2. In the prophetical parts of the Word a horse is mentioned very often, ¹ but until now no one has known 'horse' means understanding, and 'horseman' one who understands, perhaps because it seems extraordinary and astonishing that that is what is meant by 'horse' in a spiritual sense, and consequently in the Word. But that it constantly means this can be agreed from very many instances in the Word, from which I should like to refer to only a few at this point.

In Israel's prophetic utterance ² about Dan we find:

Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting snake ³ on the path, that will bite the horse's heels, and the horseman will fall backwards. Genesis 49:17-18.

What this prophetic statement about one of the tribes of Israel means no one is going to understand unless he knows what 'serpent' signifies, and also 'horse' and 'horseman." Yet is there anyone who does not see that it holds something spiritual within it? This being so, what the individual details signify may be seen in Arcana Caelestia 6398-6401, where this prophetical utterance is explained.

In Habakkuk we find:

O Lord [...] You ride on Your horses and Your chariots are salvation [...] You caused Your horses to tread in the sea. Habakkuk 3:8, 15.

It is obvious that 'horses' here signify something spiritual, because these things are being said about God. What else would it be, 'God rode on [his] horses, and caused [his] horses to tread in the sea?'

In Zechariah we find, with a similar significance:

'On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be on the horse-bells', Zechariah 14:20. ⁴

In the same authority:

On that day I will strike every horse with bewilderment and the horseman with madness, declares the Lord, I will open my gaze on the house of Judah, and I will strike with blindness every horse of the peoples. Zechariah 12:4-5.

What is being talked about here is the Church when it has been laid waste, which happens when there is no longer an understanding of anything true. This is what is being indicated by 'horse' and 'horseman;' what else would it be, [...] every horse about to be struck with bewilderment [...] and the horse of the peoples with blindness?' What, otherwise, would this have to do with the Church?

In Job we find:

'Because God has made her ⁵ forget wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding; having raised herself on high, she mocks the horse and its rider' Job 39:17-19.

That understanding is signified here by 'horse' is manifestly obvious; similarly in David, where the expression 'to ride upon the word of truth' is used, Psalms 45:5; and besides in very many other places.

Moreover, who is likely to know why it is that Elijah and Elisha were called 'the chariots of Israel and its horsemen;' and why there appeared to Elisha's servant a mountain full of horses and fiery chariots, unless it is known what 'chariots' and horsemen' signify, and what Elijah and Elisha represented? For Elisha said to Elijah, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 2:11-12; and King Joash said to Elisha, 'My father, my father [...] the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 13:14.

Concerning the servant of Elisha we read:

'The Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, and he looked and saw the mountain full of horses and fiery chariots all around Elisha' 2 Kings 6:17.

Elijah and Elisha were called the chariots of Israel and its horsemen because each represented the Lord in his capacity as the Word. 'Chariots' represent doctrine derived from the Word, and 'horsemen' represent understanding. That Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord in this capacity may be seen in Arcana Caelestia: 5247, 7643, 8029, 9327, and that 'chariots' signify doctrine derived from the Word: 5321, 8215.

Footnotes:

6314. As it is with light, so it is with the heat that is vital to a person's existence. In no way at all does that vital heat originate in the heat radiated by the sun in the world; rather, it originates in spiritual heat, which is love and radiates from the Lord. This heat is what angels have. Consequently the amount of vital heat a person has is determined by the amount of love he has. His body however is warmed by worldly heat, as is his sensory awareness within it; yet vital heat flows into that worldly heat and imparts life to it. Differences in the purity and intensity of this heat are akin to variations in the clarity of the light. This vital heat is what one should understand by the holy fires mentioned in the Word, and therefore heavenly loves are meant by those fires. But in a contrary sense that worldly heat is what one should understand by the fires of hell, and therefore hellish loves and the desires that go with them are meant when these fires are mentioned in the Word.

