693. Verse 18. And the nations were angered, signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and the church. This is evident from the signification of "nations," as being those who are in the goods of the church, and in a contrary sense those who are in evils, here those who are in evils, since it is said that "they were angered." (That "nations" signify those who are in goods and those who are in evils, and in an abstract sense the goods and evils of the church, and that "peoples" signify those who are in truths and those who are in falsities, and in an abstract sense the truths and falsities of the church, may be seen above, n. 175, 331, 625.) Also from the signification of "to be angered," as being, in reference to the evil, who are signified by "nations," to be in contempt, enmity, and hatred against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and the church.

[2] These and other like things are signified by "to be angered," because everyone burns with wrath and is angered when his love and the delight of his love are assaulted, this being the cause of all wrath and anger; also for the reason that the love of everyone is his life, consequently to hurt the love is to hurt the life, and this being hurt causes commotion of mind, and thence anger and wrath. It is similar with the good when their love is assaulted, but with the difference that they have, not wrath or anger, but zeal. This zeal indeed is called anger in the Word, but still it is not anger; it is called anger because it appears in external form like anger, but inwardly it is nothing but charity, goodness, and clemency; consequently zeal does not, like anger, continue after the one towards whom it was kindled repents and turns away from evil. Anger with the evil is different; for it inwardly conceals in itself hatred and revenge, which the evil love, therefore it persists and is rarely extinguished. This is why anger belongs to those who are in the loves of self and of the world, for they are in evils of every kind; while zeal belongs to those who are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor. Therefore zeal looks to the salvation of man, but anger to his damnation; this also is in the purpose of the evil who are angered, but salvation is in the purpose of the good who are zealous.

[3] "The nations were angered" signifies here the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, thus against the holy things of heaven and the church, because at the end of the church, a little before the Last Judgment, which is here treated of, there is a change of state with those who were in the former heaven and former earth, which is effected by the separation of the good from the evil; and when this has been effected the externals of the evil, by and from which they uttered what is true and did what is good from pretense and hypocrisy, are closed up, and the internals which in them are infernal are opened, and when these have been opened contempt, hostility, and hatred openly break forth with contumelies against the Lord and against the holy things of heaven and the church; for with them these things have lain stored up and covered over by the loves of self and the world; and these loves are such that they can do good and speak truths for the sake of self and of the world, because the holy things of heaven and the church serve them as means to ends, which are reputation, glory, honor, and gain, in a word, self and the world, and the means are loved for the sake of the ends. But since with such the end, which is of man's love and thus of his intention and will, is corporeal and worldly, and consequently infernal, therefore the goods and truths that belong to heaven and the church with them do not abide in their internals, but only in their externals, because in these are evils and falsities. The goods and truths of heaven penetrate into the internals only with such as make the holy things of heaven and the church their ends, that is, make them to be of their love, and thence of their intention and will; when these are made ends, then the spiritual mind is opened, and through this man is led by the Lord. But it is the exact opposite when the goods and truths of heaven and the church are not made ends, but means; for, as has just been said, ends belong to the ruling love of man, and when this is love of self it is also love of his own [proprium], and this regarded in itself is nothing but evil, and so far as man acts from it he acts from hell, and thus against the Divine.

[4] Furthermore, it is to be known that in all evil there is anger against the Lord and against the holy things of the church. That this is so has been made clearly evident to me from the hells, in which all are in evils, and from which are all evils; for there when they merely hear the Lord named they become inflamed with vehement anger, not only against Him but also against all who confess Him. Thence it is that hell is the diametrical opposite of heaven, and is in the perpetual effort to destroy heaven, and to extinguish the Divine things therein, which are the goods of love and the truths of faith. This shows why evils are angry with goods, and falsities of evil with truths; this is why "anger" in the Word signifies evil in the whole complex.

[5] It is similar in the following passages. In Luke:

Jesus said, Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days; for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger with the people (Luke 21:23).

This is said of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church. That then good and truth cannot be received is signified by "Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck." The rejection of good because of the evil that will then rule in the church, and of truth because of falsity, is signified by "for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger with the people," "distress" here means the ruling evil, and "anger" the ruling falsity from evil, for at the end of the church the evil are distressed by good and angered by truth.

[6] In Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah is righteousness and strength; unto Him shall they come, and all that were incensed against Him shall be ashamed (Isaiah 45:24).

"All that were incensed against Jehovah shall be ashamed" signifies that all who are in evils and falsities will desist from them, "to be incensed against Jehovah" signifying to be in falsities from evil.

