour to Jehovah, in the isles of the sea to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. Isa. 24:15.
Here ‘in the Urim give honour to Jehovah’ means worship based on the holy things of love, ‘in the isles of the sea to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel’ worship based on the holy things of faith.
[4] In the same prophet,
Jehovah our God, in You alone will we make mention of Your name. Isa. 26:13.
And in the same prophet,
I will stir up one from the north, and he will come, from the rising of the sun he will call on My name. Isa. 41:25.
Here ‘making mention of’ and ‘calling on the name of Jehovah’ is worshipping from the goods of love and the truths of faith. Those ‘from the north’ are people outside the Church who do not know the name of Jehovah but who do nevertheless call on His name when they are leading charitable lives one with another and venerate some deity as the Creator of the universe, for it is the worship and what constitutes it, not the name, that calling on Jehovah entails. That the Lord is also present with gentiles, see 932, 1032, 1059.
[5] In the same prophet,
The nations will see your righteousness and all the kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will announce. Isa. 62:2.
Here ‘you will be called by a new name’ stands for becoming a different person, that is to say, as a result of being created anew or regenerated, and so stands for becoming such. In Micah,
All the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and eternally. Micah 4:5.
‘Walking in the name of its god’ clearly stands for worship that is profane, while ‘walking in the name of Jehovah’ stands for true worship. In Malachi,
From the rising of the sun and even to its setting, great is My name among the nations; and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure minchah, for great is My name among the nations. Mal. 1:11.
Here ‘name’ is not used to mean the name but the worship; and this worship is the essential nature of Jehovah or the Lord, from which He wills to be adored.
[6] In Moses,
The place which Jehovah your God chooses out of all the tribes to put His name there, and to make His name dwell there, to that place shall you bring all that I am commanding you. Deut. 12:5, 11, 14; 16:2, 6, 11.
Here also ‘putting His name’ and ‘making His name dwell there’ do not mean the name but the worship, and so Jehovah’s or the Lord’s essential nature from which He is to be worshipped. His nature consists in the good of love and the truth of faith, it being with those who are governed by such good and truth that Jehovah’s name dwells. In Jeremiah,
Go to My place which is in Shiloh where I made My name dwell at first. Jer. 7:12.
Here similarly ‘name’ stands for worship, and so for doctrine concerning true faith. It may become clear to anyone that Jehovah does not dwell with somebody who merely knows and utters His name, for without any conception and recognition of His essential nature, and without any belief in it, the name by itself is a mere verbal expression. From this it is evident that the word ‘name’ means the nature of, and the knowledge of that nature.
[7] In Moses,
At that time Jehovah set apart the tribe of Levi to serve Him and to bless in His name. Deut. 10:8.
Here ‘blessing in the name of Jehovah’ is doing so not by means of the name but by means of those qualities associated with the name of Jehovah which have been referred to above. In Jeremiah,
This is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:6.
Here ‘name’ stands for the righteousness which is the essential nature of the Lord, to whom these words refer. In Isaiah,
Jehovah called Me from the womb, from My mother’s body** He made mention of My name. Isa. 49:1.
These words too refer to the Lord. ‘Making mention of His name’ is informing about His essential nature.
[8] That ‘name’ means the nature of is plainer still in John’s Revelation,
You have a few names in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers will be clad in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before My father and before the angels. He who conquers I will write on him the name of God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. Rev. 3:4, 5, 12.
Here it is quite clear that name does not mean the name but the essential nature of him who conquers. ‘The name in the book of life’ is nothing else. Nor is ‘confessing his name before My Father’, and ‘writing on him the name of God and of the city, and a new name’. The same applies elsewhere to the names which are said to have been written in the book of life and in heaven, Rev. 13:8; 17:8; Luke 10:20.
[9] In heaven one person is always recognized from another by his nature or character, which is expressed in the sense of the letter as ‘the name’, as may also become clear to anyone from the fact that on earth the mention of anybody’s name presents to another a mental picture of his nature or character by which he is known and distinguished from anyone else. In the next life those mental pictures survive but names perish. More especially is this so with angels. This is why in the internal sense ‘name’ means the essential nature of, or the knowledge of that nature. In the same book,
On the head of Him who sat on the white horse were many jewels. He has a name written which no one knows but He Himself. He was clad in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. Rev. 19:12, 13.
Here it is stated openly that His ‘name’ is The Word of God, thus the essential nature of Him who sat on the white horse.
[10] The fact that the name of Jehovah means the knowledge of His nature, that is to say, it means every good of love and every truth of faith, is quite clear from these words spoken by the Lord,
Righteous Father, I have known You, and these too have known that You have sent Me, for I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:25, 26.
[11] And that the name of God or of the Lord means the whole doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, which is meant by ‘believing in His name’, is clear from these words in the same gospel,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name. John 1:12.
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:13-15.
Whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give it to you. These things I command you, that you love one another. John 15:16, 17.
In Matthew,
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt. 18:20.
Here ‘being gathered together in the Lord’s name’ means those who possess the doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, and so who are governed by love and charity.
[12] In the same gospel,
You will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. Matt. 10:22; 24:9, 10; Mark 13:13.
Here ‘for My name’s sake’ clearly stands for doctrine’s sake. The fact that a name itself is of no avail, only that which the name embodies, that is to say, everything constituting charity and faith, is quite clear from the following in Matthew,
Did we not prophesy through Your name, and cast out demons through Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name? And then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matt. 7:22, 23.
From this it is clear that people who make worship consist in a name, as Jews do in the name of Jehovah and Christians in the name of the Lord, are not on that account worthier than any others, for the name is of no avail. But they are worthier when their characters conform to what He has commanded; and this is the meaning of ‘believing in His name’. And when they say that there is salvation in no other name than the Lord’s they mean in no other doctrine, that is, in none other than mutual love, which is the true doctrine of faith, and so in none other than the Lord since all love comes from Him alone, and all faith from that love.
* lit. faces
** lit. viscera
[2] It should be realized however that in representations no significance is attached to the nature or character of the one who represents, for in those representations no attention is paid to the person representing but to the thing which he represents, as stated and shown already in 665, 1097 (end), 1361. Therefore the meaning of the words here in the internal sense is that the Lord cast off the human and put on the Divine, which is also the particular point in the train of thought both before and after this statement, for the promise is now made concerning Isaac his son, who was to represent the Lord’s Divine Rational.
‘I will make you more and more fruitful’ means endless fruitfulness of good. ‘And I will make nations of you’ means that all good comes from Him. ‘And kings will come out of you’ means that all truth comes from Him.
[2] Take merely the statement in the present verse about Abraham’s being made fruitful, nations being made of him, and kings coming out of him. What else is this but something purely worldly and nothing at all heavenly? Indeed these assertions entail no more than the glory of this world, a glory which is absolutely nothing in heaven. But if this is the Word of the Lord then its glory must be that of heaven, not that of the world. This also is why the sense of the letter is completely erased and disappears when it passes into heaven, and is purified in such a way that nothing worldly at all is intermingled. For ‘Abraham’ is not used to mean Abraham but the Lord; nor is ‘being fruitful’ used to mean his descendants who would increase more and more but the endless growth of good belonging to the Lord’s Human Essence. ‘Nations’ do not mean nations but goods, and ‘kings’ do not mean kings but truths. Nevertheless the narrative in the sense of the letter remains historically true, for Abraham was indeed spoken to in this way; and he was indeed made fruitful in this way, with nations as well as kings descending from him.
[3] That ‘kings’ means truths becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. You will suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings will you suck. Isa. 60:10, 16.
What ‘sucking the milk of nations and the breast of kings’ means is not at all evident from the letter but from the internal sense, in which being endowed with goods and instructed in truths is meant. In Jeremiah,
There will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes seated on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses. Jer. 17:25; 22:4.
‘Riding in chariots and on horses’ is a prophecy meaning the abundance of things of the understanding, as becomes clear from very many places in the Prophets. Thus the prophecy that ‘kings will enter through the gates of the city’ means in the internal sense that they were to be endowed with truths of faith. This sense of the Word is the heavenly sense into which the worldly sense of the letter passes.
[4] In the same prophet,
Jehovah has spurned in His fierce indignation king and priest. The gates of Zion have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. King and princes are among the nations; the law is no more. Lam. 2:6, 9.
Here ‘king’ stands for the truth of faith, ‘priest’ for the good of charity, ‘Zion’ for the Church, which is destroyed and its bars broken in pieces. Consequently ‘king and princes among the nations’, that is, truth and what belongs to truth, will be so completely banished that ‘the law is no more’, that is, nothing of the doctrine of faith will exist any more. In Isaiah,
Before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the ground will be abandoned which you loathe in the presence of its two kings. Isa. 7:16.
This refers to the Lord’s Coming. ‘The land that will be abandoned’ stands for faith which at that time would not exist. ‘The kings’ are the truths of faith which would be loathed.
[5] In the same prophet,
I will lift up My hand to the nations and raise My ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder. Kings will be your foster fathers and their queens your wet-nurses. Isa. 49:22, 23.
‘Nations’ and ‘daughters’ stand for goods, ‘peoples’ and ‘sons’ for truths, as shown in Volume One. That ‘nations’ stands for goods, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, as does ‘daughters’, 489-491, while ‘peoples’ stands for truths, 1259, 1260, as does ‘sons’, 489, 491, 533, 1147. ‘Kings’ therefore stands for truths, in general by which they will be nourished, and ‘queens’ for goods by which they will be suckled. Whether you speak of goods and truths or of those who are governed by goods and truths it amounts to the same.
[6] In the same prophet,
He will spatter many nations, kings will shut their mouths because of him,* for that which has [not] been told them they have seen, and that which they have not heard they have understood. Isa. 52:15.
This refers to the Lord’s Coming. ‘Nations’ stands for those who are stirred by an affection for goods, ‘kings’ those who are stirred by an affection for truths. In David,
Now, O kings, be intelligent; be instructed, O judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He perhaps be angry and you perish in the way. Ps. 2:10-12.
‘Kings’ stands for people who are governed by truths, and who by virtue of truths are also in many places called ‘king’s sons’. ‘The Son’ here stands for the Lord, and he is called the Son here because he is Truth itself, and the source of all truth.
[7] In John,
They will sing a new song, You are worthy to take the Book and to open its seals. You have made us kings and priests to our God so that we shall reign on the earth. Rev. 5:9, 10.
Here people who are governed by truths are called ‘kings’. The Lord also calls them ‘the sons of the kingdom’ in Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one. Matt. 13:37, 38.
In John,
The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the east. Rev. 16:12.
‘Euphrates’ clearly does not mean the Euphrates, nor does ‘kings from the east’ mean kings from that quarter. What ‘Euphrates’ does mean may be seen in 120, 1585, 1866, from which it is evident that ‘the way of the kings who were from the cast’ means truths of faith that derive from goods of love.
[8] In the same book,
The nations that are saved will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour into it. Rev. 21:24.
Here ‘nations’ stands for people who are governed by goods, ‘kings of the earth’ for those who are governed by truths, which is also evident from the fact that the details here are prophetical, not historical. In the same book,
With the great harlot seated on many waters the kings of the earth have committed whoredom and have become drunk with the wine of her whoredom. Rev. 17:2.
And elsewhere in the same book,
Babylon has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. Rev. 18:1, 3, 9.
Here similarly it is clear that ‘the kings of the earth’ does not mean kings, for the subject is the falsification and adulteration of the doctrine of faith, that is, of truth, which are ‘whoredom’. ‘Kings of the earth’ stands for truths that have been falsified and adulterated.
[9] In the same book,
The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom but are receiving authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These will be of one mind, and they will hand over power and authority to the beast. Rev. 17:12, 13.
That ‘kings’ here does not mean kings may also be evident to anyone. If kings were meant, then ‘ten kings receiving authority as kings for one hour’ would be quite unintelligible, as similarly with the following words in the same book,
I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to make war with Him who was sitting on the horse, and with His army. Rev. 19:19
In verse 13 of the same chapter it is stated explicitly that the One who was sitting on the horse was The Word of God, against which the kings of the earth are said to have been gathered. ‘The beast’ stands for goods of love that have been profaned, ‘kings’ for truths of faith that have been adulterated; these are called ‘kings of the earth’ because they exist within the Church – ‘earth’ meaning the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067, 1262. ‘The white horse’ stands for the understanding of truth, ‘He who was sitting on the horse’ for the Word. This matter is plainer still in Daniel 11, describing the war between the king of the south and the king of the north, by which is meant the conflict of truths with falsities. Here such conflicts are described as a war that took place in history.
[10] Since ‘a king’ means truth, what is meant in the internal sense when the Lord is called King, and also a Priest, is made clear; and what essential quality of the Lord was represented by kings, and what by priests, is also made clear. ‘Kings’ represented His Divine Truth, and ‘priests’ His Divine Good. All the laws of order by which the Lord governs the universe as King are truths, while all the laws by which He governs the universe as Priest and by which He rules even over truths themselves are goods. For government from truths alone condemns everyone to hell, but government from goods lifts them out of that place and raises them up into heaven; see 1728. Because, in the Lord’s case, these two – truths and goods – are joined together, they were also represented in ancient times by kingship and priesthood combined, as with Melchizedek who was at one and the same time king of Salem and priest to God Most High, Gen. 14:18. And at a later time among the Jews where the representative Church was established in a form of its own He was represented by judges and priests, and after that by kings.
[11] But because ‘kings’ represented truths which ought not to be paramount for the reason, already stated, that they condemn, the very idea was so objectionable that the Jews were reproached for it. The nature of truth regarded in itself has been described in 1 Sam. 8:11-18, as the rights of a king; and previous to that, in Moses, in Deut. 17:14-18, they had been commanded through Moses to choose genuine truth deriving from good, not spurious truth, and not to pollute it with reasonings and factual knowledge. These are the considerations which the directive concerning a king given in the place in Moses referred to above embodies within itself. No one can possibly see this from the sense of the letter, but it is nevertheless evident from the details within the internal sense. This shows why ‘a king’ and ‘kingship’ represented and meant nothing other than truth.
* lit. over him
[2] The subject in this verse is the Lord’s Human Essence that was to be united to the Divine Essence, also that all good and truth would accordingly come to man from the Divine Essence by way of His Human Essence. This is a Divine arcanum which few believe because they cannot grasp it mentally. Indeed they imagine that Divine Good can reach out to man independently of the Lord’s Human united to the Divine. But the reason it cannot do so has already been shown briefly in 1676, 1990 – that through the evil desires in which he had immersed himself and through the falsities with which he had blinded himself man had moved himself so far away from the Supreme Divine that no influx of the Divine into the rational part of his mind was possible, except by way of the Human which the Lord united in Himself to the Divine. It was through His Human that communication was established, for in that way the Supreme Divine was able to come to man, as the Lord explicitly states in many places, that is to say, where He says that He is the way and that there is no other access to the Father except through Him. This then is what is being stated here – that He, that is to say, the Human united to the Divine, is the source of all good and of all truth.
‘I will establish My covenant between Me and you’ means union. ‘And your seed after you’ means conjunction with those who have faith in Him. ‘Throughout their generations’ means the things that comprise faith. ‘For an eternal covenant’ means conjunction with these people. ‘To be God to you’ means the Lord’s Divine within Himself. ‘And to your seed after you’ means the Divine from that source with those who have faith in Him.
[2] But not all people who are moved by love towards the neighbour are on that account moved by love to the Lord. This is so in the case of honest gentiles with whom, though they do not know the Lord, the Lord is nevertheless present in their charity, as shown in Volume One, in 1032, 1059. And this also applies to others inside the Church, for love to the Lord is of a higher order. People who have love to the Lord are celestial, but those who have love towards the neighbour, which is charity, are spiritual. The Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and was celestial was moved by love to the Lord, whereas the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood and was spiritual was moved by love towards the neighbour, which is charity. This distinction between love and charity will be maintained, when they are mentioned, in what follows.
‘I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings’ means that the Lord acquired to Himself by His own powers all things meant by ‘the land of your sojournings’, ‘I will give to you’ meaning that the things which exist in heaven and on earth are His, ‘and to your seed after you’ meaning that He would give them to those who would have faith in Him. ‘All the land of Canaan’ means the heavenly kingdom. ‘For an eternal possession’ means for ever. ‘And I will be their God’ means that God is one.
[2] That the Lord obtained all things for Himself by His own powers, and by His own powers united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and Divine Essence to Human Essence, and that He alone in this way became righteousness, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,
Who is this coming from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked around and there was no one helping; and I was astonished that there was no one upholding; therefore My own arm brought Me salvation. Isa. 63:1, 3, 5.
‘Edom’ stands for the Lord’s Human Essence, ‘strength’ and ‘arm’ for power. Plain statements to the effect that He acted from His own power are contained in the phrases ‘no one helping’ and ‘no one upholding’, and in that about His own arm bringing Him salvation.
[3] In the same prophet,
He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was nobody to intercede; and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isa. 59:16, 17.
This similarly means that He acted by His own power, and in so doing became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel,
Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Dan. 9:24.
And in Jeremiah,
I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act with understanding, and He will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
For this reason He is also called ‘the Habitation of Righteousness’ in Jer. 31:23; 50:7, and ‘wonderful’ and ‘Hero’ in Isaiah 9:6.
[4] The reason why the Lord so many times attributes to the Father that which is His own has been explained above in 1999, 2004; for Jehovah was within Him, and so within every single part of Him. Something similar in man may be used for illustration, although there can be no comparison. Within man is his soul, and because it is within him, the soul is within every individual part of him, that is to say, within every individual part of his thinking and every individual part of his activity. Anything that does not have his soul within it is not part of him. The Lord’s soul was Life itself or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; thus Life itself was present within every individual part of Him. And because Life itself, or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, belonged to Him in the way that the soul does to man, so that which was Jehovah’s was His, which is what the Lord says in His statements about His being in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and about all things that the Father has being His, John 16:15; 17:10, 11.
[5] From good which is Jehovah’s He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and from truth united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and so achieved every single thing all from Himself. Indeed His Human was left to Itself in order that of Himself He might fight against all the hells and overcome them; and because He had life within Himself, as stated, which was His own, He overcame them by His own power and strength, as is also clearly stated in the places quoted from the Prophets. So then, because He acquired all things to Himself by His own powers, He became Righteousness, cleared the world of spirits of hellish genii and spirits, and in so doing rescued the human race from destruction – for the human race is governed by means of spirits – and thus redeemed it. This is why the Old Testament Word speaks so often of Him as Rescuer and Redeemer, and also Saviour, as His name Jesus describes.
[2] Besides, the fact that things in heaven and on earth are the Lord’s is clear from very many places in the Word, from many in the Old Testament as well as from the following in the Gospels, Matt. 11:27; 28:18; Luke 10:22; John 3:34, 35; 17:2, and from what has been shown in Volume One, in 458, 551, 552, 1607. And because the Lord governs the whole of heaven He also governs everything on earth, for the two are so interconnected that whoever governs one governs all. For dependent on the heaven of angels is the heaven of angelic spirits; dependent on the heaven of angelic spirits is the world of spirits; and dependent in turn on the world of spirits is the human race. And dependent in like manner on the heavens is everything in the world and the natural order, for without influx from the Lord by way of the heavens nothing in the natural order and its three kingdoms can ever come into existence and remain in existence; see 1632.
[2] There are many persons of this type in the next life. Sometimes their faces shine like torches, but this is because of the ignis fatuus that is the product of self-righteousness. They are in fact ice-cold. Sometimes they are seen running about and confirming self-merit from the literal sense of the Word, at the same time hating the truths that belong to the internal sense, 1877. The sphere emanating from them is one of self-regard, and so a sphere destructive of all ideas which do not regard self as some kind of deity. The sphere emanating from many such persons is at the same time so disruptive that nothing else than that which is hostile and antagonistic exists there, for when each has the same wish, namely to be served, he at heart slays every other.
[3] Some of them are numbered among those who say that they have worked in the Lord’s vineyard. During all that time however they had been turning over in their minds how to further their own reputation, glory, and honour, and also their own enrichment, even to the point of their becoming the greatest in heaven and being served even by angels. Since at heart they despise others in comparison with themselves, they have accordingly not been endowed with any mutual love in which heaven consists but with self-love which they identify with heaven, for they do not know what heaven is. Regarding these people, see 450-452, 1594, 1679. They belong among those who wish to be first but become last, of whom the Lord speaks in Matt. 19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31. They are also those who say that they have prophesied in the Lord’s name and have done many mighty works, but of whom it is said, ‘I do not know you’, Matt. 7:22, 23.
[4] The situation is different with people who from simplicity of heart have assumed that they have merited heaven but who have led charitable lives and who have not been captivated by self-love and so despised others in comparison with themselves. They have looked upon meriting heaven as a promise, and they readily acknowledge that it is a matter of the Lord’s mercy, for a charitable life implies such acknowledgement. Charity itself loves all truth.
‘God said to Abraham’ means perception. ‘And you shall keep My covenant’ means an even closer union. ‘You and your seed after you’ means that from Him there is a conjunction of all who have faith in Him. ‘Throughout their generations’ means the things that comprise faith.
Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:28.
See what has appeared already in 1690, 1864.
[2] Furthermore when the Lord speaks of the union of Himself with the Father He is at one and the same time speaking about His own conjunction with the human race since this was the reason for the union, as is clear in John,
That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. For I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them. John 17:21-23, 26.
These verses show that in the union of Himself with His Father the Lord had conjunction of Himself with the human race in view, and had this conjunction at heart because it constituted His love. Indeed all conjunction comes about through love, love being conjunction itself.
[3] Elsewhere in the same gospel,
Because I live you will live also; in that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. John 14:19-21.
This similarly shows that in the union of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that this was His end in view, and this His love, which was such that His inmost joy was the salvation of the human race, which He had had in view in the union of Himself with His Father. These verses from John describe what it is that effects union, namely having His commandments and doing them, which is loving the Lord.
[4] In the same gospel,
Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Jesus said, Not for My sake has this voice come but for yours. But I, when I have been lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.* John 12:28, 30, 32.
‘Glorification’ is used to mean union, as stated already. And the fact that in the union of Himself with the Father He had the conjunction of Himself with the human race in view is stated openly in the words, ‘When I have been lifted up I will draw all men to Myself’.
[5] As for the conjunction of the Infinite, or Supreme Divine, with the human race being accomplished through the Lord’s Human made Divine, and as for this conjunction being the reason for the Lord’s Coming into the world, this is an arcanum to which many apply their minds, but because it is beyond their grasp they do not believe it. And since they do not believe it, for the reason that they cannot grasp it, that arcanum becomes a stumbling-block to them. That this is so I have been given to know from much experience of people entering the next life. Very many of these – the majority of clever people in the world – when they merely think that the Lord became man and was in outward appearance like any other human being, and that He suffered, and yet is at the same time governing the universe, immediately fill the sphere around them with stumbling-blocks. The reason they do so is that to them this whole idea had been a stumbling-block during their lifetime, though they had not then made this public but had worshipped Him in outward expressions of holiness. For in the next life the things that are interior are laid bare and revealed by the sphere that emanates from them, dealt with in Volume One, in 1048. 1053, 1316, 1504. From this sphere one perceives quite plainly what their faith had really been and what they had really thought about the Lord.
[6] This being so let the matter be explained a little further. After everything celestial with man perished, that is, all love to God, so that as a result the will for what is good existed no longer, the human race was separated from the Divine. For nothing other than love effects conjunction, and when love has been reduced to nothing, disjunction has taken place. And when the latter has taken place destruction and annihilation follow. At that point therefore a promise was given concerning the Lord’s Coming into the world, who was to unite the Human to the Divine, and by means of this union was to join [to the Divine] the human race that was abiding in Himself through faith grounded in love and charity.
[7] From the time of that first promise given in Gen. 3:15, this kind of faith in the Lord who was to come was conjunctive. But once faith springing from love did not remain any more in the world the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence so that these were completely one, as He Himself states explicitly. At the same time He taught the way of truth to the effect that everyone who believed in Him, that is, who loved Him and what was His, and who abided in His love, which is a love directed towards the entire human race and so towards the neighbour, would be conjoined and thus saved.
[8] Once the Human had been made Divine, and the Divine made Human in the Lord, an influx of the Infinite, or the Supreme Divine, took place with man which could not possibly have manifested itself in any other way. Also by means of that influx the dreadful false persuasions and the dreadful desires for evil were dispersed with which the world of spirits had been filled and was constantly being filled by souls streaming into it from the world; and those who were actuated by such persuasions and evil desires were cast into hell and so separated. Unless this had been done the human race would have perished, for it is by means of spirits that the Lord rules the human race. They could not have been dispersed in any other way because there was no activity of the Divine by way of man’s rational concepts into his inner sensory awareness, for these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united. Still deeper arcana exist which cannot possibly be explained intelligibly to anyone. See what has appeared already in 1676, 1990, 2016. That the Lord appears as the Sun in the heaven of celestial angels and as the Moon in the heaven of spiritual angels, and that the Sun is the celestial existence of His love and the Moon the spiritual existence of it, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531; and that every single thing comes beneath His gaze, 1274 (end), 1277 (end)
* The Latin means after Me but the Greek means to Me which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
‘This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you’ means a token of the conjunction of all with the Lord. ‘And your seed after you’ means those who have faith in Him. ‘Every male among you is to be circumcised’ means purity.
[2] That circumcision is no more than the sign of a covenant or of conjunction becomes quite clear from the fact that circumcising the foreskin counts for absolutely nothing if unaccompanied by circumcision of the heart; and that purification from those filthy loves is what circumcision of the heart means is quite evident from the following places in the Word: In Moses,
Jehovah God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, so that you will love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deut. 30:6.
From these words it is clear that ‘circumcising the heart’ means being purified from filthy loves in order that Jehovah God or the Lord may be loved with all the heart and all the soul.
[3] In Jeremiah,
Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and remove the foreskin of your heart, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer. 4:3, 4.
‘Circumcising oneself to Jehovah and removing the foreskin of the heart’ is nothing other than removing such things as stand in the way of heavenly love. From this it is also clear that circumcision of the heart is something more interior that is meant by circumcision of the foreskin. In Moses,
You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and you shall be stiff-necked no longer. [Jehovah] executes judgement for the orphan and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him bread and clothing. Deut. 10:16, 18.
Here also it is plain that ‘circumcising the foreskin of the heart’ means being purified from the evils that accompany filthy loves and from resulting falsities. The heavenly things of love are described as charitable works, namely ‘executing judgement for the orphan and widow’, and ‘loving the sojourner to give him bread and clothing’.
[4] In Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming in which I will visit every one circumcised in the foreskin – Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut and who dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. Jer. 9:25, 26.
This too shows that circumcision was a sign meaning purification. Although they are called ‘circumcised in the foreskin’, these nations – the Jews included along with the rest – are considered to be ‘uncircumcised nations’, and Israel to be ‘uncircumcised in heart’. In Moses,
If at that time their uncircumcised heart is humbled. Lev. 26:41.
Here the meaning is similar.
[5] That the foreskin and being uncircumcised means that which is unclean is clear in Isaiah,
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Isa. 52:1.
‘Zion’ is used to mean the celestial Church and ‘Jerusalem’ the spiritual Church into which the uncircumcised, which means the unclean, will not enter.
[6] That circumcision is ‘a sign of the covenant’ or token of conjunction is quite clear from the fact that the same was represented by the requirement to circumcise the fruits of trees also, spoken of in Moses as follows,
When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food you shall circumcise its foreskin, its fruit. For three years it shall be to you uncircumcised; it shall not be eaten. And in the fourth all its fruit shall be holy. to the praises of Jehovah. Lev. 19:23, 24.
‘Fruit’ similarly represents and means charity, as becomes clear from many places in the Word. Their ‘foreskin’ accordingly means the uncleanness that obstructs and pollutes charity.
[7] Here is a marvel: When angels in heaven conceive the idea of purification from natural things that are filthy, something akin to circumcision is represented very speedily in the world of spirits, for in the world of spirits angelic ideas come over as representatives. In the Jewish Church there were some representative religious ceremonies which had those same origins and there were others which did not. The spirits with whom that swift circumcision was represented in the world of spirits were people who wished to be allowed into heaven, but before they were allowed in this representation took place. This explains why Joshua was commanded to circumcise the people after they had crossed the Jordan and were about to enter the land of Canaan. The people’s entry into the land of Canaan represented nothing else than the admission into heaven of those who have had faith.
[8] This is why circumcision was commanded a second time, described in Joshua as follows,
Jehovah said to Joshua, Make swords of flint for yourself; circumcise the children of Israel a second time. And Joshua made swords of flint for himself, and circumcised the children of Israel on the hill of foreskins. And Jehovah said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And he called the name of that place Gilgal (rolling away). Josh. 5:2, 3, 9.
‘Swords of flint’ means the truths which they were to be provided with to enable them to correct and cut back filthy loves, for without cognitions of truth no purification is possible. That ‘stone’ or ‘flirt’ means truths has been shown already, in 643, 1298, and that ‘a sword’ has reference to truths by which evils may be corrected is clear from the Word.
‘You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin’ means the removal of self-love and love of the world. ‘And it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you’ means that which is a representative and a meaningful sign of purity.
Because this proprium that is to be removed is meant it is here called ‘the flesh of the foreskin’.
[2] There are two loves so-called, and their desires, which obstruct the influx of heavenly love from the Lord. For when these reign in the interior man and in the external man and take possession there they either reject or they stifle, and also degrade and defile, heavenly love flowing in, for they are absolutely contrary to heavenly love. The fact that they are absolutely contrary will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown later on. To the extent they are removed however, heavenly love flowing in from the Lord starts to make its appearance, and in fact starts to dawn in his interior man; and to that extent he starts to notice first that he is under the influence of evil and falsity, then that he is under the influence of what is impure and filthy, and lastly that this has been his proprium.
[3] It is with those who are being regenerated that those loves are removed. That removal may also be recognized from what goes on in those who are not regenerate when the desires belonging to those loves become quiescent, as happens sometimes when they are engaging in meditation on holy things or when they are languishing – as is the case with them in times of misfortune, sickness, and disease, and above all when they are about to die. At these times, since bodily and worldly interests have grown languid and are so to speak dead, such persons become aware of something of heavenly light and of the comfort brought by this. But with these it is not a removal of those desires, only a languishing, for the moment that these people return to their previous state they sink back into those desires.
[4] With the evil as well, bodily and worldly interests can be made to languish, in which case they are able to be raised up into, as it seems, something heavenly, as is sometimes done to souls, especially those newly arrived in the next life, who have an intense desire to see the glory of the Lord because during their lifetime in the world they have heard so much about heaven. At such times their external interests languish and in this condition they are conveyed into the first heaven and enjoy what they have desired. But they are not able to remain there for long because their bodily and worldly interests are merely quiescent and have not been removed, as they have been with angels, regarding which see 541, 542. It should be realized that with man heavenly love from the Lord is flowing in constantly, and that nothing else stands in the way, obstructs, or prevents the reception of it than the desires belonging to those loves, and the falsities resulting from them.
‘A son eight days old’ means any beginning whatever to purification. ‘Shall be circumcised among you’ means purification. ‘Every male’ means those who possess the truth of faith. ‘Throughout your generations’ means the things that comprise faith. ‘He who is born in the house’ means celestial people, ‘he who is the purchase of silver’ spiritual people who are inside the Church. ‘From every son who is a foreigner and not of your seed’ means those outside the Church.
[2] That the life which belongs to self-love and love of the world, together with its pleasures and delights, is filthy and unclean may become clear to anyone if he is willing to think from the powers of reason which have been given to him. Self-love is the source of all the evils that destroy civilized society. From it, as from a filthy pit, all forms of hatred, revenge, and cruelty stream forth, and indeed of adultery. For anyone who loves himself either holds in contempt or reviles or hates everybody else who does not serve him or who does not further his interests or who fails to show him favour; and in hating he breathes nothing but revenge and cruelty – doing so in the measure that he loves himself. Such love is for these reasons destructive of society and of the human race. That this is its nature, see also what has been stated in Volume One on the same subject, in 693, 694, 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1506, 1594, 1691, 1862. That self-love is in the next life utterly filthy and diametrically opposed to the mutual love that constitutes heaven will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.
[3] And since that love is the source of all hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery, it is the source of all things that are called sins, crimes, abominations, and profanations. When therefore self-love is present in a person’s rational, and in the desires and delusions of his external man, the influx of heavenly love from the Lord in that case is constantly intercepted, degraded, and defiled. It is like foul excrement which dispels, indeed pollutes, every pleasant odor. It also resembles an object which is constantly converting inflowing rays of light into dark and hideous colours. Or it is like a tiger or a serpent that hisses when fondled and kills with its bite or poison those who feed it. Or else it is like a villain who converts even the best intentions of other people, and sheer acts of kindness, into what is reprehensible and wicked. From this it is clear that those loves – self-love and love of the world – are what were represented and meant by the foreskins that were to be cut off.
[2] The expression celestial is used of those who are governed by love to the Lord, and because the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood was governed by that love it was a celestial Church. The expression spiritual is used of those who are governed by love towards the neighbour and so by the truth of faith. This was the character of the Ancient Church that existed after the Flood. The difference between celestial people and spiritual has been dealt with many times in Volume One. Anyone may see that there are heavenly arcana here, that is to say, in the requirement to circumcise those born in the house and those bought with silver, also sons who were foreigners, and in the fact that those persons are mentioned repeatedly, for example, in verses 13, 23, 27, that follow. These arcana are not apparent however except from the internal sense, that is to say, that those born in the house and those bought with silver mean celestial people and spiritual, and so those inside the Church – while ‘the son who is a foreigner and not of your seed’ means those outside the Church.
[2] These are the people who are meant by ‘sons who are foreigners and not of your seed’ but who are to be circumcised, that is to be purified. From this it is evident that they are just as much capable of being purified as those inside the Church, which purification was represented by being circumcised. They are purified when they cast aside filthy loves and live among one another in charity, for in their case truths have a part to play in their lives because charity and all truths go together, though such truths belong to the first of the two types mentioned above. When these truths play a part in their lives they then absorb the truths of faith with ease, if not during this life then in the next, because truths of faith are the interior truths of charity. Indeed at that point there is nothing they desire more than to be introduced into the interior truths of charity. Interior truths of charity are what constitute the Lord’s kingdom. Regarding these, see 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366.
[3] In the next life mere knowledge of the cognitions of faith is of no value at all, for the worst people, even those in hell, can have such knowledge, sometimes a better knowledge than others have. Leading a life in accordance with those cognitions is what matters, for all cognitions have life as their end in view. If life was not the reason for learning them they would have no use, apart from enabling people to discuss them and as a result to be considered learned in the world, to be raised to positions of importance, and to enhance reputation and wealth. From this it is clear that a life in keeping with the cognitions of faith is nothing other than the life of charity. Indeed love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour constitute the Law and the Prophets, that is, the doctrine of faith in its entirety together with all the cognitions of it, as is plain to anyone from the Lord’s words in Matt. 22:35-40, and Mark 12:28-35.
[4] Matters of doctrine, or cognitions of faith, are nevertheless absolutely vital for the formation of the life of charity; it cannot be formed without them. This is the life which saves a person after death. The life of faith never exists without the life of charity, for without charity the life of faith is impossible. People in whom the life of love and charity dwells have the Lord’s life within them. Nobody can be joined to Him by means of any other life. From this it is also clear that the truths of faith cannot possibly be acknowledged as truths – that is, no acknowledgement of what they are saying is possible – other than outwardly or with the lips, if they are not implanted within charity, since inwardly or at heart they are denied. For as has been stated, all truths of faith have charity as their end in view, and if charity is not present within them then inwardly they are rejected. The nature of the things that are interior is plain to see when those that are exterior are taken away, as is done in the next life, namely that they are utterly contrary to all the truths of faith. No people can possibly receive the life of charity, or mutual love, in the next life, when they have had none in this life; but their life as it has been with them in the world remains with them after death. Indeed they are averse to and hate mutual love. When merely approaching a community where the life that belongs to mutual love exists they quiver and shake, and experience torment.
[5] Although people such as these are born inside the Church, they are called ‘sons who are foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in the flesh’ who are not to be allowed into the sanctuary, that is, into the Lord’s kingdom. They are also meant in Ezekiel,
No son who is a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter the sanctuary. Ezek. 44:7, 9.
And in the same prophet,
Whom have you thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword. Ezek. 31:18.
This refers to Pharaoh who means types of knowledge in general, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. ‘The trees of Eden’ with which they were to go down into the nether world also means types of knowledge, but knowledge of the cognitions of faith. From this it is now evident what ‘one uncircumcised’ means in the internal sense, namely one in whom filthy loves and the life belonging to these are present.
‘He must be circumcised!’ means that they must completely remove from themselves self-love and love of the world. ‘Who is born in your house or who is the purchase of your silver’ means both types of people found inside the Church. ‘And My covenant shall be in your flesh’, in addition to being a meaningful sign, means conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity. ‘As an eternal covenant’ means conjunction.
* lit. By being circumcised he shall be circumcised
[2] From this repetition of what has been stated in the previous verse concerning those ‘born in the house’ and those ‘bought with silver’, anyone may see that there is a Divine arcanum that is not evident from the sense of the letter. The arcanum is that purification from those foul loves is absolutely vital inside the Church, for the reason also that people inside the Church are capable of rendering sacred things unclean, something that those outside the Church, that is, gentiles, cannot do. For this reason those inside the Church stand in greater danger of condemnation. What is more, those inside the Church are capable of formulating and adopting false assumptions that are contrary to truths of faith themselves, whereas those outside the Church cannot do so because they have no knowledge of those truths. Thus those inside the Church are capable of profaning sacred truths, but not those outside. For more on these matters, see Volume One, in 1059, 1327, 1328.
