Arcana Coelestia # 3448
3448. 'And Ahuzzath his companion, and Phicol the commander of his army' means the first and foremost features of their doctrine of faith. This is clear from the representation of 'Abimelech' as the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts. Consequently 'his companion and the commander of his army' means those first and foremost things, indeed the first and foremost things of their doctrine; for 'a commander' like a prince means things that are first and foremost, 1482, 2089, and 'an army' means matters of doctrine themselves. The reason why 'an army' means matters of doctrine which are expressions of truth, that is, which are lower truths, is that by 'warfare' in the Word and by 'war' are meant those things that have to do with spiritual war and warfare, 1664, 1788, 2686. The same are also meant by weapons - by spears, shields, bows, arrows, swords, and so on, as has been shown in various places. And since they are truths or matters of doctrine through which spiritual conflicts are fought, armies therefore mean those truths or matters of doctrine, and also in the contrary sense falsities or heretical ideas.
[2] It may be seen from many places that by 'armies' or 'hosts' in the Word are meant truths or falsities, as in Daniel,
The one [little] horn of the he-goat 1 grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. And it grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. It drew itself up even towards the pence of the host. His host was set over the continual [burnt offering] on account of the transgression, and it cast down truth to the earth. I heard a holy one speaking. He said, For how long is this vision, the continual burnt offering, and the desolating transgression, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down? Daniel 8:9-13.
'The horn that grew towards the south, the east, and the glorious [land]' is the power of falsity that springs from evil, 2832, 'the host of heaven' truths, 'the prince of the host' the Lord as regards Divine Truth. And since in the good sense 'an army' or 'a host' is truth it is said that the horn cast down to earth some of the host, and then that it cast down truth to the earth.
[3] In the same prophet,
The king of the north will raise a multitude greater than the former, and at the end of the period of years he wit surely come with a great army and with many riches. Then he will stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south will engage in war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he will not stand. For even those who eat his food will break him, and his army will overflow, and many will fall down slain. Daniel 11:13, 25-26.
The whole of that chapter refers to war between the king of the north and the king of the south. 'The king of the north' is used to mean falsities as also is 'his army', while 'the king of the south and his army' is used to mean truths. It is prophecy concerning the vastation of the Church.
[4] In John,
I saw heaven standing open, and behold, a white horse! and He who sat on it was called faithful and true. He was clothed in a garment dyed in blood, and His armies in heaven were following Him on white horses and were clothed in linen, white and clean. I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to make war with Him who was sitting on the horse and with His army. Revelation 19:11, 13-14, 19.
'He who sat on the white horse' stands for the Word of the Lord, or the Lord as regards the Word, 2760-2762. 'His armies which in heaven were following Him' stands for truths from the Word and so for those in heaven who possess truths. 'The beast' stands for the evils that belong to self-love, 'the kings of the earth and their armies' for falsities. Conflicts between falsity and truth are what are described here.
[5] In David,
By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and their host by the spirit of His mouth. Psalms 33:6.
'Their host' or the host of heaven stands for truths. Since 'an army' means truths, the children of the kingdom, and angels, by virtue of the truths which they possess, are called the host of heaven, as in Luke,
Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. Luke 2:13.
In David,
Bless Jehovah, all His hosts, His ministers doing His will. Psalms 103:21.
In the same author,
Praise Jehovah, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts. Psalms 148:2.
In Isaiah,
Lift up your eyes on high and see; who created these? He who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name. From the multitude of the powerful and of the mighty not a man will be missing. Isaiah 40:26.
In the same prophet,
It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens; and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:12.
Here 'the host of the heavens' stands for truths, and so for angels since angels, as has been stated, are in possession of truths.
[6] In the first Book of Kings,
I saw Jehovah sitting on His throne, and the entire host of heaven standing beside Him, on His right hand and on His left. 1 Kings 22:19
In Joel,
Jehovah gave voice before His army, for His camp is exceedingly great; for that which executes His word is uncountable. Joel 2:11.
In Zechariah,
I will pitch by My house a camp composed of an army passing through and resuming, so that the oppressor passes over them no more. Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you. Zechariah 9:8-9.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'His army' stands for Divine truths For this reason, and also because the Lord alone fights on man's behalf against hells that are constantly endeavouring to attack, the Lord is called many times in the Word Jehovah Zebaoth, God Zebaoth, the Lord Zebaoth - that is, Jehovah, God, or Lord of Hosts - as in Isaiah,
The noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah Zebaoth is leading an army of war. Isaiah 13:4.
