2. B

Babel and Babylon [Babel et Babylon]. See Papists.

Balaam [Bileam]. Balaam was a hypocrite and a diviner or soothsayer, and that through his counsel given to Balak he sought to destroy the children of Israel by eating things offered to idols, shown n. 114.

Balances or Scales [lances, statera]. See Measure.

Bald [calvus. ] It signifies those who are without truths from the Word, illustrated and shown n. 47.

Baptism [baptismus]. What the papists teach concerning baptism may be seen in what is set forth concerning their doctrine, n. 1. Baptism is a sacrament of repentance and an introduction into the church, illustrated n. 224, and at n. 531 toward the end 776. What the Reformed teach concerning baptism, see what is set forth concerning their doctrines at n. 7. Baptism is for a sign before angels, and for a memorial before men, n. 776. The reason of John’s baptism, n. 776. Baptism represents and thence signifies a cleansing and purification from evils and falsities, and consequently reformation and regeneration, the like was formerly signified by washing, shown n. 378.

Barley [hordeum, vide triticum]. See Wheat.

Bear [ursus]. Bears signify those who read the Word and do not understand it, whereby they involve themselves in fallacies, illustrated and shown n. 573. In the spiritual world there appear bears that are hurtful and bears that are harmless, n. 573.

Bear Witness, to [testari]. See Testimony.

Beast [bestia]. Beast signifies various things with men and angels, which are of their will or affection and their understanding and thought, illustrated and shown n. 290. Beasts signify men as to their natural affections and lusts, illustrated and shown n. 567. Affections and lusts appear in the spiritual world as beasts, concerning which see n. 601. Beasts, birds, and fish, in general termed creatures signify affections, perceptions, and thoughts with men, and consequently men as to such things, illustrated and shown n. 405. Man and beasts signify man as to spiritual affection and as to natural affection, shown n. 567. What is signified by the four beasts rising out of the sea in Daniel, chap. vii. and that nearly the same is signified by the beast from the sea in Rev. 13, illustrated n. 574. By the beast from the sea in Rev. 13, are signified the men of the external church, who are called the laity, who are in faith separate from charity, n. 594, By the beast from the earth, which is also called the false prophet, are meant the men of the church on earth, who are called clergy, and are in faith separate from charity shown n. 594. By the throne of the beast is signified where the falsity of faith reigns n. 694. By the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name, is signified faith alone, its doctrine, its acknowledgment, and the falsification of the Word, n. 660, 679. By the scarlet beast is signified the Word, illustrated and shown n. 723, 733–735, 739–741, 746, 749. What is signified by the four animals, see Cherubim.

Bed [lectus]. Bed signifies doctrine, illustrated from beds in the spiritual world, and shown n. 137. Inasmuch as in the Word Jacob signifies the doctrine of the church, when any one thinks profoundly concerning him, there appears a man above toward the right, as it were lying on a bed, n. 137 Benjamin [Benjamin]. Benjamin signifies a life of truth from good, shown 361.

Bind, to [vincire, vide vinctus]. See Bound.

Bird [avis]. See Fowl.

Birth [nativitas]. By births and conceptions in the Word are meant spiritual births and conceptions, which relate to the good of love and the truth of faith; inasmuch as they are procreated from the marriage of good and truth, illustrated n. 139, illustrated n. 543. The members of generation in both sexes correspond with celestial love, n. 213. See To Bring Forth.

Bishops [episcopi]. Some particulars relative to certain English bishops in the spiritual world, contained in the relations at the end of some chapters, n. 241, 675, 716.

Bitter [amarum]. It signifies falsified truth, illustrated and shown n. 411. See Wormwood.

Black, Blackness [nigrum, nigredo] There are two kinds of blackness; one in opposition to white, and the other in opposition to red, concerning which see n. 231, illustrated and shown n. 312. Blackness also signifies ignorance, n. 915.

Blasphemy [blasphemia]. It is a denial of the Divine of the Lord, and the holiness of the Word, illustrated and shown n. 571. It is also profanation, illustrated n. 723.

Blessed, Happy [beatus]. The blessed or the happy signifies those who have the felicity of eternal life, n. 639, 816, 944, 951.

Blind [caecus]. The blind signifies those who do not know truth, and those who do not understand truth, shown n. 210.

Blood [sanguis]. The blood of the Lamb signifies the Divine truth of the Lord in him and from him, illustrated and shown n. 379, for this reason, because the Lord is the Word, and the Divine truth therein is meant by his blood, and the Divine good therein by his flesh, likewise by his body, illustrated n. 555, 684. Blood in the opposite sense signifies violence offered to the Word, consequently to the Lord, shown n. 825. In the opposite sense, it signifies the Divine truth falsified, adulterated, and profaned, shown n. 379, 404, 687, 688. Blood as of one dead signifies infernal falsity, illustrated n. 681.