* lit. By being circumcised he shall be circumcised
[2] Nevertheless the Lord joins Himself to man within those very impurities, for with innocence and charity He brings soul and life to these, and in this way forms a conscience. The truths that constitute conscience vary, that is to say, they depend on the religion of the individual. These truths the Lord is unwilling to violate provided they are not contrary to the goods of faith, because the person has taken them to himself and considered them holy. The Lord breaks nobody, but bends him. This becomes clear from the consideration that every type of religious thought in the Church has followers who are being endowed with conscience. The closer its truths get to the genuine truths of faith the better that conscience is. Since it is from the truths of faith such as this that conscience is formed, it is clear that it has been formed in the understanding part of man’s mind, for the understanding part is what receives those truths. This part of his mind the Lord has therefore miraculously separated from the will part. This is an arcanum previously unknown, concerning which see what has appeared in Volume One, in 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023. That ‘covenant in your flesh’ in addition denotes a meaningful sign, namely that of purification, is clear from what has been shown in 2039 about circumcision.
‘The uncircumcised male’ means one who does not possess the truth of faith. ‘Who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin’ means one in whom self-love and love of the world reign. ‘That soul will be cut off from his peoples’ means eternal death. ‘He has broken My covenant’ means that he cannot be conjoined.
On whom shall I speak and testify and they will hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah has become a reproach; they have no wish for it. Jer. 6:10.
‘Uncircumcised ear’ stands for the fact that they did not listen at all and that to them the Word was a reproach.
[2] The present verse also deals with those inside the Church who are subject not only to falsity but also to the impurity of self-love and love of the world, for this verse continues what has gone before. Hence the statement ‘the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin’ – thus having the meaning of falsity joined to impurity of life. How much those persons are in danger of eternal condemnation becomes clear from what has been stated above in 2051. Here it means in particular people inside the Church who profane the goods and truths of faith, of whom it is said that ‘that soul will be cut off from his peoples’. For unlike those outside the Church, they are capable of profaning, as shown in Volume One, in 593, 1008, 1010, 1059.
[2] Mutual love in heaven consists in those there loving their neighbour more than themselves, and as a result the whole of heaven represents so to speak one human being; for by means of mutual love from the Lord all are associated together in that way. Consequently every manifestation of happiness possessed by all is communicated to each individual, and that possessed by each individual to all. The heavenly form produced by this is such that everyone is so to speak a kind of centre point, thus the centre point of communications and therefore of manifestations of happiness from all. And this takes place in accordance with all the variant forms of that love, which are countless. And because those in whom that love reigns experience supreme happiness in being able to communicate to others that which flows into them, and to do so from the heart, the communication consequently becomes perpetual and eternal. And as the Lord’s kingdom increases from the communication so does the happiness of each individual. Because angels are distinguished into separate communities and habitations they give no thought to this matter; it is the Lord who so arranges in order every single thing. Such is the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens.
[3] Nothing else apart from self-love endeavours to destroy this form and this order. For this reason all in the next life in whom self-love reigns are more thoroughly hellish than others; for self-love does not communicate anything to others, but stifles and smothers all their delight and happiness. Whatever delight flows into them from others, they take to themselves, focus on themselves, and transform into some filthy thing of their own, and prevent it spreading any further. In so doing they destroy all unanimity and concord, and so bring about disunity and consequently destruction. And since each one of them wishes to be served, respected, and adored by others, and loves none but himself, division is the outcome which is directed towards and manifests itself in wretched states. As a result they never feel happier than when, out of hatred, revenge, and cruelty, they are tormenting others by shocking methods and delusions. When such as these come to any community where mutual love reigns, then because every inflowing delight is terminated in themselves, they fall to the ground of their own accord, like unclean and dead, weighty objects in clean and fresh air. And because they exude the foul idea of self, the delight they have is converted there into the stench of a corpse from which they scent the hell of selfishness, in addition to being seized with severe pain.
[4] This makes clear the nature of self-love – not only is it destructive of the human race, as shown above in 2045, but it is also destructive of heavenly order. It accordingly contains nothing but impurity, filth, profanity, and hell itself, though this does not appear so to those who are under its influence. Those in whom self-love reigns are such as despise others in comparison with themselves; they hate whoever shows them no favour, fails to serve them, and does not in a way worship them; and they take a cruel delight in revenge and in depriving others of position, reputation, wealth, and life. Being governed by self-love their delights are such; so let those whose delights are such recognize that they are governed by self-love.
‘God said to Abraham’ means perception. ‘Sarai your wife’ means here, as previously, truth joined to good. ‘You will not call by her name Sarai’ means that He will cast off the human. ‘For Sarah will be her name’ means that He will put on the Divine.
[2] Divine Good, which in itself is love, and in relation to the entire human race is mercy, was the Lord’s Internal, that is, Jehovah, who is Good itself. This Good is represented by ‘Abraham’. Truth that was to be joined to Divine Good was represented by ‘Sarai’, but once this too has become Divine, it is represented by ‘Sarah’, for the Lord advanced towards union with Jehovah gradually, as mentioned in various places above. ‘Sarai’ represented truth not yet Divine – when it was still not so thoroughly united to Good that Good was the source of truth. But once it was so thoroughly united to Good that it stemmed from Good it was at that point Divine, and Truth itself was in that case also Good since it was truth inhering in Good. Truth tending towards good so that it may be united to good is one thing, while truth so united to good that it stems completely from good is another. Truth tending towards good is still drawing on something of what is human, but once it is united completely to good it casts aside everything that is human and takes on what is Divine.
[3] This matter, like others previously, can be illustrated by what occurs with man. When a person is being regenerated, that is, when he is to be joined to the Lord, he moves towards that conjunction by means of truth, that is, by means of the truths of faith, for nobody can be regenerated except by means of cognitions of faith, which are the truths by means of which he moves towards such conjunction. These truths the Lord goes to meet by way of good, that is, of charity, and introduces this charity into the cognitions of faith, that is, into its truths. For all truths are the recipient vessels of good; and therefore the more genuine the truths are and the more they are multiplied, the more abundantly is good able to accept them as vessels, to bring them into a state of order, and only then to reveal itself, doing so in the end in such a way that the truths are not seen, except insofar as good shines through them. In this way truth becomes celestial-spiritual. And since the Lord is present solely within the good that flows from charity, a person is in this manner joined to the Lord, and by means of good, that is, of charity, has conscience conferred on him, from which he then thinks what is true and does what is right. But this conscience is a conscience in keeping with the truths and the things that are right into which good or charity has been introduced.
‘I will bless her’ means the multiplication of truth. ‘And I will also give you a son by inert means the Rational. ‘And I will bless him’ means the multiplication of this. ‘And he will become nations’ means resulting goods. ‘Kings of peoples will be from her’ means truths that are the product of truths and goods joined together, meant by ‘kings and peoples’.
[2] Since the subject here is Sarah and the promise that ‘kings of peoples will be from her’, and since ‘Sarah’ means Divine Truth which was the Lord’s, ‘kings of peoples’ clearly means truths that are the product of truths and goods joined together, which are all the truths of the internal Church, that is, the interior truths of faith. Because these truths come from the Lord, they are frequently called ‘kings’ in the Word, and also ‘a king’s sons’, as shown above in 2015.
[3] Anyone may see that some internal Divine matter lies concealed in the words that ‘kings of peoples will be from her’. For the subject in this verse is Isaac, of whom it is said, ‘I will bless him, and he will become nations’, but of Sarah that ‘kings of peoples will be from her’. Almost the same was also said of Abraham in verse 6 above, that ‘kings will go out of him’; but it did not say as it does of Sarah, ‘kings of peoples’. The arcanum within this lies too deep to allow it to be uncovered and described in a few words. From the representation and meaning of ‘Abraham’ as Divine Good and from the representation and meaning of ‘Sarah’ as Divine Truth the arcanum is to some extent evident, namely that from the Lord’s Divine Good meant by ‘Abraham’ all celestial truth will come forth and have its being, and from the Lord’s Divine Truth meant by ‘Sarah’ all spiritual truth will do so. Celestial truth is the truth which exists with celestial angels, and spiritual truth that which exists with spiritual angels. Or what amounts to the same, celestial truth was the truth which existed with members of the Most Ancient Church which came before the Flood and which was a celestial Church, spiritual truth that which existed with members of the Ancient Church which came after the Flood and was a spiritual Church. For angels, as also members of the Church, are distinguished into celestial and spiritual. That which distinguishes the celestial from the spiritual is love to the Lord, and that which distinguishes spiritual from celestial is love towards the neighbour.
[4] No more can be said about celestial truth and spiritual truth however until the difference between the celestial and the spiritual is known, or what amounts to the same, the difference between the celestial Church and the spiritual. For this see Volume One, in 202, 337, 1577; then concerning the nature of the Most Ancient Church and the nature of the Ancient Church, in 597, 607, 640, 765, 1114-1125, and in many other places. On the point that possessing love to the Lord constitutes the celestial, and possessing love towards the neighbour the spiritual, see 2023.
[5] These considerations now show what the arcanum is, namely that ‘the kings who will go out of Abraham’, referred to in verse 6, mean celestial truths that flow in from the Lord’s Divine Good, while ‘the kings of peoples who will be from Sarah’, referred to in the present verse, mean spiritual truths that flow in from the Lord’s Divine Truth. For the Lord’s Divine Good is unable to flow in except with the celestial man since it is an influx into the will part of his mind, as was the case with the Most Ancient Church, whereas with the spiritual man the Lord’s Divine Truth is flowing in since the influx is solely into the understanding part, which in him has been separated from the will part, 2053 (end). Or what amounts to the same, celestial good is flowing in with the celestial man, and spiritual good with the spiritual man. As a consequence the Lord is seen by celestial angels as the Sun, but by spiritual angels as the Moon, 1529, 1530.
‘Abraham fell on his face’* means adoration. ‘And laughed’ means the affection for truth. ‘And said in his heart’ means that He so thought. ‘Will one be born to a son of a hundred years?’ means that in that case the Rational belonging to the Lord’s Human Essence would be united to the Divine Essence. ‘And will Sarah, a daughter of ninety years, give birth?’ means that truth joined to good will achieve this.
* lit. faces
* lit. faces
[2] The principal element in man’s rational is truth. Also present in the rational there is the affection for good, but this affection is present within the affection for truth, as the soul within it. The affection for good present within the rational does not express itself in laughter but in a type of joy and a resulting sense of delight which does not laugh. For laughter generally entails something that is not so good. The reason truth is the principal element in the rational man is that the rational is formed by means of cognitions of truth, for there is no other possible way in which anyone can become rational. Cognitions of good are truths just as much as cognitions of truth are truths.
[3] That ‘laughter’ here means the affection for truth becomes clear from the fact that this verse records Abraham’s having laughed, as did Sarah both before Isaac was born and after, and also from the fact that he was given the name Isaac from ‘laughter’, for the word ‘Isaac’ means laughter. The fact that Abraham laughed when he heard about Isaac is clear from the present verse, for it is actually stated that when he heard about a son by Sarah he laughed. Sarah’s laughing as well before the birth of Isaac when she heard from Jehovah that she was going to give birth is referred to as follows,
When Sarah heard at the tent door Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have the pleasure, and my lord being an old man? And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I in truth bear now I have grown old? Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh. Gen. 18:12, 13, 15.
Also later on after Isaac’s birth,
Abraham called the name of his son Isaac (laughter). Sarah said, God has made laughter for me; everyone hearing of it will laugh at me. Gen. 21:3, 6.
Unless ‘laughing’ and the name Isaac, which means laughter, embodied such things these occurrences would never have been mentioned.
[2] Now as regards the number nine meaning conjunction, more so the number ninety, which is the product of nine times ten, ‘ten’ meaning remnants by which conjunction is achieved – as shown by what has been said above at the end of 1988 – this is also made clear from the following representatives and meaningful signs. It was commanded that on the tenth day of the seventh month there was to be a day of atonement, and that this was to be a sabbath of rest;* and on the ninth day of the seventh month in the evening, from one evening to the next, they were to celebrate the sabbath, Lev. 23:27, 32.
[3] In the internal sense these details mean conjunction through remnants, that is to say, ‘nine’ means conjunction and ‘ten’ remnants. The existence of a Divine arcanum lying concealed within these numbers is quite evident from the months and the days of the year which were to be held sacred, for example, every seventh day was to be a sabbath; every seventh month, as stated here, was to be a sabbath of rests; likewise every seventh year, and also every seven times seventh year, which was to mark the start of a jubilee year. The same applies to all other numbers in the Word, for example, to the number three which has almost the same meaning as seven; to the number twelve which means all things belonging to faith; and to the number ten which, the same as tenths, means remnants, 576; and so on. And in the verses from Leviticus quoted above, unless the numbers ten and nine embodied arcana it would by no means have been commanded that there should be this sabbath of rest* on the tenth day of the seventh month, and that they should celebrate it on the ninth day of the month. Such is the Word of the Lord in the internal sense, even though nothing of the sort is evident in the historical sense.
[4] The same applies to what is recorded about Jerusalem being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah, and about its being breached on the ninth day of the month in the eleventh year, as follows in the Second Book of Kings,
In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel came against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land; and the city was breached. 2 Kings 25:1, 3, 4.
‘The ninth year, the tenth month’ and ‘the eleventh year and ninth day of the month when there was a famine in the city and no bread for the people of the land’ means in the internal sense that no conjunction by means of the things of faith and charity existed any longer. ‘Famine in the city and no bread for the people of the land’ means that no faith at all nor any charity at all was left. This is the internal sense of these words which is nowhere apparent in the letter. Matters like these shine out even less from the historical sections of the Word than from the prophetical because the historical incidents captivate the mind (animus), so much that belief in anything deeper there is scarcely possible. Yet all those incidents are representative and the words used to describe them in every case carry spiritual meanings. These matters are hard to believe but they are nevertheless true, see 1769 1772.
* lit. a sabbath of a sabbath
‘Abraham said to God’ means the Lord’s perception from love. ‘O that Ishmael might live before You!’ means that others who are rational from truth should not perish.
[2] The nature of the Lord’s love surpasses all human understanding and is unbelievable in the extreme to people who do not know what heavenly love is in which angels abide. To save a soul from hell the angels think nothing of giving their own lives; indeed if it were possible they would suffer hell themselves in place of that soul. Consequently their inmost joy is to transport into heaven someone rising from the dead. They confess however that that love does not originate one little bit in themselves but that every single aspect of it does so in the Lord alone. Indeed they are incensed if anyone thinks anything different.
‘God said’ means the reply that was perceived. ‘Truly Sarah your wife’ means Divine Truth joined to Good. ‘Is going to bear you a son’ means that the Rational would come from this. ‘And you will call his name Isaac’ means the Divine Rational. ‘And I will establish My covenant with him’ means union. ‘As an eternal covenant’ means an eternal union. ‘For his seed after him’ means those who would have faith in the Lord.
From Isaac’s representation: As stated frequently already, ‘Abraham’ represents the Lord’s Internal Man, ‘Isaac’ His Rational Man, and ‘Jacob’ His Natural Man. The Lord’s Internal Man was Jehovah Himself. Because the Rational Man was conceived from the influx of the Internal Man into the External Man’s affection for knowledge, 1896, 1902, 1910, it originated in the Divine thus joined to the Human. Consequently the first rational represented by ‘Ishmael’ was human, but it was made Divine by the Lord, and is then represented by ‘Isaac’.
From the meaning of his name: He was given the name Isaac from the word for ‘laughter’, and because laughter in the internal sense means the affection for truth, which belongs to the rational, as shown above in 2072, Isaac accordingly here means the Divine Rational.
[2] From His own power the Lord made Divine everything that was human with Him. Thus He made not only the rational Divine but also the sensory part, interior and exterior, and so the body itself. In this way He united the Human to the Divine. It has been shown already that not only the rational, but also the sensory part, and so the whole body also was made Divine and Jehovah. This may also become clear to anyone from the fact that He alone has risen as to the body from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Divine Power both with His entire Divine and with His entire Human. ‘Sitting at the right hand of Divine power’ means having all power in heaven and on earth.
‘As for Ishmael, I have heard you’ means that people rational from truth are to be saved. ‘Behold, I will bless him’ means that they were to be furnished and endowed……’I will make him fruitful’ means with goods of faith….’And I will multiply him’ means and with truths from that source….’More and more’ means without limit. ‘Twelve princes will he beget’ means the first and foremost commandments of faith inhering in charity. ‘And I will make him into a great nation’ means having the enjoyment of goods, and increases in these.
[2] Who exactly are celestial people and who spiritual would take too long to describe here. See where they have been described already, for example in 81, 597, 607, 765, 2069, 2078, and many times elsewhere. In general celestial people are those who have love to the Lord, and spiritual those who have charity towards the neighbour. For the distinction between having love to the Lord and having charity towards the neighbour, see above 2023. Celestial people are those whose affection for good stems from good, but spiritual people are those whose affection for good stems from truth. To begin with all people were celestial, because they were governed by love to the Lord, and from this they received perception by which they perceived what was good, not from truth but from the affection for good.
[3] But after this, when love to the Lord was no longer what it had been, spiritual people took their place, these being called spiritual when they were governed by love towards the neighbour, which is charity. But love towards the neighbour, or charity, was implanted by means of truth and in this way they received a conscience in accordance with which they acted, not from an affection for good but from an affection for truth. With them charity looks like the affection for good, but is in fact the affection for truth. Because it looks like the affection for good charity is still referred to as good. But that good is a good arising out of their faith. It is these who are meant by the Lord in John,
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. I am the good Shepherd; and I know My own and am known by My own. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:9, 14, 16.
[2] Up to now the world has not known that ‘twelve’ means all things of faith. Yet every time the number twelve occurs in the Word, in historical or in prophetical sections, it has no other meaning. The twelve sons of Jacob, and therefore the twelve tribes named after them, have no other meaning. And the same applies to the Lord’s twelve disciples. Each one of Jacob’s sons and each of the disciples represented some essential and primary aspect of faith. What each son of Jacob represented, and therefore what each tribe of Israel represented, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on at Gen. 29 and 30, where the sons of Jacob are the subject.
‘I will establish My covenant with Isaac’ means union with the Divine Rational. ‘Whom Sarah will bear to you’ means Divine Truth joined to Divine Good from which it will come forth into being. ‘At the set time next year’ means a state of union at that time.
[2] The manner in which the Lord’s first rational was conceived and born has been stated in the previous chapter where Ishmael, who represented that rational, was the subject. This chapter and the next deal with that Rational which was made Divine by the Lord, something He achieved through the marriage-like conjunction of Divine Good with Divine Truth. The only possible way the first rational can be conceived is by the influx of the Internal Man into the External Man’s affection for knowledge. Nor can it be born from anything other than the affection for knowledge, an affection represented by ‘Hagar, Sarai’s servant-girl’, as shown in the previous chapter, in 1896, 1902, 1910, and elsewhere in that chapter.
[3] But the second or Divine Rational is not conceived and born in the same way but by the conjunction of Truth in the Internal Man with Good in the same, and the resulting influx. In the Lord’s case this was achieved by His own power derived from the Divine itself, that is, from Jehovah. As stated in various places already, His Internal Man was Jehovah. And Good itself, represented by ‘Abraham’, belonged to the Internal Man, as also did Truth itself, represented by ‘Sarah’. Both were on that account Divine, and from them both the Lord’s Divine Rational was conceived and born. Indeed it was conceived and born from the influx of good into truth, and so by means of truth, for the principal element in the rational is truth, as stated above in 2072. Hence the statement here ‘whom Sarah will bear to you’, which means Divine Truth joined to Good from which it will come into being, and at verse 17 above the statement ‘Sarah a daughter of ninety years’ means that Truth joined to Good will accomplish this.
[4] With all human beings, since each has been created in the likeness and image of God, something similar yet not comparable takes place, in that his first rational too is conceived and born through the influx of his internal man into the life of his external man’s affection for knowledge, but his second rational results from the influx of good and truth from the Lord by way of his internal man. This second rational he receives from the Lord when he is being regenerated, for at that time he senses within his rational what the good and truth of faith are. The internal man with anyone is above his rational, and is the Lord’s. This is dealt with in 1889, 1940.
[2] There are many at the present day who do not believe anything unless they know it to be so from reason, as is made quite clear from the fact that few believe in the Lord, although they make lip confession of belief for the reason that the doctrine of faith so teaches. Nevertheless they tell themselves and one another that if they knew it could be so they would believe. The reason they do not believe and yet say this is that the Lord was born as any other is born and to outward appearance was like any other. These people cannot possibly receive any faith unless they first of all grasp in some measure how it can be so. This is why these matters have been explained. Those who believe the Word in simplicity do not need to know all these details because they have already arrived at the end which those who have just been described cannot reach except by becoming acquainted with such details.
[3] What is more, these are the details which are contained in the internal sense, and the internal sense is the Word of the Lord in heaven. Those who are in heaven perceive it in this fashion. When someone is in touch with the truth, that is, with the internal sense, he is able to make one as to thought with those in heaven, even though his ideas are by comparison very general and very obscure. The celestial ones there, who possess faith itself, see that those things are so from good, whereas the spiritual ones see the same from truth. The spiritual ones are also confirmed, and in that way perfected, by such things as are contained in the internal sense, that confirmation being achieved however by means of thousands of interior reasons which cannot flow into man’s pattern of thought so as to be perceived there.
‘He finished speaking to him’ means the end of this perception. ‘And God went up from over Abraham’ means the Lord’s entry into the state immediately previous to this.
‘Abraham took Ishmael his son’ means those who are truly rational. ‘And all born in his house, and everyone purchased with his silver, and every male among the men of Abraham’s house’ means here, as previously, those inside the Church in whom truths of faith have been joined to goods. ‘And he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin’ means their purification and righteousness from the Lord. ‘On that same day’ means that state which has been spoken of. ‘Just as God had spoken to him’ means according to perception.
[2] The whole of this chapter has dealt with the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and with the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of His Human Essence now made Divine. It has dealt also with circumcision, that is, with purification from all the filth residing with man. These matters constitute a single train of thought, following one after another. In fact the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in the Lord took place to enable the Divine to be joined to man. But that conjunction of the Divine with man cannot be achieved unless man is purified from those loves. As soon as he is purified from them however the Lord’s Divine Human flows in and in so doing joins man to Himself. This shows the nature of the Word, that is to say, when the meaning in the internal sense is understood everything connects together in a proper and beautiful sequence.
‘Abraham was a son of ninety-nine years’ means the state and the period of time prior to the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence. ‘When he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin’ means when the evils occupying the External Man were totally driven out. ‘And Ishmael his son’ means those who become rational from truths of faith from the Lord. ‘A son of thirteen years’ means sacred remnants. ‘When he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin’ means purification, as previously. ‘On that very day’ means at that very time. ‘Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son’ means that when the Lord joined His Human Essence to the Divine Essence, He also joined to Himself and saved everyone else who becomes rational from truth.
‘All the men of his house, he that was born in the house and he that was the purchase of silver’ means all those at that time inside the Church. ‘From the son who is a foreigner’ means all who are rational outside the Church. ‘Were circumcised by him’ means that they were made righteous by the Lord.
[2] The truth of the matter is that in the case of people who have thought and practiced acts of hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery, and so have not led charitable lives, the life they have acquired in so doing awaits them after death. Indeed every single facet of that life awaits them and gradually reappears. This for them is the source of torment in hell. But in the case of people who have led lives of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour all their evils of life await them also; but these are moderated by the goods which they have received from the Lord through the life of charity during their lifetime, and in this condition they are raised up into heaven. Indeed they are withheld from the evils which they have with them so that these do not show themselves. People in the next life who doubt that they have evils with them because they do not show themselves are brought back into those evils until they know that it really is so. After that they are raised once more into heaven.
[3] This then is what being made righteous entails, for in this way people come to acknowledge not their own righteousness but the Lord’s. When people say that those are saved who have faith, they are saying something that is true; but in the Word nothing else is meant by faith than love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and so a life that is derived from those loves. Matters of doctrine and established beliefs do not constitute faith yet are part of faith, for these, each and every one, exist to the end that a person may become such as they teach. This becomes quite clear from the Lord’s words about all the Law and all the Prophets, that is, the doctrine of faith in its entirety., consisting in love to God and love towards the neighbour, Matt. 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-35. The fact that no other kind of faith which is truly faith can possibly, exist has been shown in Volume One, in 30-38, 379, 389, 724, 809, 896, 904, 916, 989, 1017, 1076, 1077, 1121, 1158, 1162, 1176, 1258, 1285, 1316, 1608, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1843, 1844, and that heaven itself consists in love to the Lord and in mutual love, in 537, 547, 553, 1112, 2057.
Few nowadays know what the Last Judgement is. They imagine that it is going to be accompanied by the destruction of the world; and this leads to conjectures that this earth, together with everything else in the visible world, is going to be destroyed by fire. They also conjecture that then for the first time the dead will rise again and appear for judgement, and the evil are to be cast into hell and the good to rise up to heaven. These conjectures are based on the prophetical parts of the Word where references are made to a new heaven and a new earth, and also to a New Jerusalem. Such people do not realize that the prophetical parts of the Word have a meaning altogether different in the internal sense from what appears in the sense of the letter, and that ‘heaven’ is not used to mean heaven, nor ‘the earth’ to mean the earth, but the Lord’s Church in general, and as it exists with each individual in particular.
[2] The sound of those approaching from the quarter in front was heard by them in different ways. To some it was the sound of armed cavalry, to others something else, all depending on their state of fear and the delusions this aroused in them. I myself perceived it as a continuous rumbling coming in waves, and indeed of many doing so simultaneously. I was informed by those near me that squadrons like these arrive on the scene from that quarter when communities have, as has been stated, been harmfully grouped together in this manner. They know, I was told, how to break them up and part them one from another, and at the same time how to strike terror into them, so that their one thought is to take flight. I was further informed that by means of disbandments and dispersals all spirits are then brought back into order by the Lord, and also that such activity is meant in the Word by ‘the east wind’.
[2] The sound of these conflicting and confused uproarings was threefold. The first flowed in around the head, and I was told it was that of thoughts. The second flowed in towards the left temple. I was told that this was a conflict of reasonings about certain truths in which they were unwilling to pin their faith. The third flowed in from above over on the right. It was rasping though less confused, a rasping sound directed first this way, then that. I was told that this was the product of truths clashing which were being turned this way and that by means of reasonings. While these conflicts were going on there were other spirits who spoke to me, telling me in speech that rose clearly above all that noise the meaning of every single thing.
[3] The matters which they reasoned about were chiefly these – whether the statement that the twelve apostles were going to sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel was to be understood literally, and also whether other people who have endured persecution and affliction were to be allowed into heaven. Each one reasoned in accordance with what had taken his fancy during his lifetime. Some of them however who had been brought back into associations with one another and into order were then informed that those descriptions were to be understood in a completely different way, that is to say, that ‘apostles’ is not used to mean apostles, nor ‘thrones’ to mean thrones, nor ‘tribes’ tribes, nor indeed is ‘twelve’ used to mean twelve. Instead apostles, thrones, tribes, and also twelve, meant the first and foremost matters of faith, 2089. They also said that such matters of faith are the starting-point and the criteria from which everyone is judged. And over and above all this they were shown that the apostles have no power to judge anyone at all, and that all judgement is the Lord’s alone.
[4] As regards the second point which they reasoned about, this should not be taken to mean that only those who have endured persecution and affliction will enter heaven, but that the rich no less than the poor will do so, those who have held important positions no less than those whose position has been humble. Furthermore the Lord takes pity on all, especially on people who have endured spiritual afflictions and temptations, which are persecutions by the evil, thus on those who acknowledge that of themselves they are wretched and who believe that it is through the Lord’s mercy alone they are saved.
[2] I heard communities of spirits declaring in a clear voice, one community after another, that a wolf had wished to carry them off but that the Lord rescued them, and so they were restored to Him, and on that account rejoiced from the depths of their heart. Indeed they had been without hope, and so were afraid that the door had been shut, and that they had arrived too late to be admitted. Such thought had been instilled into them by those called wolves, but it vanished on their being admitted, that is, being received, by angelic communities. Being admitted into heaven is nothing else. The admission which I witnessed seemed to proceed continuously community by community, up to twelve of them, the admission, that is, the reception, of the twelfth being more difficult than that of the previous eleven. After that about eight more communities were also admitted, which, it was pointed out to me, were composed of females. Having witnessed all this I was told that this is how the process of admission, that is, of being received into heavenly communities is seen. They proceed in an orderly continuation from one place to another. I was also told that heaven can never be filled up, still less the door be shut, but that the more who enter, the more blessing and happiness there is for those in heaven, because their unanimity is made that much stronger.
[3] After these had been admitted it did at that point seem as though heaven was shut; for there were still more who wished after that to be admitted, that is, to be received. But they were told in reply that they could not yet be let in. This is meant by those arriving too late, by the door being shut, by their knocking, and by the statement about their having no oil in their lamps. The reason they were not admitted was that they were not yet ready to move among angelic communities where mutual love exists, for, as stated above towards the end of 2119, people who in the world have lived charitably disposed towards the neighbour are raised up by the Lord into heaven gradually.
[4] There were also other spirits who did not know what heaven is, namely mutual love, and who also at that time wished to be admitted. They imagined it was just a matter of being admitted. They received the reply however that it was not yet time for them, but that they would be admitted at another time when they were ready for it. The reason why twelve communities were seen was that ‘twelve’ means everything comprising faith, as stated above towards the end of 2129.
[Each chapter belonging to Volume Two of the Latin (Chapters 16-21) was published separately, and therefore this Preface belongs to Chapter 18 only.]
At the end of the previous chapter the subject dealt with was the Last Judgement, and there it was shown what is meant by it – not the destruction of the world, but the final period of the Church. When this is imminent, says the Lord, He will come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27. Nobody until now has known what was meant by ‘the clouds of heaven’. But it has been disclosed to me that nothing else is meant than the literal sense of the Word, and that by ‘power and glory’ is meant the internal sense of the Word; for the internal sense of the Word holds glory within itself, since everything within that sense has regard to the Lord and His kingdom; see Volume One, in 1769-1772. Something similar is meant by ‘the cloud’ which surrounded Peter, James, and John when the Lord appeared to them in glory, concerning which the following is said in Luke,
A voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son; listen to Him! When however the voice had gone Jesus was found alone. Luke 9:35, 36.
Moses and Elijah there who conversed with the Lord represented the Old Testament Word, which is also called Moses and the Prophets – ‘Moses’ representing the books by him, together with the historical books, ‘Elijah the prophet’ representing all the Prophets. Peter, James, and John however represented, as they do wherever else they are mentioned in the Gospels, faith, charity, and good flowing from charity. Their presence alone on that occasion meant that no others are able to see the glory of the Lord which is present in His Word than those with whom faith, its partner charity, and good flowing from charity are present. All others do indeed have the ability to see; nevertheless they do not see because they do not believe. Such is the internal sense of these two passages. In various places in the Prophets as well, ‘cloud’ means the Word as to its letter, and ‘glory’ the Word as to its life. What the internal sense of the Word is, and the nature of it, has been stated in many places, and has been shown in the word-by-word explanation that has been given. Those expert in the Law in the Lord’s time had least belief of all in the idea that anything in the Word had been written regarding the Lord. Today such experts do, it is true, recognize this, but they perhaps will have least belief of all in the idea that any glory is present in the Word other than that visible in the letter – though the letter is in fact the cloud which has the glory within it.
From this chapter especially do the nature of the internal sense of the Word and the manner in which angels perceive the Word when it is read by man become clear. From the historical sense that belongs to the letter nothing else is understood than that Jehovah appeared to Abraham in the guise of three men, and that Sarah, Abraham, and his servant prepared food for them, namely cakes of fine flour, a young bull, and also butter and milk. Although these are historically true descriptions of things which actually took place, they are nevertheless not perceived by angels in any such historical manner. Instead the angels perceive abstractedly, quite apart from the letter, the things which are represented and are meant spiritually by such descriptions; that is to say, they perceive them according to the explanation set out in the Contents. In place of the historical details stated in this chapter they perceive the state of the Lord’s perception within the Human, and also the communication at that time with the Divine, before the perfect union existed of His Divine Essence with His Human Essence and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, which state is also what the Lord is referring to when He says,
Nobody has even seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.
[2] Also, by the different kinds of food mentioned in this chapter angels perceive nothing else than celestial and spiritual goods, details of which goods are given in the explanation of the chapter. And by what is said further on in it about a son whom Sarah would bear at the appointed time in the following year, angels perceive nothing else than this, that the Lord’s human rational would be made Divine. By what is stated at the end of the chapter about Abraham speaking to Jehovah concerning the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah they perceive nothing else than the Lord’s interceding on behalf of the human race. By the numbers fifty, forty-five, forty; thirty, twenty, and ten mentioned there they perceive His interceding on behalf of those with whom truths were to be allied to goods, and to whom goods were to come through temptations and conflicts, or through other states. And their perception is the same with everything else in the Word, as may become clearer still from the word-by-word explanation that is given, where it is shown that similar things are embodied within each individual expression in the Word, both in the historical part and in the prophetical part.
[3] That such an internal sense is present everywhere in the Word, which deals solely with the Lord, with His kingdom in heaven, with His Church on earth, and in particular with every individual, and so deals with the goods of love and the truths of faith, may also become clear to anyone from Old Testament texts quoted in the Gospels, as in Matthew,
The Lord said to My Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. Matt. 22:44; Ps. 110:1.
That these words refer to the Lord cannot be seen from the literal sense of them as they stand in David; yet that no one other than the Lord is meant, He himself teaches at this point in Matthew.
[4] In the same gospel,
You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel. Matt. 2:6; Micah 5:2.
Those who confine themselves to the literal sense, as Jews do, do indeed know from this that the Lord was to be born there; but because they are waiting for a leader and king who will lead them back into the land of Canaan they therefore explain the words here literally. That is to say, they take ‘the land of Judah’ to mean the land of Canaan and ‘[My people] Israel’ to mean [the tribes of] Israel, even though they do not know where the latter are now; and ‘a leader’ they still take to mean their Messiah. But in fact ‘Judah’ and ‘Israel’ are used to mean things other than Judah and Israel; that is to say, ‘Judah’ means those who are celestial and ‘Israel’ those who are spiritual, in heaven and on earth. And ‘a leader’ is used to mean the Lord.
[5] In the same gospel,
A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, crying out, and much wailing; Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be consoled because they are not. Matt. 2:18; Jer. 31:15.
Those who confine themselves to the literal sense cannot possibly gain from it that sense which is the internal meaning of these words. Yet the existence of this internal sense is evident from the gospel itself. In the same gospel,
Out of Egypt have I called My son. Matt. 2:15; Hosea 11:1.
In Hosea the wording is,
When Israel was a boy I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. [As] they called them, so they went away from their presence. And I taught Ephraim to walk. Hosea 11:1-3.
Those who have no knowledge of the existence of the internal sense cannot know otherwise than that here Jacob is meant when he entered Egypt, and his descendants when they left, and that ‘Ephraim’ is used to mean the tribe of Ephraim – thus the same things as occur in historical sections of the Word. Nevertheless it is clear from the Word of the Evangelists that they mean the Lord, though what each detail means could not possibly be known unless it were disclosed by means of the internal sense.
GENESIS 18
1 And Jehovah appeared to him in the oak-groves of Mamre, and he was sitting at the tent door, as the day was getting warmer.
2 And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing over him. And he saw, and ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed down towards the ground.*
3 And he said, My Lord, if now I have found grace in your eyes, do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant.
4 Let now a little water be taken, and [all of you] wash your feet, and recline under the tree.
5 And I will take a piece a bread, that you may refresh yourselves;** after that you may pass on, for this is why you have passed over to your servant. And they said, Do as you have spoken.
6 And Abraham hastened towards the tent to Sarah, and said, Take quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.
7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a young bull,*** tender and good, and gave it to the servant, and he hastened to make it ready.
8 And he took butter and milk, and the young bull,*** which he made ready, and set it before them. And he stood before them under the tree, and they ate.
9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10 And he said, I will certainly return to you about this time next year,**** and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah heard it at the tent door, and this was behind him.
11 And Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years;***** and it had ceased to be with Sarah in the way it is with women.
12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have this pleasure, and my lord being old?
13 And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I really, in truth, bear a child, and I have grown old?
14 Will anything be too wonderful for Jehovah? At the set time I will return to you, about this time next year,**** and Sarah will have a son.
15 And Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh.
16 And the men rose up from there and looked towards the face of Sodom; and Abraham went with them, to send them on their way.
17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?
18 And Abraham will certainly become a great and numerous nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
19 For I know him that he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgement, in order that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken concerning him.
20 And Jehovah said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave.
21 I will go down now, and I will see whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men looked from there and went towards Sodom; and Abraham still stood before Jehovah.
23 And Abraham drew near and said, Will You also destroy the righteous and the wicked?
24 Perhaps there may be fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city. Will You also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous persons who are in the midst of it?
25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as to make the righteous die with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked; far be it from You; will not the Judge of the whole earth execute judgement?
26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city, I will spare the whole place for their sakes.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord, and I am [but] dust and ashes.
28 Perhaps the fifty righteous persons will lack five; will You for five destroy the whole city? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find forty five there.
29 And he spoke to Him yet again, and said, Perhaps forty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it for the sake of the forty.
30 And he said, Let not now my Lord be incensed and I will speak; perhaps thirty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord; perhaps twenty will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.
32 And he said, Let not now my Lord be incensed, and I will speak just once more; perhaps ten will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.
33 And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
* lit. earth or land
** lit. and support your heart
*** lit. a son of an ox
**** lit.. near this time of life
***** lit. entering into days
First this chapter deals here with the state of the Lord’s perception within the Human, and of the communication at that time with the Divine before the perfect union existed of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence, which state is also what the Lord is referring to when He says,
Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.
Verse 1 And Jehovah appeared to him in the oak-groves of Mamre, and he was sitting at the tent door, as the day was getting warmer.
‘Jehovah appeared to him’ means the Lord’s perception. ‘In the oak-groves of Mamre’ means the character of the perception. ‘He was sitting at the tent door’ means the holiness which existed with him at that time. ‘As the day was getting warmer’ means generated by love.
