519. Verse 11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood, signifies truth mixed with the falsity of evil. This is evident from the signification of "name," as meaning what the state is, and what the thing is (See above, n. 148); from the signification of "star," here "a great star burning as a lamp," as being the truth of the Word falsified by self-love; and from the signification of "wormwood," as being truth mixed with the falsity of evil. This is signified by "wormwood" because of its bitterness, and bitterness springs from what is sweet mixed with the opposite unsweet; therefore "bitterness" like that of wormwood and gall means in the spiritual sense truth mixed with the falsity that is the opposite of truth, which is the falsity of evil; for savor and taste signify the affection of knowing and of becoming wise, therefore what is savory signifies the delightfulness and pleasantness of wisdom; and "delicacies," because they are savory, signify the truths of wisdom. (That this is from correspondence see Arcana Coelestia 3502, 3536, 3589, 4791-4805.) That "wormwood" and "gall" from their bitterness, signify truth mixed with the falsity of evil is evident also from what follows in this verse; for it is said that "many men died of the waters because they were made bitter," which signifies that through truths falsified all such perished in respect to spiritual life; for truths are what make the spiritual life, while falsities of evil extinguish it; and when truths are mixed with falsities of evil they are no longer true but falsified; and truths falsified are in themselves falsities.

[2] Such falsities were with the Jewish nation; but among the upright Gentiles they were falsities of another kind; these falsities are signified by the "vinegar," but the former by "the gall and wine mingled with myrrh," in the Gospels:

When they were come unto a place called Golgotha, they gave Jesus vinegar mingled with gall; but when He had tasted He would not drink. When He had been crucified, one of them running and taking a sponge and filling it with vinegar, and putting it on a reed gave Him to drink (Matthew 27:33-34, 48; Mark 15:23, 36).

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst. And there had been placed a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge and placed it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth. And when He had received the vinegar He said, It is finished (John 20:28-30).

Each and every thing that is related in the Gospels respecting the Lord's passion, signifies in the spiritual sense, the state of the church at that time in relation to the Lord and the Word; for the Lord was the Word because He was Divine truth; and as the Jews had treated the Word, or Divine truth, so they treated the Lord (respecting which see above, n. 64, 195). Their giving to the Lord "vinegar mingled with gall," which was also called "wine mingled with myrrh," signified the quality of the Divine truth from the Word with the Jewish nation, namely, that it was mingled with the falsity of evil, and thus altogether falsified and adulterated, therefore He would not drink it. But that afterwards "they gave the Lord vinegar in a sponge and placed it upon hyssop" signified the kind of falsity there was among the upright Gentiles, which was falsity from ignorance of the truth, in which there was something good and useful; because this falsity is accepted by the Lord He drank this vinegar; the "hyssop" upon which they placed it signifies the purification of the falsity; that the Lord said "I thirst," signifies Divine spiritual thirst, which is for Divine truth and good in the church, by which the human race is saved. (Respecting the falsity of evil, what it was with the Jewish nation, and the falsity of ignorance in which there is good, what this was with the upright Gentiles, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] "Gall" and "vinegar" have a like signification in David:

They gave me gall for My food; and in my thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Let their table before them become a snare; and for retributions let there be a lure. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and make their loins continually to falter (Psalms 69:21-23).

Here "gall," "vinegar," and "thirst," have a similar signification as above, since this is said of the Lord; the "table that shall be to them for a snare," signifies going astray in respect to every truth of doctrine from the Word, for "table" has reference to all spiritual food, and spiritual food is everything of doctrine from the Word; the "eyes that will be darkened that they see not," signify the understanding of truth; the "loins that will be made to falter," signify the will of good, and its marriage with the understanding of truth; "loins" have the same signification in other parts of the Word.

[4] In Lamentations:

He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. Therefore I said, My victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah. Remember my misery and my lament, the wormwood and the hemlock (Lamentations 3:15, 18, 19).