Book [liber]. Books signify the interiors of the mind of man, because in them are written all things appertaining to his life, n. 867. The book of life is the Lord considered as the Word, consequently the Word, n. 958. To be written in the book of life, and to be judged therefrom, signifies from the Divine truth of the Word, and from the Lord thereby, shown n. 256. To open the book, and to loose the seals thereof signifies to know the states of all and to judge every one according to his state, illustrated n. 259, 295. No one can look in the book signifies that no one but the Lord alone is able to know it in the least, n. 262. See Seal. To be written in the book of life signifies he who believes in the Lord, and lives according to his commandments, shown n. 874. Not to be written in the book of life signifies on the contrary, n. 874. By the little book open in the hand of the angel is meant that essential of the new church, that the Lord, even as to his human, is the God of heaven and earth, n. 469. What was written in that little book may be seen, n. 472. To depart as a book or scroll rolled together signifies that good and truth, which is in the Word, would recede and become hidden in the church, n. 335. It is said that the book was rolled together, because books were then made of skins, and were rolled up, n. 335.

Bottle [uter]. A bottle or pitcher signifies the same as its contents, shown n. 672.

Bottomless Pit [abyssus]. See Abyss.

Bound, to Bind [vinctus, vincire]. To be bound in prison and in custody signifies to be infected by evils and falsities, shown n. 99. See Captive.

Bow [arcus]. A bow signifies doctrine combating from truths against falsities, and from falsities against truths, illustrated and shown n. 299. Therefore arrows and shafts signify truths or falsities, n. 299.

Brass [aes]. Brass signifies natural good, illustrated and shown n. 775.

Bread [panis]. There are bread and wine in the holy supper, because bread there signifies the holy of love, and wine the holy of faith; and because the material bread and the heavenly bread mutually correspond therein, also the material wine and the heavenly wine, illustrated n. 224. Bread from flour of wheat was offered up together with the sacrifices upon the altar, which was called a cake or meal offering, shown n. 778. The bread of faces upon the table in the tabernacle was also made of fine flour of wheat, shown n. 778; because wheat signifies the good of the church from the Word fine flour its truth thence derived, illustrated shown 315.

Breadth [latitudo]. Breadth signifies the truth of the church, and length the good of the church, illustrated and shown n. 906, 907.

Breast [mamma, mamilla]. See Paps.

Breast Plate [thorax, vide arma]. See Arms.

Bridegroom, Bride [sponsus, sponsa]. From the marriage of the Lord with the church, the Lord is called the bridegroom, and the church the bride, n. 797, 881. The new church, which is the new Jerusalem, is called the bride, the lamb’s wife, shown n. 813, 955. That the church is called the bride while it is being established, and that it is called the wife when it is established, n. 895 toward the end. At the end of Revelation the bride bridegroom speak, that is, the {w219} the church as if it were during the betrothal 960.

Bridle of a Horse [fraenum equi]. The bridle of a horse signifies that by which the understanding is guided, shown n. 653.

Brimstone. See Sulphur.

Bring Forth, to Travail in Birth, Birth [parere, parturire, partus]. To bring forth and to travail in birth signifies to conceive and bring forth those things which appertain to spiritual life, shown n. 535. See also Birth.

Brother [frater]. A man-brother is spoken of charity, and a companion of faith, shown n. 32. The Lord calls those who from him are in charity, brothers, illustrated and shown n. 32. But that it is not written, neither is it becoming, that they, on the other hand, should call the Lord brother, n. 32.

Building [structura]. Building or structure signifies every subject to which it relates, because the all of it is in the building, n. 911.

Bury, Burial, Monument [sepelire, sepultura, sepulchrum]. To be buried signifies to rise again, and to continue life, because all earthly and impure things are rejected, n. 506. Not to be buried signifies to continue in things earthly and unclean, and for that reason to be rejected as condemned, shown n. 506.

Buy, to [emere]. By buying and selling is signified to acquire knowledges of good and truth, or truths, and to teach them, shown n. 606. See To Trade. By the bought of the Lord are signified the redeemed, that is, the regenerate, n. 619.

788. 18:19 "And they put dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, and saying, 'Woe, woe, that great city!'" This symbolizes their interior and exterior grief and mourning, which is a lamentation that so eminent a religion was completely destroyed and condemned.

Putting dust on their heads symbolizes their interior and exterior grief and mourning over the destruction and damnation, as we will show below. To cry out, weeping and mourning, symbolizes their exterior grief and mourning - to weep symbolizing a mourning of the soul, and to grieve a grief of the heart. "Woe, woe, that great city!" symbolizes a grievous lamentation over the destruction and damnation. That "woe" symbolizes a lamentation over a calamity, misfortune, or damnation, and that "woe, woe," therefore symbolizes a grievous lamentation, may be seen in nos. 416, 769, 785; and that the city symbolizes the Roman Catholic religion may be seen in no. 785 and elsewhere.

That putting dust on the head symbolizes an interior grief and mourning over a destruction and damnation is clear from the following passages:

They will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; they will roll about in ashes. (Ezekiel 27:30)

(The daughters) of Zion sit on the ground...; they have cast dust on their heads... (Lamentations 2:10)

(Job's friends) rent their tunics and sprinkled dust upon their heads... (Job 2:12)

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne... (Isaiah 47:1)

And so on elsewhere.