[2] What perception is, is totally unknown at the present day, for nobody today possesses the kind of perception that the ancient and especially the most ancient people possessed. The latter knew from perception whether a thing was good and consequently whether it was true. There was an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into the rational part of their minds, and from that influx when they thought about anything holy, they perceived instantly whether a thing was so or was not so. Later on such perception with mankind perished and people began to entertain heavenly ideas no more but only worldly and bodily ones; and when this happened the place of such perception was taken by conscience (which also is a kind of perception), for acting contrary to conscience and according to conscience is nothing else than discerning from conscience whether a thing is so or not so, or whether it ought to be done.
[3] But perception that goes with conscience does not originate in inflowing good but in truth which from earliest childhood has been implanted in the rational part of the mind in accordance with the holiness of people’s worship, and after that has been confirmed; for that truth alone is believed by them to be good. Consequently conscience is a kind of perception, but it has its origin in truth such as this; and when charity and innocence are introduced into it by the Lord, the good that goes with that conscience is then brought into being. These few considerations show what perception is. Yet between perception and conscience there is a wide difference. See what has been stated about perception in Volume One, in 104, 125, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 597, 607, 784, 865, 895, 1121, 1616; about the perception spirits and angels have, in 202, 203, 1008, 1383, 1384, 1390-1392, 1394, 1397, 1504; and about the learned not knowing what perception is, in 1387.
[4] As regards the Lord when He lived in the world, all of His thought sprang from Divine perception since He alone was a Divine and Celestial Man. For He has been the only one in whom Jehovah Himself was present and from whom His perception came, also dealt with in Volume One, in 1616, 1791. His perceptions became more and more interior the closer He came to union with Jehovah. The nature of His perception at this time becomes clear from what has been stated in Volume One, in 1616, about the oak-groves of Mamre; and then the nature of it when He perceived the things contained in this chapter is described in what follows below.
‘He lifted up his eyes’ means that He saw within Himself. ‘And behold, three men standing over him’ means the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding. ‘And he saw’ means when He recognized this. ‘And he ran to meet them’ means that He came closer in thought to those things that were perceived. ‘From the tent door’ means from the holiness that was the Lord’s at that time. ‘And he bowed down towards the ground’ means the expression of humility from the resulting joy.
* lit. earth or land
In verse 10, And He said, ‘I will certainly return to you.
In verse 13, And Jehovah said to Abraham.
In verse 15, He said, ‘No, but you did laugh’.
In verse 17, And Jehovah said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am going to do?’
In verse 19, ‘For I know him’.
In verse 20, And Jehovah said.
In verse 21, ‘I will go down and I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up to Me; and if not, I will know’.
In verse 23, Abraham said, ‘Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’ In verse 25, ‘Far be it from You to do such a thing, far be it from You’.
In verse 26, And Jehovah said, ‘If I find fifty righteous persons, I will spare the whole place for their sakes’.
In verse 27, ‘I have undertaken to speak to my Lord’.
In verse 28, ‘Will You for five destroy the whole city?’ And He said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there’.
In verse 29, He spoke to Him yet again. He said, ‘I will not do it for the sake of the forty,.
In verse 30, ‘Let not my Lord be incensed’. He said, ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there’.
In verse 31, ‘I have undertaken to speak to my Lord’. He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty’.
In verse 32, ‘Let not now my Lord be incensed. And He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten’.
In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.
From all these places it becomes clear that the three men who appeared to Abraham meant the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, and that in itself the Trinity is a Unity. The subject at this point in the internal sense is Jehovah’s appearing to the Lord and the Lord’s perceiving this, though not by means of an appearing such as was made to Abraham, for the event of the three men seen by Abraham is historically true, but it represents Divine perception or a perception received from the Divine which the Lord had when He was in the human. This perception is dealt with in what follows.
* Though not in the printed Latin text, the words translated here from over your servant do occur in Sw.’s rough draft.
* The printed Latin edition has the word which means humiliation, but in his rough draft Sw. has a word which means a bowing down.
‘And he said’ means that He so thought. ‘My Lord’ means the Three in One. ‘If now I have found grace in your eyes’ means the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord’s state when He took notice of that perception. ‘Do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant’ means His intense desire that what He had begun to perceive should not pass away, ‘servant’ meaning the Lord’s human before it was made Divine.
In verses 27, 31 ‘Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord’.
In verses 30, 32, ‘Let not now my Lord be incensed’.
The three men are also called Jehovah –
In verse 13, Jehovah said to Abraham.
In verse 14, ‘Will anything to be too wonderful for Jehovah?’
In verse 22, Abraham still stood before Jehovah.
In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.
From these places it is clear that the three men, that is, the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, are one and the same as the Lord, and the Lord one and the same as Jehovah. In the statement of Christian faith called the Creed the same is recognized, where it is explicitly stated,
There are not three uncreated, not three infinites, not three eternals, not three almighties, not three Lords, but One.
There are none who separate Three that are within a One, apart from those who say that they acknowledge one Supreme Being, the Creator of the Universe. Such an acknowledgement is excusable among those outside the Church; but in the case of those inside the Church who declare the same, these do not acknowledge any God at all, though they say and sometimes think it. Still less do they acknowledge the Lord.
[2] From this it becomes clear that the perception, thought, and speech of celestial angels are more indescribable and far richer than the perception, thought, and speech of spiritual angels, the latter being limited to the subject matter, according with the sequence of expressions that are used. (That the nature of the speech of celestial angels is such, see Volume One, in 1647.) This explains why these words, ‘If now I have found grace in your eyes’, mean in the celestial sense the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord’s state when He took notice of that perception. What is more, ‘finding grace in your eyes’ was a customary phrase used in every expression of respect, as becomes clear from the respect offered by Laban to Jacob,
Laban said to him, If now I have found grace in your eyes. Gen. 30:27.
And from that offered by Jacob to Esau,
Jacob said, No, I beg of you; if now, I have found grace in your eyes. Gen. 33:10.
And similar examples occur elsewhere in the Word.
They said to Jesus, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside, asking for You. And He answered them. saying, Who is My mother, or My brothers? And looking around on those who were sitting around Him He said, Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother, and My sister, and My mother. Mark 3:32-35; Matt. 12:46-50; Luke 8:20-21.
[2] Once He had cast off this human He put on the Divine Human, by virtue of which He called Himself the Son of Man, as may be seen many times in the New Testament Word, and also the Son of God. By ‘the Son of Man’ He meant truth itself and by ‘the Son of God’ good itself which belonged to His Human Essence once this had been made Divine. The former state was that of the Lord’s humiliation but the latter that of His glorification, which has been dealt with already in 1999.
[3] In the former state, namely the state of humiliation, when He still had the imperfect human with Him, He worshipped Jehovah as one other than Himself, and was indeed like a servant, for the imperfect human is by comparison nothing else. In the Word also therefore that human is referred to as ‘a servant’, as in Isaiah,
I will protect this city to save it for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant. Isa. 37:35.
This refers to the Assyrians in whose camp an angel slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand. ‘David’ stands for the Lord who, because He is yet to come, is, as regards the human, called ‘a servant’. That ‘David’ in the Word stands for the Lord, see 1888.
[4] In the same prophet,
Behold, My servant on whom I will lean, My chosen [in whom] My soul is well pleased. I have put My spirit upon him; he will bring forth judgement to the nations. Isa. 42:1.
This is a plain reference to the Lord, of whom, when He was in the human, the expressions ‘servant’ and ‘chosen one’ are used. In the same prophet,
Who is blind but My servant, and deaf as My angel* whom I will send? Who is blind as the perfect one, and blind as the servant or Jehovah? Isa. 42:19.
This too is a reference to the Lord, of whom in a similar way, when He was in the human, the expressions ‘servant’ and ‘angel’ are used.
[5] In the same prophet,
You are My witnesses, said Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Isa. 43:10.
In the same prophet,
[Then] said Jehovah who formed me from the womb, to be a servant to Him, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel might be gathered to Him – He said, It is a light thing that you should be a servant to Me to raise up the tribes of Jacob. I have given you as a light of the nations, to be My salvation right to the ends of the earth. Isa. 49:5, 6.
This too is a plain reference to the Lord and to His human before it was made ‘a light of the nations’ and ‘a salvation to the ends of the earth’. In the same prophet,
Who among you fears Jehovah, hearkens to the voice of His servant who walks in darkness and has no brightness? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and lean on his God. Isa. 50:10.
‘Servant’ again stands for the Lord’s human. His teaching of the way of truth, while He was in that Human, is meant by ‘the voice of Jehovah’s servant’.
[6] In the same prophet,
Jehovah goes before you, and the God of Israel gathers you up. Behold, My servant will deal wisely; he will be raised up and exalted and lifted up very high. Isa. 52:12, 13.
‘Servant’ is clearly used in reference to the Lord when He was in the human, because it is said of Him that He will be raised up, exalted, and lifted up. In the same prophet,
He had no form and no honour. We saw him, but there was no beauty in him. He was despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with sickness. Jehovah was willing to bruise him and make him imperfect. If he makes his soul guilt he will see his seed he will prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah will prosper by his hand. He will see [the fruit of] the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge will the righteous one My servant make many righteous; and He has borne their iniquities. Isa. 53:2, 3, 10, 11.
Here reference is openly made, as in the whole of this chapter, to the Lord’s state of humiliation. The fact that in that state He was in the imperfect human is also declared, namely in the statements that He was ‘a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief’, ‘was made imperfect’, and experienced ‘the travail of his soul’, besides many other statements, in which state He is referred to as ‘a servant’.
* or messenger
‘Let now a little water be taken’ means that they were to draw near and bring themselves down from Divine things nearer to His intellectual concepts. ‘And wash your feet’ means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. ‘And recline under the tree’ means towards the perception of the state through which He was passing, ‘tree’ meaning perception.
[2] This shows what great and deep arcana lie concealed in the Word. The same is further evident from the meaning of the words in the internal sense, that is to say, from the meaning of ‘water’ as intellectual concepts, from the meaning of ‘feet’ as natural things, and from the meaning of ‘tree’ as perception. Once these things are understood, then what is meant in the internal sense – namely that which has been stated – becomes clear from the train of thought and from its connection with what comes before and after. That ‘waters’ means factual knowledge and rational concepts, consequently intellectual concepts, has been shown in Volume One, in 28, 680, and may also become clear from very many other places in the Word, which would take up too much space if they were introduced here.
[2] That ‘feet’ means natural things becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, and consequently from representatives derived from these that existed among the most ancient people and so occur in the Word. Celestial and spiritual things are represented by ‘the head’ and the parts of the head; by ‘the breast’ and the parts of the breast are represented rational concepts and aspects of these; by ‘the feet and the parts of the feet are represented natural things and the different kinds of these. Consequently ‘the sole’ and ‘the heel’ of the foot mean the lowest natural things, regarding which see 259, while ‘a shoe’ means the lowest things of all, which are filthy, regarding which see 1748.
[3] Similar things are meant by the representations in the dreams and visions in the Prophets, such as the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was fine gold, the breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were partly iron and partly clay, Dan 2:32, 33. In this case ‘the head’ means celestial things, which are inmost and are ‘gold’, as shown in 113, 1551, 1552; ‘the breast and arms’ spiritual or rational things, which are ‘silver’, as shown in 1551; but ‘the feet’ means lower things, which are natural, the truths of which are meant by ‘iron’ and the goods by ‘clay’ or mud. As regards ‘iron’ meaning truth, see 425, 426, and ‘clay’ good, 1300, both of which in the present case are natural. These things come in the same order in the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and in the Church which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth, and also in every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord.
[4] It is similar with the vision which Daniel himself saw, of which the following is said,
I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz and whose body was like tarshish,* and whose face was like the appearance of lightning, and whose eyes were like fiery torches, and whose arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze. Dan. 10:5, 6.
Specifically these words mean the interiors of the Word as to goods and truths. ‘The arms and feet’ are its interiors, which constitute the sense of the letter, for natural things occur there, since natural things are the source from which the exteriors of the Word are drawn. What further is meant by each of these parts, namely the loins, body, face, eyes, and many others in man, becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of when the Grand Man – which is the Lord’s heaven – and the representatives that originate in heaven but occur in the world of spirits are dealt with.
[5] That which one reads about Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders seeing the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for pureness, Exod. 24:9, 10, means that they saw, represented in natural things, merely the external features of the Church, and also the literal sense of the Word, in which too, as has been stated, external things are represented by natural things. And these external things are ‘the feet’ under which there is so to speak ‘a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky itself’. It is clear that it was the Lord whom they saw, though only in those lower or natural things, since He is called ‘the God of Israel’, whom all things of the Church represented and whom all things of the Word in the internal sense meant. For the Lord is presented visually in accordance with the things that are meant at the time. When, for example, in John, He was seen as a Man on a white horse, the Word was in this case meant by Him, as is explicitly stated in Rev. 19:11, 13.
[6] The living creatures seen by Ezekiel, which were cherubs, are described as regards celestial and spiritual things by their faces and wings, and also many other things. But as regards natural things they are described as follows, by their feet, a straight foot, and the soles of their feet being like the sole of a calf’s foot, and sparkling like the shine of burnished bronze, Ezek. 1:7. The reason their feet, that is, natural things, are said to have sparkled like burnished bronze is that ‘bronze’ means natural good, dealt with in 425, 1551. It was similar when the Lord appeared to John as the Son of Man: His eyes were like a flame of fire and His feet were like burnished bronze, Rev. 1:14, 15; 2:18.
[7] That ‘feet’ means natural things is further evident from the following places: In John, who saw,
A mighty angel coming down out of heaven, wrapped in a cloud, and a rainbow around his head, his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire. In his hand he had a little book opened, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Rev. 10:1, 2.
This angel in a similar way means the Word. The nature of the Word in the internal sense is meant by ‘the rainbow around his head’ and by ‘his face being like the sun’; but the external sense, or sense of the letter, is meant by his ‘feet’. ‘The sea’ is natural truths, ‘the land’ natural goods, from which it is clear what is meant by his setting his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.
[8] Reference is made in various places in the Word to ‘a footstool’, but no one knows what is meant by this in the internal sense; as in Isaiah,
Jehovah said, The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Where is this house which you are going to build for Me and where is this place of My rest? Isa. 66:1.
‘The heavens’ means the celestial and spiritual things, and so the inmost things, both of the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Also meant by ‘the heavens’ are those same things as they exist with every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord or a Church. Thus ‘the heavens’ also means the celestial and spiritual things regarded in themselves which are matters of love and charity and of faith that springs from these, and so means all things that belong to internal worship and similarly all things that belong to the internal sense of the Word. These things are meant by ‘the heavens’ and are called ‘the Lord’s throne’, but by ‘the earth’ are meant all lower things corresponding to those meant by ‘the heavens’. By ‘the earth’ lower rational and natural things are meant, which from correspondence are likewise referred to as celestial and spiritual things, such as those that exist in the lower heavens and also in the Church, and those things which belong to external worship and also those present in the literal sense of the Word. In short, all things that stem from internal things and manifest themselves in external are, being natural things, called ‘the earth’ and ‘the Lord’s footstool’. What heaven and earth mean in the internal sense of the Word, see also 82, 1733. What the new heaven and new earth mean, see 2117, 2118 (end). And that man is a miniature heaven, see 911, 978, 1900.
[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,
In His anger the Lord covers the daughter of Zion with a cloud, He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool on the day of His anger. Lam. 2:1.
Also in David,
Exalt Jehovah our God, and bow down at His footstool. Holy is He! Ps. 99:5.
Elsewhere in the same author,
We will enter His dwelling-places, we will bow down at His footstool. Ps. 132:7.
People in the representative Church – and thus the Jews – imagined that God’s house and the temple were His footstool. They did not know that by the Lord’s house and the temple was meant external representative worship. What the internal features of the Church were, meant by ‘heaven’ or God’s throne, they had no knowledge at all.
[10] In the same author,
Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I make your enemies a stool for your feet. Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42, 43.
Here ‘footstool’ in a similar way means natural things – both sensory impressions and factual knowledge, and man’s rational ideas formed from these – which are called ‘enemies’ when worship is perverted by them (which is done from the literal sense of the Word). As a result worship exists solely in things that are external, and no internal worship – or rather only internal worship that is defiled – exists, concerning which see 1094, 1175, 1182. When these have became perverted and defiled in this manner they are called ‘enemies’; but because, regarded in themselves, they have reference to internal worship, when this is restored, they become – both the things that belong to external worship and those that belong to the sense of the letter of the Word – ‘a footstool’, as stated already.
[11] In Isaiah,
The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Isa. 60:13.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and Church, the celestial-spiritual things of which are meant by ‘the glory of Lebanon’, that is, cedar trees, but the celestial-natural things of it by ‘the fir, the pine, and the box’, as also in other places in the Word. Thus it is the external aspects of worship that are referred to when it is said that ‘I will make the place of My feet glorious’; and this cannot he made glorious by the fir, the pine, and the box, but by the things meant by these.
[12] That ‘feet’ means these things is also clear from the representatives in the Jewish Church, for example, by the requirement that Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle, Exod. 30:19, 20; 40:31, 32. No one is able to see that arcana were represented by this, for what is such washing of the hands and feet but some external act which does not do anything at all if the internal is not pure and clean? Nor can the internal be made pure and clean by such a washing. But because all the forms of ritual of that Church meant internal things that are celestial and spiritual, so it was with this form; that is to say, it meant the cleanliness of external worship, which is clean when internal worship is present within it. This explains why their lavers were made of bronze, and also the large laver which was called ‘the bronze sea’, together with the ten smaller ones made of bronze around Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 7:23, 38. They were made of bronze because ‘bronze’ represented good present in external worship, which is the same as natural good. Regarding this meaning of bronze, see 425, 1551.
[13] Similarly representative was the prohibition that no man among Aaron’s descendants who had a broken foot or a broken hand should draw near to offer fire-offerings to Jehovah, Lev. 21:19, 21. ‘Broken feet and hands’ represented those people whose external worship was perverted.
[14] That ‘feet’ means natural things is also evident from various other places in the Prophets, as in these prophetical utterances in Moses,
Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable among his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your shoes will be iron and bronze. Deut. 33:24, 25.
These words will not be understood by anybody unless he knows what the meaning of oil, foot, iron, bronze, and shoe are in the internal sense. ‘Foot’ is the natural; ‘shoe’ the still lower natural, such as that which is connected with the senses and the body, see 1748; ‘oil’ is the celestial, 886; ‘iron’ natural truth, 425, 426; and ‘bronze’ natural good, 425, 1551. From these places it is evident what these words embody.
[15] In Nahum,
The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.
Here ‘the dust of the feet’ means the natural and bodily things with man which give rise to clouds. The same is also meant by these words in David,
Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet. Ps. 18:9.
[16] When goods and truths of faith are perverted by natural light, as people call it, it is described in the Word as the feet and hoofs of a beast which trouble waters and trample on food, as in Ezekiel,
You have come forth into the rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet and trampled their rivers. I will destroy all its beasts from over many waters, and the foot of man will not trouble them any longer, nor will the hoofs of beast. Ezek. 32:2, 13.
This refers to Egypt, which meant forms of knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. Thus by ‘feet and hoofs which trouble the rivers and water’ are meant facts gained from sensory and from natural things, on the basis of which people reason about the arcana of faith and do not believe anything until they grasp it by this method. This amounts to not believing at all, for the more such people go on reasoning, the less believing they are; see what is said in 128-130, 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1385. From all these quotations it is now evident that ‘feet’ in the Word means natural things. But what further meaning ‘feet’ may have is evident from the context in which the expression occurs.
* A Hebrew word for a particular kind of precious stone, probably a beryl.
‘I will take a piece of bread’ means something heavenly or celestial to go with [that something natural]. ‘That you may refresh yourselves’ means insofar as it is in keeping. ‘After that you may pass on’ means when He had left off perceiving that He would be content with this. ‘For this is why you have passed over to your servant’ means that this had been the purpose of their coming. ‘And they said, Do as you have spoken’ means that this was to be done.
* lit. and support your heart
Manoah said to the angel of Jehovah, Let us now detain you, and let us make ready a kid before you. And the angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, If you detain me I will not eat your bread. Judg. 13:15, 16.
Here ‘bread’ stands for the kid. When Jonathan ate from the honeycomb the people told him that Saul had commanded the people with an oath, saying,
Cursed be the man who eats bread this day. 1 Sam. 14:27, 28.
Here ‘bread’ stands for all food. Elsewhere, regarding Saul,
When Saul sat down to eat bread he said to Jonathan, Why has not the son of Jesse come either yesterday or today, to bread? 1 Sam. 20:24, 27.
This stands for coming to the table, where there was food of every kind. Regarding David who said to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son,
You will eat bread at my table always. 2 Sam. 9:7, 10.
Similarly regarding Evil-Merodach who said that Jehoiachin the king of Judah was to eat bread with him always, all the days of his life, 2 Kings 25:29. Regarding Solomon the following is said,
Solomon’s bread for each day was thirty cors* of fine flour, sixty cors of meal, ten fatted oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides harts and wild she-goats and roebucks and fatted fowl. 1 Kings 4:22, 23.
Here ‘bread’ plainly stands for all the provisions that are mentioned.
[2] Since then ‘bread’ means every kind of food in general it consequently means in the internal sense all those things that are called heavenly or celestial foods. This becomes even clearer still from the burnt offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep,** she-goats, kids, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, which are referred to by the single expression bread offered by fire to Jehovah, as is quite clear from the following places in Moses where the various sacrifices are dealt with and which, it says, the priest was to burn on the altar as the bread offered by fire to Jehovah for an odour of rest, Lev. 3:11, 16. All those sacrifices and burnt offerings were called such. In the same book,
The sons of Aaron shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, for it is the fire-offerings to Jehovah, the bread of their God, that they offer. You shall sanctify him, for it is the bread of your God that he offers. No man of Aaron’s seed who has a blemish in himself shall approach to offer the bread of his God. Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21.
Here also sacrifices and burnt offerings are referred to as ‘bread’, as they are also in Lev. 22:25. Elsewhere in the same author,
Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My gift, My bread, for fire-offerings of an odour of rest, you shall take care to offer to Me at their appointed times. Num. 28:2.
Here also ‘bread’ stands for all the sacrifices that are mentioned in that chapter. In Malachi,
Offering polluted bread on My altar. Mal. 1:7.
This also has regard to sacrifices. The consecrated parts of the sacrifices which they ate were called ‘bread’ as well, as is clear from these words in Moses,
The person who has touched anything unclean shall not eat any of the consecrated offerings, but he shall surely bathe his flesh in water, and when the sun has set he will be clean. And afterwards he shall eat of the consecrated offerings, because it is his bread. Lev. 22:6, 7.
[3] Burnt offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the heavenly things of the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church. They also represented the things of the Lord’s kingdom or Church as it exists with every individual; and in general they represented all those things that are composed of love and charity, for those things are celestial or of heaven. In addition each type of sacrifice represented some specific thing. In those times all of the sacrifices were called ‘bread’, and therefore when the sacrifices were abolished and other things serving for external worship took their place, the use of bread and wine was commanded.
[4] From all this it is now clear what is meant by that ‘bread’, namely that it means all those things which were represented in the sacrifices, and thus in the internal sense means the Lord Himself. And because ‘bread’ there means the Lord Himself it means love itself towards the whole human race and what belongs to love. It also means man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. Thus the bread now commanded means all celestial things, and wine accordingly all spiritual things, as the Lord also explicitly teaches in John,
They said, Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of life he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:31-35.
And in the same chapter,
Truly I say to you, He who believes in Me has eternal life. I am the Bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the Bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this Bread he will live for ever. John 6:47-51.
[5] Now because this ‘Bread’ is the Lord it exists within the celestial things of love which are the Lord’s, for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself. This being so, ‘bread’ also means everything celestial, that is, all the love and charity existing with a person, for these are derived from the Lord. People who are devoid of love and charity therefore do not have the Lord within them, and so are not endowed with the forms of good and of happiness which are meant in the internal sense by ‘bread’. This external symbol [of love and charity] was commanded because the worship of the majority of the human race is external, and therefore without some external symbol scarcely anything holy would exist among them. Consequently when they lead lives of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, that which is internal exists with them even though they do not know that such love and charity constitute the inner core of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the kinds of good which are meant by ‘the bread’.
[6] In the Prophets as well ‘bread’ means the celestial things of love, as in Isa 3:1, 7; 30:23; 33:15, 16; 55:2; 58:7, 8; Lam. 5:9; Ezek. 4:16, 17; 5:16; 14:13; Amos 4:6; 8:11; Ps. 115:16. Those things are in a similar way meant by ‘the loaves of the Presence’ on the table, referred to in Lev. 24:5-9; Exod. 25:30; 40:23; Num. 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48.
* A cor, or a homer, was a Hebrew measure of about 6 bushels or 220 litres.
** The Latin has a word meaning oxen (boves), but comparison with other places where Sw. gives the same list of animals suggests that he intended sheep (oves).
‘Abraham hastened towards the tent to Sarah’ means the Lord’s rational good joined to His truth – ‘Abraham’ here being the Lord in that state as regards good, ‘Sarah’ as regards truth, ‘the tent’ as regards the holiness of love. ‘And he said’ means as it related to the Lord’s state of perception at that time. ‘Take quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes’ means the celestial existence of His love in that state – ‘three’ meaning that which is holy, ‘meal of fine flour’ the spiritual and celestial ingredients of the rational which were present at that time with the Lord, ‘cakes’ the same when both had been joined together.
[2] What these latter represented becomes clear too, namely things similar to those represented by sacrifices but of a lower order, thus the things which belong to the spiritual Church, and also those which belong to the external Church. It may become clear to anyone that such things would never have been prescribed unless they had represented Divine things, and also that each one represented some specific thing. For unless they had represented Divine things they would have been no different from similar things found among gentiles, among whom also there were sacrifices, minchahs, libations, and incense, as well as perpetual fires and many other things which had come down to them from the Ancient Church, especially from the Hebrew Church. But because they were separated from the internal, that is, the Divine things represented by them, those external forms of worship were nothing but idolatrous, as they also came to be among the Jews, who likewise sank into all kinds of idolatry. From this it may become clear to anyone that heavenly arcana were present within every form of ritual, especially so within the sacrifices and every detail of them.
[3] As regards the minchah, the nature of it and how it was to be made into cakes is described in a whole chapter in Moses – in Lev. 2; also Num. 15, and elsewhere. The law regarding the minchah is described in Leviticus in the following words,
Fire shall be kept burning unceasingly on the altar; it shall not be put out. And this is the law of the minchah: Aaron’s sons shall bring it before Jehovah to the front of the altar, and he shall take up from it a fistful of fine flour of the minchah and of the oil of it and all the frankincense which is on the minchah, and he shall burn it on the altar; it is an odour of rest for a memorial to Jehovah. And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. Unleavened bread shall be eaten in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting shall they eat it. It shall not be cooked leavened; I have given it as their portion from My fire-offerings; it is most holy. Lev. 6:13-17.
[4] The fire which was to be kept burning unceasingly on the altar represented the Lord’s love, that is, His mercy, which is constant and eternal. ‘Fire’ in the Word means love, see 934, and therefore ‘the fire-offerings made for an odour of rest’ means the good pleasure which the Lord takes in those things that belong to love and charity. That ‘odour’ means good pleasure, that is, that which is pleasing, see 925, 1519. Their ‘taking a fistful’ represented their being required to love with all their soul or strength, for ‘the hand’ or ‘the palm’ of the hand means power, as shown in 878, from which ‘the fist’ also means the same. ‘The fine flour together with the oil and the frankincense’ represented all things of charity – ‘fine flour’ the spiritual ingredient of it, ‘oil’ the celestial, and ‘frankincense’ that which was in this manner pleasing. That ‘fine flour’ represents the spiritual ingredient is evident from what has just been stated and from what is stated below. That ‘oil’ represents the celestial ingredient, or the good or charity, see 886, and that ‘frankincense’ on account of its odour represents that which is pleasing and acceptable, 925.
[5] Its being ‘unleavened bread’ or not fermented means that it was to be genuine, thus something offered from genuineness of heart and having no uncleanness. The eating of the rest by Aaron and his sons represented man’s reciprocation and his making it his own, and thus represented conjunction by means of love and charity; and it is for this reason that they were commanded to eat it ‘in a holy place’. Hence it is called something most holy. These were the things which were represented by the minchah. It was also the way in which the representatives themselves were perceived in heaven; and when the member of the Church understood them in the same way his ideas were like the perception which the angels possess, so that he was in the Lord’s kingdom in heaven even though he was on earth.
[6] For more about the minchah – what it was to consist of in any particular kind of sacrifice; the way in which it was to be baked into cakes; what kind was to be offered by those who were being cleansed, and also what kinds on other occasions (all of which would take too long to introduce and explain here) – see what is said about it in Exod. 29:39-41; Lev. 5:11-13; 6:16, 17, 19-21; 10:12, 13; 23:10-13, 6, 17; Num. 5:15 and following verses; 6:15-17, 19, 20; 7: in various places; 28:5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 20, 21, 28, 29; 29:3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37
[7] ‘Fine flour made into cakes’ had in general the same representation as bread, namely the celestial ingredient of love, while ‘meals represented its spiritual ingredient, as becomes clear in the places indicated above. The loaves which were called ‘the bread of the Presence’ or ‘the shewbread’ consisted of fine flour, which was made into cakes and placed on the table to provide an unceasing representation of the Lord’s love, that is, of His mercy, towards the whole human race, and man’s reciprocation. These loaves are spoken of in Moses as follows,
You shall take fine pour and bake it into twelve cakes; two-tenths [of an ephah] shall there be in one cake And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the clean table before Jehovah. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, and it shall be bread serving as a memorial, a fire-offering to Jehovah. Every sabbath day [Aaron] shall set it out in order before Jehovah continually; it is from the children of Israel as an eternal covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is to him the most holy of fire-offerings to Jehovah, by an eternal statute. Lev. 24:5-9.
Every item and smallest detail mentioned here represented the holiness of love and charity, ‘fine flour’ having the same representation as meal of fine flour, namely that which is celestial and that which is spiritual that goes with it, and ‘cake’ the two when joined together.
[8] From this it is clear what the holiness of the Word is to those who possess heavenly ideas, and indeed what holiness was present within this particular representative observance, on account of which it is called ‘most holy’. It is also clear how devoid of holiness the Word is to those who imagine that it does not have anything heavenly within it and who keep solely to externals. Exemplifying the latter are those who in the present verse under consideration perceive ‘the meal’ to be merely meal, ‘the fine flour’ merely fine flour, and ‘the cake’ merely a cake, and who imagine that these things have been stated without each one that is mentioned embodying something of the Divine within it. Their attitude is similar to that of those who imagine that the bread and wine of the Holy Supper are no more than a certain religious observance that does not have anything holy within it. Yet in fact it possesses such holiness that the minds of men are linked by means of it to the minds of those in heaven, when from an internal affection they think that the bread and wine mean the Lord’s love and man’s reciprocation, and by virtue of that interior thought and affection they abide in holiness.
[9] Much the same was implied by the requirement that when the children of Israel entered the land they were to present as a heave-offering to Jehovah a cake made from the first of their dough, Num. 15:20. The fact that such things are meant is also evident in the Prophets, from’ among whom for the moment let this one place in Ezekiel be introduced here,
You were adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became exceedingly beautiful, and attained to a kingdom. Ezek. 16:13.
This refers to Jerusalem, by which is meant the Church, which Church in its earliest days bore an appearance such as this, that is to say, the Ancient Church, which is described by means of raiment and many other adornments. Its affections for truth and good are also described by ‘the fine flour, honey, and oil’. It may become clear to anyone that all these details mean in the internal sense something altogether different from what they do in the sense of the letter. And the same applies to Abraham’s saying to Sarah, ‘Take quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes’. That ‘three’ means things that are holy has been shown already in 720, 901.
‘Abraham ran to the herd’ means natural good. ‘And took a young bull, tender and good’ means a conformable celestial-natural which the rational took to itself in order that it might join itself to perception from the Divine. ‘And gave it to the servant, and he hastened to make it ready’ means the joining together of this good with rational good, ‘servant’ here being the natural man.
* lit. a son of an ox
[2] In the world of spirits various representatives manifest themselves. On many occasions animals too manifest themselves before the eyes of spirits, such as horses wearing varying decorative trappings, oxen, sheep, lambs, and different kinds of other animals; and sometimes animals such as have never been seen on earth but are purely representative. Such animals seen also by the prophets and mentioned in the Word had the same origin. Animals which appear in that world are representative of affections for good and truth, and also of affections for evil and falsity. Good spirits have full knowledge of what those animals mean, and also when they see them, they gather what it is that angels are discussing with one another, for when the conversation of those angels passes down into the world of spirits it sometimes manifests itself in this manner. For example, when horses appear, the spirits know that the angels are talking about matters of the understanding; when oxen and young bulls appear, that they are talking about natural goods; when sheep appear, about rational goods and about integrity; when lambs appear, about still more interior goods and about innocence; and so on.
[3] Because the members of the Most Ancient Church had communication with spirits and angels, constantly having visions and also dreams such as the prophets had, they consequently formed a concept of what any beast meant the moment they saw it. This was how representatives and meaningful signs originated. These remained in existence for a long time after those most ancient times, and at length were so venerated because of their antiquity that writers employed mere representatives. Indeed books that were not written in that style were not very highly regarded, nor if written within the Church considered to be holy. For the same and also other hidden reasons, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be given elsewhere, the books of the Word too were written in that style.
[2] That ‘a young bull’ or ‘a son of an ox’ means the celestial-natural, or what amounts to the same, natural good, becomes especially clear from the sacrifices, which were the principal representatives in the worship of the Hebrew Church and after this of the Jewish Church. Their sacrifices were made either from the herd or from the flock, thus from animals of various kinds that were clean, such as oxen, young bulls, he-goats, sheep, rams, she-goats, kids, and lambs, besides doves and fledgling pigeons. All of these creatures meant the internal features of worship, that is, celestial and spiritual things, 2165, 2177, those from the herd meaning celestial-natural, those from the flock celestial-rational. Because both of these – natural things and rational things – are more and more interior and are various, so many genera and so many species of these creatures were therefore employed in sacrifices. This fact becomes clear also from its being laid down as to which creatures were to be offered in burnt offerings and also which in every kind of sacrifice – the daily sacrifices; those offered on sabbaths and at festivals; those made as free-will, eucharistic, or votive offerings; and those offered in purifications, cleansings, and also in inaugurations. Which creatures were to be used, and how many, in each kind of sacrifice is mentioned explicitly. This would never have been done unless each one had had some specific meaning, as is quite evident from those places where the sacrifices are the subject, as in Chapter 29 of Exodus; Chapters 1, 3, 4, 9, 16, and 23 of Leviticus; and Chapters 7, 8, 15, and 29 of Numbers. But this is not the place to explain what each one meant. The situation is similar in the Prophets where those animals are mentioned, from which it may become clear that young bulls meant celestial-natural things.
[3] That none but heavenly things were meant becomes clear also from the cherubim seen by Ezekiel and from the living creatures before the throne which were seen by John. Regarding the cherubim the prophet says,
The likeness of their faces was the face of a man (homo); and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; and they four had the face of an eagle. Ezek. 1:10.
Regarding the four living creatures before the throne John says,
Around the throne were four living creatures – the first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a young bull, the third living creature had a face like a man (homo), the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle – saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. Rev. 4:7, 8.
Anyone may see that holy things were represented by the cherubim and these living creatures, thus also by the oxen and young bulls in the sacrifices. The same applies in the prophecy of Moses concerning Joseph,
Let it come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. The firstborn of his ox has honour, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with these he will thrust the peoples together, to the ends of the earth. Deut. 33:16, 17.
These words are not intelligible to anyone unless he knows what ox, unicorn, horns, and many other things mean in the internal sense.
[4] As for sacrifices in general they were indeed commanded to the Israelites through Moses. But the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood never knew anything at all about sacrifices, nor did it ever enter their minds to worship the Lord by the slaughtering of animals. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood knew nothing about it either. Representatives did indeed exist there, but not sacrifices. These were first introduced in the subsequent Church called the Hebrew Church, and from there they spread to the gentile nations, and even to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so to Jacob’s descendants. The fact that the gentile nations had sacrificial worship has been shown in 1343, and the fact that Jacob’s descendants also had such worship before they left Egypt, thus before sacrifices were commanded through Moses on Mount Sinai, becomes clear from Exod. 5:3; 10:25, 27; 18:12; 24:4, 5.
[5] This is especially clear from their idolatrous worship in front of the golden calf, regarding which the following is said in Moses,
Aaron built an altar in front of the calf, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah. And they rose up early the next morning and presented burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Exod. 32:5, 6.
This happened while Moses was on Mount Sinai, and so before the command came to them regarding the altar and the sacrifices. That command came to them for the reason that sacrificial worship among them had been turned, as it had among the gentiles, into idolatrous worship, from which they could not be drawn away because they looked upon it as-the chief holy thing. Once something has been implanted in people from their earliest years as being holy, the more so if received from their fathers, and thus is inrooted, the Lord in no way breaks it – provided it is not contrary to order itself – but bends it. This was the reason for its being laid down that the sacrificial system should be established, such as one reads in the books of Moses.
[6] The fact that sacrifices were by no means acceptable to Jehovah, and so were merely permitted and tolerated for the reason just stated, is quite evident in the Prophets. Concerning them the following is said in Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jer. 7:21-23.
In David,
O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifices You have not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God. Ps. 40:6, 8.
In the same author,
You do not delight in sacrifice that I should give it; burnt offering You do not accept. The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit. Ps. 51:16, 17.
In the same author,
I will not take any young bull from your house, nor he-goats from your folds. Sacrifice to God confession. Ps. 50:9, 14; 107:21, 22; 116:17; Deut. 23:18.
In Hosea,
I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.
Samuel said to Saul,
Has Jehovah great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? Behold, to be submissive is better than sacrifice, to be obedient than the fat of rams. – 1 Sam. 15:22.
In Micah,
With what shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself to God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God? Micah 6:6-8.
[7] From these quotations it is now evident that sacrifices were not commanded but permitted, and also that in sacrifices nothing else was regarded except that which was internal, and that it was that which was internal that was pleasing, not that which was external. For this reason also the Lord abolished them, as was also foretold through Daniel in the following words when he was speaking about the Lord’s Coming,
In the middle of the week He will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. Dan. 9:27.
