Apocalypse Revealed # 788
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.
耶利米書 5
1
你們當在耶路撒冷的街上跑來跑去,在寬闊處尋找,看看有一人行公義求誠實沒有?若有,我就赦免這城。
3
耶和華啊,你的眼目不是看顧誠實麼?你擊打他們,他們卻不傷慟;你毀滅他們,他們仍不受懲治。他們使臉剛硬過於磐石,不肯回頭。
4
我說:這些人實在是貧窮的,是愚昧的,因為不曉得耶和華的作為和他們神的法則。
5
我要去見尊大的人,對他們說話,因為他們曉得耶和華的作為和他們神的法則。哪知,這些人齊心將軛折斷,掙開繩索。
6
因此,林中的獅子必害死他們;晚上(或譯:野地)的豺狼必滅絕他們;豹子要在城外窺伺他們。凡出城的必被撕碎;因為他們的罪過極多,背道的事也加增了。
7
我怎能赦免你呢?你的兒女離棄我,又指著那不是神的起誓。我使他們飽足,他們就行姦淫,成群地聚集在娼妓家裡。
10
你們要上他葡萄園的牆施行毀壞,但不可毀壞淨盡,只可除掉他的枝子,因為不屬耶和華。
12
他們不認耶和華,說:這並不是他,災禍必不臨到我們;刀劍和饑荒,我們也看不見。
13
先知的話必成為風;道也不在他們裡面。這災必臨到他們身上。
14
所以耶和華─萬軍之神如此說:因為百姓說這話,我必使我的話在你口中為火,使他們為柴;這火便將他們燒滅。
15
耶和華說:以色列家啊,我必使一國的民從遠方來攻擊你,是強盛的國,是從古而有的國。他們的言語你不曉得,他們的話你不明白。
17
他們必吃盡你的莊稼和你的糧食,是你兒女該吃的;必吃盡你的牛羊,吃盡你的葡萄和無花果;又必用刀毀壞你所倚靠的堅固城。
19
百姓若說:耶和華─我們的神為甚麼向我們行這一切事呢?你就對他們說:你們怎樣離棄耶和華(原文是我),在你們的地上事奉外邦神,也必照樣在不屬你們的地上事奉外邦人。
21
愚昧無知的百姓啊,你們有眼不看,有耳不聽,現在當聽這話。
22
耶和華說:你們怎麼不懼怕我呢?我以永遠的定例,用沙為海的界限,水不得越過。因此,你們在我面前還不戰兢麼?波浪雖然翻騰,卻不能逾越;雖然匉訇,卻不能過去。
24
心內也不說:我們應當敬畏耶和華─我們的神;他按時賜雨,就是秋雨春雨,又為我們定收割的節令,永存不廢。
25
你們的罪孽使這些事轉離你們;你們的罪惡使你們不能得福。
26
因為在我民中有惡人。他們埋伏窺探,好像捕鳥的人;他們設立圈套陷害人。
27
籠內怎樣滿了雀鳥,他們的房中也照樣充滿詭詐;所以他們得成為大,而且富足。
28
他們肥胖光潤,作惡過甚,不為人伸冤!就是不為孤兒伸冤,不使他亨通,也不為窮人辨屈。
29
耶和華說:我豈不因這些事討罪呢?豈不報復這樣的國民呢?
30
國中有可驚駭、可憎惡的事: