866. Verse 5. And in their mouth was found no deceit, signifies that they are averse to thinking falsities and persuading to them. This is evident from the signification of "mouth," as being thought and speech therefrom, and thus persuasion; (See above, n. 580, 782, 794); also from the signification of "deceit," as being to deceive and mislead purposely, thus from an intention of the will; consequently to think falsities and persuade to them designedly, which destroys man forever. That such things have no place in those who are led by the Lord or who follow Him is signified by "in their mouth is found no deceit." For the Lord is Divine truth united to Divine good; and all who are in the Lord, who are those who acknowledge His Divine Human and do His commandments, are in the Divine truth and in the Divine good; and as thinking falsities is contrary to the Divine truth, and wishing to persuade to them is contrary to the Divine good, such are averse to so doing.

[2] What else "deceit" signifies in the Word can be seen from the passages where it is mentioned, as in the following.

In John:

Jesus said of Nathaniel as he was coming to Him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit (John 1:47).

An "Israelite" signifies one who is in the good of charity, and from that in truths, thus one who is in truths from good. Such are meant also by "the hundred forty-four thousand who follow the Lord, in whose mouth is found no deceit;" so here "deceit" has the same signification.

[3] In Zephaniah:

The remnant of Israel shall not do perversity nor speak a lie, neither shall a tongue of deceit be found in their mouth (Zephaniah 3:13).

"The remnant of Israel," the same as "an Israelite indeed," means those who are in spiritual faith, because they are in the good of charity; "to speak a lie" signifies to teach falsely from ignorance of truth; but "deceit" signifies falsity that is not from ignorance of truth, but from deliberation, thus from the purpose of deceiving, as is the case with the wicked.

[4] Likewise in the following passages:

He did no violence, neither was deceit in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9); which is said of the Lord:

He shall redeem their ¹ soul from deceit and violence (Psalms 72:14).

The rich are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof speak a lie; and as to their tongue deceit is in their mouth (Micah 6:12).

They fill their master's house with violence and deceit (Zephaniah 1:9).

Men of bloods and of deceit shall not live out half their days (Psalms 55:23).

Thou wilt destroy those that speak a lie; the man of bloods and of deceit Jehovah will abhor (Psalms 5:6).

"Violence and blood" signify perversion of truth and falsification of the Word; and "deceit" signifies doing this purposely:

Jehovah give ear to my prayers, that are apart from lips of deceit (Psalms 17:1).

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking deceit (Psalms 34:13).

If my lips should speak iniquity, and my tongue should speak deceit (Job 27:4).

Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from a lip of falsehood, from a tongue of deceit. What shall he give to thee, What shall he add to thee, thou tongue of deceit? (Psalms 120:2, 3).

Thou openest thy mouth to evil, and with thy tongue thou framest deceit (Psalms 50:19).

The mouth of the wicked, the mouth of deceit they have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a tongue of lies (Psalms 109:2).

Thy tongue thinketh wickednesses like a sharp razor working deceit (Psalms 52:2, 4).

They mock everyone with his companion, and they speak not truth; they have taught their tongue to speak a lie; it is thine to dwell in the midst of deceit; through deceit they have refused to know Me (Jeremiah 9:5, 6).

"Lips and tongue" with which they speak falsehood and deceit signify the thought with the intention of persuading to falsities against truths, and of misleading; the lips and the tongue having a similar signification as the mouth:

Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalms 36:2);

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he ceaseth from understanding and doing good (Psalms 36:3);

To speak iniquity and to speak deceit (Job 13:7);

"iniquity" having reference to evil and "deceit" to falsity thence:

From the man of deceit and perversity deliver me, O Jehovah (Psalms 43:1).

The clean in hands and pure in heart, who doth not lift up his soul to vanity, and sweareth not with deceit (Psalms 24:4).

They think words of deceit against the quiet in the land, they opened their mouth exceedingly against me (Psalms 35:20, 21).

Wickednesses are in the midst thereof, fraud and deceit depart not from her street (Psalms 55:11).

Thou hast trodden down all them that err from Thy statutes, for their deceit is a lie (Psalms 119:118).

This people turneth itself away, Jerusalem is perpetually turned away, they hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return; I have hearkened and heard, but they speak not aright (Jeremiah 8:5, 6).

