Arcana Coelestia # 10582
10582. 'That I will put you in a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cleft of the rock' as obscurity and falsity of faith, for 'the rock' means faith, as just above in 10580, and 'a cleft' obscurity in it, and falsity as well, dealt with below. The words 'such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal' are used because every truth of faith with them lies in obscurity, together with falsity as well. For those among them who believe the Word take every statement in it literally, and not according to its inner meaning. People with that kind of belief in it cannot have any light, because the light from heaven flows into the external by way of the internal; and also what they believe without the light from heaven looks like the truth, but is nevertheless falsity with them. For they have material and earthly ideas about what is true and not at the same time spiritual and heavenly ones; and all material and earthly ideas, if the light from heaven does not shine on them, swarm with illusions. Take James and John, for example. Because they had earthly ideas about the Lord's kingdom they asked to sit one on His right and the other on the left in His kingdom. But Jesus said,
You do not know what you ask. You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever has the wish to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever has the wish to be first must be your servant. Matthew 20:21-22, 25-27.
[2] No one with such earthly ideas as they entertained then can know what the heavenly kingdom is. People like this do not know what the glory there is, nor what love is, nor indeed what faith is; in general they do not know what good is. For their judgements are based on bodily and earthly things. Everything that delights the body and its senses is what they call good; pre-eminence over others is what they call glory; love of the world and self-love are what they call heavenly love; and belief which is based on factual knowledge but is no more than persuasion they call faith. When they think about God they do so in a materialistic way, as a consequence of which either they deny the existence of God and replace Him with nature, or they worship idols or people who have died. From this it is evident how much obscurity of faith exists with those whose interest lies in external things alone, and that falsity as well does so.
[3] Obscurity and falsity of faith such as this exists with those who believe only the literal sense of the Word, without the aid of religious teachings drawn from it in a state of enlightenment. Those who read the Word without the aid of those teachings are like people who walk in the dark without a lamp. All who think on no more than a sensory level are like this. It is evident that the Jewish nation is like this, for they explain everything in the Word literally, because their interest lies in external things separated from what is internal. In the next life people like them do not live on rocks, but either in caves among those rocks or in clefts.
[4] The fact that 'a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith is also clear from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
On that day Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Asshur. They will come and all of them will rest in the rivers of desolations, and in the clefts of the rocks. Isaiah 7:18-19.
This refers to the Lord's Coming and to the state of the Church at that time, when everything constituting spiritual truth and good has been desolated. For these words mean that people of the Church will by then have forsaken internal things and become altogether external, thus sensory-minded and no more than this. People become sensory-minded when they accept and believe nothing apart from what their outward senses tell them. 'The fly in the farthest parts of the rivers of Egypt' is falsity existing with a person who is altogether external, that is, who is sensory-minded and no more than this; 'the bee in the land of Asshur' is falsity that belongs to reasoning based on sensory evidence; 'the rivers of desolations' are the truths which belong to religious teachings but have been completely desolated; and 'the clefts of the rocks' are the falsities of faith that exist as a result. Who would ever guess that those words mean such things? And the things they mean would remain completely hidden if the internal sense was not used to uncover them.
[5] In the same prophet,
On that day a person will cast away the idols which they made for themselves to bow down to, to the moles and bats, to go into the splits of the rocks, and into the clefts of the crags. Isaiah 2:20-21.
'Bowing down to the moles and bats' means worshipping such things as exist in total darkness and in the shades of night, that is, external things without their inner substance. 'Going into the splits of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags' means entering into matters of faith that are full of obscurity and thick darkness, thus entering into falsities.
[6] In Jeremiah,
I will bring back the children of Israel over their land. And I am sending to many fishermen who will fish them, and to hunters who will hunt them from upon every mountain, upon every hill, and from the holes of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:15-16.
This refers to the re-establishment of the Church, meant by 'bringing back the children of Israel over their land'. 'Fishing them' means giving them instruction in the outward things of the Church, 'hunting them' doing so in the inward things. Those upon mountain and hill are those who live in love and charity, and those in the holes of the rocks are those who live in faith but are not as yet enlightened, thus those who dwell in obscurity of faith.
[7] In the same prophet,
I have made you least among the nations. The pride of your heart dwelling in the holes of the rock holds the height of the hill. Jeremiah 49:15-16.
In Obadiah,
The pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the splits of the rock, whose seat is high 1 - he who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to earth? If you raise yourself up like the eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there. Obad. verses 3-4.
'Dwelling in the holes of the rock' means living in falsities of faith. The subject is those who raise themselves above others, in the belief that they are better informed than everyone else, when in fact they are immersed in falsities and cannot even see truths. In the next life they dwell in the holes of rocks. Sometimes they force their way up on top of the rocks, but they are nevertheless cast down from there into their holes in the rocks or into caves beneath them. This is what is meant by 'holding the height of the hill', 'raising themselves up like the eagle, placing their nest among the stars, and nevertheless being brought down'.
From all this it now becomes clear that 'putting Moses in a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal. For here 'Moses' is used to mean the people, because here he represents the head of that nation, see 10556.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, in the height of his seat
Matthew 21
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When they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
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saying to them, "Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.
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If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and immediately he will send them."
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All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
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"Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
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The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,
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and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.
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A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.
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The multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
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When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
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The multitudes said, "This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
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Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers' tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.
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He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers!"
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The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
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But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of David!" they were indignant,
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and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes. Did you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?'"
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He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
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Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
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Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, "Let there be no fruit from you forever!" Immediately the fig tree withered away.
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When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
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Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would be done.
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All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
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When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?"
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Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
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The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?" They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
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But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet."
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They answered Jesus, and said, "We don't know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
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But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.'
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He answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind, and went.
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He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, 'I go, sir,' but he didn't go.
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Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you.
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For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
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"Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
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When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
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The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
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Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
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But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
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But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and seize his inheritance.'
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So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
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When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
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They told him, "He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season."
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Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?'
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"Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit.
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He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust."
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When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.
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When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
