3901. The reason why the last state of the church is compared to “eagles” gathered together to a “carcass,” or to a “body,” is that by “eagles” are signified man’s rational things, which when predicated of the good, are true rational things; but when predicated of the evil, are false rational things or reasonings. “Birds” in general signify man’s thoughts, in both senses good and bad (n. 40, 745, 776, 866, 991, 3219); and every species has a special signification. As eagles fly high and are sharp-sighted, they signify rational things. That this is the case may be seen from many passages in the Word, of which in confirmation we may adduce the following. First, where they signify true rational things; in Moses:

Jehovah found His people in a desert land, and in emptiness, in wailing, in solitude: He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the pupil of the eye; as the eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth out her wings, taketh him, beareth him upon her wings (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).

Instruction in the truths and goods of faith is what is here described, and is compared to the “eagle.” The very process until man becomes rational and spiritual, is contained in the description and comparison. The comparisons in the Word are all made by means of significatives; thus here by the “eagle,” which is the rational.

[2] In the same: Jehovah said to Moses:

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and bare you up upon eagles’ wings, that I might bring you unto Myself (Exodus 19:3-4);

denoting the same.

In Isaiah:

They that wait upon Jehovah shall be renewed in strength, they shall mount up with strong wing as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31);

“to be renewed in strength” is to grow as to the willing of good; and “to mount up with strong wing as eagles” is to grow as to the understanding of truth, thus as to the rational. The subject is set forth here as elsewhere by two expressions, one of which involves the good which is of the will, and the other the truth which is of the understanding; and the case is the same with the expressions, “they shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.”

[3] In Ezekiel:

Speak a parable about the house of Israel, and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, A great eagle, with long pinions, full of feathers, that had embroidery, came upon Lebanon, and took a twig of the cedar; he carried it into a land of traffic, he set it in a city of spice merchants. It grew, and became a spreading vine. There was another great eagle, with great and many feathers; and behold this vine did bend its roots toward him, and sent forth its branches toward him, that he might water it from the beds of its plantations in a good field, by many waters; but it shall be laid waste. He sent his ambassadors into Egypt that they might give him horses and much people (Ezekiel 17:2-9, 15).

The “eagle” first mentioned denotes the rational enlightened by the Divine; the “eagle” mentioned in the second place denotes the rational from what is man’s own, afterwards become perverted through reasonings from sensuous things and memory-knowledges. (“Egypt” denotes memory-knowledges, see n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462; “horses” the intellectual from them, n. 2761-2762, 3217.)

[4] In Daniel:

The vision of Daniel: Four beasts came up out of the sea, diverse one from another; the first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I held till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon its feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it (Daniel 7:3-4).

The first state of the church is what is here described by a “lion that had eagle’s wings;” and the “eagle’s wings” here are rational things from what is man’s own, on the taking away of which they were given rational and voluntary things from the Divine, which are signified by its “being taken up from the earth, and made to stand upon its feet like a man, and having a man’s heart given to it.”

[5] In Ezekiel, in the description of the likeness of the faces of the four living creatures, or cherubs:

They had the face of a man, 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 (Ezekiel 1:10).

As for the wheels they were called Galgal [whirling wheels], and everyone and everyone had four faces; the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle (Ezekiel 10:13-14).

In John:

Round about the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind; the first living creature was like a lion; and the second living creature was like a calf; and the third living creature had a face as a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle (Revelation 4:6-7).

That the living creatures thus seen signify Divine arcana, is evident; and consequently so does the “likeness of their faces;” but what arcana in particular are signified cannot be known unless it is known what in the internal sense is a “lion,” a “calf,” a “man,” and an “eagle.” That the “face of an eagle” is circumspection and consequently Providence is manifest; for the cherubs represented by the living creatures in Ezekiel signify the Providence of the Lord lest man should enter into the mysteries of faith from himself and his own rational (see n. 308). This shows that when it is predicated of man, the “eagle” is in the internal sense the rational; and this for the reason that the eagle flies high, and from above has a wide view of the things that are below.

[6] In Job:

Does the hawk fly by thine intelligence, and stretch her wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? (Job 39:26-27);

it is evident that the “eagle” here is reason, which is of intelligence. Such was the signification of the “eagle” in the Ancient Church; for the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church (see n. 3540, end). Almost all the books of that period were written by means of significatives; but in process of time the significatives have become so completely forgotten that it is not even known that “birds” in general denote thoughts, although they are so frequently mentioned in the Word and it appears quite plain that they have another meaning.

[7] That in the opposite sense an “eagle” signifies rational things that are not true, and thus are false, is evident from the following passages.

In Moses:

Jehovah shall bring upon thee a nation from far from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou hearest not, a nation hard in faces (Deuteronomy 28:49-50).

In Jeremiah:

Behold he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. ¹ Woe unto us! For we are laid waste (Jeremiah 4:13).

In the same:

Thy boasting hath deceived thee, the pride of thy heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; because thou makest thy nest as high as the eagle I will bring thee down from thence. Behold he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings above Bozrah; and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs (Jeremiah 49:16, 49:22).

In the same:

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles; they chased us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness (Lam. 4:19).

In Micah:

Make thee bald, and poll thee for the sons of thy delights; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee (Micah 1:16).

In Obadiah:

Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence (Obad. 1:4).

In Habukkuk:

I am stirring up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, that marcheth through the breadths of the land to inherit dwelling-places that are not theirs. Their horses are swifter than eagles; ¹ their horsemen come from far, they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour (Hab. 1:6, 1:8).