See what has been stated about sacrifices in Volume One, in 922, 923, 1128, 1823. As for ‘the young bull’ which Abraham made ready or prepared for the three men, the meaning is similar to that of the same animals when used in sacrifices. That it had a similar meaning becomes clear also from the fact that he told Sarah to take three measures of fine flour. Regarding the fine flour that went with the offering of a young bull the following is said in Moses – referring to when they were to come into the land,
When you make ready a young bull for a burnt offering or a sacrifice in the declaring of a vow, or for peace offerings to Jehovah, you shall bring with the young bull a minchah of three tenths of fine flour mixed with oil. Num. 15:8, 9.
Here similarly the number ‘three’ appears, though three ‘tenths’ here but three ‘measures’ in Abraham’s instruction to Sarah. But only two tenths went with the offering of a ram, one tenth with that of a lamb, Num. 15:4-6.
‘He took butter and milk, and the young bull which he made ready’ means all those things thus joined together, ‘butter’ being the celestial part of the rational, ‘milk’ the spiritual deriving from this, ‘young bull’ the corresponding natural part. ‘And set it before them’ means that He so prepared Himself to receive. ‘And he stood before them under the tree’ means consequent perception, ‘tree’, as previously, being perception. ‘And they ate’ means communication in this manner.
* lit. the son of an ox
[2] But one is scarcely able to describe these matters to the ordinary mind because the majority do not know that every person possesses an internal, a rational, and a natural, and that these three are quite distinct and separate from one another, so distinct in fact that one can be at variance with another. That is to say, the rational, which is called the rational man, can be at variance with the natural, which is the natural man; indeed the rational man is able to see and perceive evil that is in the natural, and if it is a genuine rational, is able to correct it, see 1904. Before these two have been joined together man is unable to be whole or to experience the serenity of peace, since the one is in conflict with the other. For the angels present with a person govern his rational, while the evil spirits present with him govern his natural – and this gives rise to conflict.
[3] If in this conflict the rational prevails, the natural is placed in subjection, and the man is thus endowed with conscience; but if the natural prevails, he is not able to receive any conscience at all. If the rational prevails, his natural becomes as though it too was rational; but if the natural prevails, the rational becomes as though it too was natural. In addition, if the rational prevails, angels draw nearer to that person, implanting within him charity, a celestial quality which comes through the angels from the Lord; and at the same time the evil spirits move some distance away from him. But if the natural prevails, the angels move further away, that is, more towards his interiors, and the evil spirits draw nearer to the rational, constantly attack it, and fill the lower parts of his mind with forms of hatred, revenge, deceit, and the like. If the rational prevails, the man enters into the serenity of peace, and in the next life into the peace of heaven; but if the natural prevails, though during his lifetime he seems to experience serenity, he enters in the next life into the unrest and torment of hell.
[4] From these considerations one may know the nature of a person’s state so far as his rational and so far as his natural are concerned. There is nothing else that can bring him blessing and happiness except the conformity of his natural to the rational when both are joined together. This is achieved solely by means of charity; and charity originates wholly in the Lord.
Behold, a virgin is bearing a son, and will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. Isa. 7:14, 15.
This refers to the Lord, who is Immanuel; and anyone may see that butter is not meant by ‘butter’, nor honey by ‘honey’. But by ‘butter’ is meant His celestial, and by ‘honey’ that which is derived from that celestial.
[2] In the same chapter,
And it will be, because of the abundance of milk which they give, that he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isa. 7:22.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom, and to those on earth who are members of the Lord’s kingdom. ‘Milk’ here stands for spiritual good, ‘butter’ for celestial good, and ‘honey’ for the happiness derived from this.
[3] In Moses,
Jehovah alone leads him, and there is no foreign god with him. He causes him to ride on the heights of the land, and He feeds [him] with the produce of the fields, and He causes him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock – butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed* of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you will drink unmixed wine. Deut. 32:12-14.
No one is able to understand what all these things mean unless he knows the internal sense of each one. It seems like a pile of expressions such as belong to the oratory employed by the wise men of the world. But yet each expression means that which is celestial and that which is spiritual going with it, and also the blessing and happiness which flow from these, and all of them in a co-ordinated sequence. ‘Butter from the herd’ is the celestial-natural, ‘milk from the flock’ the celestial-spiritual of the rational.
[4] As regards ‘milk’ however, this means, as has been stated, that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial, that is, the celestial-spiritual. What the celestial-spiritual is, see Volume One, in 1577, 1824, and in various other places. The reason ‘milk’ means that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial is that ‘water’ means that which is spiritual, 680, 739, while milk, because of the fat in it, means the celestial-spiritual; or (what amounts to the same) truth rooted in good; or (also amounting to the same) faith grounded in love or charity; or (yet the same) the understanding part of the good present in the will; or (likewise amounting to the same) the affection for truth that has the affection for good within it; or (still yet the same) the affection for cognitions and facts that springs from the affection that belongs to charity towards the neighbour, such as exists with those who love the neighbour and confirm themselves in this love from the cognitions of faith and also from factual knowledge, which they love because they love the neighbour. All these are the same as the celestial-spiritual, and may be used in reference to any particular matter under discussion.
[5] That the celestial-spiritual is meant is also evident from the Word, as in Isaiah,
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread? Isa. 55:1, 2.
Here ‘wine’ stands for the spiritual element of faith, ‘milk’ for the spiritual element of love. In Moses,
He washes his garment in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Gen. 49:11, 12.
This is the prophecy of Jacob, who by now was Israel, regarding Judah – ‘Judah’ being used here to describe the Lord. By ‘teeth whiter than milk’ is meant the celestial-spiritual which belonged to His Natural.
[6] In Joel,
It will be, on that day, that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will run with milk, and all the streams of Judah will run with water. Joel 3:18.
Here, where the subject is the Lord’s kingdom, ‘milk’ stands for the celestial-spiritual. Also in the Word the land of Canaan, which represents and means the Lord’s kingdom, is called ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, as in Num. 13:27; 14:8; Deut. 26:9, 15; 27:3; Jer. 11:5; 32:22; Ezek. 20:6, 15. In these places nothing else is meant by ‘milk’ than the abundance of celestial-spiritual things, and by ‘honey’ the abundant happiness derived from these. ‘Land’ is the celestial part itself of the kingdom from which they come.
[7] As regards ‘a young bull’ meaning the celestial-natural, this has been shown just above in 2180. The celestial-natural is the same as natural good, that is, good within the natural. Man’s natural, like his rational, has its own good and its own truth, for then a marriage of good and truth exists everywhere, as stated above in 2173. The good that belongs to the natural is the delight which is perceived from charity, that is, from the friendship that is the product of charity; and from that delight springs the joy or satisfaction which belongs properly to the body. The truth of the natural consists in that factual knowledge which gives support to that delight. All this shows what the celestial- natural is.
* lit. sons
[2] The reason for the law given to the Nazirite that during the days of his Naziriteship he was forbidden to eat anything that is produced from the grape – from which wine is made – from pips even to skin, Num. 6:4, is that the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such as is not willing even to mention spiritual things, see Volume One, in 202, 337, 880 (end), 1647. And because ‘wine’ and ‘the grape’, and also whatever came from the grape, meant that which is spiritual, the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat of them, that is, to have any communication with spiritual things, to join himself to them, or to make them his own.
[3] Something similar is meant by ‘eating’ in Isaiah,
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight itself in fatness. Isa. 55:1, 2.
And also what is said in John,
To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God. Rev. 2:7.
‘The tree of life’ is the celestial itself, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself since He is the source of everything celestial, that is, of all love and charity. Thus ‘eating from the tree of life’ is the same as feeding on the Lord; and ‘feeding on the Lord’ is being endowed with love and charity, thus with those things that belong to heavenly life, as the Lord Himself declares in John,
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. He who feeds on Me will live through Me. John. 6:51, 57. But they said, This is a hard saying. Jesus said however, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:60, 63.
From this it is evident what is meant by ‘eating’ in the Holy Supper, Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22, 23; Luke 22:19, 20 – having communication, being joined together, and making one’s own.
[4] From this it is also plain what is meant by the Lord’s statement that
Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matt. 8:11.
The Lord did not mean that they were going to feast with these three in the kingdom of God but that they were to enjoy the celestial goods meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is to say, they were to enjoy the inmost celestial goods of love, meant by -Abraham’; also a lower type of goods, which are intermediate, as those are which belong to the rational, meant by ‘Isaac’; and a still lower type of goods which are celestial-natural, such as occur in the first heaven, meant by ‘Jacob’. These are the things which constitute the internal sense of these words. That such things are meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, see 1893, and wherever else they are the subject. For whether one speaks of enjoying those celestial things, or whether one speaks of enjoying the Lord, whom they represent, it amounts to the same since the Lord is the source of all those things, and the Lord is their All in all.
‘They said to him, Where is Sarah your wife?’ means rational truth, which did not at that time show itself because it existed within rational good. ‘And he said, Behold, in the tent’ means that it existed within holiness.
[2] The first and foremost element of the rational with man is truth, as stated already in 2072, and therefore it is the affection for truth, which exists with man to enable him to be reformed and so regenerated, such reformation being effected by means of cognitions and facts, which are matters of truth. These are being constantly implanted in good, that is, in charity, so that in this manner he may receive the life of charity. It is therefore the affection for truth with man that predominates in his rational. For the situation with the life of charity, which is the life of heaven itself, is that in people who are being reformed and regenerated it is constantly being born and developing and increasing, such growth being achieved by means of truths. Therefore the more truth that is implanted, the more is the life of charity perfected. Thus as is the nature and the amount of truth present with man, so is the charity present with him.
[3] These few observations may to some extent show what the position is with man’s rational. Within truth however no life is present, only within good. Truth is merely the recipient of life, that is, of good. Truth is like the clothing or a garment worn by good. In the Word too therefore truths are called clothes, and also garments. But when good composes the rational, truth passes out of sight and becomes as though it was good; for good is now shining through the truth, in the same way as when angels are seen clothed they appear in brightness that looks like a garment, as also was the case when angels appeared before the prophets.
[4] These then are the implications of the explanation given, that rational truth did not at that time show itself because it existed within rational good, meant by ‘they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife?’ But because the Lord’s Rational Good at that time was Divine, as it can never be with any angel, it cannot be described other than by the use of a comparison, thus by the use of an illustration presenting something similar but not the same.
‘And he said’ means perception. ‘I will certainly return to you about this time next year’ means the joining together of the Divine with the Lord’s Human. ‘And behold, Sarah your wife will have a son’ means the Rational that was to be Divine. ‘And Sarah heard it at the tent door’ means rational truth at that time close to holiness. ‘And this was behind him’ means close to the good which existed with the rational at that time, and separated from it insofar as anything of the human was in it.
* lit. near this time of life
[2] The situation so far as merely human rational truth – which resided with the Lord at that time and was separated from Him when He joined Himself to the Divine – is that human rational truth has no grasp of Divine things because these are above its range of understanding. Such truth does indeed communicate with the facts which are present in the natural man; but insofar as it looks from those facts at the things that exist above itself it does not acknowledge these things. For such truth is immersed in appearances of which it cannot rid itself; and appearances are born from the evidence of the senses – which leads one to believe as though Divine things themselves are also of a similar nature, when in fact they are free of all appearances. When such Divine things are stated this rational truth cannot possibly believe them because it cannot have any grasp of them. Let some examples be given.
[3] If it is stated that a person has no life except that which he receives from the Lord, the rational, seeing from appearances, imagines in that case that he is not able to live as if from himself, when in fact he is for the first time truly living when he perceives that he does so from the Lord.
[4] Seeing from appearances the rational imagines that the good which a person does springs from himself, when in fact nothing good at all springs from self, but from the Lord.
[5] Seeing from appearances the rational imagines that a person merits salvation when he does what is good, when in fact of himself a person can merit nothing – all merit being the Lord’s.
[6] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that when he is being withheld from evil and maintained in good by the Lord, nothing but good, righteousness, and indeed holiness are present with him, when in fact present in man there is nothing except evil, unrighteousness, and profanity.
[7] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that when he does what is good from charity his will is the source of his actions, when in fact it is not his will that is the source but his understanding in which charity has been implanted.
[8] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that no glory can exist without the glory of the world, when in fact the glory of heaven does not have one trace of the world’s glory within it.
[9] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that nobody can love the neighbour more than he loves himself, but that all love begins from self, when in fact heavenly love has no self-love at all within it.
[10] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that no light can exist apart from that which flows from the light of this world, when in fact not a ray of the world’s light shines in heaven, though the light there is a thousand times brighter than the midday light of the world.
[11] Seeing from appearances a person imagines that the Lord cannot possibly shine before the whole of heaven as a sun, when in fact the entire light of heaven comes from Him.
[12] Seeing from appearances no one can grasp the idea that developments take place in the next life, when in fact those there seem to themselves to be making developments – as anyone does on earth – in for example, their homes, courtyards, and gardens. Still less can man grasp it if he is told that these are changes of state which manifest themselves outwardly in such developments.
[13] Seeing from appearances a person cannot grasp that it is because they are not visible before his eyes that spirits and angels are not able to be seen; nor can he grasp that they are able to talk to-man, when in fact they are seen more clearly before internal sight, or the sight of the spirit, than man sees man on earth. And their utterances are also in like manner clearly audible.
Besides these there are thousands upon thousands of things such as these which man’s rational, seeing from its own light, which is born from the evidence of the senses and consequently is darkened, cannot possibly believe. Indeed even in natural things the rational is blinded. It is unable to grasp, for example, how those living on the opposite side of the world can stand erect and walk, or to grasp very many other natural phenomena. How blind must the rational be then in spiritual and celestial things which are far above those that are natural.
[14] Such being the nature of the human rational, it is here spoken of as being separated when the Lord, while possessing Divine Perception, was united to the Divine. This is meant by the statement that Sarah, who here is such rational truth, ‘stood at the tent door, and this was behind him’.
‘Abraham and Sarah were old’ means that the human with the Lord was to be cast off. ‘Well advanced in years’ means that the time was at hand. ‘It had ceased to be with Sarah in the way it is with women’ means that the state of rational truth could remain so no longer.
* lit. entering into days
‘Sarah laughed within herself’ means the affection possessed by that rational truth that such was to take place. ‘Saying, After I have grown old, shall I have this pleasure?’ means that the affection possessed by that truth had no inclination to change its state. ‘And my lord being old’ means that the affection for truth was amazed that rational good to which truth was allied was also to cast off the human.
‘Jehovah said to Abraham’ means the Lord’s perception from the Divine. ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ means the thought of rational truth from the affection for it. ‘Shall I really, in truth, bear a child’ means its amazement that the rational was to become Divine. ‘And I have grown old’ means after it was no longer of such a nature.
[2] Is the rational, if consulted, able to believe in the existence of the internal sense of the Word which, as has been shown, is so remote from the literal sense? And is it thus able to believe that the Word is that which joins heaven and earth together, that is, the Lord’s kingdom in heaven to the Lord’s kingdom on earth? Is the rational able to believe that souls after death converse with one another most distinctly, doing so not by means of speech consisting of spoken words, yet nevertheless so completely that they express more in a minute than man does in an hour by the use of his speech; or that the angels likewise converse with one another, but in a language which is more perfect still though imperceptible to spirits; and also that all souls on entering the next life know how to use this kind of speech even though they are never taught how to do so? Is the rational able to believe that present within one affection which a person has, indeed within a single sigh expressing his affection, there are things perceived by angels which are so countless that they cannot possibly be described; or that every affection which a person has, indeed every idea comprising his thought, is an image of him and is such that it includes within it in a wondrous fashion every detail of his life, besides thousands upon thousands of other such things?
[3] When the rational which derives its wisdom from the evidence of the senses, and is wrapped in the illusions of the senses, thinks about such things it does not believe that they can be so, for it is not able to form any idea for itself except from such things as it perceives by some sensory power whether external or internal. How must it be when it thinks about Divine celestial and Divine spiritual things which are higher still? For there must always exist, born from the evidence of the senses, some appearances for thought to rest upon, and when these appearances are withdrawn the idea ceases to exist. This has also become clear to me from spirits who are newcomers and who take very great delight in the appearances they have brought with them from the world. They have said that they did not know whether they would be able to think if those appearances were taken away from them. Such is the nature of the rational regarded in itself.
‘Will anything be too wonderful for Jehovah?’ means that everything is possible to Jehovah. ‘At the set time I will return to you’ means a state that is to come. ‘About this time next year, and Sarah will have a son’ means that the Lord would at that point cast off the human rational and put on the Divine Rational.
* lit. near this time of life
‘And Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid’ means that human rational truth wished to make excuses for itself because it realized that it was not such as it ought to have been. ‘And He said, No, but you did laugh’ means that nevertheless it was such.
‘The men rose up from there’ means that that perception came to an end. ‘And they looked towards the face of Sodom’ means the state of the human race, ‘Sodom’ being every evil that stems from self-love. ‘And Abraham went with them’ means that the Lord still remained with them in perception, but perception regarding the human race. ‘To send them on their way’ means that He wished to depart from that perception.
* i.e. in 2136-2141
[2] In addition to this, it has been shown in various places in Volume One what the nature of self-love is, namely a love completely contrary to the order into which man was created. Unlike beasts man was endowed with rationality, to the end that every individual person may will what is good and do what is good to any other, thus to everyone in particular as to all in general. Such is the order into which man was created, and therefore it is love to God and love towards the neighbour which were intended to constitute man’s life, which life was to mark him off from animals. Such also is the order of heaven which, it was intended, would exist in man while he was living in the world. He would thus be in the Lord’s kingdom, into which he would also pass when he had cast off the body that had served him on earth, and in that kingdom would rise up into a state constantly increasing in heavenly perfection.
[3] But self-love is the chief, indeed the one and only, thing that destroys these loves. Love of the world is not so destructive; for although this is indeed contrary to the spiritual things of faith, self-love is diametrically opposed to the celestial things of love. For someone who loves himself does not love any others but tries to destroy everyone who fails to pay respect to him. Nor does he will what is good and do what is good to anybody except to one who is an extension of himself or can be made to become such, like something into which his evil desires and false notions have been so to speak engrafted. From this it is evident that self-love is the source from which all forms of hatred, all forms of revenge and cruelty well up, and also all forms of disgraceful presence and of deceit – thus every abominable thing that is contrary to the order that belongs to human society and contrary to the order of heavenly society.
[4] Indeed self-love is so abominable that when the restraints placed upon it are lifted, that is, when it is given the opportunity to do whatever it pleases, then even with those who belong to the lowest sort, it rushes with such urgency that it desires not only to exercise dominion over those nearest to it and over those close by, but also over the universe and even over the Supreme Divine Being Himself. Man is not indeed aware of this because he is held back by restraints he knows little about. But to the extent these restraints, as has been stated, are removed he very rapidly does the same. This I have been given to know from much experience in the next life. Because these things lie concealed within self-love, people governed by self-love and not endowed with the restraints of conscience, more than all others hate the Lord, and thus hate all the truths of faith, since these are the very laws of order in the Lord’s kingdom. Such people dislike these laws so much as to loathe them, and this also shows itself openly in the next life. This love is also the head of the serpent which the seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, treads down, regarding which see Volume One, in 257.
[5] But self-love does not always present itself outwardly in arrogance and pride, for sometimes such people are able to regard the neighbour with charity. Some people are born with this outwardly charitable disposition, while others acquire it during childhood years, but after this it is subdued, though the outward disposition does still remain. But those governed by self-love are such as despise others and regard them as nothing in comparison with themselves. Nor do they have any concern whatever for the common good unless this exists for their benefit, they themselves being so to speak the common good. This applies especially to those who hate and persecute everyone who does not show them favour or serve them, and as far as possible they rob such persons of possessions, honour, reputation, and even life. Let those who behave intentionally in these ways realize that with them pre-eminently self-love is present.
A sword over the Chaldeans and over the inhabitants of Babel as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and its neighbours, said Jehovah. No man will live there, and no son of man will abide in it. Jer. 50:35, 40.
This refers to those meant by ‘the Chaldeans’ whose worship consists in profane falsity, as shown already in 1368, and also to those meant by ‘Babel’ whose worship consists in profane evil, 1182, 1326. Their condemnation is described by the overthrow of Sodom, that is, of evil in general, and by the overthrow of Gomorrah, that is, of falsity in general, since their worship too consists in evil that stems from self-love, and in falsity derived from this.
[2] In Amos,
I overthrew you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you became as a brand plucked out of the burning. Amos 4:11.
This refers to Samaria, by which is meant the perverted spiritual Church, which as regards evils in general contrary to the goods of charity is called ‘Sodom’, as regards falsities in general contrary to truths of faith is called ‘Gomorrah’, and as regards both is described here, as in the previous quotation, as ‘the overthrowing of God’. In Zephaniah,
Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation even for ever. This will be theirs for their arrogance because they taunted and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth. Zeph. 2:9, 10.
Here ‘Sodom’ stands for evil stemming from self-love, and ‘Gomorrah’ for falsity derived from this, both of which are referred to here as ‘a desolation’, as they were ‘an overthrowing’ in the two previous quotations. ‘Arrogance’ is self-love, ‘taunting the people of Jehovah Zebaoth’ is bringing evil against truths, and ‘magnifying themselves against the people’ is bringing falsity against them.
[3] In Ezekiel,
Your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, dwelling on your left hand; and your younger sister, dwelling on your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters Your sister Sodom has not done, she and her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of bread, and prosperous ease, but she did not strengthen the hand of the wretched and needy. And they became haughty and did abominable things before Me. Ezek. 16:46, 48-50.
This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem, which are described as Samaria and Sodom ‘Samaria’, used instead of Gomorrah, describing the abominations involving falsities, and ‘Sodom’ those involving evils. What is meant specifically by ‘Sodom’ is also stated, for it is said, ‘this was the iniquity of Sodom’, namely that it was self-love, meant here by ‘pride’. Their rejection of the goods of charity is meant by ‘surfeit of bread’, and their satisfaction taken in those [falsities and evils] by ‘prosperous ease’. Their lack of compassion is described by the statement that they did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy, and the impregnation with self-love of their desires resulting from this is described by the statement that the daughters became haughty – such desires being meant by ‘daughters’.
[4] From this it is quite clear what Sodom means – that its meaning is not the same as what occurs in the historical sense in the next chapter, and that by Sodom in the next chapter such things are meant in the internal sense as are described here in Ezekiel, namely things belonging to self-love. But the description of Sodom here is milder because reference is made to the abominations of Jerusalem having been greater than those of Sodom, as is evident also from the Lord’s words in Matthew,
Truly I say to you, It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that city. Matt. 10:15; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12.
In John,
Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. Rev. 11:8.
Here it is clear that ‘Sodom’ is not used to mean Sodom nor ‘Egypt’ to mean Egypt, for it is said that ‘spiritually it is called Sodom and Egypt’. ‘Sodom’ stands for every evil stemming from self-love, and ‘Egypt’, used instead of Gomorrah, for every falsity derived from this.
‘And Jehovah said’ means perception. ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?’ means that nothing ought to be hidden from the Lord.
Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words shall be on your heart. Deut. 6:4-6.
Besides this similar other examples exist.
‘Abraham will certainly become a great and numerous nation’ means that from the Lord will come all good, and from this all truth. ‘And in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed’ means that from Him all who have charity will be saved.
[2] So that the whole matter of the salvation of people after they have died does not remain hidden from anyone, let a brief discussion of it follow here. There are many who declare that man is saved through faith, or as they say, if he merely has faith. But the majority of such people do not know what faith is. Some imagine that it is mere thought; some that it is the acknowledgement of something which ought to be believed; others that it is the entire doctrine of faith, which ought to be believed; and others something different again. Thus in their mere knowledge of what faith is they are mistaken, and as a consequence they are mistaken as to what it is that saves a person. Faith however is not mere thought; nor is it the acknowledgement of something that ought to be believed; nor is it a knowledge of all that constitutes the doctrine of faith. Nobody can be saved by such thought, acknowledgement, or knowledge that cannot send down roots any deeper than thought. Thought does not save anyone, but the life which he acquires to himself in the world through the cognitions of faith. Such life remains, but all thought that is not in keeping with his life dies away, even to the point of becoming none at all. In heaven that which brings people into association with one another is their lives, not thoughts that are not related in any way to a person’s life. Thoughts which are unrelated to a person’s life are spurious and are totally rejected.
[3] In general there are two kinds of life, the first being the life of hell, the second that of heaven. The life of hell is derived from all those intentions, thoughts, and deeds that flow from self-love, consequently from hatred against the neighbour. The life of heaven is derived from all those intentions, thoughts, and deeds that belong to love towards the neighbour. This heavenly life is that to which all things called faith have regard and is acquired by means of all things of faith. From this it becomes clear what faith is, namely that it is charity, for all things that are said to be part of the doctrine of faith lead to charity. Charity embraces them all and from charity they are all derived. After the life of the body, the soul is such as its love is.
‘For I know him’ means that it is true. ‘That he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgement’ means that from Him comes the entire doctrine of charity and of faith, ‘sons’ meaning people governed by truths, ‘house’ those governed by goods, ‘the way’ doctrine, ‘righteousness’ in regard to good, ‘judgement’ to truth. ‘In order that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken concerning him’ means that the Human Essence will for that reason be joined to the Divine Essence.
[2] In general there is only one doctrine, that is to say, the doctrine of charity, for, as stated in 2228, all things of faith have charity in view. No other difference exists between charity and faith than that which exists between willing what is good and thinking what is good – for one who wills what is good also thinks what is good – thus than that which exists between will and understanding. People who reflect on the matter know that the will is one thing and the understanding another. The same is also well recognized in the learned world, and it is plain to see in the case of those who will what is evil and yet from thought utter what is good. From such persons it is evident to anyone that the will is one thing and the understanding another, and thus that the human mind is divided into two parts which do not then make a single whole. Yet man was created in such a way that those two parts should constitute one single mind, and no other difference should exist between them than, to use a comparison, between that of a flame and the light shining from it. Love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour were to be like the flame, and all perception and thought like the light shining from it. Thus love and charity were to constitute the whole of perception and thought, that is, to exist in every single part. Perception or thought regarding the essential nature of love and charity is that which is called faith.
[3] But because the human race started to will what was evil, to hate the neighbour, and to practice revenge and cruelty, with the result that the part of the mind called the will was completely corrupted, men started to make a distinction between charity and faith, and to attribute to faith all those matters of doctrine which belonged to their religion and to refer to them by the single term faith. At length they went so far as to say that people could be saved by faith alone, by which they meant their doctrine. They said that provided they believed that doctrine people could be saved no matter how they lived. Charity was accordingly separated from faith, and when that happens it is nothing else, to use a comparison, than some kind of light that has no flame, like sunlight in winter-time which is so cold and icy that the earth’s vegetation languishes and dies. But faith that is derived from charity is like the light of spring-time and summer-time which causes all things to sprout and come into flower.
[4] The same may also be recognized from the fact that love and charity are celestial flame, while faith is the spiritual light that shines from it. This is also how faith and charity make a perceptible and visual presentation of themselves in the next life, for in that life the Lord’s celestial manifests itself before the angels by means of a flaming radiance like that of the sun, while the Lord’s spiritual manifests itself by means of the light shining from this; and that radiance and light act upon the angels and spirits interiorly according to the life of love and charity existing with them. This is the source of the joy and happiness in the next life with all their variations. These considerations show the implications of the assertion that faith alone saves.
[2] That such is the meaning of ‘righteousness and judgement’ is clear from the following places in the Word: In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah, Do judgement and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Woe to him who builds his house in unrighteousness, and his upper rooms not in judgement! Did not your father eat and drink, and do judgement and righteousness? Then it was well with him. Jer 22:3, 13, 15.
‘Judgement’ stands for the things connected with truth, ‘righteousness’ for those connected with good. In Ezekiel,
If the wicked man turns away from his sin and does judgement and righteousness, all his sins which he has committed will not be remembered; he has done judgement and righteousness; he will surely live. When the wicked turns away from his wickedness and does judgement and righteousness he will live because of these. Ezek. 33:14, 16, 19.
Here similarly ‘judgement’ stands for the truth of faith, and ‘righteousness’ for the good of charity.
[3] In Amos,
Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:24.
Here the meaning is similar. In Isaiah,
Thus said Jehovah, Keep judgement and do righteousness, for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to reveal itself. Isa. 56:1.
In the same prophet,
To peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it in judgement and righteousness, from now and even for evermore. Isa. 9:7.
Here ‘judgement and righteousness’ stands for the existence with them of the truths of faith, and of the goods of charity. In the same prophet,
Jehovah is exalted, for He dwells on high. He has filled Zion with judgement and righteousness. Isa. 33:5.
‘Judgement’ stands for faith, ‘righteousness’ for love, ‘Zion’ for the Church. ‘Judgement’ is mentioned first because love comes through faith; but when ‘righteousness’ is mentioned first it is for the reason that faith is derived from love, as in Hosea,
I will betroth you to Me for ever, and I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and judgement, and in mercy and in compassion,* and I will betroth you to Me in faith, and you will know Jehovah. Hosea 2:19, 20.
Here ‘righteousness’ is mentioned first, as also is ‘mercy’, which are the attributes of love, while ‘judgement’ is mentioned second, as also is ‘compassion’, which are the attributes of faith that is derived from love. And both are called ‘faith’ or faithfulness.
[4] In David,
O Jehovah, Your mercy is in the heavens; Your truth reaches up to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgements like the great deep. Ps. 36:5, 6.
Here both ‘mercy’ and ‘righteousness’ are in a similar way the attributes of love, while ‘truth’ and ‘judgements’ are those of faith. In the same author,
Let truth spring out of the ground, and let righteousness look down from heaven. Jehovah will indeed give what is good, and our land will give its increase. Ps. 85:11, 12.
Here ‘truth’, which constitutes faith, stands for judgement, and ‘righteousness’ for love or mercy. In Zechariah,
I will lead them and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be My people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness. Zech. 8:8.
From this place also it is evident that ‘judgement’ is truth and ‘righteousness’ good, since ‘truth’ is mentioned here in place of judgement. Similarly in David,
He who walks blameless and performs righteousness and speaks the truth. Ps. 15:2.
[5] Because faith is grounded in charity, that is, because truth is grounded in good, truths rooted in good are in various places called ‘the judgements of righteousness’, so that ‘judgements’ has virtually the same meaning as commandments, as in Isaiah,
Let them seek Me day by day and desire the knowledge of My ways, as though a nation that does righteousness and does not forsake the judgement of their God. Let them ask of Me the judgements of righteousness, let them desire the approach of God. Isa. 58:2.
That ‘commandments’ means virtually the same may be seen in David,
Seven times in the day I have praised You for Your judgements of righteousness. All Your commandments are righteousness. Ps. 119:164, 172.
It is said in particular of the Lord that He performs ‘judgement and righteousness’ when He creates man anew, as in Jeremiah,
Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Jehovah who performs mercy, judgement and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I am well pleased. Jer. 9:24.
Here mercy, which is an attribute of love, is described as ‘judgement and righteousness’. In the same prophet,
I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will rule as king, and act intelligently, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:5; 33:15.
[6] Hence the following in John,
If I go away I will send the Paraclete to you. And when He comes He will convince the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement: in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I go away to the Father, and you will see Me no more; in regard to judgement, because the prince of this world is judged. John 16:7-11.
‘Sin’ here stands for all faithlessness. ‘He will convince in regard to righteousness’ means in regard to everything that is contrary to good, when yet the Lord united the Human to the Divine to save the world, meant by ‘I go away to the Father and you will see Me no more’. ‘In regard to judgement’ means in regard to everything that is contrary to the truth, when yet evils were cast down into their own hells so that they could not do harm any more, meant by ‘the prince of this world is judged’. In general ‘He will convince in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgement’ means in regard to all faithlessness contrary to good and truth, and so means that no charity and faith exist. For in ancient times righteousness and judgement were used, in reference to the Lord, to mean all mercy and grace, but in reference to man all charity and faith.
* lit. compassions
‘Jehovah said’ means perception. ‘The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave’ means that falsity and evil stemming from self-love reached their climax, ‘cry’ meaning falsity, ‘sin’ evil.
The voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is laying waste their pasture. Jer. 25:36.
Here ‘the cry of the shepherds’ means that they are subject to falsity, which leads to vastation.
[2] In the same prophet,
Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, and men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail, on the day that is coming to lay waste. Jer. 47:2, 4.
This refers to the desolation of faith which is effected by falsities. ‘A deluging stream’ is falsity, as shown in Volume One, in 705, 790.
[3] In Zephaniah,
The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. And their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation. Zeph. 1:10, 13.
Here also ‘a cry’ has reference to falsities that lay waste.
[4] In Isaiah,
On the road to Horonaim they will raise a cry of ruination, for the waters of Nimrim will be desolations, because the grass has withered, herbage is at an end, there are no plants. Isa. 15:5, 6; Jer. 48:3.
Here the desolation of faith is meant, and the climax is described by ‘a cry’.
[5] In Jeremiah,
Judah mourned and her gates languished; the people were in black down to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem went up. And their illustrious ones sent their lesser ones to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty. Jer. 14:2, 3.
Here ‘the cry of Jerusalem’ stands for falsities, for their finding no water means lack of cognitions of truth – ‘water’ meaning such cognitions, as has been shown in Volume One, in 28, 680, 739.
[6] In Isaiah,
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and no more will there be heard in it the voice of weeping nor the voice of a cry. Isa. 65:19.
Here ‘there will not be heard the voice of weeping’ means that there will be no evil, ‘nor the voice of a cry’ that there will be no falsity. The majority of these details cannot be understood, nor thus what is meant by ‘a cry’, from the sense of the letter, but from the internal sense.
[7] In the same prophet,
Jehovah looked for judgement, but behold, rottenness; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isa. 5:7.
This also is referring to the vastation of good and truth. Here, as also in various places in the Prophets, a kind of reciprocity is expressed, which is such that one finds evil in place of truth, meant by ‘rottenness’ instead of ‘judgement’, and falsity in place of good, meant by ‘a cry’ instead of ‘righteousness’; for by ‘judgement’ is meant truth and by ‘righteousness’ good, as shown above in 2235.
[8] A similar reciprocity is expressed in Moses when Sodom and Gomorrah are referred to,
From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness. Deut. 32:32.
Here a similar manner of expression occurs, for ‘the vine’ is used in reference to truths and to falsities, ‘fields and grapes’ to goods and to evils, so that ‘the vine of Sodom’ means falsity derived from evil, and ‘fields and grapes of Gomorrah’ evils derived from falsities. For there are two kinds of falsity, dealt with in Volume One, in 1212, and so also there are two kinds of evil. Both kinds of falsity and evil are meant in this verse by ‘the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave’, as is clear from the fact that ‘cry’ is mentioned first and ‘sin’ second, and ‘Sodom’, which is evil springing from self-love, is referred to first, and ‘Gomorrah’, which is falsity derived from that evil, is referred to second.
‘I will go down now, and I will see’ means visitation. ‘Whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know’ means whether evil has reached its peak.
[2] From this the nature of the sense of the letter is made clear, for Jehovah does not go down; indeed one cannot speak of the Lord going down because He always dwells in highest things. Nor does Jehovah look and see whether a thing is so; for one cannot speak of the Lord looking to see whether a thing is so because every single thing is known to Him from eternity. Yet the sense of the letter speaks of Jehovah going down to see because to man that is what He does appear to do. For man dwells among lowest things and when anything presents itself there he does not think about, nor does he even know, what the situation is with higher things and so does not know about how these flow in. He has no knowledge of these things because his thought does not extend beyond what is immediately about him, and therefore he cannot perceive what the Lord does as anything other than some such going down to see; and that perception is even more limited when he imagines that no one knows what he himself is thinking. Besides this, he has no other idea than that an actual coming down from on high is meant, and when said of God, from the highest. But it is not in fact a coming down from the highest but from the inmost.
[3] From this one may see what the sense of the letter is like, namely that it is shaped according to appearances, and that if it were not, nobody would understand and acknowledge the Word, nor thus accept it. But angels are not limited by appearances in the way that man is, and therefore since the Word as to the letter is for man, it is as to the internal sense for angels, and also for those men who in the Lord’s Divine mercy have been allowed during their lifetime in the world to be as the angels.
[4] Visitation is mentioned in various places in the Word, where it either means the vastation of the Church or of the individual, or else deliverance, and thus the investigation into the nature of persons or things. It stands for vastation in Isaiah,
What will you do on the day of visitation? It will come from afar. To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? Isa. 10:3.
In the same prophet,
The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not shed its light. And I will visit the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Isa. 13:10, 11.
‘The stars and the constellations which will not give their light, and the sun which will be darkened, and the moon which will not shed its light’ means that no love and no charity will exist, see 2120. And since this is vastation it is ‘the day of visitation’.
[5] In Jeremiah,
They will fall among those who fall, and in the time of their visitation they will stumble. Jer. 8:12.
This stands for the time when they have been vastated, that is, when no charity and faith exist. In Ezekiel,
The visitations of the city have drawn near, and each man has his weapon of destruction in his hand. Ezek. 9:1.
This too is a reference to vastation; consequently ‘each man has a weapon of destruction’. In Hosea,
The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come. Hosea 9:7.
Here the meaning is similar. In Micah,
The day of your watchmen, your visitation, has come; now will be their confusion. Micah 7:4.
Here also it stands for charity that has been laid waste. In Moses, On the day of My visiting, I will visit them with their sin. Exod. 32:34.
This refers to the people in the wilderness after they had made themselves the golden calf. That visitation also means deliverance is evident from the following places, Exod. 3:16; 4:31; Jer. 27:22; 29:10; Luke 1:68, 78; 19:41, 42.
[2] Falsity which produces evil however comes about when a person holds to some tenet of the religion he belongs to and as a consequence believes that it is good or holy, when in fact in itself it is evil. For example, a person who believes from his religion that some human being is able to save, and who therefore worships and venerates that human being, creates evil out of that falsity. The same applies to any other religious persuasion which in itself is false. Since falsity therefore both derives from evil and produces evil the word ‘cry’ occurs here and means, as a kind of general term, that which is implied by it, namely evil. This is also evident from the fact that the words ‘whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me’ include both ‘the cry of it’ in the singular, and ‘they have brought it to a close’ in the plural.
[3] What a close is has been shown in Volume One, in 1857. What more is implied by a close may be ascertained from the history of the Churches. The Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, was the most celestial of all, yet that Church in course of time so declined from the good that flows from love that at length nothing celestial was left. At this point it came to its close which is described by the state of those people prior to the Flood.
[4] The Ancient Church, which came after the Flood, and was called Noah, and was less celestial, also in course of time so fell away from the good flowing from charity that no charity at all was left; for it was changed partly into magic, partly into idolatry, and partly into a system of doctrine separate from charity. At that point it reached its close.
[5] Another Church then followed which was called the Hebrew Church and was less celestial and spiritual still, making a certain kind of holy worship consist in external religious observances. This Church as well was in course of time perverted in varying ways, and that sort of external worship was turned into idolatrous worship. At that point it reached its close.
[6] A fourth Church was established after that among the descendants of Jacob, which did not possess anything celestial or spiritual, only that which was the representative of such. Consequently that Church was a Church representative of celestial and spiritual things, for what their religious observances actually represented and meant they did not know. But that Church was established in order that some link might nevertheless exist between man and heaven, like that which exists between the representatives of good and truth, and good and truth themselves. This Church so went off in the end into falsities and evils that every religious observance became idolatrous, at which point it reached its close.
[7] Therefore once those consecutive Churches, each declining as indicated, had come and gone – and in the last of them the link between the human race and heaven had become severed so completely that the human race would have perished because no Church existed to provide such a link and a bond, see 468, 637, 931, 2054 – the Lord came into the world; and through the Divine Essence united to the Human Essence within Himself, He joined heaven and earth together. At the same time He established a new Church, called the Christian Church, in which, to begin with, good that is the fruit of faith was present, and people lived together in charity as brethren. But with the passage of time it departed in different directions, and today has become such that people do not even know that faith is grounded in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. And although they assert from doctrine that the Lord is the Saviour of the human race, that they will rise again after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, few nevertheless believe these things. Since this Church has become such, its close is not far away.
[8] These considerations show what the close is, namely that it is the time when evil has reached its peak. The situation is similar in particular, that is, with each individual; but how the close or climax comes about in the case of the individual will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. Various places in the Word refer to the close and describe the state which comes before it as vastation and desolation, which is followed by visitation.
‘The men looked from there’ means the Lord’s thought from the Divine. ‘And went towards Sodom’ means concerning the human race which was immersed in such great evil. ‘And Abraham still stood before Jehovah’ means the Lord’s thought from the Human which was joined to the Divine in the manner stated above.
‘Abraham drew near and said’ means the Lord’s thought from the Human, which thought allied itself more closely to the Divine. ‘Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’ means the Lord’s grief because of His love towards the human race, and His intercession which He made that although they were evil good should still be imparted to them.
[2] To men it will perhaps seem as though these matters were not of such great importance, yet they are of the utmost importance. For these great matters, together with their representatives, are brought before the angels – for whom the internal sense constitutes the Word – in a most beautiful form. Countless other matters are also presented which follow from them and bear resemblance to them regarding the conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the reception of His Divine within their human. Indeed angels’ ideas are such that they relish those matters more than anything else and perceive them as being most delightful. Thereby they are also enlightened and confirmed more and more regarding the matter of the union of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence. For angels were once men; and when they were men they could not do other than think of the Lord as a man, and of the Lord as God, and also of the Divine Trinity, and so formulate various ideas for themselves, though they did not know the nature of those ideas at the time.
[3] The position with heavenly arcana is that although they lie beyond all apprehension, everyone nevertheless formulates for himself some idea of them, for nothing can ever be retained in the memory, still less enter any thought whatever, except through some idea, however this came to be formed. And since angels’ ideas could not be formed except from those objects that exist in the world, or from objects analogous to those in the world; and since at that time illusions arising from things that were not understood entered in – illusions which in the next life alienate the then more interior ideas of thought from the truth and good of faith – therefore much is said in this chapter in its internal sense, to dispel such illusions, regarding the conjunction of the Lord’s Human with the Divine and regarding His perception and thought. And when men read the Word those matters enter at the same time into the perception of angels in such a way that previous ideas that had been formed from alien sources and from scruples easily arising out of these are gradually dispersed, and new ideas are instilled which are in keeping with the light of truth that angels possess. This happens more among spiritual angels than celestial, for it is in the measure that ideas are purified that spiritual angels are made more perfect for receiving celestial things. It is well known that even heaven is not pure in the sight of the Lord,* for it is indeed true that angels are constantly being made more perfect.
* Job 15:15
‘Perhaps there may be fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city’ means that the truths may be full of goods. ‘Will You also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous persons who are in the midst of it?’ means intercession made from love that in that case. they should not perish.
[2] Indeed the ancients also used numbers to mark off one from another the states of their Church; and the nature of such numbers worked out by them becomes clear from the meaning of the numbers in the paragraphs that have just been mentioned. The meaning possessed by numbers was received by those people from the representatives which manifest themselves in the world of spirits. There when anything appears as that which is numbered, it does not mean something defined by means of numbers but means some real thing or else a state, as becomes clear from what has been presented in 2129 and 2130, and also in 2089, regarding ‘twelve’ meaning all things of faith. It is similar with the numbers that now follow. This shows what the nature of the Word is in the internal sense.
[3] The reason ‘fifty’ means that which is full is that it is the number which comes after seven times seven, or forty-nine, and so marks the completion of the latter number. This explains why in the representative Church the feast of the seven sabbaths* was held on the fiftieth day, and why a jubilee was held in the fiftieth year. Regarding the feast of the seven sabbaths the following is said in Moses,
You shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath; from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven sabbaths shall there be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count fifty days, and offer a new gift to Jehovah. Lev. 23:15, 16.
Regarding the jubilee in the same book,
You shall count for yourself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and you shall have a time of seven sabbaths of years, forty-nine years. And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you. Lev. 25:8, 10.
From this it is evident that ‘the fiftieth’ means that which marks the full completion of the sabbaths.
[4] What is more, whenever ‘fifty’ is mentioned in the Word it means that which is full, as in the case of the numbering of the Levites aged thirty years and over up to fifty years of age, Num. 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:25. Here ‘fifty’ stands for the full or final state of that period of ministerial service. A man found lying with a young woman who was a virgin had to give to the young woman’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she had to be his wife; nor could he divorce her, Deut. 22:29. Here ‘fifty pieces of silver’ stands for a full fine and a full recompense. David’s giving to Araunah fifty pieces of silver for the threshing-floor, where he built an altar to Jehovah, 2 Sam. 24:24, stands for a full price and a full payment. Absalom’s making ready for himself a chariot and horses, and his having fifty men running before him, 2 Sam. 15:1, and Adonijah’s likewise having chariots and horsemen, and fifty men running before him, 1 Kings 1:5, stand for their full dignity and majesty. For these people received from the ancients certain numbers which were representative and carried spiritual meanings and which were observed by them. Those numbers were also commanded in their religious observances, though the majority of the people did not know what was meant by them.
[5] In the same way, because ‘fifty’ means that which is full and this number was also representative, as has been stated, the same thing is meant in the Lord’s parable concerning the steward, who said to the man owing oil,
How much do you owe my master? He said, A hundred baths of oil. Then he said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. Luke 16:5, 6.
‘Fifty’ stands for the full discharge of the debt. Being a number it does indeed seem to imply nothing more than a number, when in fact in the internal sense this number is used in every case to mean that which is full, as also in Haggai,
One came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, and there were only twenty. Hagg. 2:16.
This means that instead of a full amount there was not much. ‘Fifty’ would not have been mentioned in the prophet if it had not carried this meaning.
* Often referred to as the feast of weeks
‘Far be it from You to do such a thing’ means the Lord’s horror. ‘As to make the righteous die with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked’ means that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it. ‘Far be it from You’ means a greater degree of horror. ‘Will not the Judge of the whole earth execute judgement?’ means that Divine Good cannot effect this in the manner of truth separated from good.
[2] The implications of this particular matter are known to few, if any. It has to be recognized that all the good whatever that a person has thought and done from earliest childhood through to the very end of his life remains; and the same applies to all the evil, so much so that not even the least trace of it completely perishes. All that good and evil is written in his book of life, that is, in each of his memories,* and in his true self, that is, in his character and disposition. From that good and evil he has formed a life for himself and, so to speak, a soul, the essential nature of which remains unchanged after death. But goods are never so mixed up with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they were so mixed a person would perish for ever. The Lord sees to it that they are not. If he has led a life abiding in the goods of love and charity, then when a person enters the next life the Lord separates the evils, and by means of the goods present with him raises him into heaven. But if he has led a life immersed in evils, that is to say, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord separates the goods from him, and his evils carry him into hell. Such is the experience of everyone after death. But it is a separation and in no way a complete removal.
[3] What is more, because the will of man, which constitutes the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates that destroyed part from the other part, which is that of his understanding, and in this other part He implants – in the case of those who are being regenerated – the good of charity and through this a new will. These are they who have conscience. In the same manner also the Lord in general separates evil from good. Such are the arcana that are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.
* i.e. the interior memory and the exterior memory, see 2469ff.
[2] To understand these matters it should be recognized that there are two things which constitute the order of the whole of heaven and are from there present in the universe, namely good and truth. Good is the essential constituent of order, and all aspects of it are forms of mercy. Truth is the secondary constituent of order, and all its aspects are truths. Divine Good adjudges all people to heaven, but Divine Truth condemns them all to hell. Consequently if the Lord’s mercy, which is the very nature of Good, were not eternal, all men – however many these may be – would be condemned. This is what is meant here by the statement that Divine Good cannot effect this thing in the manner of truth separated from good. See also what is stated on these matters in Volume One, in 1728. But the reason the evil are condemned to hell is not that Divine Good is separated from Divine Truth, but that man separates himself from Divine Good; for the Lord in no way sends anyone down to hell, but man sends himself down, as stated frequently already. Also, seeing that the Divine Good is joined to Divine Truth, it should be recognized that unless the evil were separated from the good, the evil would do harm to the good and would be constantly endeavouring to destroy order. Thus the prevention of the good from suffering harm is an act of mercy. It is the same in earthly kingdoms. If evils went unpunished a whole kingdom would be steeped in evils, and this being so it would perish. For that reason kings and judges are showing greater mercy when they punish evils and remove from society those who commit them than when they show undue leniency towards the same.
Jehovah said’ means perception. ‘If I find in Sodom fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city’ means here, as previously, if truths are full of goods. ‘I will spare the whole place for their sakes’ means that they will be saved.
[2] Regarded in themselves truths do not confer life; but goods do so. Truths are simply the recipients of life, that is, of good. Nobody is ever able to say therefore that he can be saved by means of truths or as is commonly asserted, by faith alone – not, that is, unless within the truths, which are part of the faith, good is present. And this good which must exist within them must be the good that flows from charity. This explains why in the internal sense faith itself is nothing else than charity, as shown above in 2231. When people say that the acknowledgement of truth is the faith that saves, it should be recognized that no acknowledgement can possibly exist with people who lead lives immersed in things contrary to charity, only some kind of persuasion which has the life of self-love or of the love of the world allied to it, so that the acknowledgement which they speak of does not have within it the life of the faith which is that of charity. The worst people of all, acting from self-love or from love of the world, that is, acting for the sake of excelling others in what are called intelligence and wisdom, and so acting for the sake of earning exalted positions, reputation, and gain, have the ability to grasp the truths of faith and to confirm them in many ways; but with them those truths are nevertheless dead. The life of truth and so of faith comes solely from the Lord, who is Life itself.
[3] The Lord’s life is mercy, which is that of love towards the whole human race. Those people cannot possibly be drawing on the life that is the Lord’s who, although they profess the truths of faith, despise others in comparison with themselves, and who, where their self-love and love of the world are affected, harbour hatred towards the neighbour and are delighted when he experiences loss of wealth, position, reputation, and life. But the position with the truths of faith is that it is by means of them that one is regenerated, for they are the actual vessels for receiving good. As are the truths therefore, also the goods within those truths, and the combination of those truths and goods and from this their capacity to be perfected in the next life, so is the state of blessedness and happiness of that person after death.
‘Perhaps the fifty righteous persons will lack five’ means if it were something less. ‘Will You for five destroy the whole city?’ means, Will mankind perish for the small amount that is lacking? ‘And He said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there’ means that mankind would not perish if [goods and truths] could be joined together.
* i.e. the interior memory and the exterior memory, see 2469ff.
[2] It is because ‘five’ means that which is small, and ‘forty-five’ a joining together, that those numbers are used in the way they are in this verse. That is to say, first it is said, ‘Perhaps the fifty righteous persons will lack five’, which means, If it were something less. Then it is said, ‘Will You for five destroy the whole city?’ which means, Will they perish for the small amount that is lacking? But after that, because five means a small amount, the number five is not used again but it is said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there’, which means that they would not perish if [goods and truths] could be joined together. And a further reason why the expression ‘forty-five’ is used, and not ‘if the fifty are lacking five’, is that ‘five’ not only means that which is small, as shown in 649, but also severance, as has also been shown in Volume One, in 1686. Consequently so that a joining together might be meant and not a severance, this number, that is to say, forty-five is used, for forty-five means some joining together, as stated above. Thus in a very beautiful way every detail follows in its particular sequence in the internal sense.
[3] As regards good and truth when joined together, this is an arcanum that cannot be described in such a way that the ordinary mind is able to grasp it. Let merely a brief explanation be given here. The more genuine and pure truth is, the better is good from the Lord able to be accommodated to it as the recipient vessel; but the less genuine and pure truth is, the less is good from the Lord able to be accommodated. For they must each answer to the other; and to the extent that they do, they are joined together. Goods cannot possibly be received into falsities, nor evils into truths as their recipient vessels, for they are by nature and disposition contrary. The one rejects the other as its very enemy; indeed if they tried to join together, each of them would throw up – good would throw up evil as though it were poison, and evil would throw up good as though it were something that induces vomiting. Such enmity between evil and good has been provided by the Lord to prevent the possibility of their being mixed together, for if they were so mixed a person would perish. Those who are deceivers and hypocrites come near to having the two joined together in them; yet even in their case the Lord takes care to prevent them becoming joined together. This is the reason why in the next life deceivers and hypocrites suffer more dreadfully than all others.
‘He spoke to Him yet again’ means thought. ‘And said, Perhaps forty will be found there’ means people who have undergone temptations. ‘And He said, I will not do it for the sake of the forty’ means that they will be saved.
[2] The temptations in which a person is victorious entail the belief that all others are more worthy than he, and that he is more like those in hell than those in heaven, for ideas such as these present themselves to him in temptations. When therefore after temptations a person enters into ways of thinking that are contrary to this outlook it is a sign that he has not been victorious, for the thoughts he had in temptations are those towards which the thoughts that he has following temptations can be turned. But if the thoughts he has after temptations cannot be turned in the direction of those he had during them, he has either given way in temptation, or he has departed into similar, and sometimes graver ones, till he has been brought to that healthier outlook in which he believes he has merited nothing. From this it is clear that ‘forty’ means people with whom by means of temptations goods have been joined to truths.
‘And he said, Let not now my Lord be incensed, and I will speak’ means deep concern over the state of the human race. ‘Perhaps thirty will be found there’ means some existence of conflict. ‘And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there’ means that they will be saved.
[2] Hence also that number, wherever one reads it in the Word, means something relatively small, as in Zechariah,
I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; and if not, withhold them. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price I was valued at among them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of Jehovah, to the potter. Zech. 11:12, 13.
This stands for how small a value those people placed on the Lord’s merit, and on redemption and salvation from Him. ‘The poster’ stands for reformation and regeneration.
[3] This explains the reference to the same thirty pieces of silver in Matthew,
They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him whom they had bought from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me. Matt. 27:9, 10.
From these words it is quite clear that ‘thirty’ here stands for the small price set on him. A slave, who was not considered to be worth much, was valued at thirty shekels, as is clear in Moses,
If the ox gores a slave or a servant-girl, the owner shall give to his master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned. Exod. 21:32.
How little a slave was considered to be worth is clear from verses 20, 21, of that same chapter. In the internal sense ‘a slave’ stands for toil.
[4] The reason Levites were called upon for ministerial duty – which is described as one ‘coming to perform military service and to do the work in the tent [of meeting] – from thirty up to fifty years of age’, Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43, was that ‘thirty’ means those who were beginners, thus those who as yet could perform little of what was meant in the spiritual sense by ‘military service’.
[5] There are other places in the Word besides these where ‘thirty’ is mentioned, such as in the requirement that with a young bull a minchah of three tenths [of fine flour] was to be offered by them, Num. 15:9. Such was required because the sacrifice of an ox represented natural good, as shown above in 2180, and natural good is small in comparison with spiritual good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a ram, and smaller still in comparison with celestial good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a lamb, with which sacrifices a different number of tenths to the minchah were required, as is clear in verses 4-6 of that chapter, and also in Num. 28:12, 13, 20, 21, 28, 29; 29:3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15. These differing numbers of tenths, or proportions, would never have been commanded if they had not embodied heavenly arcana within them.
[6] ‘Thirty’ again stands for that which is small in Mark,
The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. One bore thirty-fold, and another sixty, and another a hundred. Mark 4:8.
‘Thirty’ stands for a small yield and for that which has laboured to only a small extent. Those numbers would not have been specified unless they had embodied the things meant by them.
‘He said, Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord’ means here, as previously, [the state of] humiliation in which the human existed before the Divine. ‘Perhaps twenty will be found there’ means even if there is no existence of conflict, but good is nevertheless present. ‘And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty’ means that they will be saved.
[2] Three kinds of goods are meant by ‘remnants’ – those instilled in earliest childhood, those instilled when want of knowledge is still present, and those instilled when intelligence is present. The goods of earliest childhood are those instilled into a person from birth up to the age when he starts to be taught and to know something. The goods received when want of knowledge is still present are instilled when he is being taught and starting to know something. The goods that come with intelligence are instilled when he is able to reflect on what good is and what truth is. Good instilled in earliest childhood is received up to his tenth year.
[3] Good instilled when want of knowledge is still present is instilled from then until his twentieth year; and from this year the person starts to become rational and to have the ability to reflect on good and truth, and to acquire the good received when intelligence is present. The good instilled when want of knowledge is still present is that which is meant by ‘twenty’, because those with whom merely that good exists do not enter into any temptation. For no one undergoes temptation until he is able to reflect on and to perceive in his own way what good and truth are. Those who have acquired goods by means of temptations were the subject in the two verses previous to this, while in the present verse the subject is those who do not undergo temptations but who nevertheless possess good.
[4] It is because these who possess the good called ‘good instilled during want of knowledge’ are meant by ‘twenty’ that all those who had come out of Egypt were included in the census – from ‘a son of twenty years and over’, and who, as it is stated, were every one ‘going into the army’- by whom were meant those whose good was no longer merely that instilled during want of knowledge, referred to in Num. 1:20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42, 45; 26:4. It is also said that all who were over twenty years of age died in the wilderness, Num. 14:29; 32:10, 11, because evil could be attributed to them, and because they represented those who yield in temptations. Also the value set for a male who was between five years of age and twenty years was twenty sheckels, Lev. 27:5, whereas a different value was set for one between twenty years old and sixty, namely fifty shekels, Lev. 27:3.
[5] As regards the nature of these different kinds of goods – those instilled in earliest childhood, those when want of knowledge is still present, and those when intelligence is present – the last of these is the best, since it is an attribute of wisdom. The good which precedes it, namely that instilled during want of knowledge, is indeed good, but because it has only a small amount of intelligence within it, it cannot be called the good of wisdom. The good that belongs to earliest childhood is indeed in itself good, but it is nevertheless less good than the other two kinds, because it has not as yet had any truth of intelligence allied to it, and so has not become in any way the good of wisdom, but is merely a plane enabling it to become such. Cognitions of truth and good are what enable a person to be wise in the way possible to man. Earliest childhood itself, by which is meant innocence, does not belong to earliest childhood but to wisdom, as may become clearer from what will be stated at the end of this chapter about young children in the next life.
[6] In this verse ‘twenty’ means no other kind of good, as has been stated, than the good that belongs to not knowing. This good is a characteristic not only, as has been stated, of those under twenty years of age but also of all with whom the good of charity exists but who at the same time have no knowledge of truth. The latter consists of those inside the Church with whom the good of charity exists but who, for whatever reason, do not know what the truth of faith is – as is the case with the majority of those who think about God with reverence and think what is good about the neighbor – and also of all those outside the Church called gentiles who in a similar way lead lives abiding in the good of charity. Though the truths of faith do not exist with such persons outside the Church and inside it, nevertheless because good does so, they have the capacity, no less than young children do, to receive the truths of faith. For the understanding part of their mind has not yet been corrupted by false assumptions nor has the will part been so confirmed by a life of evil, for they do not know what falsity and evil are. Furthermore the life of charity is of such a nature that the falsity and evil that go with want of knowledge can be turned without difficulty towards what is true and good. This is not so in the case of those who have confirmed themselves in things contrary to the truth and who at the same time have led a life immersed in things contrary to good.
[7] In other places in the Word ‘two-tenths’ means good, both celestial and spiritual. Celestial good and spiritual good derived from this are meant by the two-tenths from which each loaf of the shewbread or of the Presence was made, Lev. 24:5, while spiritual good was meant by the two-tenths constituting the minchah that accompanied the sacrifice of a ram, Num. 15:6; 28:12, 20, 28; 29:3, 9, 14. These matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere.
‘He said, Let not now my Lord be incensed, and I will speak just once more’ means continuing deep concern over the state of the human race. ‘Perhaps ten will be found [there]’ means if remnants were still present. ‘And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten’ means that they will be saved.
[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities – for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever – the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.
[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person’s spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person’s life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.
[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own – a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matt. 7:1, 2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by ‘if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten’, that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.
[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.
‘And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham’ means that this state of perception which existed with the Lord now ceased to be such. ‘And Abraham returned to his place’ means that the Lord returned to the state which had been His before He perceived these matters.
I have been given to know for certain that all young children in any part of the world who die are raised up by the Lord and taken to heaven, where they are brought up and trained among angels who look after them, and where they grow to maturity as they advance in intelligence and wisdom. From this it becomes clear how vast the Lord’s heaven is from young children alone; for all of them are taught about the truths of faith and the goods that stem from mutual love, and become angels.
* a love of good represents the Latin, but Sw. possibly intended the good of love. But see Heaven and Hell 339 where the same words occur.
At the end of the previous chapter – Gen. 17 – the Last Judgement was the subject, at the end of this chapter – Gen. 18 – the state of young children in the next life; and in both sections experience of those things seen and heard in the world of spirits and in the angelic heaven has been drawn on.
[2] Nevertheless no one can fail from the two following considerations to conclude that the historical parts as well have that which is heavenly and Divine within them but which does not show itself plainly:
1 The Word has been sent down to man from the Lord by way of heaven and so has a different origin from anything else. The nature of its origin, and the fact that this is so different from the literal sense and so far removed from it as not even to be seen, nor consequently acknowledged, by people who are purely worldly, will be shown from much evidence presented further on.
2 Being Divine the Word has been written not only for man’s benefit but also for that of the angels present with man. It has been written to be of service not merely to the human race but also to heaven. This being so the Word is the medium which unites heaven and earth. Union is effected through the Church, and in fact through the Word within the Church. This is what makes it what it is and marks it off from any other literature.
[3] As regards the historical parts specifically, unless these in a similar way contained Divine and celestial things aside from the letter, no one whose thoughts extend beyond this could ever acknowledge them to be the inspired Word, down to every jot. Would anyone say that the abominable matter involving Lot’s daughters, described at the end of this chapter, would be recorded in the Divine Word? Or that Jacob’s peeling the rods until they were white, and placing them in the watering troughs so that the flock reproduced striped, spotted, and speckled would be recorded? Would many other events besides these have been recorded in the remaining books of Moses, and in the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings – events which would be of no importance and therefore of no consequence, whether known about or not, if more deeply within they did not embody some hidden Divine meaning? If they did not do so they would be no different from any other historical compositions which have sometimes been written in this fashion to give them a more appealing presentation.
[4] The learned world does not know that even the historical sections of the Word conceal Divine and heavenly things. Consequently but for the sacred respect for the books of the Word which has been instilled into them since early childhood, they might be thoroughly disposed to say that the Word is not holy except solely on these grounds. But the Word is holy not because of such respect for it but because of the internal sense within it, which is heavenly and Divine, and which causes heaven to be united to earth, that is, angels’ minds to men’s, and men’s thereby to the Lord.
GENESIS 19
1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. And Lot saw and rose up to meet them, and bowed down with his face towards the ground.
2 And he said, Behold now, my Lords, turn aside now to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet. And in the morning you may rise up and go your way. And they said, No, for we will spend the night in the street.
3 And he urged them strongly; and they turned aside to him and came to his house. And he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread; and they ate.
4 Scarcely had they lain down when the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from boy even to old man, all the people from furthest away.
5 And they cried out to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came to you in the night? Bring them out to us and let us know them.
6 And Lot went out to them to the door (janua) and shut the door (ostium) behind him.
7 And he said, No, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters, who have not known a man; let me now bring them out to you and you may do to them as is good in your eyes; only do nothing to those men, for they have come under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, Did not this one come to sojourn, and will he surely judge? Now we will do more harm to you than to them. And they pressed on the man, on Lot forcefully, and came near to break down the door (ostium).
10 And the men reached out their hand and brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door.
11 And the men who were at the door of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great; and these strove to find the door (janua).
12 And the men said to Lot, Whom have you here still? Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city – bring [them] out of the place.
13 For we are destroying this place, for their cry has become great before Jehovah; and Jehovah has sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters, and said, Rise up, go out of this place, for Jehovah is destroying the city. But he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law like one who was jesting.
15 As dawn ascended the angels pressed Lot to hurry, saying, Rise up, take your wife and your two daughters found [here], lest you are consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16 And he lingered; and the men grasped his hand, and his wife’s hand, and his daughters’ hands, because of Jehovah’s compassion for him, and they led him away, and placed him outside the city.
17 And so it was, when they were leading them away outside, that [one of the two] said, Escape for your life*; do not look back behind you, and do not halt in all the plain; escape into the mountain, lest you are consumed.
18 And Lot said to them, Not so, my Lords.
19 Behold now, your** servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have magnified your mercy which you have shown to me in causing my soul to live. But I shall not be able to escape into the mountain in case the evil clings to me and I die.
20 Behold now, this city is near to flee to it, and it is small. Let me, I beg you, escape to it (is it not small?) and let my soul live.
21 And he said to him, Behold, I have accepted you*** as regards this matter also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Make haste, escape to it, for I cannot do anything until you come to it. Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar.
23 The sun had gone forth over the earth, and Lot came to Zoar.
24 And Jehovah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven.
25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew in the ground.
26 And his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham rose up in the early morning, [and went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah.
28 And he looked out towards the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards the whole face of the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 And so it was, when God was destroying the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot away out of the midst of the overthrowing when He was overthrowing the cities in which Lot dwelt.
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he dwelt in a cave – he, and his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come to us, according to the way of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, and let us keep seed alive by our father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down and when she rose up.
34 And so it was on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine again tonight, and come, lie with him, and let us keep seed alive by our father.
35 And they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose up and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down and when she rose up.
36 And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37 And the firstborn gave birth to a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of Moab even to this day.
38 And the younger also gave birth to a son and called his name Benammi; he is the father of the children of Ammon even to this day.
* lit. soul
** In this verse you and your are singular. Lot is presumably addressing the one who spoke in verse 17 and does so again in verse 21.
*** lit. your face
In this chapter ‘Lot’ describes, in the internal sense, the state of the spiritual Church in which good flowing from charity exists but the worship of which is external – how in course of time that Church falls away.
Verse 1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. And Lot saw and rose up to meet them, and bowed down with his face towards the ground.
‘The two angels came to Sodom in the evening’ means the visitation which takes place prior to judgement, ‘the two angels’ meaning the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, to which judgement belongs; ‘Sodom’ meaning the evil, especially those inside the Church; ‘evening’ meaning the time when visitation takes place. ‘And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom’ means those people with whom the good of charity exists but whose worship is external – people represented by ‘Lot’ here – who are among and yet separated from the evil, which is meant by his ‘sitting in the gateway of Sodom’. ‘And Lot saw’ means their conscience. ‘And he rose up to meet them’ means acknowledgement, and a feeling of charity. ‘And bowed down with his face towards the ground’ means humiliation.
The Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son. John 5:22.
‘The Son’ is used to mean the Divine Human, see 2159. That judgement belongs to the Holy proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Human is also clear, again in John,
If I go away I will send the Paraclete to you; and when He comes He will convince the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement. John 16:7, 8.
And that the Holy proceeds from the Lord is clear in the same gospel,
He will not speak from Himself but will receive it from what is Mine and declare it. John 16:13, 15.
This referred to when the Human had become Divine, that is, when the Lord had been glorified, as is stated in the same gospel,
The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.
[2] In the present chapter both states of the Church are dealt with, that is to say, both the rise of a new Church represented by ‘Lot’ and the destruction of the old meant by ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’, as may be seen from the paragraphs above headed Contents. This is why it is said here that two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and why what happened in the evening is recorded, in verses 1-3, what happened during the night, in verses 4-14, what happened in the morning or at dawn, in verses 15-22, and what happened after sunrise, in verses 23-26.
[3] Since ‘the evening’ means these states of the Church it also means the visitation that takes place prior to judgement; for when judgement, that is, when the salvation of those who have faith and the condemnation of those who have no faith, is imminent, visitation takes place – such visitation being an examination of their character, that is, to see whether any charity or faith is there. This visitation occurs ‘in the evening’, which also is why visitation itself is called ‘the evening’, as in Zephaniah,
Woe to the inhabitants of the region of the sea, to the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will cause destruction in you until no inhabitant is left. The remnant of the house of Judah will pasture in the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Jehovah their God will visit them, and bring again their captivity. Zeph. 2:5, 7.
From the representation of Lot: When Lot and Abraham were together he represented the Lord’s sensory perception, and so His External, as shown in Volume One, in 1428, 1434, 1547. But now that he has separated from Abraham he ceases to represent the Lord any longer and instead represents those who are with the Lord, namely the external member of the Church – those with whom the good of charity exists but whose worship is external.
[2] Indeed in the present chapter Lot represents the external member of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the nature of the external Church, not only as it is at the outset, but also as it is in its development, and as it is at the latter end too. The latter end of that Church is what is meant by Moab and the son of Ammon, as will be clear, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, from the sequence of events described in what follows. In the Word it is common for one person to represent many consecutive states, which are described as consecutive actions in his life.
From the meaning of ‘a gateway’: A gateway is the place through which people enter or leave a city, and therefore ‘sitting in the gateway’ here means being indeed among and yet separate from the evil, as is normally the case with members of the Church with whom good that stems from charity exists. Though they are together with the evil they are nevertheless separate from them, not as regards civil society but as regards spiritual life.
‘Sodom’ means evil in general, or what amounts to the same, the evil, especially those inside the Church, as has been stated above, in 2322.
[2] By these actions they represented a state of true humility, which can in no way exist unless people acknowledge that of themselves they are profane and condemned, and so of themselves are incapable of looking towards the Lord where everything is Divine and Holy. To the extent therefore that a person acknowledges his own condition he can possess true humility, and when engaged in worship can have real devotion. For all worship must contain humility, and if separated from it no adoration and so no worship at all is present.
[3] The reason a state of humility is vital to worship itself is that insofar as the heart is humbled self-love and all resulting evil come to an end; and insofar as these come to an end good and truth, that is, charity and faith, flow in from the Lord. For what above all else stands in the way of their being received is self-love. Indeed within self-love there lies contempt for all others in comparison with oneself; there lies hatred and revenge if one is not venerated most highly; and there lies mercilessness and cruelty within it, and thus the worst evils of all into which good and truth cannot possibly be introduced, since they are completely opposite.
‘And he said, Behold now, my Lords’ means interior acknowledgement and confession of the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. ‘Turn aside now to your servant’s house and spend the night’ means an invitation to stay with him – ‘to your servant’s house’ means abiding in the good of charity. ‘And wash your feet’ means accommodation to his natural. ‘And in the morning you may rise up and go your way’ means being strengthened in this way in good and truth. ‘And they said, No’ means the doubting which is usually present during temptation. ‘For we will spend the night in the street’ means that He was willing, so to speak, to judge from truth.
[2] The plural ‘my Lords’ is used for the same reason that ‘three men’ are spoken of in the previous chapter. For just as the three there mean the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, so the two mentioned here mean the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, as stated above. That these make one is well known to anyone inside the Church, and because they make one they are also referred to in the singular further on,
So it was, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life. Verse 17.
Behold now, your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have magnified your mercy which you have shown to me. Verse 19.
And he said to him, Behold, I have accepted you as regards this matter also, that I will not overthrow the city. Verse 21.
For I cannot do anything until you come to it. Verse 22.
[3] That the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding are Jehovah is clear from the previous chapter, where in various places the three men are called Jehovah, namely,
Jehovah said to Abraham. Verse 13. Will anything be too wonderful for Jehovah? Verse 14. Abraham still stood before Jehovah. Verse 22. Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham. Verse 33.
Consequently the Divine Human and the Holy proceeding are Jehovah, for this name is used for both in verse 24 of the present chapter.
And Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. Verse 24.
The internal sense of these words will be seen later on. As regards the Lord being Jehovah Himself, who is mentioned so many times in the historical and prophetical sections of the Old Testament, see 1736.
[4] Those who are truly members of the Church, that is, who are governed by love to the Lord and by charity towards the neighbour, know about and acknowledge the Trinity; but nevertheless they humble themselves before the Lord and worship Him alone. They do so because they know that there is no other way of reaching the Divine itself, called the Father, except through the Son, and that all the Holiness which the Holy Spirit possesses proceeds from Him. When this idea exists with them they worship none except Him, through whom and from whom all things have their being, and so worship One Being. Nor do they disperse their ideas among three, as many others inside the Church are wont to do.
[5] This is evident from very many people in the next life, including some learned, who during their lifetime have presumed themselves to have a firmer grip on the arcana of faith than all others. When these people have been examined in the next life to see what idea they had had concerning the one God – whether there were three Uncreated, three Infinites, three Eternals, three Almighties, and three Lords – it was quite obvious that they had had the idea of three beings (for in that world the communication of ideas takes place). They have had that idea even though the creed states explicitly that there are not three Uncreated, or three Infinites, or three Eternals, or three Almighties, or three Lords, but one – which is also the truth. They accordingly confessed that with their lips they had indeed spoken of God being one; but in spite of this they had thought of – and some had believed in – three whom they could separate in idea but not join together.
[6] The reason is that for all arcana, even the deepest, some idea exists, for without the existence of an idea nothing is able to be thought about nor indeed anything retained in the memory. In the next life therefore the nature of the thought, and consequently of the faith, that anyone has formulated for himself concerning the One God is clear as daylight. Indeed when Jews in the next life hear that the Lord is Jehovah and that only one God exists they have nothing to say; but when they perceive that Christians’ ideas are divided into three they say that they themselves worship one God whereas Christians worship three. What is more, nobody is able to join together three thus separated in idea except those who have the faith that comes with charity- for the Lord accommodates their minds to Himself.
[2] These phrases, as do all the rest, show how far removed the internal sense is from the sense of the letter and therefore how hidden from view it is, especially in the historical parts of the Word. They show that this sense is not discernible unless individual expressions are explained according to the meaning they have all through the Word. Consequently when ideas are confined to the sense of the letter, the internal sense is seen as something altogether dark and obscure. Conversely when ideas are confined to the internal sense, the sense of the letter in a similar way is seen as something obscure. Indeed angels see it as nothing, for angels no longer have worldly and bodily ideas as man does, but spiritual and celestial ones, into which the expressions of the sense of the letter are marvellously converted when the Word which man is reading rises up to the sphere in which angels dwell, that is, up to heaven. This happens because of the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial with bodily, a correspondence which is absolutely consistent but whose nature has not been disclosed until now in the explanation of expressions, names, and numbers in the Word as to their internal sense.
[3] So that the nature of that correspondence may be known, or what amounts to the same, how worldly and bodily ideas pass over into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when they are raised towards heaven, let ‘the morning’ and ‘way’ be taken as examples: When a person reads of ‘the morning’, as in the phrase here ‘rising up in the morning’, angels do not conceive the idea of the start to a new day but the idea which ‘morning’ has in the spiritual sense. The idea they conceive is similar to the statement in Samuel,
The Rock of Israel . . . He is like morning light, when the sun rises on a cloudless morning. 2 Sam. 23:3, 4.
And in Daniel,
The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Dan. 8:14, 26.
Thus instead of ‘the morning’ angels perceive the Lord, or His kingdom, or celestial things of love and charity. This they do varyingly according to the train of thought in the Word which a person is reading.
[4] Similarly where a person reads of ‘a way’, as in ‘going on your way’ here, they cannot have any idea of a way, but a spiritual or a celestial idea, that is to say, like that in John, when the Lord said,
I am the way and the truth. John 14:6.
Also the idea in David,
Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah, guide my way in truth. Ps. 25:4, 5.
And in Isaiah,
He made him know the way of understanding. Isa. 40:14.
Thus instead of ‘a way’ angels perceive truth. They do so in the historical as well as the prophetical sections of the Word; in fact angels no longer have any interest in matters of history as these are not at all in keeping with the ideas they have. Consequently in place of historical details they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, which also follow on one after another in marvellous array and perfect sequence in the internal sense. For this reason, so that the Word may serve angels as well, all historical details there are representative, and each expression serves to mean such things. This special feature is what makes the Word different from all other literature.
[2] Since ‘Lot’ here describes the first state of the Church in which the good of charity exists but whose worship is external, and since before he enters this state a person is to be reformed – such reformation being effected also by means of a certain kind of temptation (though those whose worship is external undergo only mild temptation) – things are therefore said here which imply something of temptation. Those things are that at first the angels declared that they would spend the night in the street but that Lot urged them and so they turned aside to him and entered his house.
[2] As for judgement it is twofold, that is to say, there is judgement from good and judgement from truth. People who have faith are judged from good, but those who do not have it are judged from truth. The fact that those who have faith are judged from good is quite clear in Matthew 25:34-40, while those who do not have it are judged from truth, in verses 41-46. Those judged from good are saved since they have accepted good, but those judged from truth are condemned because they have rejected good. Good is the Lord’s, and those who acknowledge this in life and faith are the Lord’s, and are therefore saved; but those who do not acknowledge it in life, nor consequently in faith, cannot be the Lord’s nor thus be saved. They are judged therefore according to the actions done in their life and according to their thoughts and ends in view. And when judged according to these they are inevitably condemned, for the truth is that of himself man can do, think, and intend nothing but evil, and of himself rushes towards hell insofar as he is not held back from that place by the Lord.
[3] The situation with regard to judgement from truth is this: The Lord never judges anyone except from good, for His will is to lift all men, however many these may be, up to heaven, indeed if it were possible, up to Himself. For the Lord is mercy itself and good itself, and mercy itself and good itself cannot possibly condemn anyone. It is man who, in rejecting good, condemns himself. As a person has fled habitually from good during his lifetime, so in the next life he flees from it, and therefore from heaven and the Lord. For the Lord cannot be present except within good. He is present in truth as well, but not in truth separated from good. That the Lord does not condemn anyone, that is, does not judge them to hell, He Himself declares in John,
God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him. This is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:17, 19.
And in the same gospel,
If anyone hears My words, yet does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. John 12:47.
[4] See in addition what has been said already on these matters in 223, 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2258. When judgement was dealt with above in 2320, 2321, it was shown that all judgement belongs to the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, according to the Lord’s words in John,
The Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son. John 5:22.
Now however it is said that the Lord does not judge anyone by condemning him. This shows the nature of the Word in the letter – that unless understood from a sense other than the letter, namely from the internal sense, it would be unintelligible. The internal sense alone shows what is really involved in judgement.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Rev. 21:21.
[2] ‘The New Jerusalem’ is the Lord’s kingdom which because it is being described as regards good and truth is described by walls, gates, and streets. By the last of these -‘the streets’ – are meant all avenues of truth which lead to good, that is, all those of faith which lead to love and charity. And because truths in this way become part of good, and so are made transparent from good, it is said that ‘the street was pure gold, like transparent glass’. In the same book,
Out of the middle of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits. Rev. 22:2.
This also refers to the New Jerusalem or the Lord’s kingdom. ‘The middle of the street’ is the truth of faith, by means of which good comes and which after that stems from good. ‘The twelve fruits’ are those called the fruits of faith, for ‘twelve’ means all things of faith, as shown in 577, 2089, 2129, 2130.
[3] In Daniel,
Know and perceive that from the going forth of the Word to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Leader, there will be seven weeks – and sixty-two weeks; and it will be restored and built with street and moat. Dan. 9:25.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord, ‘it will be restored with street and moat’ meaning that there will be truth and good at that time. The fact that Jerusalem was not restored and built at that time is well known; and that it is not to be restored and built anew anyone may also know provided he does not fix his ideas on a worldly kingdom but on a heavenly kingdom meant in the internal sense by Jerusalem.
[4] In Luke,
The householder said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. Luke 14:21.
People who confine themselves to the sense of the letter gain nothing more from this verse than the idea that the servant was to go everywhere, and that this is what is meant by ‘streets and lanes’, and that he was to fetch in everybody, and that this is what is meant by ‘the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind’. But each and all of these words, being the Lord’s, embody arcana within them. The command that he should go out into the streets and lanes means that he was to search everywhere for some genuine truth, that is, for truth which shines out of good, or through which good shines. The command that he should bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, means that such people were to be brought in as had in the Ancient Church been called the poor, maimed, lame, or blind – that is, he was to bring in those who were such as regards faith but who had led good lives, and who for this reason ought to be taught about the Lord’s kingdom – thus to bring in gentiles who were as yet uninformed.
[5] Because ‘streets’ meant truths it was a representative custom among the Jews to teach in the streets, as is evident from Matthew 6:2, 5, and Luke 13:26, 27. Wherever ‘streets’ are mentioned in the Prophets they mean in the internal sense either truths or things contrary to truths, as in Isaiah,
Judgement is cast away backwards, and justice stands afar off, for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot come in. Isa. 59:14.
In the same prophet,
Your sons fainted and lay at the head of every street. Isa. 51:20.
In Jeremiah,
Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, cutting off the small child from the street and the young men from the lanes. Jer. 9:21.
[6] In Ezekiel,
By means of the hoofs of his horses Nebuchadnezzar will trample all your streets. Ezek. 26:11.
This refers to Tyre, which means cognitions of truth, 1201. ‘The hoofs of the horses’ are facts which pervert the truth. In Nahum,
In the streets the chariots rage; they rush about in the lanes. Nahum 2:4.
‘Chariots’ stands for the doctrine of truth, which is said ‘to rage in the streets’ when falsity has replaced truth. In Zechariah,
Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. Zech. 8:4, 5.
This refers to affections for truth, and consequent forms of joy and gladness. There are other places besides these, such as Isa. 24:11; Jer. 5:1; 7:34; 49:26; Lam. 2:11, 19; 4:8, 14; Zeph. 3:6.
‘He urged them strongly’ means a state of temptation when a person overcomes. ‘And they turned aside to him’ means staying with. ‘And came to his house’ means confirmation in good. ‘And he made a feast for them’ means dwelling together. ‘And he baked unleavened bread’ means purification. ‘And they ate’ means making one’s own.
The word of Jehovah came to him, You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink. Jer. 16:8.
In that chapter the prophet is told many things by which he was to represent the necessity for good to have no connection with evil, nor truth to have any with falsity. Among other things he was required ‘not to go into the house of feasting’, which meant that good and truth were not to dwell together with evil and falsity.
[2] In Isaiah,
Jehovah Zebaoth will make on this mountain a feast of fat things for all peoples, a feast of sweet wines, of fat things full of marrow, of wines well-refined. Isa. 25:6.
Here ‘mountain’ stands for love to the Lord, 795, 1430. People with whom that love exists dwell together with the Lord in good and truth, which are meant by ‘a feast’. ‘Fat things’ and those ‘full of marrow’ are goods, 353, ‘sweet and well-refined wines’ are truths deriving from goods, 1071.
[3] The feasts made from the consecrated elements when sacrifices were offered represented in the Jewish Church nothing else than the Lord’s dwelling together with man within the holy things of love meant by sacrifices, 2187. The same was at a later time meant by the Holy Supper, which the Primitive Church called a feast.
[4] Chapter 21 below refers to Abraham making a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned, in verse 8. This feast represented and therefore meant the dwelling together and initial conjunction of the Lord’s Divine itself with His Human Rational. ‘Feasts’ have the same meaning in the internal sense in other places, as may also be deduced from the fact that feasts are occasions involving a number of people who are all simultaneously filled with love and charity, who are opening their minds to one another, and who are enjoying together the glad feelings that are the expressions of love and charity.
Every minchah which you bring to Jehovah shall be made without yeast. Lev. 2:11. In the same author,
You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with that made with yeast. Exod. 23:18; 34:25.
[2] They were also forbidden therefore to eat any other bread during the seven days of the Passover than bread without yeast, that is, which was unleavened. This prohibition occurs in the following verses in Moses,
For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even on the first day you shall remove yeast from your houses, for anyone eating that made with yeast, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh. In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month, in the evening. For seven days no yeast shall be found in your houses, for anyone eating that made with yeast, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a settler or one born in the land. Exod. 12:15, 19-20.
The same prohibition appears in other places as well, such as Exod. 13:6, 7; 23:15; 34:18; Deut. 16:3, 4. Consequently the Passover is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Lev. 23:6; Num. 28:16, 17; Matt. 26:17; Luke 22:1, 7.
[3] That the Passover represented the glorification of the Lord and so the conjunction of the Divine with the human race will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere. And because the conjunction of the Lord with the human race is effected by means of love and charity, and by means of the faith deriving from these, celestial and spiritual things were represented by the unleavened bread which they were to eat each day during the Passover. Consequently to prevent the defilement of those things by anything unholy they were strictly forbidden to eat anything made with yeast, so strictly that any who did so were to be cut off; for those who profane celestial and spiritual things inevitably perish. Anyone may see that but for this arcanum within it that observance, together with so harsh a penalty, would never have been introduced.
[4] Everything that was commanded in that Church represented some arcanum, even the actual cooking, as with every instruction which the children of Israel carried out when they were leaving Egypt, namely that they were to eat that night flesh roasted by fire, and unleavened bread on bitter herbs; they were not to eat it raw or cooked in water; the head had to be on its legs; they were to let none of it remain until the morning; they were to burn what was left over with fire, Exod. 12:8-10. Every detail of these instructions was representative – eating it at night; flesh roasted by fire; unleavened bread on bitter herbs; the head on the legs; not raw; not cooked in water; not leaving any until the morning; and burning what was left with fire. But the arcana represented are in no way apparent unless they are disclosed by means of the internal sense. That sense alone shows that all these details are Divine.
[5] Something similar was done in the ritual for the taking of a Nazirite vow. The priest was to take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he was to place them on the palms of the Nazirite after he had shaved his consecrated head, Num. 6:19. Anyone who does not know that a Nazirite represented the celestial man himself does not know either that every detail of these instructions embodies celestial things, and so arcana, which are not apparent in the letter, namely the instructions to take the cooked shoulder of a ram, an unleavened cake, an unleavened wafer, and to shave off his hair. This also shows what kind of opinion regarding the Word can be gained by people who do not believe in the existence of an internal sense, for without the internal sense such details are of no consequence at all. But when the ceremonial or ritualistic element has been stripped away everything becomes Divine and holy. Everything else has a deeper meaning, as does ‘unleavened bread’ which means the holiness of love, or what is most holy, as it is also called in Moses,
The unleavened bread that was left over was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons in a holy place, for it was most holy. Lev. 6:16, 17.
‘Unleavened bread’ therefore means pure love, and ‘the baking of that which is unleavened’ purification.
[2] Such is the order and the train of thought that exists with all the individual parts of the Word. But the nature of that actual train of thought cannot begin to reveal itself when each word is explained separately; for in that case each is seen in isolation from the rest and the continuity of meaning is lost. It reveals itself when all the separate details are seen together within one complete idea, or are perceived as one complete mental picture, as is done by those who have the internal sense and who at the same time dwell in heavenly light from the Lord. Within these words [used here in Genesis] such people are given to see the entire process of the reformation and regeneration of those who become members of the Church, represented here by Lot. That is to say, they first of all perceive some degree of temptation, but when they persevere and overcome the Lord stays with them, and confirms them in good, brings them to Himself into His kingdom, and dwells together with them, and there purifies and perfects them, at the same time granting them as their own things that are good and happy. All this He accomplishes by means of His Divine Human and His Holy proceeding.
[3] Within the Church it is indeed well known that all regeneration or new life, and therefore salvation, comes from the Lord alone, but few believe it. The reason they do not believe it is that the good of charity does not exist in them. It is as impossible for those in whom that good does not exist to believe it as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; for the good of charity is the very seed-bed of faith. Truth and good agree together, but truth and evil never do. They have contrary natures and turn away from each other. Insofar therefore as someone is moved by good, he can be governed by truth, that is, insofar as charity exists with him faith is able to, especially the most fundamental matter of faith that all salvation comes from the Lord.
[4] That this is the most fundamental matter of faith is clear from many places in the Word, as in John,
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.
In the same gospel,
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
In the same gospel,
This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom the Father has sent. John 6:29.
In the same gospel,
This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40.
In the same gospel,
Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.
In the same gospel,
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet will he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. John 11:25, 26.
[5] Nobody is able to believe in the Lord unless he is governed by good, that is, no one can possess faith unless he has charity. This too is clear in John,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12, 13.
And in the same gospel,
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in Me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. As the Father has loved Me so I have loved you; abide in My love. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:5, 6, 9, 12.
[6] From all these quotations it becomes clear that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute the life of faith. But that people who are immersed in evil, that is, who lead a life of evil, cannot possibly believe that all salvation comes from the Lord has become clear to me from those who have entered the next life from the Christian world; and also from people who during their lifetime have confessed with their lips the established teaching of faith, and indeed have taught it themselves, that without the Lord there is no salvation, but who, for all that, have led a life of evil. At the very mention of the Lord’s name these people have filled the atmosphere around them entirely with objections. For in the next life solely that which people are thinking is perceived and sends out from itself a sphere, in which the nature of the faith possessed by those people reveals itself, see 1394.
[7] At the mere mention of love or charity among these people I perceived emanating from them something that was so to speak full of darkness and at the same time dust-filled. The product of some filthy love, it was by nature such that it obliterated, stifled, and corrupted all feeling of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour. Such is the faith at the present day, which, they say, saves without the goods that flow from charity.
[8] The same people were also asked what faith they had since it was not the faith they had professed during their lifetime. Since in the next life nobody can conceal what he actually thinks, they said that they believed in God the Creator of all things. They were examined however as to whether this was really so, and it was discovered that they did not believe in any God at all but thought that all things were the product of natural forces, and all that has been said about eternal life is nonsense. Such is the faith of everyone inside the Church who does not believe in the Lord but says that he believes in God the Creator of all things. For truth cannot flow in from any other source than the Lord, and truth cannot be sown in anything other than good which is derived from the Lord.
[9] That the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding are together the channel and the source of life and salvation is well recognized from the words of the Holy Supper, ‘This is My body, This is My blood’, which is the Lord’s Divine Human. And it is clear that this is the source of everything holy. Whether we speak of the Divine Human, or His Body, or Flesh, or Bread, or Divine Love, it amounts to the same thing; for the Lord’s Divine Human is pure Love, and the Holy [proceeding] consists in love alone, while the Holy that constitutes faith is derived from this.
‘Scarcely had they lain down’ means the first phase of visitation. ‘The men of the city’ means those immersed in falsities. ‘The men of Sodom’ means those immersed in evils. ‘Surrounded the house’ means that they were set against the good that flows from charity. ‘From boy even to old man’ means falsities and evils, both recent and confirmed. ‘All the people from furthest away’ means every single one of them.
Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. Zech. 8:4, 5.
Here ‘Jerusalem’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and Church, 402, 2117. ‘Streets’ stands for truths there, 2336. ‘Old men’ accordingly stands for confirmed truths, ‘old women’ for confirmed goods, ‘boys playing in the streets’ stands for recent truths, ‘girls’ for recent goods, and for their affections and resulting joys. This shows how celestial and spiritual things are converted into those of a historical nature when they come down into the worldly things that constitute the sense of the letter, in which it seems scarcely otherwise than that old men and boys, [old] women and girls, are meant.
[2] In Jeremiah,
Pour it out upon the small child in the street of Jerusalem and upon the gathering of young men equally; for even man together with woman will be taken, old man together with one full of days. Jer. 6:11.
Here ‘the street of Jerusalem’ stands for falsities which reign within the Church, 2336. Those that are recent and those that are more developed are called ‘the small child’ and ‘young men’, those that are well established and those that have been confirmed are called ‘old man’ and ‘one full of days’. In the same prophet,
In you I will scatter the horse and its rider, and in you I will scatter the chariot and him who rides in it; and in you I will scatter men and women, and in you I will scatter old man and boy. Jer. 51:21, 22.
Here similarly ‘old man and boy’ stands for truth both confirmed and recent.
[3] In the same prophet,
Death has come up into four] windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the small child in the street, and the young men from the lanes. Jer. 9:21.
Here ‘the small child’ stands for truths which are newly born and which are cut off when ‘death has entered [our] windows and palaces’, that is, things of the understanding and those of the will – ‘windows’ meaning things of the understanding, see 655, 658 and ‘palaces’ or houses those of the will, 710.
[2] The description at this point then is of the initial state of those inside the Church who are opposed to the good of charity and who are as a consequence opposed to the Lord, for one entails the other. Indeed nobody can be joined to the Lord except by means of love and charity. Love is spiritual conjunction itself, as may become clear from the essence of love, and anybody who is unable to be joined to Him is unable to acknowledge Him either. That those with whom good does not exist cannot acknowledge the Lord, that is, cannot have faith in Him, is clear in John,
Light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. He who performs evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. He however who does the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be clearly seen, because they have been wrought in God. John 3:19-21.
From these words it is evident that people who are opposed to the good of charity are opposed to the Lord, or what amounts to the same, people immersed in evil hate the light and do not come to the light. That ‘the light’ is faith in the Lord, and is the Lord Himself, is evident in John 1:9, 10; 12:35, 36, 46.
[3] The same point is made in another part of the same gospel,
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. John 7:7.
And it is said more plainly still in Matthew,
He will say to those On His left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. Truly I say to you, Insofar as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to Me. Matt. 25:41-43, 45.
[4] This shows in what way they are opposed to the Lord who are opposed to the good of charity. It also shows that everyone is judged according to good that flows from charity, not according to the truth of faith when the latter has been separated from good, as is also shown elsewhere in Matthew,
The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his deeds. Matt. 16:27.
‘Deeds’ stands for the good actions which flow from charity. The deeds of charity are also called the fruits of faith.
‘They cried out to Lot, and said to him’ means anger directed against good on the part of falsity deriving from evil. ‘Where are the men who came to you?’ means a negative frame of mind towards the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. ‘In the night’ means the final period when these two are acknowledged no longer. ‘Bring them out to us and let us know them’ means their wish to show that it is false to acknowledge the existence of these.
[2] Falsity from evil, within the Church, is in particular that falsity which looks favourably on evils of life, such as the falsity that good, or charity, does not make anyone a member of the Church, but truth, or faith; and that a person is saved, no matter whether throughout the whole course of his life he has led a life of evil deeds, provided that when the desires and sensations of the body decline – as usually happens shortly before death – he utters some profession of faith with apparent affection. This is the falsity which in particular has its anger directed against good and which is meant by the words ‘they cried out to Lot’. The cause of anger exists in everything that endeavours to destroy the delight that belongs to any love. It is termed ‘anger’ when evil attacks good, but ‘zeal’ when good reproves evil.
[2] This meaning is met in other places, as in Micah,
Against the prophets who lead the people astray: It is night for you instead of vision, and darkness for you instead of divination, and the sun is setting upon the prophets and the day is becoming black over them. Micah 3:5, 6.
‘The prophets’ here stands for those who teach falsities. ‘Night’, ‘darkness’, ‘sunset’, and ‘the day becoming black’ stand for falsities and evils.
[3] In John,
If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble; but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him. John 11:9, 10.
Here ‘night’ stands for falsity deriving from evil. ‘The light’ stands for truth deriving from good, for just as all the light of truth derives from good, so all the night of falsity does so from evil.
[4] In the same gospel,
I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when nobody can work. John 9:4.
‘Day’ stands for the period of time and the state when good and truth are present, but ‘night’ when evil and falsity are present.
[5] In Luke,
I tell you, in that night there will be two upon one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Luke 17:34.
Here ‘night’ stands for the final period when the truth of faith is no more.
[6] When the children of Israel were going out of Egypt they were commanded ‘to go out at midnight’, because in this way the vastation of good and truth inside the Church was represented, and also that nothing except falsity and evil reigned there any longer, Exod. 11:4. And when they did, all the firstborn of Egypt were slain at midnight, Exod. 12:12, 29, 30. Now because those with whom good and truth are present, who were represented by the children of Israel, are watched over when, like Lot in Sodom, they are among falsities and evils, that night is described in reference to them as ‘the night when Jehovah kept watch’, Exod. 12:42.
[2] Being described here is the initial state of the Church that has been vastated, that is, when faith starts to be no more because charity is no more. This state, as has been said, is one in which, because they are opposed to the good of charity, no faith exists with them, in particular no acknowledgement of the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. All who lead a life of evil deny these at heart, that is to say, all who despise others in comparison with themselves, who hate all those who do not treat them with respect, who take delight in getting their revenge on such, and indeed in being cruel to them, and who think that acts of adultery do not matter. ‘The Pharisees who openly denied the Lord’s Divinity did better in their own day than such people today who, for the sake of the respect paid to them and for the sake of their own filthy gain, outwardly worship Him devoutly but inwardly conceal such unholiness. These, as they were progressively to become, are pictured in what follows as ‘the men of Sodom’, and after that in the overthrow of that city, verses 24, 25.
[3] As stated frequently already, man has evil spirits and at the same time angels present with him. Through the evil spirits he communicates with hell, and through the angels with heaven, 687, 697. To the extent therefore that his life moves towards evil, hell flows in; but to the extent his life moves towards good, heaven and so the Lord flows in. From this it is clear that people who lead lives of evil are incapable of acknowledging the Lord. Instead they invent countless arguments against Him, for the delusions of hell flow in which are received by them. But those who lead lives of good do acknowledge the Lord, for they have heaven flowing into them, where love and charity reign supreme since heaven is the Lord’s, who is the source from which everything of love and charity derives, see 537, 540, 547, 548, 551, 553, 685, 2130.
‘Lot went out to them to the door’ means that he acted cautiously. ‘And shut the door behind him’ means to prevent them doing violence to good that flows from charity and denying the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. ‘And he said’ means an earnest appeal. ‘No, my brothers, do not act wickedly’ means that no violence should be done to these – he calls them ‘brothers’ because it was from good that he made the earnest appeal.
[2] That this is the meaning of ‘a door’ is evident from the Lord’s words in John,
He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens. I am the door of the sheep; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved. John 10:1-3, 7, 9.
Here ‘door’ stands for truth and good, and so for the Lord who is truth itself and good itself. This shows what is meant by being let in through the door into heaven, and therefore what is meant by ‘the keys’ which unlock it.
[3] Here however ‘a door’ means a particular type of good that was suited to the disposition of those who besieged the house, for a distinction is made here between ‘a door’ (janua) and ‘a door’ (ostium). The former was on the outside of the house, as is evident from the fact that Lot went out and closed the door (ostium) behind him. This type of good was blessedness of life, as is clear from what follows shortly where he persuaded those who were immersed in falsity and evil. For such people do not allow themselves to be persuaded by actual good itself; indeed they reject it. From these considerations it is evident that here ‘going out to the door’ means that he acted cautiously.
[2] These words embody even deeper arcana, the meaning and conception of which angels enter into when these words are read. The deeper arcana are these: People who lead lives of evil are not allowed to go beyond the point of mere knowledge of good and of the Lord. They are not allowed to go on to genuine acknowledgement and faith itself, the reason being that as long as they are governed by evil they cannot at the same time be governed by good. Nobody can serve two masters simultaneously. Once a person acknowledges and believes, he profanes that which is good and holy if he goes back to a life of evil. But a person who does not acknowledge and believe is not able to profane. The Lord’s Providence therefore guards against anyone being allowed to go on to acknowledge and have faith itself in the heart, except insofar as he can then be maintained in that acknowledgement and faith. And He does so on account of the punishment that goes with profanation, which in hell is most severe.
[3] This is the reason why at the present day so few people are allowed to believe from the heart that the good which flows from love and charity is heaven itself within man, and that the whole of the Divine is within the Lord, for they lead lives of evil. This then is the more interior meaning of the statement ‘to shut the door behind him’, for ‘the door’ (ostium) was an inner door leading into the house itself where the angels were, that is, into good which has the Lord within it.
[2] All the children of Israel therefore, since they represented the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, that is, the kingdom of love and charity, were among themselves called ‘brothers’ and also ‘companions’, though they were called ‘companions’ not from the good of love but from the truth of faith, as in Isaiah,
Every one helps his companion and says to his brother, Be firm. Isa. 41:6.
In Jeremiah,
Thus shall you say, every one to his companion and every one to his brother, What has Jehovah answered? and what has Jehovah spoken? Jer. 23:35.
In David,
For my brothers’ and my companions’ sakes I will say. Peace be within you! Ps. 122:8.
In Moses,
He shall not press his companion and his brother, because Jehovah’s release has been proclaimed. Deut. 15:2, 3.
In Isaiah,
I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they will fight, every one against his brother, and every one against his companion. Isa. 19:2.
In Jeremiah,
Take heed, every one, of his companion and put no trust in any brother, for every brother will supplant wholly, and every companion will utter slanders. Jer. 9:4.
[3] The fact that all belonging to that Church were called by the one name ‘brothers’ may be seen in Isaiah,
They will bring all your brothers from all nations as an offering to Jehovah, on horses, and in chariots, and in covered wagons, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to My holy mountain, Jerusalem. Isa. 66:20.
People, like the Jews, who know nothing beyond the sense of the letter believe that none else are meant than the descendants of Jacob, and also that those descendants will be brought back to Jerusalem on horses, and in chariots, and in covered wagons, and on mules by those whom they call the gentiles. But the word ‘brothers’ is used to mean all who are governed by good, ‘horses, chariots, and wagons’ to mean the things that belong to truth and good, and ‘Jerusalem’ the Lord’s kingdom.
[4] In Moses,
When there is a needy person among you, one of your brothers, within one of your gates, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand against your needy brother. Deut. 15:7, 11.
In the same author,
From among your brothers shall you set a king over you; you may not place over you a foreigner, who is not your brother. And his heart shall not be lifted up above his brothers. Deut. 17:15, 20.
In the same author,
Jehovah your God will raise up for you from the midst of you, from your brothers, a prophet like me; Him shall you obey. Deut. 18:15, 18.
[5] From these quotations it is evident that the Jews and Israelites all called one another brothers, but allies they called companions. But because they discerned nothing beyond the historical and worldly descriptions of the Word they consequently believed that they called one another brothers because they were all children of one forefather, namely Abraham. They were not called brothers in the Word for this reason however but from the good which they represented. Furthermore ‘Abraham’ in the internal sense means nothing else than love itself, that is, the Lord, 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011, whose sons who therefore are brothers – are those who are governed by good, all those in fact who are called ‘the neighbour’, as the Lord teaches in Matthew,
One is your Master, Christ, and all you are brothers. Matt. 23:8.
[6] In the same gospel,
Whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement; whoever says to his brother, Raca! will be liable to the Sanhedrin. If you offer your gift on the altar and there remember that your brother-has something against you, leave the gift there before the altar, go away and first be reconciled to your brother. Matt. 5:22-24.
In the same gospel,
Why do you notice the speck which is in your brother’s eye? How will you say to your brother, Let me cast the speck out of your eye? Matt. 7:2-4.
In the same gospel,
If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Matt. 18:15.
In the same gospel,
Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I ought to forgive him? Matt. 18:21.
In the same gospel,
So also My heavenly Father will do to you if you from your hearts do not forgive – everyone his brother’s trespasses. Matt. 18:35.
[7] From all this it is plain that all men everywhere, being the neighbour, are called brothers. They are called ‘brothers’ because everyone ought to love the neighbour as himself, so that they are called such from love or good. And because the Lord is Good itself and views everyone from good, and is Himself the Neighbour in the highest sense of all, He Himself refers to them as ‘brothers’, as in John,
Jesus said to Mary, Go to My brothers. John 20:17.
And in Matthew,
The king will answer them and say, Truly I say to you, insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matt. 25:40.
From this it is now clear that ‘brother’ is a term expressive of love.
‘Behold now, I have two daughters, who have not known a man’ means the affections for good and for truth. ‘Let me now bring them out to you’ means blessedness from these. ‘And you may do to them as is good in your eyes’ means enjoyment insofar as they perceived them to come from good. ‘Only do nothing to those men’ means that they were to do no violence to the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. ‘For they have come under the shadow of my roof’ means that the good of charity exists with them, ‘shadow of the roof’ meaning within a general obscure [perception] of that good.
[2] But the second – the affection for truth – constitutes the spiritual church, and in the Word is called ‘the daughter of Jerusalem’; as in Isaiah,
She has despised you, she has scorned you, the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Isa. 37:22; 2 Kings 19:21.
In Jeremiah,
What shall I liken you to, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equate you with and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Lam. 2:13.
In Micah,
You, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you will it come and the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Micah 4:8.
In Zephaniah,
Shout with joy, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Zeph. 3:14.
In Zechariah,
Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king will come to you. Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5; John 12:15.
[3] That the celestial Church, which is the Lord’s celestial kingdom, is called ‘the daughter of Zion’ from the affection for good, that is, from love to the Lord Himself, see in addition Isa. 10:32; 16:1; 52:2; 62:11; Jer. 4:31; 6:2, 23; Lam. 1:6; 2:1, 4, 8, 10; Micah 4:10, 13; Zech. 2:10; Ps. 9:14. And that the spiritual Church, which is the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, is called ‘the daughter of Jerusalem’ from the affection for truth and so from charity towards the neighbour, see Lam. 2:15. Both of those Churches, and the nature of each one, have been dealt with many times in Volume One.
[4] Because the celestial Church exists from love to the Lord which is present within love towards the neighbour it is likened in particular to an unmarried daughter or a virgin. Indeed it is also called ‘a virgin’, as in John,
These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes; for they are spotless before God’s throne. Rev. 14:4, 5.
And so that the same might be represented in the Jewish Church, the priests were commanded not to marry widows but virgins, Lev. 21:13-15; Ezek. 44:22.
[5] From the contents of the present verse it becomes clear how pure the Word is in the internal sense, however else it may appear in the letter. For when these words are read, ‘Behold now, I have two daughters, who have not known a man; let me now bring them out to you and you may do to them as is good in your eyes; only do nothing to those men’, nothing else comes to mind than something impure, especially to those leading an evil life. Yet how chaste these words are in the internal sense is evident from the explanation already given, which is that they mean the affections for good and truth and the blessedness perceived from the enjoyment of those affections by people who do no violence to the Lord’s Divinity and [proceeding] Holiness.
[2] Nevertheless everything that is blessed and happy lies in the affection for the good which flows from love and charity, and in the affection for truth that constitutes faith, insofar as such truth leads on to that good. This becomes clear from the fact that heaven, that is, angelic life, lies in everything blessed and happy and also from the fact that its influence is felt from things that are inmost, since it flows in from the Lord by way of inmost things, see 540, 541, 545. At the same time wisdom and intelligence enter in and fill the inner recesses of the mind itself, kindling good with heavenly flame and truth with heavenly light. And this is accompanied by a perception of blessing and happiness which can only be called indescribable. People who have entered this state perceive how empty, how dreary, and how deplorable the life is of those who are subject to evils resulting from self-love and love of the world.
[3] So that anyone may recognize the nature of this life, that is to say, the life of self-love and love of the world, or what amounts to the same, the life that goes with arrogance, greed, envy, hatred, revenge, ruthlessness, and adultery, let him who has the ability to do so caricature for himself some of these evils. Or if he is able, let him paint a picture that accords with the ideas he can get of it from experience, knowledge, and reason. He will in that case see, insofar as his drawing or painting of it is accurate, how shocking those evils are and that they are devilish forms with nothing human in them. After death all who perceive joy in such evils become devilish forms such as these. And the greater their joy the more dreadful those forms are.
[4] But on the other hand if he caricatures love and charity for himself or also finds an expression of it for himself in some outward form, he will see, insofar as his drawing or portrayal is accurate, that it is an angelic form full of blessed and beautiful things, which has what is heavenly and Divine within it. Can anyone believe that those two forms are able to exist side by side, or that the devilish form can be thrown off and transformed into one of charity, and that this can be achieved by means of faith to which the life is contrary? For after death everyone’s life, or what amounts to the same, his affection, remains. At that time the nature of affection determines the nature of all his thought, and consequently his faith, which manifests itself as it had existed in his heart.
[2] This becomes quite clear from the fact that a person with whom the good that flows from love and charity exists, on crossing over into the next life, passes from an obscure into a clearer life, as if from a kind of night into day. And to the extent he has entered the Lord’s heaven the clearer is the light until he reaches the light in which angels live, whose light of intelligence and wisdom lies beyond description. The inferior light in which man lives is in comparison like darkness. This is why it is said here that they came under the shadow of his roof, the meaning of which is that those represented by Lot dwell in their general [perception]. That is to say, they know very little about the Lord’s Divinity and His Holiness but they nevertheless acknowledge and believe that His Divinity and His Holiness do exist and that they reside within the good of charity, that is, among those in whom that good is present.
‘And they said’ means the reply made in anger. ‘Stand back’ means their angry threats. ‘And they said, Did not this one come to sojourn’ means people with different teaching and a different life. ‘And will he surely judge?’ means, Will they teach us? ‘Now we will do more harm to you than to them’ means that they would reject the good of charity even more than they rejected the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. ‘And they pressed on the men’ means that they wished to resort to violence against truth. ‘On Lot forcefully’ means to do so most of all against the good of charity. ‘And they came near to break down the door’ means that they went so far as to try and destroy them both.
[2] The people described here are not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining things to their own advantage. They are not those who, so that they may be very great and may possess all the world’s goods, make the good of charity the earner of merit. Nor are they those who assume the right to dispense rewards, and in so doing defile the good of charity by various devices and misleading means. Instead the subject is those who do not wish to hear anything about the goods of charity, that is, about good works, only about faith separated from those works. And this they wish to hear from the argument that man has nothing but evil within him and that even the good which springs from himself is in itself evil, and so contains nothing of salvation; and from the argument that no one can merit heaven by means of any good, nor accordingly be saved by it, only by means of a faith whereby they acknowledge the Lord’s merit. This is the teaching which flourishes in the last times when the Church starts to breathe its last, and which is enthusiastically taught and favourably accepted.
[3] But to maintain from all this that anyone can lead an evil life and at the same time possess a faith that is good is a false conclusion. It is also a false conclusion to say that because man has nothing but evil within him, good from the Lord – which has heaven within it because it has the Lord within it, and blessedness and happiness within it because heaven is within it – cannot exist there. Finally it is a false conclusion to say that because nobody can merit [heaven] by any good, heavenly good from the Lord in which [self-] merit is regarded as something monstrous has no existence. Such good exists with every angel, such good exists with every regenerate person, and such good exists with those who perceive delight, and indeed blessedness, in good itself, that is, in the affection for it. The Lord speaks of this good or charity in the following way in Matthew,
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. [But] I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? And if you salute only your brothers, what more are you doing [than others]? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? Matt. 5:43-48
Similar words occur in Luke, with this addition,
Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Luke 6:27-36.
[4] Here good which is derived from the Lord is described and the fact that it does not carry any thought of repayment. Consequently people who are governed by that good are called ‘sons of the Father who is in heaven’, and ‘sons of the Most High’. Yet because that good has the Lord within it there is also a reward: in Luke,
When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.* Luke 14:12-14.
‘Dinner’, ‘supper’, or ‘feast’ means the good that flows from charity, in which the Lord dwells together with man, 2341. Here it is described therefore, and it is plainly evident, that recompense lies within good itself since this has the Lord within it, for it is said that ‘you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just’.
[5] People who strive to do good from themselves because the Lord has commanded it to be done are the ones who at length receive this good and who after receiving instruction then acknowledge in faith that all good comes from the Lord, 1712, 1937, 1947. And they are now so opposed to self-merit that they are saddened by the mere thought of merit and perceive that blessedness and happiness with them is that much diminished.
[6] It is quite different in the case of those who fail to do good and instead lead an evil life, while teaching and professing that salvation resides in faith separated from charity. These people are not even aware of the possibility of such good. And what is remarkable the same people in the next life, as I have been given to know from much experience, wish to merit heaven on the basis of all the good deeds they recall their having done, for they are now aware for the first time that no salvation lies in faith separated from charity. But these are the ones whom the Lord refers to in Matthew,
They will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works? But then will I declare to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matt. 7:22, 23.
With these people it is also seen that they had paid no attention at all to any one of the things which the Lord Himself taught so many times about the good that flows from love and charity. Instead those things had been to them like clouds sailing by or like things seen in the night, such as the things recorded in Matt. 3:8, 9; 5:7-48; 6:1-20; 7:16-20, 24-27; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 23; 18:21-end; 19:19; 22:35-40; 24:12, 13; 25:34-end; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13, 14, 20; 12:28-35; Luke 3:8, 9; 6:27-39, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14, 15; 10:25-28; 12:58, 59; 13:6-10; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34, 35; 14:14, 15, 20, 21, 23; 15:1-8, 9-19; 21:15-17. These then, and other things like them, are what were meant by the words ‘the men of Sodom’ – that is, those immersed in evil, 2220, 2246, 2322 – ‘saying to Lot, Did not this one come to sojourn, and will he surely judge?’ that is, Will people with different teaching and a different life teach us?
* The Latin means the dead; but the Greek means the just, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
‘The men reached out their hand’ means the Lord’s powerful aid. ‘And brought Lot into the house to them’ means that the Lord affords protection to those with whom the good of charity is present. ‘And shut the door’ means that He also denies all access to them.
[2] As long as a person remains engrossed in bodily things his ideas and perception are general and obscure, 2367, so much so that he hardly knows whether the good that flows in from charity is present with him or not. And an added reason why they are general and obscure is that he does not know what charity is or what the neighbour is. But let it be made known who such people are. All those have the good of charity present with them who possess conscience, that is, who are unwilling to depart at all from what is just and fair, good and true – the grounds for their unwillingness being that itself which is just and fair, good and true, for this is a product of conscience. Also, because of this, these people think and desire for the neighbour that which is good without any repayment to themselves, even if he is unfriendly towards them. These are the people with whom good flowing from charity is present, whether they are outside the Church or inside. Those inside the Church revere the Lord and gladly listen to and carry out the things He has taught.
[3] On the other hand people who are immersed in evil have no conscience. They have no concern for what is just and fair except insofar as they are thereby able to earn a reputation of seeming to have such a concern. As for what the good and truth that affect spiritual life may be, they have no knowledge; indeed they reject it as no life at all. What is more, they think and desire for the neighbour that which is evil, and they also actually do it even to a friend, if he does not show them favour, and they take delight in doing so. If they do anything good it is for the sake of some repayment. Such people inside the Church deny the Lord secretly; and they do so openly to the extent that their position, gain, reputation, or life are not jeopardized.
[4] But it should be recognized that there are some people who imagine that good does not exist with them when in fact it does, and some who imagine that good does exist with them when in fact it does not. The reason some imagine that good does not exist with them when in fact it does is that when they reflect on the good present with themselves the angels in whose community they are at that time immediately instill the thought that good is not present. They do this to prevent such persons claiming good as their own and to divert any thought of self-merit and so of superiority to others. Otherwise they would sink into temptations.
[5] But the reason why some imagine that good does exist with them when in fact it does not is that when they reflect on it the evil genii and spirits whose company they are in immediately instill the thought that good does exist with them; for the evil confuse good with delight. Indeed it is suggested that whatever good they have done to others for reasons of self-love and love of the world is good that ought to be rewarded, even in the next life; and that being so, they have earned more merit than all others, whom they despise in comparison with themselves; indeed they consider everyone else to be worthless. And what is remarkable, if they thought any differently from this they would sink into temptations in which they would go under.
‘The men who were at the door of the house’ means rational concepts and matters of doctrine deriving from these by means of which violence is offered to good stemming from charity. ‘They struck with blindness’ means they were completely filled with falsities. ‘Both small and great’ means in particular and in general. ‘And these strove to find the door’ means to the point at which they were unable to see any truth that would lead to good.
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark. Isa. 56:10.
‘Blind watchmen’ stands for those who, because of reasoning, are immersed in falsity. In the same prophet,
We look for light, and, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind. Isa. 59:9, 10,
In Jeremiah,
They went astray blind in the streets; they defiled themselves with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lam. 4:14.
This stands for the fact that all truths have been defiled, ‘streets’ standing for truths in which they have gone astray, 2336.
[2] In Zechariah,
On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. Every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zech. 12:4.
Here and elsewhere in the Word ‘a horse’ stands for what has to do with the understanding. This is why it is said that the horse would be struck with panic, and [every] horse of the peoples with blindness, that is, it would be filled with falsities.
[3] In John,
For judgement I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, but that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees heard these words and said, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see’, therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41.
Here the blind in both senses are referred to, that is to say, those who are immersed in falsity and those who have no knowledge of truth. With those inside the Church who know what the truth is, ‘blindness’ is falsity; but with those who do not know what the truth is, as with those outside the Church, ‘blindness’ is having no knowledge of the truth. The latter are blameless.
[4] In the same gospel,
He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and I heal them. John 12:40; Isa. 6:9-11.
The meaning here is that it would be better for falsities to exist with them than truths, for they lead a life of evil and if they received instruction in truths they would not only continue to falsify them but would also pollute them with evils. They would do so for the same reason that the men of Sodom were struck with blindness, that is, matters of doctrine were filled with falsities. Why this is done has been shown in 301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2426.
[5] Because ‘blind’ meant that which was false, therefore people were not allowed in the Jewish representative Church to sacrifice anything blind, Lev. 22:22; Deut. 15:21; Mal. 1:8. Also any priest who was blind was forbidden to approach and offer on the altar, Lev. 21:18, 21.
[6] That ‘blindness’ is used in reference to those, like gentiles, who have no knowledge of the truth, is clear in Isaiah,
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the Book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isa. 29:18.
‘The blind’ stands for people who have no knowledge of the truth, chiefly those who are outside the Church. In the same prophet,
Bring forth the blind people and they will have eyes; and the deaf, and they will have ears. Isa. 43:8.
This refers to the Church of the gentiles. In the same prophet,
I will lead the blind in a way they do not know; I will turn the darkness before them into light. Isa. 42:16.
[7] In the same prophet,
I will give You to be a light of the people, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of the dungeon, from the prison-house those who sit in darkness. Isa. 42:6, 7.
This refers to the Lord’s Coming and the fact that at that time people who had no knowledge of truth were to receive instruction. For those immersed in falsity do not allow themselves to receive such instruction, for they know the truth but have set themselves against it and have turned the light of truth into darkness which is not dispelled. In Luke,
The householder said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind. Luke 14:21.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. Not those who are literally poor, maimed, lame, and blind are meant but those who are so in the spiritual sense.
[8] In the same gospel,
Jesus said that they were to report to John: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Luke 7:22.
According to the sense of the letter nobody else is meant by the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor than those who were so physically, for such cures did take place, that is to say, the blind received sight, the deaf hearing, lepers were restored to health, and the dead to life.
[9] But in the internal sense the same people are meant as are referred to in
Isaiah,
Then will be opened the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf will be opened; then will the lame man leap like a hart, and the dumb man sing with his tongue. Isa. 35:5, 6.
This refers to the Lord’s Coming and a new Church at that time called the Church of the gentiles who are described as being blind, deaf, lame, and dumb; they were so called as regards their doctrine and life. For it should be recognized that all the miracles which the Lord performed always embodied such matters and therefore meant the things which the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor are used to mean in the internal sense. Consequently the Lord’s miracles were Divine, as also those performed in Egypt, in the wilderness, and all the rest described in the Word, had been. This is an arcanum.
[2] Such do those people become, especially in the last times, who by reasoning hatch matters of doctrine and believe nothing unless they grasp it mentally beforehand. In this case the life of evil is constantly flowing into the rational part of their mind, and an illusory kind of light obtained from the fire of affections for evil pours in and causes men to see falsities as truths, like people who are in the habit of seeing phantoms in the shades of night. Those same things are after that confirmed in a multitude of ways and made matters of doctrine, as is the case with those who assert that life, which constitutes one’s affection, does not achieve anything, but only faith, which constitutes thought.
[3] Once any assumption is adopted, even if falsity itself, it can be confirmed in countless ways and so be presented to outward appearance as though it were the truth itself, as anyone may well know. This is how heresies arise from which there is no going back once they have been confirmed. But from a false assumption nothing other than falsities can flow; and even if truths are introduced among them, these nevertheless become falsified truths when that false assumption is confirmed by means of them, for they are polluted by the very nature of the falsity.
[4] It is altogether different if truth itself is the assumption that is taken, and this is confirmed; for example, that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are that on which the whole law hangs and about which all the prophets speak, and so are the essentials of all doctrine and worship. In this case the mind would be enlightened by countless things in the Word which would otherwise lie hidden within the obscurity of a false assumption. Indeed in that case heresies would be dispelled and one Church would result from many, no matter how differing the doctrinal teachings and also religious practices might be flowing from that Church or leading into it.
[5] Of such a character was the Ancient Church which was spread throughout many kingdoms throughout Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia up to Tyre and Sidon, and the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan. Among these peoples doctrinal teachings and religious practices differed from one to the next, but there was nevertheless one Church because with them charity was the essential thing. At that time the Lord’s kingdom existed on earth as it is in heaven, for such is the character of heaven, see 684, 690. If the same situation existed now all would be governed by the Lord as though they were one person; for they would be like the members and organs of one body which, though dissimilar in form and function, still related to one heart on which every single thing, everywhere varied in form, depended. Everyone would then say of another, No matter what form his doctrine and his external worship take, this is my brother; I observe that he worships the Lord and is a good man.
‘The men said to Lot’ means that the Lord warns those with whom the good of charity is present. ‘Whom have you here still? Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city – bring [them] out of the place’ means that all with whom the good of charity exists, and everything belonging to that good, were to be saved; also those governed by the truth of faith, provided they drew back from evil – ‘sons-in-law’ meaning truths coupled to affections for good [and truth], here truths that have yet to be coupled; ‘sons’ meaning truths; ‘daughters’ meaning affections for good and truth; ‘everyone you have in the city’ meaning whatever derives anything from truth; ‘place’ meaning a state of evil.
[2] As regards the salvation of those governed by the truth of faith provided they drew back from evil, the position is that truths of faith are the vessels themselves for receiving good, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, and they receive good insofar as the individual draws back from evil. For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but it is the evil belonging to the life within that prevents the reception of that good by the truths present in a person’s memory or knowledge. Consequently insofar as a person draws back from evil good enters in and inserts itself within the truths he has. When this happens the truth of faith residing with him becomes the good of faith. A person can indeed know the truth, even profess it because some worldly reason prompts him to do so; in fact he can even be persuaded that it is the truth. But this truth still does not live so long as he leads a life of evil. Such a person is like a tree that has leaves on it but no fruit; and that truth is like light in which there is no warmth, like that in winter-time when nothing grows. When however there is warmth within it, it becomes like light in spring-time when everything is growing. In the Word truth is compared to and actually called the light, while love is compared to warmth and also called spiritual warmth. In the next life moreover truth manifests itself by means of light while good does so by means of warmth. But truth devoid of good manifests itself as cold light, while truth accompanied by good does so as spring-like light. This shows what the truth of faith is when devoid of the good of charity. Here too is the reason why his sons-in-law and his sons, who meant such truths, were not saved, only Lot together with his daughters.
[3] Since it is stated here that they also are saved who are governed by the truth of faith provided they draw back from evil, it should be recognized that these people are such – on account of their having been so taught – as profess faith but think nothing of charity. They do not know what charity is, imagining that it is purely a matter of giving away what is one’s own to others and of taking pity on everyone. Nor do they know what the neighbour is, towards whom charity has to be exercised; they imagine that almost everybody without discrimination is the neighbour. Nevertheless these same people do lead a life of charity towards the neighbour since the life of good is present in them. They come to no harm because they profess faith along with the rest, since their faith has charity within it; for by charity is meant all goodness of life in general and in particular. What charity is therefore, and what the neighbour, will in Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.
‘For we are destroying this place’ means that the state of evil which was theirs would condemn them. ‘For their cry has become great before Jehovah’ means because falsity deriving from evil is so extensive. ‘And Jehovah has sent us to destroy it’ means that they must inevitably perish.
[2] Several times in the Word it is said of the Lord that He was ‘sent from the Father’, as is said here, ‘Jehovah has sent us’. In every instance however ‘being sent’ means in the internal sense coming forth, as in John,
They have received and know in truth that I came forth from You, and they have believed that You sent Me. John 17:8.
Similarly elsewhere, as in the same gospel,
God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:17.
In the same gospel,
He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him. John 5:23
Many other examples exist besides these, as in Matt. 10:40; 15:24; John 3:34; 4:34; 5:30, 36-38; 6:29, 39, 40, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28, 29; 8:16, 18, 29, 42; 9:4; 10 36; 11:41, 42; 12:44, 45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 17:18; 20:21; Luke 4:43; 9:48; 10:16; Mark 9:37; Isa. 61:1.
[3] The Holiness of the Spirit is in similar fashion spoken of as being sent, that is, as going forth from the Lord’s Divine, as in John,
Jesus said, When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the spirit of truth who goes forth from the Father, He will bear witness to Me. John 15:26.
In the same gospel,
If I go away I will send the Paraclete to you. John 16:5, 7.
This is why the prophets were spoken of as being ‘sent’, for the words they uttered went forth from the Holiness of the Lord’s Spirit. And because it is from Divine Good that all Divine Truth goes forth the expression ‘to be sent’ strictly speaking has reference to Divine Truth. What ‘going forth’ is, is also evident, namely that he who goes forth, or the thing that goes forth, is part of him from whom it goes forth.
‘Lot went out’ means people with whom the good of charity is present, and also means the good itself that flows from charity. ‘He spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters’ means together with those governed by truths to which affections for good could be allied. ‘And said, Rise up, go out of this place’ means that they were not to remain in a state of evil. ‘For Jehovah is destroying the city’ means that they would inevitably perish. ‘But he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law like one who was jesting’ means cause for laughter.
[2] Here the subject is a third group of persons inside the Church, that is to say, those who have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives. There are in fact three groups of people inside the Church:
1 Those in whose lives the good of charity is present; these are represented by ‘Lot’.
2 Those who are immersed completely in falsity and evil, and who repudiate both truth and good; these are represented by ‘the men of Sodom’.
3 Those who do indeed have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives; these are meant here by ‘sons-in-law’.
The last of these are chiefly people who teach, but the truth which they teach sends its roots down no more deeply than knowledge solely in the memory is accustomed to do; for it is learned and displayed by them solely for the sake of position and gain. And because with such people the ground in which the truth is sown is accordingly self-love and love of the world their belief in truth is no more than a certain persuasion, resulting from those loves. The nature of that persuasion will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere. Here they are described as the sons-in-law who did not believe a thing about the overthrow of Sodom but laughed at the idea. And the faith within their heart is also of that nature.
[2] The character of people who possess cognitions of truth but at the same time lead a life of evil has been stated frequently already – that as long as they lead a life of evil they believe nothing; for to will evil and consequently to do it, and at the same time in faith to acknowledge truth, is not possible. From this it is also evident that a person cannot be saved by thinking and speaking what is true, nor even what is good, if he wills nothing but evil, and as a consequence of what he wills does nothing but evil. Man’s will itself is what lives on after death, and not so much his thinking apart from that which flows from his will.
[3] Since therefore a person’s character after death is determined by what he wills, one can see what he is able to think about the truths of faith he has absorbed, indeed taught, seeing that these condemn him. He is in this case so disinclined to think from them that he avoids them altogether. Indeed insofar as he is allowed, he curses them, as the devil’s crew do. People who have not been taught about the life after death may imagine that they will find it easy at that time to receive faith when they see that the Lord governs the whole of heaven, and when they hear that heaven is loving Him and the neighbour. But evil people are as far removed from being able to receive faith, that is, from having the will to believe, as hell is from heaven. They are in fact totally immersed in evil and in falsity derived from this. From their mere arrival itself or presence it is recognized and perceived that they are against the Lord and against the neighbour and so against what is good and consequently against what is true. There is an unmentionable sphere which emanates from the life of their will and so of their thinking, 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504.
[4] If it were possible for people to believe and become good merely by receiving instruction in the next life no one would be left in hell; for no matter how many, the Lord desires to raise them all up to heaven towards Himself. For His mercy is infinite since it is Divine mercy itself and is indeed directed towards the whole human race, and so towards the evil as well as the good.
‘As dawn ascended’ means when the Lord’s kingdom draws near. ‘The angels pressed Lot to hurry’ means that the Lord withheld them from evil and maintained them in good. ‘Saying, Rise up, take your wife and two daughters found [here]’ means the truth of faith, and the affections for truth and for good, ‘found’ meaning that these had been separated from evil. ‘Lest you are consumed in the iniquity of the city’ means lest they perished in evils deriving from falsity.
Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matt. 25:32.
[2] In the Word that period of time or state is called ‘the dawn’ because that is when the Lord comes, or what amounts to the same, when His kingdom draws near. It is similar with the good, for at that time something akin to early morning twilight or the dawn shines with them. This explains why in the Word the Lord’s coming is compared to and also called ‘the morning’. Its comparison to the morning is seen in Hosea,
Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And we shall know, and we shall press on to know Jehovah. As the dawn is His going forth. Hosea 6:2, 3.
‘Two days’ stands for the period of time and the state which precedes. ‘Third day’ stands for judgement or the Lord’s coming, and so for the approach of His kingdom, 720, 901 – a coming or approach which is compared to ‘the dawn’.
[3] In Samuel,
The God of Israel is like morning light, [when] the sun rises on a cloudless morning; from brightness, from rain, grass comes out of the earth. 2 Sam. 23:4.
‘The God of Israel’ stands for the Lord, for no other God of Israel was meant in that Church, where every single feature of that Church was representative of Him. In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom, like the dawn spread over the mountains. Joel 2:1, 2.
This too refers to the Lord’s coming and His kingdom. The words ‘a day of darkness and thick darkness’ are used because at that time the good are separated from the evil, as Lot was here from the men of Sodom; and after the good have been separated the evil perish.
[4] The Lord’s coming or the approach of His kingdom is not compared to the morning but actually called such, as in Daniel,
The Holy One said, For how long is the vision, the continual [burnt offering], and the desolating transgression? He said to me, Up to the evening [when it is becoming] morning two thousand three hundred times, and the Holy One will be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning which has been told is the truth. Dan 8:13, 14, 26.
‘The morning’ here clearly stands for the Lord’s coming. In David,
Your people are free-will offerings, in the day of Your power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the dawn You have the dew of Your nativity. Ps. 110:3.
The whole of this psalm refers to the Lord and His victories in temptations, which are meant by ‘the day of power and the beauties of His holiness’. ‘From the womb of the dawn’ means Himself, thus the Divine Love from which He fought.
[5] In Zephaniah,
Jehovah is righteous in the midst of her. He will do no wrong. In the morning, in the morning He will bring His judgement to light. Zeph. 3:5.
‘morning’ stands for the time and the state when judgement takes place, which is the same as the Lord’s coming, and this in turn is the same as the approach of His kingdom.
[6] Since ‘the morning’ meant these things, Aaron and his sons, to provide the same representation, were commanded to set up a lamp and tend it from evening till morning before Jehovah, Exod. 27:21. The ‘evening’ referred to here is the twilight prior to morning, 2323. For a similar reason it was commanded that the fire on the altar was to be rekindled every dawn, Lev. 6:12; also that none of the paschal lamb and the consecrated elements of sacrifices were to remain until the morning, Exod. 12:10; 23:18; 34:25; Lev. 22:29, 30; Num. 9:12 – by which was meant that when the Lord came sacrifices would come to an end.
[7] In a general sense ‘morning’ is used to describe both the time when dawn breaks and the time when the sun rises. ‘morning’ in this case stands for judgement in regard to the good as well as on the evil, as in the present chapter – ‘The sun had gone forth over the earth and Lot came to Zoar; and Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire’, verses 23, 24. It in like manner stands for judgement on the evil, in David,
In the mornings I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city of Jehovah all workers of iniquity. Ps. 101:8.
And in Jeremiah,
Let that man be like the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and He does not repent; and let him hear a cry in the morning. Jer. 20:16.
[8] Seeing that ‘the morning’ in the proper sense means the Lord, His coming, and so the approach of His kingdom, what else is meant by ‘the morning’ becomes clear, namely the rise of a new Church, for that Church is the Lord’s kingdom on earth. That kingdom is meant both in a general and in a particular sense, and indeed in a specific sense, the general being when any Church on earth is established anew; the particular, when a person is being regenerated and becoming a new man, for the Lord’s kingdom is in that case being established in him and he is becoming the Church; and the specific, as often as good flowing from love and faith is at work with him, for this is what constitutes the Lord’s coming. Consequently the Lord’s resurrection on the third morning, Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, embodies in the particular and the specific senses the truth that He rises daily, indeed every single moment, in the minds of regenerate persons.
[2] On this particular matter few if any know that all men, no matter how many, are withheld from evils by the Lord, and that this is done with a mightier power than man can possibly believe. For everybody is perpetually bent on evil on account both of the heredity which he is born with and of what he has acquired through his own actions, so much so that if he were not being withheld by the Lord he would at any moment rush headlong into the lowest hell. So great is the Lord’s mercy however that he is being raised up every moment, even every fraction of a moment, to withhold him from rushing into that place. This applies to the good as well, but each one differs according to the life of charity and faith with him. Thus the Lord battles with man constantly, and on man’s behalf with hell, though this does not seem so to man. That it is so I have been given to know from much experience, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be presented elsewhere. See also 929, 1581.
‘And he fingered’ means reluctance caused by the nature of evil. ‘And the men grasped his hand, and his wife’s hand, and his daughters’ hands’ means that the Lord withheld him powerfully from evils and in so doing strengthened goods and truths meant by ‘Lot, his wife, and his daughters’. ‘Because of Jehovah’s compassion for him’ means out of grace and mercy. ‘And they led him away, and placed him outside the city’ means his state at that time.
[2] This anyone may know from personal experience, if he stops to reflect. To the extent he is removed from bodily and worldly interests his ideas are spiritual, that is, he is lifted up towards heaven, as happens when engaged in any kind of sacred worship, when undergoing any temptation, and also when experiencing misfortune or sickness. At such times bodily and worldly interests – that is, the loves of them – are, as is well known, removed. The reason, which has been stated, is that what is celestial and spiritual is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but evil together with derivative falsity exists, and falsity together with derivative evil, which flow in from the bodily and worldly interests and obstruct the reception of what is celestial and spiritual.
‘And so it was, when they were leading them away outside’ means a state when they were to be withheld from falsity and evil. ‘That lone of the two] said, Escape for your life’ means that he was to be concerned about his life to eternity. ‘Do not look back behind you’ means that he was not to look to matters of doctrine. ‘And do not halt in all the plain’ means that he was not to linger over any one of these. ‘Escape into the mountain’ means towards the good that flows from love and charity. ‘Lest you are consumed’ means, if he did anything else he would perish.
* lit. soul
[2] Here let it be merely stated what doctrinal teaching is. Such teaching is twofold: one kind has to do with love and charity, the other with faith. Each of the Lord’s Churches at the outset, while still very young and virginal, neither possesses nor desires any other doctrinal teaching than that which has to do with charity, for this has to do with life. In course of time however a Church turns away from this kind of teaching until it starts to despise it and at length to reject it, at which point it acknowledges no other kind of teaching than that called the doctrine of faith. And when it separates faith from charity such doctrinal teaching colludes with a life of evil.
[3] This was so with the Primitive or gentile Church after the Lord’s Coming. At the outset it possessed no other doctrinal teaching than that which had to do with love and charity, for such is what the Lord Himself taught, see 2371 (end). But after His time, as love and charity started to grow cold, doctrinal teaching regarding faith gradually crept in, and with it disagreements and heresies which increased as men leant more and more towards that kind of teaching.
[4] Something similar had happened to the Ancient Church which came after the Flood and which was spread throughout so many kingdoms, 2385. This Church at the outset knew no other teaching than that which had to do with charity, for that teaching looked towards and permeated life; and so they were concerned about their eternal welfare. After a time however some people started to foster doctrinal teaching about faith which they at length separated from charity. Members of this Church called such people ‘Ham’ however because they led a life of evil, see 1062, 1063, 1076.
[5] The Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and which was pre-eminently called Man enjoyed the perception itself of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and so had teaching about love and charity inscribed within them. But there also existed at that time those who fostered faith, and when these at length separated it from charity they were called Cain, for Cain means such faith, and Abel whom he killed means charity; see the explanation to Genesis 4.
[6] From this it becomes clear that doctrinal teaching is twofold, one kind having to do with charity, the other with faith, although in themselves the two are one, for teaching to do with charity includes everything to do with faith. But when doctrinal teaching comes to be drawn solely from things to do with faith, such teaching is said to be twofold because faith is separated from charity. Their separation at the present day becomes clear from the consideration that what charity is, and what the neighbour, is utterly unknown. People whose teaching is solely about faith know of charity towards the neighbour as nothing other than giving what is their own to others and taking pity on everyone, for they call everyone their neighbour indiscriminately, when in fact charity consists in all the good residing with the individual – in his affection, and in his ardent zeal, and consequently in his life – while the neighbour consists in all the good residing with people which affects the individual. Consequently the neighbour consists in people with whom good resides – and quite distinctly and separately from one person to the next.
[7] For example, charity and mercy are present with him who exercises righteousness and judgement by punishing the evil and rewarding the good. Charity resides within the punishment of the evil, for he who imposes the punishment is moved by a strong desire to correct the one who is punished and at the same time to protect others from the evil he may do to them. For when he imposes it he is concerned about and desires the good of him who does evil or is an enemy, as well as being concerned about and desiring the good of others and of the state, which concern and desire spring from charity towards the neighbour. The same holds true with every other kind of good of life, for such good cannot possibly exist if it does not spring from charity towards the neighbour, since this is what charity looks to and embodies within itself.
[8] There being so much obscurity, as has been stated, as to what charity is and what the neighbour, it is plain that after doctrinal teaching to do with faith has seized the chief position, teaching to do with charity is then one of those things that have been lost. Yet it was the latter teaching alone that was fostered in the Ancient Church. They went so far as to categorize all kinds of good that flow from charity towards the neighbour, that is, to categorize all in whom good was present. In doing so they made many distinctions to which they gave names, calling them the poor, the wretched, the oppressed, the sick, the naked, the hungry, the thirsty, the prisoners or those in prison, the. sojourners, the orphans, and the widows. Some they also called the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and the maimed, and many other names besides these. It was in accordance with this kind of teaching that the Lord spoke in the Old Testament Word, and it explains why such expressions occur so frequently there; and it was in accordance with the same that the Lord Himself spoke, as in Matt. 25:35, 36, 38-40, 42-45; Luke 14:13, 21; and many times elsewhere. This is why those names have quite a different meaning in the internal sense. So that doctrinal teaching regarding charity may be restored therefore, some discussion will in the Lord’s Divine mercy appear further on as to who such people are, and what charity is, and what the neighbour, generally and specifically.
He who lays waste will come to every city, and no city will escape; and the valley will perish, and the plain will be destroyed. Jer. 48:8.
‘City’ stands for false doctrinal teaching, ‘the plain’ for all aspects of that doctrine. In John,
When the thousand years have come to an end Satan will be loosed from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. They went up therefore over the whole plain of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints; but fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them. Rev. 20:7-9.
Here ‘Gog and Magog’ stands for people whose worship was external devoid of internal and so had become idolatrous, 1151. ‘The plain of the earth’ stands for the Church’s matters of doctrine which they lay waste, ‘the camp of the saints’ for goods that flow from love and charity. ‘Consumed by fire from God out of heaven’ is similar in meaning to that regarding the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, in verse 24. Also in Jeremiah 33:13 matters of doctrine regarding charity are called ‘cities of the mountain’ and matters of doctrine regarding faith ‘cities of the plain’.
‘Lot said to them, Not so, my Lords’ means weakness in that he could not do so. ‘Behold now, your servant has found grace in your eyes’ means a state of humility resulting from the affection for truth. ‘You have magnified your mercy’ means a likeness of a state of humility resulting from the affection for good. ‘Which you have shown to me in causing my soul to live’ means because of His desire to save him. ‘But I shall not be able to escape into the mountain’ means doubt as to whether he would be able to possess good that flows from charity. ‘In case the evil clings to me and I die’ means it would inevitably result in evil existing with him at the same time and that this being so he would be condemned.
[2] With regard to that doubt, people governed by the affection for truth possess the affection for good within their affection for truth. But that affection for good is in so much obscurity that they do not perceive and so do not know what the affection for good is, or what genuine charity is. They do indeed think that they know, but they do so from truth, and so from acquired knowledge, but not from good itself. Nevertheless they perform the good works of charity, not to merit anything by doing so, but from a sense of obedience. They act in this way insofar as they understand it to be the truth. For they allow the Lord to lead them away from the obscurity surrounding good by means of truth which to them looks like the truth. For example, because they do not know what the neighbour is they do good to everyone they imagine to be their neighbour, especially the poor, who call themselves the poor because they lack worldly riches; they do good to orphans and widows because they are termed such; to strangers because they are such; and so on with the rest. They behave in this way without knowing what is really meant by the poor, orphans, widows, strangers, and many more. Nevertheless because within their affection there is, lying in obscurity, as stated, the affection for good by means of which the Lord leads them to do those things, good is at the same time present with them interiorly. Within that good the angels are present with them, and there take pleasure in the appearances of truth for which those people have an affection.
[3] But those who are governed by good that flows from charity, and from this by an affection for truth, exercise discrimination when performing all those deeds, for they dwell in light, and the light of truth has no other source than good, because the Lord flows in by way of good. They do not do good to the poor, orphans, widows, and strangers just because these are so termed, for they know that the good, whether poor or rich, are pre-eminently the neighbour; for by the good, good is done to others, and therefore insofar as they do good to the good they are doing it through them to others. They know also how to discriminate between one good and another, and so between one good person and another. They call the common good itself their neighbour to a higher degree, for within this neighbour the good of a greater number of persons is seen. The Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church, they acknowledge as being their neighbour to an even higher degree, towards whom charity should be shown; and the Lord’s kingdom in heaven to an even higher degree than that. People however who set the Lord above all of these, who adore Him alone and love Him above all things, derive all degrees of the neighbour from Him, for in the highest sense the Lord alone is the Neighbour and so is all good insofar as this is derived from Him.
[4] Those however whose disposition is quite the reverse derive degrees of the neighbour from themselves and acknowledge as neighbour only those who show them favour and are subservient to them. Calling these and no others their brothers and friends, they discriminate between them only to the degree that they make one with themselves. All this shows what the neighbour is, namely that everyone is the neighbour according to the love which governs him; and he is truly the neighbour who is governed by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, but in a different way for everyone. Thus it is the good itself with each one that is the determining factor.
‘Behold now, this city is near to flee to it’ means he would be allowed [to think and act] from the truth of faith. ‘And it is small’ means from the small amount of it which he had. ‘Let me, I beg you, escape to it’ means that from that small amount of truth it is permitted to regard good. ‘Is it not small?’ means, Would he not have some small amount of it? ‘And let my soul live’ means that he would thus perhaps be saved.
[2] The truth present with someone is altogether as is the good with him. Where there is little good there is little truth. They are present in the same ratio and are of the same degree, or as people say, they march in step with each other. This may indeed seem a paradox but it is nevertheless the truth. Good is the actual essence of truth, and truth without its essence is not truth. Although it looks as though it were, it is no more than something that merely resounds, and is like an empty vessel.
[3] For anyone to have the truth within him he must not only know it, but also acknowledge it and have faith in it. When he does he possesses truth for the first time, for in that case it has an influence on him and remains. It is different when he merely knows the truth but does not acknowledge it and have faith in it. In that case he does not have the truth within him, as applies to many who are governed by evil. They can know of truths, sometimes better than anybody else, but they nevertheless do not possess it. Indeed their possession of it is so much the less because at heart they deny it.
[4] It is provided by the Lord that no one should possess – that is, acknowledge and believe – a greater amount of truth than of the good which he receives. This is why here it is said of the city, which means truth, that ‘it is small’, and again in this same verse ‘is it not small?’ and also in verse 22 that ‘he called the name of the city Zoar’, which means small in the original language. The reason for this is that the subject here is people with the affection for truth, and not so much with the affection for good.
‘He said to him, Behold, I have accepted you as regards this matter also’ means assent, provided that the interior aspects of that truth derive anything from good. ‘That I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken’ means that this being so he would not perish.
* lit. your face
[2] This was the origin in the Word of all the disputes, and also the laws concerning the birthright. The reason for this controversy was that people did not know, even as it is not known today, that the amount of faith a person has depends on the amount of charity there is in him, and while a person is being regenerated charity offers itself to faith, or what amounts to the same, good offers itself to truth, and implants and accommodates itself in every part of it, and also in so doing causes faith to be faith. This being so, charity is really the firstborn of the Church, though to man it seems to be otherwise; see also 352, 367. But because these matters are the subject in many places after this, more in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be said when those places are reached.
‘Make haste, escape to it’ means that he should remain in that position because he could not go further. ‘For I cannot do anything until you come to it’ means that before judgement is effected on the evil those with the affection for truth have to be saved. ‘Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar’ means the affection for truth.
[2] That the salvation of good and righteous persons takes place before the destruction of the wicked and unrighteous is also clear from elsewhere in the Word, as in Matthew where the Last Judgement is the subject. There it is said that the sheep were separated from the goats; then the sheep were told to enter the Lord’s kingdom before the goats were told to depart into eternal fire, Matt. 25:32, 34, 41. Something similar was also represented by the children of Israel, when they went out of Egypt, being saved before the Egyptians were drowned in the Sea Suph.
[3] The same is also meant by the statements made in various places in the Prophets to the effect that after the faithful had been brought back from captivity their enemies would undergo punishments and perish. This is constantly happening in the next life, that is to say, the faithful are saved first and then the faithless are punished, or what amounts to the same, the former are first raised up into heaven by the Lord and after that the latter hurl themselves into hell. The reason these events do not take place at one and the same time is that unless the good were snatched away from the evil, they would easily be destroyed by the evil desires and by the false persuasions which the evil constantly cast around like poisons. Generally however before any such thing happens, steps are taken with the good to separate evils, and with the evil to separate goods, so that the good may be lifted up by the Lord by means of goods into heaven and the evil cast themselves by means of evils down into hell. This matter will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed further on in 2449, 2451.
[2] What is more, truths which are in themselves truths are more true with one person, less so with another; and with some they are not truths at all but indeed falsities. This becomes clear from almost all things which in themselves are truths. For truths as they reside-with the individual vary according to his affections. For example, the doing of a good work or the good of charity is in itself a truth to be put into practice. With one person it is the good of charity because it flows from charity, with another a work of obedience because it flows from obedience, with others it is a merit-seeking because they wish by means of it to earn merit and salvation, but with certain people it is a hypocritical action which they do to be seen by others; and so on. So it is with all other truths which are called truths of faith. From this it also becomes clear that much truth resides with people with the affection for good, but less truth with those with the affection for truth; for the latter look on good as something rather remote from themselves while the former look on it as something present within themselves.
‘The sun had gone forth over the earth’ means the final period which is called the Last Judgement. ‘And Lot came to Zoar’ means that those with the affection for truth are saved.
[2] The reason the Lord’s arrival or presence coincides with the final period called the judgement is that His presence separates the good from the evil, and leads on to the good being raised into heaven and the evil casting themselves down into hell. For in the next life the Lord is the Sun of the whole of heaven, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Actually it is the Divine celestial manifestation of His Love which appears before their very eyes as the sun and produces the light itself of heaven. To the extent therefore that those in the next life abide in celestial love they are raised up into that celestial light which comes from the Lord. But to the extent they are remote from celestial love they cast themselves away from that light into the darkness of hell.
[3] This then is the reason why ‘sunrise’ which means the Lord’s arrival or presence entails both the salvation of the good and the condemnation of the evil; and why at this point it is first stated that ‘Lot came to Zoar’, that is, that people represented here by Lot were saved, and immediately after this that ‘Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire’, that is, the evil were condemned.
[4] To those there who are immersed in the evils of self-love and love of the world, that is, who hate all things to do with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, the light of heaven actually appears as thick darkness. This is why it is said in the Word that to those people the sun was darkened, which means that they rejected everything to do with love and charity and accepted everything contrary to these, as in Ezekiel,
When I have blotted you out I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezek. 32:7, 8.
Anyone may see that ‘covering the heavens’, ‘darkening the stars’, ‘covering the sun’, and ‘making the bright lights dark’ mean different things from these.
[5] Similarly in Isaiah,
The sun will be darkened in its going forth and the moon will not give its light. Isa. 13:9, 10.
And in Joel,
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:2, 10.
This therefore shows what is meant by these words spoken by the Lord when He was describing the final period of the Church which is called the judgement, in Matthew,
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. Matt. 24:29.
‘The sun’ is not used to mean the sun, nor ‘the moon’ the moon, nor ‘stars’ the stars, but ‘the sun’ is used to mean love and charity, ‘the moon’ faith derived from these, and ‘the stars’ cognitions of good and truth, which are said to have been darkened, to lose their light, and to fall from heaven when the acknowledgement of the Lord, and love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, cease to exist any longer. And when these have become non-existent self-love together with falsities deriving from it take possession of man; for the one thing results as a consequence of the other.
[6] This also explains the following in John,
The fourth angel poured out his bowl into the sun and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; therefore men were burned by the fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. Rev. 16:8, 9.
This too refers to the last times of the Church when all love and charity is being annihilated, or to express it in ordinary language, when no faith exists any longer. The annihilation of love and charity is meant by the statement that the bowl was poured out into the sun; consequently it is in that case self-love and its desires that are meant by the statement that men were scorched with fire and that they were burned by a fierce heat; and this led to their blaspheming the name of God.
[7] By ‘the sun’ the Ancient Church understood nothing other than the Lord and the Divine celestial manifestation of His love. It was their custom when praying therefore to turn towards the rising of the sun – yet without giving any thought at all to the sun itself. Later on however when their descendants had lost even this together with every other representative and meaningful sign they began to worship the sun and moon themselves. This kind of worship spread to very many nations, so much so that they dedicated temples to the sun and to the moon, and erected pillars. And because the sun and moon now assumed an opposite meaning they mean self-love and love of the world, which are the complete reverse of celestial and spiritual love.
[8] In the Word therefore worshipping the sun and moon is used to mean worship of self and of the world, as in Moses,
Lest you lift your eyes to heaven and you see the sun and moon and stars, all the host of heaven, and you are drawn away and bow down to them and serve them. Deut. 4:19.
And in the same author,
If anyone has gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, and to the sun or moon, or to all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, you shall stone them with stones, and they shall die. Deut. 17:3, 5.
People turned the worship of old into such idolatry when they no longer believed that anything internal was meant in the religious observances of the Church, only that which is external.
[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,
At that time the bones of the kings of Judah, of the princes, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they will spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they have loved and which they have served. Jer. 8:1, 2.
‘The sun’ stands for self-love and its desires. ‘Spreading out the bones’ means the hellish things which such people possess. In the same prophet,
He will break down the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire. Jer. 43:13.
‘The pillars of the house of the sun’ stands for worship of self.
‘Jehovah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire’ means the hell of those governed by the evils of self-love, and by falsities deriving from these – ‘raining on’ meaning to be condemned, ‘brimstone’ the hell of the evils of self-love, ‘fire’ the hell of falsities deriving from these. ‘From Jehovah out of heaven’ means from the laws of order in regard to truth, because they separate themselves from good.
The tabernacle will be for a shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and shelter from deluge and from rain. Isa. 4:6.
In Ezekiel,
Say to those who daub it with what is not suitable that it will fall. There will be deluging rain from which you, O hailstones, will fall. There will be deluging rain in My anger, and hailstones in wrath to consume it. Ezek. 13:11, 13.
In David,
He made their rain into hail, a flaming fire in their land; and He smote their vines and their fig trees. Ps. 105:32, 33.
This refers to Egypt, concerning which the following is said in Moses,
Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down over the earth, and Jehovah rained hail over the land of Egypt. Exod. 9:23, 24.
Jehovah will rain on the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone. Ps. 11:6.
The fact that it is not fire or brimstone but something else that is meant here by ‘fire and brimstone’ becomes clear also from its being said that ‘Jehovah will rain snares’. In Ezekiel,
I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; and deluging rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone will I rain on him and on his hordes, and on the many peoples that are with him. Ezek. 38:22.