[7] In Moses:

Simeon and Levi are brethren; In their anger they slew a man, and in their good pleasure they hocked an ox; cursed be their anger for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7).

"Reuben, Simeon, and Levi" signify faith, charity, and the works of charity; but here "Reuben" signifies faith separated from charity, from which comes neither charity nor any work of charity; for these three cohere together; such as the faith is such is the charity, and such as the charity is such are the works of charity; thus they are inseparable, each one belongs to the other, and is as the other. Because Reuben, on account of his adultery with the handmaid, his father's concubine, was accursed, Simeon and Levi also were rejected; their rejection is signified by "I have divided them in Jacob and scattered them in Israel." Now because faith, which was represented by "Reuben," was not to be accepted as the first principle of the church, but spiritual good, which is truth in the understanding and will, therefore Joseph was accepted as the firstborn of the church in the place of Reuben, for "Joseph" represented spiritual good, which in its essence is truth in the understanding and will. Thence it may be clear what is signified by "the anger of Simeon and Levi that it was fierce, and their wrath that it was hard," namely, the turning away from good and truth, thus evil and falsity in the whole complex; for when charity departs from faith there is no more any good nor any truth. (But these things may be seen explained more copiously in the Arcana Coelestia 6351-6361.)

[8] In Matthew:

Jesus said, It was said to them of old, Whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment; but I say unto you, Whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment (Matthew 5:21, 22).

"To be angry with his brother without cause" here also signifies enmity and hatred against good and truth; those also that have such enmity and such hatred do kill continually in mind, intention and will, and would kill actually if it were permitted, that is, if they were not hindered by the laws and the consequent fear of punishment and loss of life or of reputation, honor, or gain; for what a man cherishes in his mind, that he does when it is permissible. "He who is angry with his brother without cause is liable to the judgment," the same as he who kills, because "to be angry" signifies to think, to intend, and to will evil to another, and all evil of the will is in the life of man's spirit and returns after death, and this is why he is then "liable to the judgment," for what belongs to the intention and will is judged like deeds. But it is unnecessary to cite more passages to show what "anger" and "wrath" signify in the case of those who are in evil, for it is self-evident that every evil conceals in itself anger against good, since it wills to extinguish the good, and even to kill him in whom good is, if not as to the body, still they do as to the soul, and this certainly comes from anger and is accompanied by anger.

625. Upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies with all who are in truths and goods in respect to life, and at the same time in goods and truths in respect to doctrine according to each one's religion, consequently to teach the Word in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "peoples and nations," as being those who are of the spiritual church and those who are of the celestial church; those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word "peoples," but those who are of the celestial church are called "nations." Those who are of the spiritual church, who are called "peoples," are they who are in truths in respect to doctrine and life; and they who are of the celestial church, who are called "nations," are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and thus in good in respect to life. (But on this signification of "peoples and nations" in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331.) Also from the signification of "tongues and many kings," as being those who are in goods and truths in respect to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion; for "tongues" signify the goods of truth and confession of these according to each one's religion (See above, n. 330, 455); and "kings" signify truths that are from good, and "many kings" various truths from good, but according to each one's religion. (That "kings" signify truths from good, see above, n. 31, 553)

[2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good, because the peoples and nations outside of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, and yet because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbor the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love, and the good of love gives its quality to every truth, and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth; and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such when they come into the other life to perceive genuine truths and accept them. Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth, like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when there is in them the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbor; and with such in the other life the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances, and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths. From this it can be seen what is here meant by "many kings." (But respecting the falsities in which there is good that exist among the Gentiles, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it can be seen that "he must again prophesy upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings" signifies that the Word must still be taught to those who are in goods and truths in respect to doctrine, and thence are in life; but as it is said "upon peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," these words signify also that the Word must be taught in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine, for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons, and mentions persons, but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons. For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word have no idea of person or of place in any particular of what they think or speak, for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby renders them natural; it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places. It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom, and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable. While man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, times, and material things, and if these should be taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for without these he comprehends nothing; but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from persons, places, times, and material things; and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable, and to man also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a man who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes, after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and then the man, when he becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world. Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every man has; but because man while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of a material body, that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it; and what man thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived. So long as man is in the body in the world, he does not know that he has within him this mind, and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom, because, as has been said, all things that abide there flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense, which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such things as derive their quality from the material things of the body and the world.