Arcana Coelestia # 2327
2327. 'And bowed down with his face towards the ground' means humiliation. This becomes clear without explanation. The reason why in the past, especially in the representative Churches, people would bow so far down that their faces touched the ground, was that 'the face' meant man's interiors, 358, 1999. And they did so down 'to the ground' because 'the dust of the ground' meant that which is profane and condemned, 278. In doing this they represented the fact that of themselves they were profane and condemned. They therefore prostrated themselves face downwards on the ground, indeed they wallowed in dust and ashes, and also cast dust or ashes over their heads, as becomes clear from Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 27:30; Micah 1:10; Joshua 7:6; Revelation 18:19; and elsewhere.
[2] By these actions they represented a state of true humility, which can in no way exist unless people acknowledge that of themselves they are profane and condemned, and so of themselves are incapable of looking towards the Lord where everything is Divine and Holy. To the extent therefore that a person acknowledges his own condition he can possess true humility, and when engaged in worship can have real devotion. For all worship must contain humility, and if separated from it no adoration and so no worship at all is present.
[3] The reason a state of humility is vital to worship itself is that insofar as the heart is humbled self-love and all resulting evil come to an end; and insofar as these come to an end good and truth, that is, charity and faith, flow in from the Lord. For what above all else stands in the way of their being received is self-love. Indeed within self-love there lies contempt for all others in comparison with oneself; there lies hatred and revenge if one is not venerated most highly; and there lies mercilessness and cruelty within it, and thus the worst evils of all into which good and truth cannot possibly be introduced, since they are completely opposite.
Micah 1
1
The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2
Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3
For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
4
The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.
5
"All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem?
6
Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.
7
All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."
8
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.
9
For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10
Don't tell it in Gath. Don't weep at all. At Beth Ophrah I have rolled myself in the dust.
11
Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won't come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will take from you his protection.
12
For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.
13
Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14
Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.
15
I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
16
Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!