8273. 'Jehovah is a man of war' means that the Lord provides protection against all evils and falsities, which come from the hells. This is clear from the meaning of 'a man of war' as one who fights against falsities and evils, that is, against the hells, and overcomes them, at this point one who provides a person protection against them. For as shown already, the Lord alone fights on behalf of a person and protects him when he is under attack from the hells; He does so constantly, especially in temptations, which are spiritual conflicts. The Lord is called 'a man of war', primarily because when He was in the world He fought alone, that is, all by Himself, against the hells, which at that time were for the most part open. They were attacking and attempting to bring under their control all without exception who were entering the next life. The reason why the devil's crew, that is, the hells, were prowling around in that way then was that the Divine passing through heaven, which was the Divine Human before the Lord's Coming, was not powerful enough to oppose the evils and falsities which had increased so enormously. Therefore the Divine was pleased to take upon Himself a Human Form and make it Divine. At the same time - through the conflicts to which He allowed Himself to be subjected - He cast the devil's crew into the hells, shut them in there, and made them subject to the heavens; also at the same time He restored the heavens themselves to order. These conflicts are the primary reason for calling the Lord 'a man of war'. And after them, when He had thereby conquered the hells and made Himself righteousness, He has been called such because with Divine power He provides people protection, doing so constantly, and especially in the conflicts brought by temptations.

[2] The truth that the Lord alone, all by Himself, fought against the hells and overcame them is presented in the following way in Isaiah,

Judgement is cast away backwards, and justice stands afar off, for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot come in; while truth has been removed, and he who retreats from evil is insane. Jehovah saw, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no judgement. And He saw that there was no man (vir), and wondered that there was no intercessor therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness lifted Him up. Consequently He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. Isaiah 59:14-17.

This describes conditions at that time in both worlds and declares that the Lord all by Himself, alone, re-established things that were in a state of collapse. The like is stated elsewhere in the same prophet,

Who is this who comes from Edom, with spattered clothes from Bozra, He that is glorious in His apparel, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples not a man (vir) was with Me. Consequently their victory ¹ has been sprinkled on My clothes. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. I had looked around, but there was no helper, and I wondered, but there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me. Isaiah 63:1-5.

These quotations make it clear that when in the world, the Lord fought alone against the hells and overcame them.

[3] So far as conflicts with and victories over the hells are concerned, the truth is that anyone who overcomes them once does so for evermore; for through victory he gains power over them, since in the same measure he consolidates within himself, and makes his own, the good of love and the truth of faith against which the hells afterwards do not dare to attempt anything. When He was in the world the Lord allowed Himself to endure conflicts brought by temptations from all the hells, and through those conflicts He made Divine the Human within Him and at the same time reduced the hells to a state of obedience for evermore, see 1663, 1668, 1690, 1692, 1737, 1813, 1820, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2803, 2814, 2816, 4287. So it is that the Lord alone has power over the hells for ever, and with Divine power fights on behalf of a person. This now explains why the Lord is called 'a man of war' and also 'a mighty man', as again in Isaiah,

Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man, as a man of wars He will arouse zeal; He will prevail over His enemies. Isaiah 42:13.

And in David,

Who is this King of glory? Jehovah strong and a mighty man, Jehovah a mighty man of war. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah Zebaoth (Jehovah of Hosts or Armies). Psalms 24:8, 10.

[4] Wherever 'war' is mentioned in the Word, spiritual war against falsities and evils - or what amounts to the same thing, against the devil, that is, the hells - is meant in the internal sense, 1664, 2686. The wars or battles which the Lord fought against the hells are the subject in the internal sense both in the historical sections of the Word and in its prophetical parts; and no less the subject are the Lord's wars or battles fought on behalf of man. With the Ancients, with whom the Lord's Church existed, there also existed a Word, having both a historical section and a prophetical part, which is not extant at the present day. Its historical section was called The Book of the Wars of Jehovah and its prophetical part The Utterances. That Word is referred to in Moses, Numbers 21:14, 27. The fact that the expression used in Numbers 21:27 means prophetical utterances is evident from the meaning the expression is given at Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15. The Wars of Jehovah in that Word meant the Lord's battles against and His victories over the hells when He was in the world. They also meant the battles fought after that, and the everlasting victories won by Him, on behalf of man, the Church, and His kingdom. The hells desire constantly to puff themselves up, for they yearn only to dominate; but they are kept in check by the Lord alone. Their attempts to exert themselves are seen as bubbles boiling up or as a person arching his back. But every time they attempt such a thing a large number of them are cast further down.

Footnotes: