3081. A virgin, neither had any man known her. That this signifies pure from all falsity, is evident from the signification of a “virgin.” A “virgin” is often mentioned in the Word, and there signifies the Lord’s kingdom, and likewise the church, and consequently everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord or who is a church; and this from the conjugial love in chaste virgins. In the spiritual sense conjugial love is the affection of good in truth, and the affection of truth from good, from which affections, conjoined as it were in marriage, comes conjugial love (see n. 2508, 2618, 2727-2729). And because as before said this is seen in a virgin, the kingdom of the Lord, which is also compared to marriage and is called a marriage, is called a “virgin.” That by “a man had not known her,” is signified pure from all falsity, is because by a “man” in the Word is signified not only rational truth, but also in the opposite sense falsity (see n. 265, 749, 1007); thus to be “known by a man” is to be contaminated with falsity, and “not to be known by a man” is to be pure from falsity: by a “man” is not here meant a husband [vir conjugii].
[2] That by a “virgin” in the Word are signified those who are in the kingdom of the Lord, or what is the same, those in whom the kingdom of the Lord is, is evident in John:
These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, for they are without spot before the throne of God (Revelation 14:4-5
Here those are plainly called “virgins” who follow the Lamb, that is, who are in the Lord’s kingdom; and they are also said to be “without spot.”
[3] In the proper sense, those are “virgins” who are in love to the Lord, that is, the celestial, and thus those who are in the affection of good. Those also are called “virgins” who are in charity toward the neighbor, that is, the spiritual, and thus who are in the affection of truth; as may be seen from passages in the Word. Thus in Isaiah:
The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and hath mocked thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head after thee (Isaiah 37:22).
This is said to the king of Asshur; the “virgin daughter of Zion” denotes the celestial church; the “daughter of Jerusalem,” the spiritual church.
[4] In Jeremiah:
Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; again shalt thou deck thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dance of them that make merry. Their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin be glad in the dance, and the young men and the old together (Jeremiah 31:4, 12-13).
The “virgin of Israel” denotes the spiritual church; the affection of truth from good in this church is described here, as in other places, by “timbrels and dances.” In the same:
The ways of Zion do mourn, her priests do sigh, her virgins are sad. The Lord hath trodden the winepress, for the virgin daughter of Judah. Behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity (Lam. 1:4, 15, 18).
“Virgins” denote the affections of good and of truth. And again in the same:
The women in Zion were ravished, the virgins in the cities of Judah (Lam. 5:11).
Here the “virgins” denote the affections of good.
[5] In Amos:
They shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst (Amos 8:12-13).
The “fair virgins” denote the affections of truth; the “young men,” truths, or what is the same, those who are in them; concerning these it is said that “they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it,” and consequently “they shall faint for thirst.”
[6] In Zechariah:
Jehovah their God shall preserve them in that day, as the flock of His people; for how great is His goodness and how great is His beauty: corn shall make the young men grow [germinare], and new wine the virgins (Zech. 9:16-17);
“young men” denoting truths, and “virgins,” affections.
In David:
The King’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of inweavings of gold. She is led unto the King in broidered work; the virgins, her companions, that follow her, are brought unto Thee (Psalms 45:13-14).
The “King’s daughter” denotes the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; the “virgins, her companions, that follow her,” denote the affections of truth.
[7] In the same:
They have seen Thy goings, O God, the goings of my God in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on the harp followed after, in the midst of the damsels playing the timbrels (Psalms 68:24-25).
The “damsels playing the timbrels” also denote the affections of truth, the term “virgin” being used in distinction from to express innocence. “Virgins” are so called from conjugial love, and thus denote those who are in innocence; for conjugial love is innocence itself (see n. 2736).
In John therefore in the passage quoted from Revelation, they are said to “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth;” for by the “Lamb” is meant the Lord as to innocence; and all who are in heaven are called “virgins” from the innocence which is in their good. According to the amount and quality of the innocence in good, they “follow the Lamb.”