The people put dust on their heads when they grieved deeply, because dust symbolized something damned, as is apparent from Genesis 3:14, Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:10-12, and dust on the head represented the people's acknowledgment that of themselves they were damned, and thus their repentance, as in Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13.

Dust symbolizes something damned because the land over the hells in the spiritual world consists of nothing but dust, without grass or plants.

47. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. (1:14) This symbolizes the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom in first things and last.

A person's head symbolizes everything connected with his life, and everything connected with a person's life has some relation to love and wisdom. A head consequently symbolizes both wisdom and love. However, because there is no love without its wisdom, nor wisdom without its love, therefore it is the love accompanying wisdom that is meant by a head; and when describing the Lord, it is the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom. But on the symbolism of the head in the Word, more will be seen in nos. 538 and 568 below.

Since a head means both love and wisdom in their first forms, it follows accordingly that hair means love and wisdom in their final forms. And because the hair mentioned here describes the Son of Man, who is the Lord in relation to the Word, His hair symbolizes the Divine good connected with love, and the Divine truth connected with wisdom, in the outmost expressions of the Word - the outmost expressions of the Word being those contained in its literal sense.

[2] The idea that the hair of the Son of Man or the Lord symbolizes the Word in this sense may seem absurd, but still it is the truth. This can be seen from passages in the Word that we cited in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 35 and 49. We showed there as well that Nazirites in the Israelite Church represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, which is its literal sense, as a nazir in Hebrew is a hair or head of hair. ¹ That is why the power of Samson, who was a Nazirite from the womb, lay in his hair. The Divine truth similarly has power in the literal sense of the Word, as may be seen in the aforementioned Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 37-49.

For the same reason, too, the high priest and his sons were strictly forbidden to shave their heads.

For that reason as well, forty-two of the boys who called Elisha a baldhead were torn apart by two she-bears. Like Elijah, Elisha represented the Lord in relation to the Word. A baldhead symbolizes the Word without its outmost expression, which, as said, is its literal sense, and she-bears symbolize this sense of the Word divorced from its inner meaning. Those who so divorce it, moreover, appear in the spiritual world as bears, though only at a distance. It is apparent from this why what happened to the boys happened as it did.

It was, therefore, also the highest disgrace and a mark of extreme mourning to inflict baldness.

[3] Accordingly, when the Israelite nation had completely perverted the literal sense of the Word, this lamentation over them was composed:

Her Nazirites were whiter than snow, brighter white than milk... Darker than blackness is their form. They go unrecognized in the streets. (Lamentations 4:7-8)

Furthermore:

Every head was made bald, and every shoulder shaved bare. (Ezekiel 29:18)

Shame will be on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

So similarly Isaiah 15:2, Jeremiah 48:37, Amos 8:10.

Because the children of Israel by falsities completely dissipated the literal sense of the Word, therefore the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent this by shaving his head with a razor and burning a third part with fire, striking a third part with a sword, and scattering a third part to the wind, and by gathering a small amount in his skirts, to cast it, too, afterward into the fire (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[4] Therefore it is also said in Micah:

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. (Micah 1:16)

The precious children are the church's genuine truths from the Word.

Moreover, because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, represented Babylon's falsification of the Word and destruction of every truth there, it accordingly came to pass that his hair grew like eagles' feathers (Daniel 4:33).

Since the hair symbolized that holy component of the Word, therefore it is said of Nazirites that they were not to shave the hair of their head, because it was the consecration of God upon their head (Numbers 6:1-21). And therefore it was decreed that the high priest and his sons were not to shave their heads, lest they die and the whole house of Israel be angered (Leviticus 10:6).

[5] Now, because hair symbolizes Divine truth in its outmost expressions, which in the church is the Word in its literal sense, therefore something similar is said also of the Ancient of Days in Daniel:

I watched till the thrones were thrown down, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. (Daniel 7:9)

That the Ancient of Days is the Lord is clearly apparent in Micah:

You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from antiquity, from days of old. (Micah 5:2)

And in Isaiah, where He is called Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).

[6] From these passages and many others - too many to cite - it can be seen that the head and hair of the Son of Man, which were like wool, as white as snow, mean the Divine expression of love and wisdom in first things and last. And because the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it follows that the Word, too, is meant in its first elements and last. Why else should it be that the Lord here in the book of Revelation and the Ancient of Days in Daniel are described even in respect to their hair?

That hair symbolizes the literal sense of the Word is clearly apparent from people in the spiritual world. Those who have scorned the literal sense of the Word appear bald there, and conversely, those who have loved the literal sense of the Word appear possessed of handsome hair.

The head and hair are described as being like wool and like snow because wool symbolizes goodness in outmost expressions, and snow symbolizes truth in outward expressions - as is the case also in Isaiah 1:18 ² - inasmuch as wool comes from sheep, which symbolize the goodness of charity, and snow comes from water, which symbolizes truths of faith.

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