'The kingdoms of the nations' stands for falsities that spring from evils, 'leading an army of war' for fighting on man's behalf.
[7] Because the twelve tribes of Israel represented the Lord's heavenly kingdom, and 'tribes' as well as 'twelve' meant all things of faith in their entirety, that is, all the truths of the kingdom, 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, they were also called Jehovah's hosts, as in Exodus 7:4; 12:17, 41, 51. And commands were given to bring them out of Egypt according to their hosts, Exodus 6:26, to encamp according to their hosts, Numbers 1:52, and to divide them into hosts, Numbers 2:1- end.
[8] That truths are meant by 'armies' is also clear in Ezekiel,
Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, as your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet in you, they gave you your reputation. The sons of Arvad, and your army, were on your walls round about, and the Gammadim were in your towers. Ezekiel 27:10-11.
This refers to Tyre which means interior cognitions of good and truth, and so those who possess them, 1201, 'army' standing for truths themselves 'Lud' and 'Put' too mean those who possess cognitions, see 1163, 1164, 1166, 1195, 1231. 'The shield and helmet' describes such things as belong to spiritual conflict.
[9] As regards 'an army' or 'a host' in the contrary sense meaning falsities, this is evident in Isaiah,
It will be on that day, that Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. Isaiah 24:21.
Here 'the host of the height' stands for falsities that result from self-love. In Ezekiel,
I will bring you back and put hooks in your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed perfectly, a great company with shield and buckler, all of them wielding swords. You will come from your place, from the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding horses, a great company, a great army. Ezekiel 38:4, 15.
This refers to Gog, who means external worship separated from internal and so made idolatrous, 1151. 'His army' stands for falsities.
[10] In Jeremiah,
I will send against Babel the archer, him who arches his bow and draws himself up in his breastplate. Do not spare the young men; utterly destroy all its host. Jeremiah 51:2-3.
'Babel' stands for worship whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are profane, 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326. 'Its host' means the falsities that go with such as these, and the army of Babel in other places has the same meaning as in Jeremiah 34:1, 21; 32:2; 39:1.
In Ezekiel,
Pharaoh will see them and will comfort himself over all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword; for I will put My terror in the land of the living. Ezekiel 32:31-32.
This refers to Egypt, which means those who by means of reasonings based on facts pervert truths, 1164, 1165. 'His army', that is, Pharaoh's, stands for derivative falsities, as also does 'Pharaoh's army' in other places, as in Jeremiah 37:5, 7, 11; 46:2; Ezekiel 17:17.
In Luke,
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. Luke 21:20.
This refers to the close of the age or final period of the Church when faith does not exist any longer. 'Jerusalem' - which means the Church, see 2117 - is 'surrounded by armies' when beset by falsities.
[11] From these quotations it is clear that 'the hosts of heaven', which Jews and Israelite idolaters worshipped, in the internal sense meant falsities. The second Book of Kings says of them,
They forsook all the commandments of their God and made for themselves a molten image of two calves, and made a grove, and bowed down to all the host of heaven. 2 Kings 17:16.
This refers to the Israelites. And elsewhere it is said of Manasseh that he built altars for all the host of heaven, 2 Kings 21:5, and that King Josiah brought out of the temple all the vessels made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven, 2 Kings 23:4. And in Jeremiah it is said that they were to spread the bones of the princes, of the priests, and of the prophets before the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they had loved and had served and had gone after, Jeremiah 8:1-2. And elsewhere,
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the king of Judah will be defiled, like the place of Topheth - all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. Jeremiah 19:13.
And in Zephaniah,
I will stretch out My hand against those worshipping on their roofs the host of heaven. Zephaniah 1:5.
It is the stars to which the expression 'the host of heaven' refers primarily, and by 'the stars' is meant truths, and also in the contrary sense falsities; see 1128, 1808.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, The one horn of the he-goat of the she-goats i.e. the little horn that grew up out of one of four horns
Jeremiah 7
1
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2
"Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.
3
Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4
Don't trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh, are these.
5
For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
6
if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
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then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.
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Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't profit.
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Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
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and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all these abominations?
11
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.
12
But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
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Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn't hear; and I called you, but you didn't answer:
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therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
15
I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16
Therefore don't pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
17
Don't you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19
Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh; [do they] not [provoke] themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
20
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21
Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.
22
For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
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but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
24
But they didn't listen nor turn their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels [and] in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26
yet they didn't listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.
27
You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.
28
You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29
Cut off your hair, [Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30
For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
31
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.
32
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there be no place [to bury].
33
The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.
34
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.