This refers to Gog who lays waste the land of Israel, that is, the Church. What Gog is, see 1151. ‘Fire’ stands for falsities, ‘brimstone’ for derivative evils, and at the same time for the hells of those who lay waste. In John,
Those who worshipped the beast were thrown into the lake burning with brimstone. Rev. 19:20.
Here they stand for hell. In the same book,
The devil was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Rev. 20:10.
Here they plainly stand for hell. In the same book,
As for abominable people, and murderers, and adulterers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their lot will be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Rev. 21:8.
Here also ‘fire and brimstone’ plainly stands for hell.
[2] That these two stand for the evils of self-love and for falsities deriving from these, in which the hells have their origin, is seen in Isaiah,
The day of Jehovah’s vengeance – the year of retributions in the controversy of Zion – and her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isa. 34:8, 9.
Here ‘burning pitch’, mentioned instead of fire, stands for dense and dreadful falsities, ‘brimstone’ for evils which are the product of self-love. In the same prophet,
Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone in it. Isa. 30:33.
In this reference to Tophet, ‘a stream of burning brimstone’ stands for falsities which are the product of the evils of self-love. In Luke,
On the day Lot went out of Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all – so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:29, 30.
[3] Anyone may see that it is not fire and brimstone that will rain down at that time but that the falsities and desires of self-love, which are meant by ‘fire and brimstone’ and which make up hell, will be predominant. ‘Fire’ in the Word means evil desires and at the same time the hells, in which case the smoke from the fire means falsity which arises from and exists in those hells, see 1861. And in John,
I saw horses in the vision, and those seated on them had breastplates of fire and of brimstone. And the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and out of their mouths there went forth fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three a third part of mankind was killed – by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone. Rev. 9:17, 18.
‘Fire, smoke, and brimstone’ stands for evils and falsities of every kind, in which, as stated, the hells have their origin.
[2] All order begins in Jehovah, that is, in the Lord, and it is in accordance with that order that He rules over every single thing. But there is much variation to His rule; that is to say, it may be His Will, or His Good Pleasure, or His Consent, or His Permission from which He rules. Things that have their origin in His will or in His good pleasure are products of laws of order which have regard to what is good, as also do many things that exist by His consent, and even some that do so by His permission. But when a person separates himself from good he subjects himself to the laws of order which are those of truth separated from good and which are such as condemn. For all truth condemns a person and casts him down into hell; but out of good, that is, out of mercy, the Lord rescues him and raises him up into heaven. From this it is clear that it is a person himself who condemns himself.
[3] Things that are the result of permission are for the most part of this nature – for example, besides countless others, the fact that one devil punishes and torments another. These things are from the laws of order in regard to truth separated from good, for there is no other way in which such devils could be kept under control and prevented from rushing on all the good and upright and destroying them eternally. The prevention of their doing this is the good which the Lord has in view. This is similar to what happens on earth where a benign and compassionate ruler exists who intends and does nothing but good. If he did not allow his laws to punish evil and criminal persons – though he himself punishes nobody but instead grieves that those people are such that their evils must punish them – he would leave his kingdom itself open to plunder by such people; and this would be a manifestation of a complete lack of benignity and compassion.
[4] From these considerations it is evident that Jehovah in no way rained down brimstone and fire, that is, condemned to hell, but that those subject to evil and to falsity which arises out of this did so, the reason being that they separated themselves from good and in so doing put themselves under the laws of order deriving from truth alone. From all this it follows that such is the internal sense of these words.
[5] In the Word, evil, punishment, cursing, condemnation, and many other things are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, similar to the attribution here that He rained brimstone and fire: in Ezekiel,
I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; fire and brimstone will I rain on him. Ezek. 38:22.
In Isaiah,
The breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isa. 30:33.
In David,
Jehovah will rain on the wicked snares, fire and brimstone. Ps. 11:6.
In the same author,
Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth devoured; glowing coals flamed forth from Him. Ps. 18:8, 9.
In Jeremiah,
Lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it. Jer. 21:12.
In Moses,
Fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell. Deut. 32:22.
Similar attributions occur in many other places besides these. Why in the Word such things are attributed, as has been stated, to Jehovah or the Lord has been explained in Volume One, in 223, 245, 589, 592, 696, 735, 1093, 1683, 1874. The idea that such things come from the Lord is as remote from the truth as good is from evil, or heaven from hell, or what is Divine from what is of the devil. Evil, hell, and the devil do those things, and in no way the Lord who is mercy itself and good itself. But because those things do seem to come from Him, for reasons presented in the paragraphs just quoted, they are attributed to Him.
[6] From the wording of this verse, ‘Jehovah rained from Jehovah out of heaven’, it seems in the sense of the letter as though there were two of Them – one on earth, and one in heaven. But the internal sense teaches how this matter is to be understood, namely as follows: The Jehovah mentioned first means the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, which in this chapter are meant by ‘the two men’, while the Jehovah mentioned second means the Divine itself, called the Father, who is referred to in the previous chapter. The internal sense also teaches that this Trinity exists within the Lord, as He Himself says in John,
He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.
And referring to the Holy proceeding He says in the same gospel,
The Paraclete will not speak from Himself. He will receive it from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-15.
Thus there is but one Jehovah even though two are mentioned here. Two are mentioned because all laws of order spring from the Lord’s Divine itself, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding.
‘He overthrew those cities’ means that all truths were separated from them so that they might possess falsities alone. ‘And all the plain’ means all the things which belonged to [those] truths. ‘And all the inhabitants of the cities’ means that all goods were separated from them so that they might possess nothing but evils. ‘And that which grew in the ground’ means everything that is part of the Church.
[2] This also is what their state comes to be, which, so that the nature of it may be known, must be described briefly. All who enter the next life are taken back to a life similar to that which they were leading during their lifetime., Then in the case of the good evils and falsities are separated so that the Lord may raise these people up by means of goods and truths into heaven; but in the case of the evil goods and truths are separated so that those evil ones may be carried away by means of evils and falsities into hell, see 2119, in exact accord with the Lord’s words in Matthew,
To him who has, it will be given, so that he may have more abundantly; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matt. 13:12.
And elsewhere in the gospel,
To everyone who has, it will be given, so that he may have in abundance; but from him who has not, it will be taken away. Matt. 25:29; Luke 8:18; 19:24-26; Mark 4:24, 25.
The same is meant by the following words which appear in Matthew,
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. The harvest is the close of the age. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. Matt. 13:30, 39, 40.
The same point is made in the description of the net thrown into the sea gathering fish of various kinds, and how after that the good were sorted into vessels while the bad were thrown away; and this is how it will be at the close of the age, Matt. 13:47-50. What ‘the close’ is and that for the Church it entails events like these, see 1857, 2243.
[3] The reason why evils and falsities are separated in the case of people who are good is that the latter may not be left suspended between evils and goods and so that they may be raised up by means of goods into heaven. And the reason why goods and truths are separated in the case of the evil is so that they do not lead the upright astray by means of any goods present with them, and so that by means of their evils they may withdraw to the evil in hell. For in the next life such is the communication of all ideas comprising thought, and of all affections, that goods are communicated with the good, and evils with the evil, 1388-1390. Consequently unless separation took place countless harmful things would result, in addition to the fact that association together would not otherwise be possible. Yet all things are associated together in a very wonderful way, in heaven according to all the variations of love to the Lord and of mutual love, and consequently of faith, 685, 1394, and in hell according to all the variations of evil desires and of delusions resulting from these, 695, 1322. It should be recognized however that separation does not mean complete removal, for nothing anybody has once possessed is totally removed from him.
‘His wife looked back behind him’ means that truth turned away from good and looked towards matters of doctrine. ‘And she became a pillar of salt’ means that all good accompanying truth was vastated.
On that day, whoever will be on the housetop with his vessels in the house, let him not come down to take them away; and whoever is in the field, let him likewise not turn back to behind him. Remember Lot’s wife. Luke 17:31, 32.
[2] These words of the Lord are by no means intelligible without the internal sense, and so are unintelligible unless one knows what is meant by ‘being on the housetop’, by ‘vessels in the house’, by ‘coming down to take them away’, by ‘the field’, and lastly by ‘turning back to behind him’. According to the internal sense ‘being on the housetop’ means resting on good; for ‘a house’ means good, see 710, 2231, 2233. ‘Vessels in the house’ means truths which belong to good; for truths are the vessels for good, see 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2269. ‘Going down to take them away’ means, as is evident, turning away from good towards truth, for since good is primary it is also higher, while truth, being secondary, is also lower. That ‘the field’ is the Church, so called from the seed which it receives, and consequently that those people are ‘fields’ in whom there is the good taught by doctrine, is clear from many places in the Word. These considerations show what ‘turning back to behind him’ means, namely turning away from good and looking towards matters of doctrine. And it is because these things are meant by the expression ‘Lot’s wife’, that ‘remember Lot’s wife’ is added. The reason it is not said that she looked ‘behind herself’ but ‘behind him’ is that ‘Lot’ means good, see 2324, 2351, 2371, 2399. This explains why, when Lot was told what to do, verse 17, the words used were, ‘Do not look back behind you’.
[3] The reason why in Luke it is said ‘let him not turn back to behind him’ and not ‘to the things behind him’ is that celestial people are unwilling even to mention anything that is a matter of doctrine, see 202, 337. This is why no such thing is mentioned in Luke, only the words ‘to behind him’.
[4] These same matters are described in Matthew as follows,
When you see the abomination of desolation, foretold by the prophet Daniel, then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything away out of his house; and let him who is in the field not return back to take his clothes. Matt. 24:15-17.
Here ‘the abomination of desolation’ is the state of the Church when there is no love and no charity. When these have been destroyed abominable things predominate. ‘Judea’ means the Church, and in particular the celestial Church, as is evident from both the historical and prophetical sections throughout the Old Testament Word, while ‘the mountains into which they were to flee’ means love to the Lord and consequent charity towards the neighbour, see 795, 1430, 1691. ‘He who is on the housetop’ means good flowing from love, as stated just above. ‘Going down to take anything away out of his house’ means turning away from good towards truth, as has also been stated above, while ‘he who is in the field’ means members of the spiritual Church, as is evident from the meaning of ‘field’ in the Word. ‘Let him not return back to take his clothes’ means not turning away from good towards truth that constitutes doctrinal teaching – ‘clothes’ meaning truths, for truths clothe good like garments, see 1073. Anyone may see that all those things which the Lord has said in that section about the close of the age mean things altogether different and embody arcana, such as that those in Judea were to flee into the mountains, that the one on the housetop was not to go down and bring anything out of the house, and that the one in the field was not to return back to take his clothes. Similar to this is the statement in verse 17 that Lot was not to look back behind him, and that made here that his wife did look back behind him and became a pillar of salt. In addition this matter is clear from the meaning of ‘a wife’ as truth, dealt with in 915, 1468, and from the meaning of ‘Lot’ as good, dealt with in 2324, 2351, 2371, 2399; hence the words ‘after him’.
[5] Truth is said to turn away from good and look towards matters of doctrine when the member of the Church no longer takes to heart what kind of life he leads, only what kind of doctrine he possesses. Yet it is life according to doctrine, not doctrine separate from life, that makes anyone a member of the Church; for when doctrine is separated from life, then because good, in which life consists, has been vastated, truth as well, in which doctrine consists, is vastated, that is, it becomes ‘a pillar of salt’. This is something anyone who looks to doctrine alone and not to life may know, by considering whether, even though doctrine teaches such things, he in fact believes in the resurrection, heaven, hell, and indeed the Lord, and so in everything else which doctrine teaches.
[2] As most things in the Word have two meanings, namely the genuine and the contrary to this, so also does ‘salt’. In the genuine sense it means the affection for truth, in the contrary sense the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth. That ‘salt’ means the affection for truth, see Exod. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Matt. 5:13; Mark 9:49, 50; Luke 14:34, 35. That it also means the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth, is clear from the following places: In Moses,
The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim. Deut. 29:23.
Here ‘brimstone’ is the vastation of good, and ‘salt’ the vastation of truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from each detail.
[3] In Zephaniah,
Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation for ever. Zeph. 2:9.
Here ‘a place abandoned to the nettle’ stands for vastated good, ‘a salt pit’ for vastated truth; for ‘a place abandoned to the nettle’ refers to Sodom, which has been shown to mean evil or vastated good, and ‘a salt pit’ to Gomorrah, which has been shown to mean falsity or vastated truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from its being called ‘a desolation for ever’. In Jeremiah,
He who makes flesh his arm will be like a bare shrub in the solitary place and will not see when good comes; and he will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. Jer. 17:5, 6.
Here ‘a parched land’ stands for vastated goods, ‘a salt land’ for vastated truths.
[4] In David,
Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and outgoings of waters into a dryness, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the wickedness of those inhabiting it. Ps. 107:33, 34.
‘A fruitful land into a salty waste’ stands for the vastation of the good within truth. In Ezekiel,
Its swamps and its marshes are not healed, they will be given up to salt. Ezek. 47:11.
‘Given up to salt’ stands for being utterly vastated as regards truth. Because ‘salt’ meant vastation and ‘cities’ matters of doctrine concerning truth, as shown in 402, 2268, 2428, 2451, cities that had been destroyed were in former times sown with salt to prevent their being rebuilt, Judg. 9:45. The description at this point is of the fourth state of the Church represented by ‘Lot’, a state in which all truth has been vastated as regards good.
‘Abraham rose up in the early morning’ means the Lord’s thought concerning the final period, ‘Abraham’ here, as previously, meaning the Lord during that state. ‘[And went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah’ means a state of perception and of thought which He had already experienced before, ‘place’ meaning state. ‘And he looked out towards the face of Sodom and Gomorrah’ means thought concerning the interior state of these people as to evil and falsity. ‘And towards the whole face of the land of the plain’ means all the interior states resulting from this. ‘And he saw, and behold the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace’ means a state of falsity, meant by ‘the smoke’, arising out of a state of evil, meant by ‘the furnace’, inside the Church, meant by ‘the land’. ‘And so it was, when God was destroying the cities of the plain’ means when they perished through falsities deriving from evil, which are meant by ‘the cities of the plain’. ‘That God remembered Abraham’ means salvation achieved through the Lord’s Divine Essence united to His Human ‘Essence. ‘And sent Lot away out of the midst of the overthrowing’ means the salvation of those governed by good and of those governed by truth that has good within it, all of whom here are meant by ‘Lot’. ‘When He was overthrowing the cities’ means when those perished who were governed by falsities deriving from evils. ‘In which Lot dwelt’ means that even those also who were saved were governed by such falsities.
‘Lot went up out of Zoar’ means when the affection for truth existed with them no longer. ‘And dwelt in the mountain’ means that in that case they transferred themselves to a kind of good. ‘And his two daughters with him’ means as did affections deriving from that good. ‘For he was afraid to dwell in Zoar’ means because they were unable any more to look to good from the affection for truth. ‘And he dwelt in a cave – he’ means good enveloped in falsity. ‘And his two daughters’ means affections deriving from that good – affections for that kind of good and for that kind of falsity.
[2] ‘The firstborn said to the younger’ here, as previously, means affections – ‘the firstborn’ meaning the affection for that kind of good, ‘the younger’ the affection for that kind of falsity. ‘Our father is old, and there is no man in the land’ means that it is no longer known what good is and what truth is. ‘To come to us’ means to which those affections might be joined. ‘According to the way of all the earth’ means according to matters of doctrine, ‘earth’ being the Church. ‘Come, let us make our father drink wine’ means that they might saturate such good with falsities, meant by the wine. ‘And let us lie with him’ means that in this way they would be joined together.
[3] ‘And let us keep seed alive by our father’ means that in this way a new kind of a Church would emerge. ‘And they made their father drink wine’ means that they saturated such good with falsities. ‘That night’ means when all things were enveloped in so much obscurity. ‘And the firstborn came’ means the affection for. that kind of good. ‘And lay with her father’ means that in this way the two were brought together. ‘And he did not know when she lay down and when she rose up’ means that such general good knew no other than that it was so. ‘And on the next day’ means afterwards. ‘The firstborn said to the younger’ means that the affection for such good persuaded the falsity. ‘Behold, I lay last night with my father’ means that thus they had been joined together. ‘Let us make him drink wine again tonight’ means here, as previously, that they saturated such good with falsities, at a time when everything was enveloped in so much obscurity. ‘And come, lie with him’ means that these might be joined together as well.
[4] ‘And let us keep seed alive by our father’ here, as previously, means that in this way a new kind of a Church would emerge. ‘And they made their father drink wine that night also’ means that in that obscure state they saturated such good with falsities. ‘And the younger rose up and lay with him’ means that the affection for falsity acted in a similar fashion, so that falsities looked like truths, and the two were in this way joined together. ‘And he did not know when she lay down and when she rose up’ here, as previously, means that such a general type of good knew no other than that it was so. ‘And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father’ means that this was how such a religion as that meant by ‘Moab’ and ‘the son of Ammon’ arose.
[2] The truth of the matter is that when celestial things together with spiritual come down from heaven into a lower sphere they are in a most perfect way converted there into the likeness of marriages. They do so on account of the correspondence which exists between spiritual things and natural, a correspondence which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be described elsewhere. But when those same things are perverted in the lower sphere, as happens when evil genii and evil spirits are present there, they are in that case converted into the kind of things that go with acts of adultery and whoredom. This is why in the Word defilements of good and perversions of truth are described as acts of adultery and whoredom and are also called such, as becomes quite clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,
You committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male, and committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and you committed whoredom with them and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this. Ezek. 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28, 29, and following verses.
This refers to Jerusalem, which means in this instance the Church perverted as regards truths. Anyone may see that all the things referred to here have entirely different meanings.
[3] That the perversion of some aspect of the Church is called whoredom is quite evident. ‘The garments’ referred to are truths that are being perverted. Consequent falsities which are worshipped are meant by ‘the variously coloured high places’ on which whoredom took place – ‘garments’ meaning truths, see 1073, and ‘high places’ worship, 796. ‘The vessels for adornment made of the gold and the silver which I had given’ are cognitions of good and truth drawn from the Word which they use to confirm falsities. And when such falsities are seen as truths they are called ‘figures of the male with whom whoredom was committed’. For ‘vessels for adornment made of gold and silver’ means cognitions of good and truth, as is evident from the meaning of ‘gold’ as good, 113, 1551, 1552, and of ‘silver’ as truth, 1551, 2048; ‘figures of the mare’ means falsities which are seen as truths, 2046. ‘The sons and daughters whom they had borne and sacrificed to them’ means the goods and truths which they perverted, as is evident from the meaning of ‘sons and daughters’, 489-491, 533, 2362; ‘committing whoredom with the sons of Egypt’ means perverting those goods and truths by means of facts, as is evident from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. ‘Committing whoredom with the sons of Asshur’ means perverting by means of reasonings, as is evident from the meaning of ‘Asshur’ as reasoning, 119, 1186; ‘multiplying whoredom even as far as the land of Chaldea’ means even to the profanation of truth, which is Chaldea, 1368. All this makes plain the nature of the internal sense of the Word within the sense of the letter.
[4] A similar passage occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,
Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them, the choicest of all the sons of Asshur. Her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they had lain with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her acts of whoredom more than her sister’s acts of whoredom; she doted on the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom and saw the images of the Chaldeans. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came to her, into her love-bed. Ezek. 23:2-5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17.
‘Samaria’ is a Church with the affection for truth, ‘Jerusalem’ a Church with the affection for good. By ‘the acts of whoredom’ committed by such affections with ‘the Egyptians’ and with ‘the sons of Asshur’ are meant the perversions of good and truth by means of facts and reasonings used to confirm falsities, as is evident from the meaning of ‘Egypt’, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and of ‘Asshur’, 119, 1186. These perversions extended even to profane worship which in respect of truth is ‘Chaldea’, 1368, and in respect of good is ‘the sons of Babel’, 1182, 1326.
[5] In Isaiah,
And it will be at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot, and will commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth. Isa. 23:17.
It is the flaunting of falsity that is meant by Tyre’s ‘hiring herself out as a harlot and committing whoredom’. ‘Tyre’ means cognitions of truth, see 1201, ‘kingdoms’ truths with which whoredom took place, 1672.
[6] In Jeremiah,
You have committed whoredom with many partners; but return to Me. Lift up your eyes to the hills and see – where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat waiting for them, like an Arab in the wilderness, and you have profaned the land with your acts of whoredom and with your wickedness. Jer. 3:1, 2.
‘Committing whoredom’ and ‘profaning the land with acts of whoredom’ is perverting and falsifying the truths of the Church. ‘The land’ is the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067.
[7] In the same prophet,
With the voice of her whoredom she profaned the land, she committed adultery with stone and wood. Jer. 3:9.
‘Committing adultery with stone and wood’ means perverting truths
and goods that are part of external worship – ‘stone’ meaning that kind of truth, see 643, 1298, ‘wood’ that kind of good, 643.
[8] In the same prophet,
Because they have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their companions’ wives, and have in My name spoken a false word which I did not command. Jer. 29:23.
‘Committing adultery with companions’ wives’ is teaching falsity as from them.
[9] In the same prophet,
In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: in their committing adultery and walking in falsity. Jer. 23:14.
Here ‘committing adultery’ has regard to good which is being defiled, ‘walking in falsity’ to truth which is being perverted. In the same prophet,
Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the filth of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field – I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem; you will not be made clean after this; how long yet? Jer. 13:27.
[10] In Hosea,
Whoredom, and wine, and new wine have taken possession of the heart. My people inquire of a piece of wood and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have committed whoredom beneath their god. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall I not punish* your daughters because they commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery, for the men themselves divide with harlots and sacrifice with cult-prostitutes? Hosea 4:11-14.
What each of these things means in the internal sense becomes clear from the meaning of ‘wine’ as falsity, of ‘new wine’ as evil deriving from this, of ‘the piece of wood which they inquire of’ as the good belonging to the delight that goes with some evil desire, ‘the staff which makes a declaration’ as the imaginary power of their own understanding, also of ‘mountains and hills’ as self-love and love of the world, of ‘oak, poplar, and terebinth’ as so many dull-witted perceptions in which they trust, of ‘daughters and daughters-in-law’ as affections that are such. From this it is evident what acts of ‘whoredom’, ‘adultery’, and ‘cult-prostitution’ mean here.
[11] In the same prophet,
O Israel, you have committed whoredom beneath** your god; you have taken delight in hiring yourself out as a harlot on every threshing-floor. Hosea 9:1.
‘Hiring oneself out as a harlot’ stands for a flaunting of falsity. In Moses,
Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone calls you and you eat of his sacrifices, and you take his daughters for your sons, and his daughters go whoring after their gods, and they cause your sons to go whoring after their gods. Exod. 34:15, 16.
In the same author,
I will cut off from the midst of their people all who go whoring after him, for whoring after Molech. And anyone who looks to those who have familiar spirits and to wizards, and goes whoring after them, I will set My face against that person and will cut him off from the midst of his people. Lev. 20:5, 6.
In the same author,
Your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and will bear your acts of whoredom until your bodies are consumed in the wilderness. Num. 14:33.
In the same author,
May you remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and may you not seek after your own heart and after your own eyes, which you go whoring after. Num. 15:39.
[12] An even plainer usage occurs in John,
One angel said, Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and with the wine of whose whoredom the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. Rev. 17:1, 2.
‘The great harlot’ stands for people whose worship is profane. ‘The many waters on which she is seated’ are cognitions, 28, 739, ‘the kings of the earth who committed whoredom with her’ are the truths of the Church, 1672, 2015, 2069. ‘The wine with which the people became drunk’ is falsity, 1071, 1072. It is because wine’ and ‘drunkenness’ have this meaning that Lot’s daughters are said to have made their father drink wine, verses 32, 33, 35.
[13] In the same book,
Babylon has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. Rev. 18:3.
‘Babylon’ or Babel stands for worship whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy, 1182, 1295, 1326. ‘The nations to whom she gives drink’ means goods which are rendered profane, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, ‘the kings who commit whoredom with her’ means truths, 1672, 2015, 2069. In the same book,
The judgements of the Lord God are true and right, for He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her whoredom. Rev. 19:2.
‘The earth’ stands for the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 2117, 2118.
[14] It was because ‘acts of whoredom’ had such a meaning, and ‘daughters’ meant affections, that a priest’s daughter was so strictly forbidden to commit whoredom, concerning which the following is said in Moses,
Any priest’s daughter, in that she has begun to commit whoredom, is profaning her father; she shall be burnt with fire. Lev. 21:9.
Also they were forbidden to bring the earnings of a harlot into the house of Jehovah because it was an abomination, Deut. 23:18. And for the same reason a certain procedure had to be followed – given in Num. 5:12-31 – for investigating the behaviour of a wife whom the husband suspected of adultery; every single detail of that procedure has reference to the adulteration of good. Besides these many more genera and still more species of adultery and whoredom are referred to in the Word. The genus described by means of Lot’s daughters lying with their father and called ‘Moab’ and ‘the son of Ammon’ is dealt with immediately below.
* lit. visit
** The Latin means above, but the Hebrew means from under or from beneath, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
‘The firstborn gave birth to a son’ means the religion of that Church as regards good. ‘And called his name Moab’ means the nature of it. ‘He is the father of Moab even to this day’ means that these are the origins of such people. ‘And the younger also gave birth to a son’ means the falsified truth of that Church. ‘And called his name Ben-ammi’ means the nature of it. ‘He is the father of the children of Ammon even to this day’ means that these are the origins of such people.
[2] This type of worship and religion falls to people with whom natural good exists but who regard other people as worthless in comparison with themselves. They are not unlike fruit which is not unattractive on the outside but which within is mouldy or rotten; they are not unlike marble vases whose contents are impure and sometimes foul; or they are not unlike women whose face, figure, and movements are not unbecoming but who inwardly are diseased and full of foul impurities. For with them a general good exists which does not look unattractive; but things of a particular kind which enter into that good are filthy. This is not so to begin with but becomes so gradually, for such people easily allow themselves to be impregnated with whatever go by the name of goods and consequently by whatever falsities which, because they are confirmatory, they imagine to be truths. This happens because they despise the interior things of worship, which things they despise because they are governed by self-love. Such people come from and originate with those whose worship is purely external and who in this chapter are represented by Lot. They do so when the good contained in truth has been desolated. In the Word the nature of such people is described both in the beginning when their good has not as yet been so defiled, and also subsequently when it is being defiled, as well as after that when it has been defiled completely; and their rejection of the interior things of worship and doctrine is described too.
[3] The nature of those people in the beginning when their good has not as yet been so defiled is described in Daniel,
At the time of the end the king of the south will clash with him; therefore the king of the north will rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter into countries, and will overflow, and will pass through, and will come into the glorious land, and many countries will collapse; these will be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab, and the firstfruits of the children of Ammon. Dan. 11:40, 41.
‘The king of the south’ stands for people with whom goods and truths are present, ‘the king of the north’ for those with whom evils and falsities are present. ‘The king of the north with chariots, horsemen, and ships, entering countries, overflowing, and passing through’ stands for evils and falsities, meant by ‘chariots, horsemen, and ships’, getting the upper hand; ‘the deliverance from his hand of Edom, Moab, and the firstfruits of the children of Ammon’ stands for people governed by good which has not yet been defiled so much by falsities. This is why they are called ‘the firstfruits of the children of Ammon’.
[4] In Moses,
We passed on by the road of the wilderness, and Jehovah said to Moses, Do not harass Moab, nor engage with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as an inheritance because I have given Ar to the children of Lot as an inheritance. Deut. 2:8, 9.
And regarding the children of Ammon,
Jehovah spoke to Moses, Today you are passing over Ar the boundary of Moab, and when you approach from the region of the children of Ammon, do not harass them nor engage with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon as an inheritance, for I have given it to the children of Lot as an inheritance. Deut. 2:17-19.
Here ‘Ar’ stands for that kind of good, ‘Moab and the children of Ammon’ for people who are governed by such good, but at the beginning, which explains why it is commanded that they should not be harassed.
[5] This also is the reason why Moab drove out the Emim, and the Rephaim who were similar to the Anakim, and why the children of Ammon too drove out the Rephaim, whom they called the Zamzummim, Deut. 2:9-11, 18-21. ‘Emim, Rephaim, Anakim, and Zamzummim’ means people who were impregnated with evil and false persuasions, see 581, 1673. ‘Moab and the children of Ammon’ in the present context means people who have not yet been impregnated. But when these too had been so impregnated, that is, when their good had been defiled by falsities, they also were driven out, Num. 21:21-31; Ezek. 25:8-11.
[6] The nature of those people when their good is being defiled is described in Jeremiah,
To Moab Jehovah spoke thus, Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and overwhelmed; the praise of Moab is no more. Give wings to Moab, for it will fly away and its cities will become a desolation, with no one to dwell in them. Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab, and be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of the hole. I know its anger, says Jehovah, and it is not steadfast, and its falsities do not make for right. Therefore I will howl over Moab and will cry out to the whole of Moab. From the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea, they reached as far as the sea of Jazer; on your summer fruits and on your vintage the vastator has fallen. Therefore My heart is moved over Moab like pipes. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken away into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days. Jer. 48:1, 2, 9, 28, 30-32, 36, 46, 47.
[7] The whole chapter refers to Moab, but by means of him to the way in which people with whom such good is present allow themselves to be impregnated with falsities. This is why it is said that ‘they should give Moab wings so that he may fly away’, and that ‘his cities will become a desolation’, but that ‘they were to leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and like a dove were to nest in the sides of the mouth of the hole’, and many other things by which they are persuaded to remain with the general goods and truths they possess. And if at such times they were led astray by falsities due to lack of knowledge they would be brought back from captivity in the latter days. But with those people with whom this does not happen it is said, ‘I will howl over Moab and will cry out to the whole of Moab’, and ‘My heart is moved over Moab’. The falsities with which they are impregnated are meant by Nebo, Kiriathaim, Misgab, Sibmah, Jazer, Chemosh, and other names mentioned in that chapter.
[8] In Isaiah,
Like a scattered nest will the daughters of Moab be. Give counsel, execute judgement. Make your whole shade [as the night] in the middle of the day. Hide the outcasts, do not betray the wanderer; let My outcasts, O Moab, dwell together in you; be a refuge to them in the presence of the vastator. We have heard of the pride of Moab – his great pride, his arrogance, and his insolence, and his anger; not so his lies. Therefore Moab will howl for Moab, everyone will howl. Therefore My bowels are played on like a harp for Moab, and My inward parts for the city of Heres. And when Moab is seen exhausted on the high place and he comes to his sanctuary to pray he will not prevail. In three years, like the years of a hireling, the praise of Moab will be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude, and the survivors will be a very small and feeble number. Isa. 16:2-4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14.
The whole of this chapter as well refers to Moab, and by means of him to people with whom such good is present. They are described in various parts of the chapter in words similar to those used in Jeremiah 48 – people that are in like manner persuaded to remain with the general goods and truths they possess and not allow themselves to be impregnated with falsities. General goods and truths are meant by the demand that they should give counsel, execute judgement, hide the outcasts, not betray the wanderer, be a refuge to outcasts in the presence of the vastator, all of which mean the external features of worship. Yet because they allow themselves to be impregnated with falsities, it is said ‘in three years, like the years of a hireling, and the praise of Moab will be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude, and the survivors will be a very small and feeble number’.
[9] Because they are led astray easily, Moab is called ‘the sending forth of the hand of the Philistines, and the children of Ammon their obedience’ in Isaiah,
The root of Jesse; which is standing as an ensign of the peoples, that will the nations seek, and His rest will be glory. The envy of Ephraim will depart, and the enemies of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. And they will fly down onto the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea, together they will plunder the people of the east, Edom, Moab the sending forth of their hand, and the children of Ammon their obedience. Isa. 11:10, 13, 14.
‘The root of Jesse’ stands for the Lord, ‘Judah’ for those who are governed by celestial good, ‘Ephraim’ for those who are governed by spiritual truth, ‘the Philistines’ for those who possess a knowledge of the cognitions of truth but who have no charity, ‘the people of the east’ for those who possess a knowledge of the cognitions of what is good but who also have no charity. Moab is called ‘the sending forth of their hand’, the children of Ammon ‘their obedience’, because they are impregnated with falsities by them.
[10] The nature however of people called Moab and the children of Ammon and what it becomes when their good has been defiled completely by falsities is described in David,
God has spoken in His holiness, Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; and
Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver, Moab is My wash-basin. Ps. 60:6-8; and likewise. Ps. 108:7-9.
‘Washbasin’ stands for good defiled by falsities.
[11] In Jeremiah,
The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have thought evil against him: Come, let us cut him off from being a nation. Moab has been at ease from his youth, resting on his lees; he has not been emptied from vessel into vessel, nor has he gone away into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is unchanged. On all the roofs of Moab and in its streets it is all lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no pleasure is taken. Jer. 48:2, 11, 38.
The falsities that defile good, which is ‘Moab’, are here called ‘lees’. These are what ‘the taste and scent’ consists in if no reformation takes place, meant here by being ’emptied from vessel into vessel’. Good itself is called ‘a vessel in which no pleasure is taken’, as in David where it is called ‘a basin for washing in’. In Isaiah,
The hand of Jehovah will rest on this mountain, and Moab will be threshed beneath it, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit. Isa. 25:10.
[12] People with whom such good exists are interested solely in the external features of worship and doctrine, and despise, reject, indeed are utterly averse to the internal; and as a consequence they have falsities instead of truths: in Ezekiel,
Son of man, set your face towards the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them, and say to the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovih: Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because you say, Aha! against My sanctuary that has been profaned, and against the land of Israel because it has been made desolate, and against the house of Judah because they have gone away into captivity, I will make Rabbah into a dwelling-place for camels, and the children of Ammon into a couching-place for flocks. The Lord Jehovih said, Because you have clapped the hand and stamped with the foot and rejoiced with all the contempt in your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I will stretch out My hand against you and hand you over as spoil to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries. Ezek. 25:2-7.
‘Aha! against the sanctuary that has been profaned, against the land of Israel because it has been made desolate, against the house of Judah because they have gone away into captivity’, ‘you clapped the hand, stamped with the foot, and rejoiced with all the contempt in your soul against the land of Israel’ are words expressing contempt for, mockery, and rejection of the interior features of worship and doctrine. When these have been rejected external things cease to have any value and ‘are handed over as spoil to the nations’, that is, they are invested by evils, and ‘cut off from the peoples’, that is, invested by falsities, and ‘are made to perish out of the countries’, that is, become part of what is not the Church.
[13] In Zephaniah,
I have heard the taunt of Moab and the blasphemies of the children of Ammon, who have taunted My people and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, Moab will become like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle and a saltpit, and they will be a desolation for ever. This will be theirs for their arrogance because they taunted and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth. Zeph. 2:8-10.
‘Taunting the people, and magnifying themselves against their border, and against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth’ is scorning and rejecting interior truths, meant by ‘the people of Jehovah Zebaoth’. Goods as a consequence become evils derived from falsity, which are ‘Sodom’ and ‘a place abandoned to the nettle’, while truths become falsities, which are ‘Gomorrah’ and ‘a saltpit’. For it is from internal things that external are enabled to be good and true.
[14] In David,
[Your] enemies craftily take secret counsel against Your people, they consult together against Your hidden ones, [saying,] Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, and let not the name of Israel be remembered any more, for they consult together with one accord; against You they make a covenant the tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre: Asshur also is joined with them; they are an arm to the children of Lot. Ps. 83:2-8.
‘Consulting against the hidden ones’, ‘cutting them off from being a nation so that the name of Israel is remembered no more’ means being totally averse to interior things. ‘The tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagrites, Gebal, and Ammon’ means people whose worship and doctrine are external, ‘Philistia with Tyre’ people who talk about internal things but do not have them, ‘Asshur who is an arm to the children of Lot’ reasoning with which they fight on behalf of external things and attack internal.
[15] In Moses,
A man shall not take his father’s wife nor violate his father’s skirt. He who has been severely bruised or crushed in the testicles shall not enter the assembly of Jehovah. The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not enter the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation they shall not ever enter the assembly of Jehovah. Deut. 22:30 to 23:7.
This shows what Moab and Ammon were at the end, that is, when they were impregnated completely with falsities. That is to say, they were people with whom good was adulterated and truth falsified through their contempt for, rejection of, and at length total aversion to all interior things. This also is why these two names are mentioned in this quotation after reference has been made to the foul kinds of adultery meant by ‘taking one’s father’s wife’ and ‘violating one’s father’s skirt – almost as with the mention made here to Lot’s daughters from whom Moab and Ammon were born; and also after reference to those who are ‘severely bruised or crushed in the testicles’, by whom those who are totally averse to everything that has to do with love and charity are meant. ‘The assembly of Jehovah’ means heaven, which they are unable to enter because they possess no remnants, which are obtained solely from interior goods and interior truths and which are meant by ‘the tenth generation’, 576, 1738, 2280.
[16] They also belonged to those nations who used to sacrifice sons and daughters to Molech, by which in the internal sense is meant that they annihilated truths and goods. Actually Moab’s god was Chemosh, and the children of Ammon’s was Molech or Milcom, 1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13, to whom they sacrificed, 2 Kings 3:27. As regards ‘sons and daughters’ meaning truths and goods, see 489-491, 533, 1147.
[17] Such then is the meaning of Moab and Ammon; but the kinds of falsity by which they adulterate goods and annihilate truths are many. These are listed in Jeremiah, but merely by their names _
Judgement has come to the land of the plain, to Holon, and to Jahzah, and to Mephaath, and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Bethdiblathaim, and on Kiriathaim, and on Bethgamul, and on Bethmeon, and on Kirioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. The horn of Moab has been cut off and his arm broken. Make him drunk, because he magnified himself over Jehovah, and let Moab applaud in his vomit. Jer. 48:21-26.
These are the kinds of falsity which come together in those who are called Moab and Ammon. Which particular falsities however, and the nature of them, becomes clear from the meaning of each name in the internal sense; for names in the Word mean nothing other than real things, as has been shown many times.
Scarcely anyone has known until now that everyone has two memories, one exterior, the other interior, and that the exterior memory belongs properly to his body but the interior to his spirit.
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