This, too, is said of the Lord. That the Lord found nothing but falsities and falsified truths in the church that then existed among the Jews is signified by "He hath filled me with bitterness, and hath made me drunken with wormwood," "wormwood" meaning the falsity of evil mixed with truths, thus what is falsified; the Lord's combat with the hells, and His hopelessness of ever bringing back the Jewish nation to a reception and acknowledgment of truths is signified by "My victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah; remember my misery and my lament, the wormwood and the hemlock;" for the spirits who are in the falsities of evil and yet in truths from the sense of the letter of the Word make longer resistance before they are subjugated and cast down into hell, and for the reason that through truths they have communication with heaven, and this communication and consequent conjunction must be broken and removed before they are cast down; this involves despair as to victory, such as the Lord experienced upon the cross when He said "I thirst," and they gave Him vinegar.

[5] In Jeremiah:

Jehovah our God hath cut us off and hath given us waters of gall to drink (Jeremiah 8:14).

In the same:

Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and make them to drink waters of gall; and I will scatter them among the nations; and I will send the sword after them until I shall have consumed them (Jeremiah 9:15, 16).

In the same:

Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink waters of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy hath gone forth into all the land (Jeremiah 23:15).

This, too, is said of the Jewish nation, which in a thousand ways perverted the Word, falsified its truth, and adulterated its good; "wormwood" signifies the evil of falsity, and "waters of gall" the falsity of evil, both mixed with the truths and goods of the Word. That from themselves and from their heart they were in evils and falsities from evils is signified by "Jehovah will feed them with wormwood, and make them to drink waters of gall;" for evil and falsity are attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, as in many passages elsewhere, and yet they are of man himself; the reasons for this have often been given above. "The hypocrisy that went forth from the prophets of Jerusalem" signifies such mingling of falsity and truth, for they spoke truths while they taught falsities; they spoke truths when they spoke from the Word, and they taught falsities when they taught from themselves and their doctrine; their destruction by the evils of falsity and by the falsities of evil is signified by "I will scatter them among the nations, and I will send the sword after them;" "to scatter among the nations" signifying to destroy by the evils of falsity, and "to send the sword after them" signifying to destroy by the falsities of evil. (That "nations" signify evils see above, n. 175, 331; and that "sword" signifies the combat of truth against falsity, and the combat of falsity against truth, and its destruction, see also above, n. 131, 367.)

[6] In Amos:

Behold, Jehovah will smite the great house with gaps and the little house with clefts. Shall horses run upon the rock? Shall one plow with oxen? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (Amos 6:11, 12).

In the same:

They turn judgment into wormwood, and thrust down righteousness to the earth (Amos 5:7).

"Jehovah will smite the great house with gaps, and the little house with clefts," signifies much perversion and falsification of truth with the learned, and some with the unlearned, a "great house" signifying a learned man, and a "little house" an unlearned man; "gaps" signify truths destroyed by falsities, and "clefts" the same, but in a less degree; that the understanding of truth and the will of good are not possible where there is the falsity of evil, is signified by "Shall horses run upon the rock? Shall one plow with oxen?;" "horses running" meaning the understanding of truth, and "plowing with oxen" the will of good. That this is because truths were falsified and the goods of the Word were adulterated is signified by, "For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood," "judgment" signifying the truth of the Word, and "the fruit of righteousness" its good.

[7] That the quality of the sons of Jacob, who were called Israelites and Jews, was such, is plainly declared by Moses in his song, in which they are described in these words:

Their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, they have clusters of bitterness. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps (Deuteronomy 32:32, 33).

"Vine" signifies the church, and this is said to be "of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah" because "Sodom" signifies all evils springing from the love of self, and "Gomorrah" all the falsities of those evils; "grapes" signify the goods of the church, and "clusters" the truths of the church. That instead of the goods of the church they had the worst evils and falsities mingled with truths is signified by "their grapes are grapes of gall, they have clusters of bitterness;" "wine" signifies the truth and good of faith; that this with them was external, in which was evil from the interior, is signified by "their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps." (That the sons of Jacob were such, although there was a church among them, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.)