[8] By “eagles” in these passages is signified falsity induced by reasonings, which is induced from the fallacies of the senses and external appearances. That by the “Chaldeans” in the Prophet last cited are signified those who are in a holy external, but interiorly in falsity, may be seen above (n. 1368); also that they who vastate the church are like Babylon (n. 1327); that the “breadths of the land” denote truths (n. 3433, 3434). Vastation is signified by “marching through the breadths of the land.” Their “horses” are their intellectual things, which are similar (see n. 2761, 2762, 3217). What the “eagle hastening to devour” signifies, is thus evident, namely, the desolation of man in respect to truths; for the desolation of the church is there treated of. Comparisons are here made with eagles; but as before said, the comparisons in the Word are made by means of significatives. From all this we can now see what is signified by the comparison with the “eagles that will be gathered together to the carcass.”

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3540. And the skins of the kids of the she-goats she caused to be put. That this signifies the external truths of domestic good, is evident from the signification of “skins,” as being external things (concerning which below); and from the signification of the “kids of the she-goats,” because from a home flock, as being the truths of domestic good (concerning which n. 3518, 3519, where also it appears what domestic good is, and what the truths thence derived). Every good has its own truths, and every truth has its own good, which must be conjoined together in order for them to be anything. That “skins” signify things external is because skins are the outermosts of the animal in which its interiors are terminated, in like manner as is the case with the skin or cuticles in man. This signification is derived from the representation in the other life, there being those there who belong to the province of the skin, concerning whom of the Lord’s Divine mercy something will be said when we speak concerning the Grand Man at the end of the following chapters. They are such as are only in external good and its truths. Hence the “skin” of man, and also of beasts, signifies what is external; which is also manifest from the Word, as in Jeremiah:

For the multitude of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots? Then can ye also do good that are taught to do evil (Jeremiah 13:22-23); where “skirts” are external truths; “heels,” outermost goods (that the “heel,” and “shoes,” are the lowest natural things may be seen above, n. 259, 1748); and because these truths and goods are from evil, as here said, they are compared to an “Ethiopian,” or a black, and his “skin,” and also to a “leopard” and his “spots.”

[2] In Moses:

If in pledging thou shalt have pledged thy neighbor’s garment, thou shalt restore it unto Him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering; it is his garment for his skin wherein he shall lie down (Exodus 22:26-27).

As all the laws in the Word, even those which are civic and forensic, have a correspondence with the laws of good and truth in heaven, and were thence enacted, such is the case with this law also; otherwise it would be impossible to discover why a pledged garment should be restored before the sun went down; and why it is said that his garment is for his skin wherein he shall lie down. But from the internal sense the correspondence is manifest, being that our companions are not to be defrauded of external truths, which are the doctrinal things according to which they live, and rituals (that a “garment” signifies such truths, may be seen above, n. 297, 1073, 2576); but the “sun” is the good of love or of life which is therefrom (n. 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495); that this should not perish, is signified by the garment being restored before the sun went down; and because these external truths are the externals of the interior things, or their termination, it is said that “his garment is for his skin wherein he shall lie down.”

[3] As “skins” signified external things, it was commanded that the covering of the Tent should be of the skins of red rams, and over these the skins of badgers (Exodus 26:14); for the Tent was representative of the three heavens, thus of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom. The curtains which were round about represented natural things that are external (n. 3478), which are the “skins of rams and of badgers,” and as external things are those which cover internal ones, or in other words natural things are those which cover spiritual and celestial ones, just as the body covers its soul, therefore this was commanded; and in like manner that when the camp set forward Aaron and his sons should cover the ark of the testimony with the veil of covering, and should put over this covering the skin of a badger; and that upon the table and the things which were upon it they should spread a cloth of scarlet double-dyed, and should cover it with badger’s skin as a covering; likewise that they should put the lampstand and all its vessels under a covering of badger’s skin; and should put all the vessels wherewith they ministered under a cloth of blue, and should cover them with a covering of badger’s skin (Numbers 4:5-12). Whoever thinks of the Word holily may know that Divine things are represented by all these things: by the ark, the table, the lampstand, and the vessels wherewith they ministered; also by the coverings of scarlet double-dyed and blue; and also by the coverings of badgers’ skins; and that by all these things are represented the Divine things that are within the external ones.

[4] Inasmuch as the prophets represented those who teach, and hence the teaching of good and truth from the Word (n. 2534), and Elijah the Word itself (n. 2762), in like manner John, who for this reason is called the Elias that was to come (Matthew 17:10-13); therefore in order that they might represent the Word as it is in its external form, that is, in the letter, Elijah was girded with a girdle of skin about his loins (2 Kings 1:8); and John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a girdle of skin about his loins (Matthew 3:4). And inasmuch as the skin of man and beast signified external things, which are natural things in their relation to spiritual and celestial ones; and as in the Ancient Church it was customary to speak and write by significatives, therefore also in Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, “skin” has the same signification, as may be seen from several passages in that book, and also from this:

I know my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He will arise above the dust, and afterward these shall be encompassed with my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-26).

To be “encompassed with skin” denotes by the natural, such as man has with him after death (see n. 3539); “from the flesh to see God” is to do so from what is our own, vivified (that this is “flesh” may be seen above, n. 148, 149, 780). That the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church is evident as before said from its representative and significative style; but it is not of those books which are called the Law and the Prophets, because it has not an internal sense which treats solely of the Lord and of His kingdom; for this is the one thing that makes a book of the genuine Word.