In these passages "deceit" does not mean deceit in the natural sense, which consists of deceitful plotting and malicious false-hood against another, but deceit in the spiritual sense, in which "deceit" means thought from the intention of the will, or intentionally and deliberately speaking falsities and persuading to them, and thereby destroying the soul.

[5] Likewise respecting the prophets, in Jeremiah:

Is it not in the heart of the prophets that prophesy falsehood, even of the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? (Jeremiah 23:26).

In the same:

The prophets prophesy unto you a vision of falsehood and divinations, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart (Jeremiah 14:14).

In the spiritual sense "prophets" signify those who teach truths from the Word and doctrine, and thus in an abstract sense the Word as to doctrine, therefore in the contrary sense, as in these passages, they signify those who teach falsities, thus those who falsify the truths of the Word; and to do this intentionally is meant by "the deceit of their heart."

[6] That "deceit" means in the spiritual sense intentional falsification of the truths of the Word, from a desire to mislead, is evident in Hosea:

Ephraim hath compassed Me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit (Hosea 11:12).

"Ephraim" signifies the understanding of the truths of the church; and "the house of Israel" the church itself; so "deceit" and "falsehood" signify persuading to falsities with intention and desire.

[7] In the same:

They are become like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword, from the rage of their tongue (Hosea 7:16).

And in David:

They are turned aside like deceitful bows (Psalms 78:57).

They are compared to a "deceitful bow" because a "bow" signifies doctrine combating, in both senses, namely, the doctrine of falsity combating against truth, and of truth against falsity, for javelins and arrows signify falsities or truths to fight with. (That this is the signification of "bow and arrows" may be seen above, n. 357.) All this again makes evident that "deceit" means deceit in the spiritual sense, which is deceit against the truths and goods of the Word and of the church, thus a disposition and desire to destroy them.

[8] That a disposition and desire to destroy the truths and goods of the Word, of doctrine, and of the church, thus to destroy them deliberately and intentionally, is signified by "deceit," is evident in Jeremiah:

They watch as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap that they may catch men; as a cage full of birds so their houses are full of deceit (Jeremiah 5:26, 27).

In Moses:

If a man have a purpose against his neighbor to slay him by deceit, thou shalt take him from Mine altar (Exodus 21:14).

And as this was so grievous a sin it is said in Jeremiah:

Cursed is he who doeth the work of Jehovah with deceit (Jeremiah 48:10).

"Deceit" was so grievous a crime because deliberation and purpose are of the will, and whatever is of the will is of the man himself, and is called the evil of his heart, for the will is the man himself; but the thought that precedes consent, which is an act of the will, is not in man but outside of him; since the things that flow into the thought are like the objects that flow into the sight from the world, some of which are pleasing and some not pleasing; and those that are pleasing enter the delight of his life, but those that are not pleasing are cast out. So it is with everything that flows into man's internal sight, which is of his understanding and consequent thought. If it is pleasing it enters his will and adds itself to his life; but if it is not pleasing it is cast out.

[9] It is to be known that all evil persons have a disposition and desire, consequently a will, to destroy the truths of heaven and the church by falsities, for the reason that they are conjoined to hell, and infernal spirits from the delight of their love burn with a lust of destroying all things of heaven and the church, and this by crafty devices, which they artfully contrive and wonderfully execute, which, if described from experience, would fill many pages. This makes clear that "deceit" signifies in general all evil of intention to destroy truths by falsities. (In addition, see what has been said about deceit in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that deceit destroys everything of the spiritual and interior life in man, n. 9013; that deceit, fraud, and simulation were accounted by the ancients monstrous wickedness, n. 3573; that the deceitful, when viewed by the angels, appear like serpents and vipers, n . 4533; that such are meant in the Word by "serpents" and "vipers," n. 9013; that "poison" in the Word signifies deceit, n. Arcana Coelestia 9013. Respecting the punishments of those who lie in wait for and deceive others by deceit, n. 831, 957-960, 1273[1]; respecting their hells, n. 830, 831, 947, 4951.)

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9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, ¹ and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. ² Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice ³ to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished ⁴ by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign ⁵ fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

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