[8] That "gall" and "wormwood" signify evil and falsity mingled with good and truth, is further evident from these words in Moses:

Lest there be among you man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart looketh back this day from with Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of the nations; lest there be among you a root bearing gall and wormwood (Deuteronomy 29:18).

Here, too, "gall" and "wormwood" signify the mingling of good and truth with evil and falsity, which is done when other gods are worshiped with the heart, and Jehovah only with the lips; then the external sounds like good and appears like truth, but the internal is evil and falsity; and when the interiors are evils and falsities, and the exteriors are goods and truths, there is a mingling of the two, and then the good becomes gall, and the truth becomes wormwood. It is similar when man in his heart hates the neighbor and denies the truths of the church, and yet outwardly avows charity towards the neighbor and professes the truths of the church; there is then in him "a root bearing gall and wormwood," for he lets in evils and falsities from the interior, and mixes them with the goods and truths that he displays in the externals.

[9] In Job:

Though evil shall have been sweet in his mouth, though he shall have hidden it under his tongue; though he shall have spared it and not forsaken it but shall keep it within his mouth, his bread in his bowels shall be changed, it shall be the gall of asps in the midst of him; he hath swallowed riches and he shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall suck the poison of asps, the viper's tongue shall slay him (Job 20:12-16).

Thus is described the hypocrisy from which man speaks things holy and stimulates good affections, while inwardly he denies and blasphemes. What is within is described by "he hides evil under his tongue, and keeps it within his mouth." That consequently good is infected with evil and is cast out, is signified by "his bread in his bowels shall be changed, it shall be the gall of asps in the midst;" "bread" meaning the good of love, "in the bowels" is inwardly, and "the gall of asps" means good mingled with evil. That truth also is cast out by falsity is signified by "he hath swallowed riches and he shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of his belly;" this falsity is meant by "the poison of asps."

[10] It is to be known that good and evil, and the truth of good and the falsity of evil, are mingled when evil and falsity are in man's spirit while good and truth are in the deeds and speech of his body. But what is in the spirit of man, that is, what is interior, acts into that which belongs to the body or what is exterior; for it flows in and causes the exterior, which appears to be good and true, nevertheless to be bitter like gall and wormwood, although before men it seems to be sweet. And because the good and truth of their mouth and speech are such, therefore when man after death becomes a spirit the good is separated from the evil and the falsity from the truth, and good and truth are taken away, and thus the spirit becomes his own evil and falsity. But it must be known that this mingling of good and evil and of truth and falsity is not the profanation of good and truth; profanation occurs only with those who have first received truth and good in heart and faith, and afterwards in heart and faith deny them.

4735. 'Do not shed blood' means not to do violence to what is holy. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' as that which is holy, dealt with below, and therefore 'shedding blood' means doing violence to it. Everything holy in heaven proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human, as consequently does everything holy in the Church. For this reason to prevent people from doing violence to that which is holy the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, in which it is explicitly declared that the bread there is His flesh and the wine His blood, thus that His Divine Human is the source of that which is holy in the Holy Supper. Among the Ancients 'flesh and blood' meant the human proprium, for that which is human consists of flesh and blood. This explains what the Lord said to Simon,

Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:17.

Therefore the flesh and blood meant in the Holy Supper by the bread and wine are the Lord's Human Proprium. The Lord's actual Proprium which He acquired to Himself by His own power is Divine. His Proprium was since His conception that which He had from Jehovah His Father and was Jehovah Himself, and therefore the Proprium which He acquired to Himself within the Human was Divine. It is this Divine Proprium within the Human that is called flesh and blood, 'flesh' being His Divine Good, 3813, 'blood' Divine Truth that goes with Divine Good.

[2] The Lord's Human, now that it has been glorified or made Divine, cannot be thought of as something merely human but as Divine Love within a human form. This is more true of Him than it is of angels, who - when they come to be seen, as I myself have seen them - are seen as forms of love and charity taking on a human appearance, the Lord enabling this to be so. For it was by Divine Love that the Lord made His Human Divine, even, as has been stated, as heavenly love serves to make someone an angel after death, so that he too is seen as a form of love and charity taking on a human appearance. From this it is evident that in the celestial sense the Lord's Divine Human means Divine Love itself, which is a love directed towards the whole human race whom He wishes to save, making them blessed and happy for ever, and to whom He wishes to impart, insofar as its members can accept it, what is His and is Divine, so that it becomes their own. This love, and man's reciprocated love to the Lord as well as his love towards the neighbour, are meant and represented in the Holy Supper, Divine celestial love by the flesh or bread in it and Divine spiritual love by the blood or wine.

[3] From all this one may now see what is meant by eating the Lord's flesh and drinking His blood in John,

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. But the bread which I shall give is My flesh. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drank His blood you will have no life in you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:50-58.

Because 'flesh' and 'blood' mean the Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual that proceed from the Lord's Divine Human, as has been stated, or what amounts to the same, mean Divine Good and Divine Truth that proceed from His Love, 'eating' and 'drinking' mean making these things one's own. They become one's own through the life of love and charity which is also the life of faith. For 'eating' means making good one's own, and 'drinking' making truth one's own, see 2187, 3069, 3168, 3513, 3596, 3734, 3832, 4017, 4018.

[4] Because 'blood' in the celestial sense means the Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human, it therefore means that which is holy, for Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human is Holiness itself. There is no other Holiness, nor any other source of it.

[5] As regards 'blood' meaning that Holiness, this may be seen from many places in the Word, of which let the following be quoted here: In Ezekiel,

Son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovih, Say to every bird of the air, to every wild animal of the field, Assemble and come, gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink wine. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth - rams, lambs, and he-goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse and chariot, with the mighty, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-21.

This refers to the calling together of all people to the Lord's kingdom, and specifically to the establishment of the Church among gentiles. 'Eating flesh and drinking wine' means making Divine Good and Divine Truth one's own, and so making one's own the Holiness which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human. Is there anyone who cannot see that here in the references to their eating the flesh of the mighty and drinking the blood of the princes of the earth, and their being glutted with horse, chariot, the mighty, and every man of war, 'flesh' is not used to mean flesh nor 'blood' to mean blood?

[6] Similarly in John,

I saw an angel standing in the sun, who called out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven, Come, gather yourselves together to the supper of the Great God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all, free men and slaves, small and great. Revelation 19:17-18.

Can anyone ever understand these things unless he knows what 'flesh' means in the internal sense, or what 'kings', 'captains', 'mighty men', 'horses', 'those seated on them', 'free men and slaves' mean?

[7] Also in Zechariah,

He will speak peace to the nations; His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth As for you also, through the blood of your covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit. Zechariah 9:10-11.

This refers to the Lord. 'The blood of the covenant' is Divine Truth proceeding from His Divine Human and is the Holiness itself which has gone out from Him since He was glorified. This Holiness is that which is also called the Holy Spirit, as is evident in John,

Jesus said, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. This He said about the spirit which those believing in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39.

As regards the holiness proceeding from the Lord being 'the spirit', see John 6:63.

[8] Further to 'blood' meaning the holiness proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human - in David,

From deceit and from violence He will redeem ¹ their soul, and precious will their blood be in His eyes. Psalms 72:14.

'Precious blood' stands for the holiness which they are to receive. In John,

These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:14.

And in the same author,

They have conquered the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony; and they did not love their soul even to death. Revelation 12:11.

[9] The Church at the present day knows no more than this, that 'the blood of the Lamb' here means the Lord's passion, for it believes that people are saved solely through the Lord's passion and that it was to endure this that He was sent into the world, a belief which may be enough for the simple who are incapable of grasping interior arcana. The Lord's passion was the last stage of His temptation, by which He fully glorified His Humanity, Luke 24:26; John 12:23, 27-28; 13:31-32; 17:1, 4-5. But 'the blood of the Lamb' here in Revelation is the same as the Divine Truth or that which is holy proceeding from His Divine Human, and so is the same as 'the blood of the covenant' referred to just above, and also in Moses,

[10] Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it over the people. and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you, upon all these words. Exodus 24:7-8.

'The book of the covenant' was Divine Truth as it existed with them at that time, which Truth was corroborated by means of the blood that bore witness to the fact that such Truth proceeded from His Divine Human.

[11] In the ritual requirements of the Jewish Church 'blood' meant nothing other than the holiness proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human. When people were being consecrated blood was therefore used to effect this, as when Aaron was consecrated along with his sons. At that time the blood was sprinkled over the horns of the altar, the residue being poured out at the base of it. Some was also put on the tip of their right ear, on their right thumb and the big toe of their right foot, and on their vestments, Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21; Leviticus 8:15, 19, 23, 30. And when Aaron went within the veil to the mercy-seat the blood had also to be sprinkled with his finger seven times over the east side of the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:12-15. Likewise in all other consecrations, as well as expiations and cleansings, mentioned in Exodus 12:7, 13, 22; 30:10; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2 , 8, 13; 4:6-7, 17-18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 6:27-28; 14:14-19, 25-30; 16:12-15, 18-19; Deuteronomy 12:27.

[12] As 'blood' in the genuine sense means that which is holy, so in the contrary sense 'blood' and 'bloods' mean things which bring violence to it. This is because 'shedding innocent blood' means doing violence to that which is holy. For the same reason too infamous deeds in life and profane acts of worship are called 'blood'. The fact that such things are meant by 'blood' and 'bloods' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

When the Lord will have washed the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of purging. Isaiah 4:4.

In the same prophet,

The waters of Dimon are full of blood. Isaiah 15:9.

In the same prophet,

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Isaiah 59:3, 7.

In Jeremiah,

Yes, in your skirts the blood of poor innocent souls is found. Jeremiah 2:34.

[13] In the same prophet,

For the sins of the prophets, the iniquities of the priests who shed in the midst of Jerusalem the blood of the righteous. They went astray blind in the streets, they are defiled with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lamentations 4:13-14.

In Ezekiel,

I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood, ² and I said to you, Live in your blood; ² I indeed said to you, Live in your blood'. I washed you with water and washed away your blood ² from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:6, 9.

In the same prophet,

You, son of man, will you dispute with the city of blood? ² Declare to her all her abominations. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty, and by the idols which you have made you are defiled. Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power, ³ have been among you and have shed blood. Men of intrigue have been among you, [ready] to shed blood, and among you have eaten on the mountains. Ezekiel 22:2-4, 6, 9.

In Moses,

If anyone sacrifices anywhere else than on the altar at the tent of meeting it shall be [regarded as] blood, and as though he had shed blood. Leviticus 17:1-9.

[14] Truth that has been falsified and rendered profane is meant in the following references to 'blood': In Joel,

I will give portents in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into thick darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. Joel 2:30-31.

In John,

The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood. Revelation 6:12.

In the same author,

The second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood. Revelation 8:8.

In the same author,

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of one dead, from which every living soul died in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and into the fountains of water, and blood was made. Revelation 16:3-4.

[15] A similar meaning occurs in the turning of the rivers, pools and ponds in Egypt into blood, Exodus 7:15-22, for 'Egypt' means knowledge which enters of its own accord into heavenly arcana and as a consequence perverts Divine truths, refuses to accept them, and renders them profane, 1164, 1165, 1186. Being Divine ones, all the miracles performed in Egypt embodied the same kind of meanings. 'The rivers' which were turned into blood means the truths that go with intelligence and wisdom, 108, 109, 3051, as likewise do 'waters', 680, 2702, 3058, and 'springs', 2702, 3096, 3424. 'Seas' means factual truths taken as a single whole, 28. 'The moon', which, it is also said, is to be turned into blood, means Divine Truth, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060. From this it is evident that the turning of the moon, sea, springs, waters, and rivers into blood means Truth that has been falsified and rendered profane.

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