720. 17:2 "With whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom." This symbolically means that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated the church's goods and truths that it had from the Word.

To commit whoredom means, symbolically, to falsify and adulterate truths, as said just above in no. 719. The kings of the earth symbolize the church's truths that it has from the Word - kings symbolizing truths springing from goodness, and the earth symbolizing the church.

That kings symbolize people who possess truths springing from goodness from the Lord, and so in an abstract sense the truths themselves that spring from goodness, may be seen in nos. 20, 664 above. Here they symbolize those truths adulterated and profaned.

We are told that the kings of the earth committed whoredom with the great harlot, as though the church's truths from the Word did so, truths being symbolized by the kings of the earth. But this accords with the style of the Word in its literal sense, in which we find attributed to God and to the Divine things emanating from Him - which include the Word's truths - qualities and actions which nevertheless are those of mankind and its evils, as has often been shown above. Consequently the genuine meaning - namely the spiritual sense - is that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated, indeed profaned, the church's truths which it had from the Word.

Someone who is unacquainted with the Word's spiritual meaning may easily be deluded into believing that the kings of the earth mean earthly kings, when in fact it is not those kings that are meant, but truths springing from goodness, and in an opposite sense, falsities springing from evil.

[2] To make it still more apparent that kings of the earth mean nothing else than a church's truths or falsities, and that kings' whoredoms are the falsifications, adulterations and profanations of the church's truths that is has from the Lord, we will cite several passages from the book of Revelation and Daniel, from which anyone capable of reflecting may see that it is not kings that are meant. The passages are these:

...Jesus Christ... has made us kings and priests... (Revelation 1:5-6)

...you have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

...you (shall) eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains..., the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them... (Revelation 19:18)

The seven heads (of the scarlet beast) are seven mountains... They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, and one is... And the beast... is... the eighth (king), and is of the seven... (Revelation 17:9-11)

The ten horns... are ten kings that have not yet received a kingdom... (Revelation 17:12)

We are also told later, as in the present verse, that the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with and taken delight in the harlot (Revelation 18:3, 9).

Who that is capable of reflecting does not see that kings here do not mean kings?

[3] Similar things are said in Daniel. For example, that the hairy male goat means a king, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king; and that when their transgressions have reached their height, a stern-faced king will arise who understands cunning schemes (Daniel 8:21, 23). That the four great beasts that arose out of the sea were four kings that would rise up from the earth, that the fourth beast's ten horns were ten kings, and that another would arise after them that would lay low the three kings (Daniel 7:17, 24). So, too, that the king of the south and the king of the north would fight against each other; that the king of the south would send his daughter to the king of the north; that the king of the north would exalt himself against God, and would acknowledge a foreign god; that people who acknowledged that god he would honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and desirable things, and cause them to rule over many, and would divide the land for a price; that he would plant the tents of his tabernacle between the seas, in the vicinity of the glorious holy mountain; but that he would come to his end - besides much else (Daniel 11).

[4] The king of the south symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people in possession of truths, and the king of the north symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people caught up in falsities. For the text is prophetic of churches to come, such as they would be in the beginning, and what they would be like after that.

People who possess truths springing from good from the Lord are called kings because they are called the Lord's children, and having been regenerated by the Lord, they are said to have been born of Him and to be His heirs, and the Lord is the King, and heaven and the church are His kingdom.

830. 19:16 And He has on His garment and on His thigh a name written: "King of kings and Lord of lords." This symbolically means that the Lord teaches in the Word who He is, that He is the Divine truth of Divine wisdom and the Divine goodness of Divine love, thus that He is God of the universe.

The Lord's garment symbolizes the Word in respect to Divine truth, as in no. 825 above. The Lord's thigh symbolizes the Word in respect to Divine goodness. Because thighs and loins symbolize married love, and because that love is the fundamental love of all loves, therefore thighs and loins symbolize the goodness of love. That this is due to its correspondence may be seen in no. 213 above. Therefore, when a thigh is mentioned in reference to the Lord, it symbolizes the Lord in respect to the goodness of love, and here the Word as well in that respect. Having a name written symbolizes the character of the Lord, as in no. 824 above. "King of kings" means the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, and "Lord of lords" means the Lord in respect to the Divine goodness of His Divine love. The Lord's kingdom and His dominion have the same symbolic meaning in places where both are mentioned (see no. 664 above).

[2] Because the Lord is called King of kings and Lord of lords, and this means the Lord in respect to both Divine truth and Divine good, therefore the name is said to have been written on His garment and on His thigh; and the name written on His garment symbolizes the Word in respect to Divine truth, while the name written on His thigh symbolizes the Word in respect to Divine goodness, both being contained in the Word. The Word's Divine truth is found in its spiritual sense, which is intended for angels of the intermediate or second heaven, who possess intelligence stemming from Divine truths; and the Word's Divine goodness is found in its celestial sense, which is intended for angels of the highest or third heaven, who possess wisdom stemming from Divine goods. But this latter sense is deeply hidden, being perceptible only to people who possess love toward the Lord from the Lord.

That the one on the white horse here is the Lord is explicitly said above in the book of Revelation:

These will do battle with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. (Revelation 17:14)

[3] That a thigh symbolizes the goodness of love, and in reference to the Lord, the Divine goodness of His Divine love, is clear from the following passages in the Word:

Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs. (Isaiah 11:5)

...over (the cherubim's) heads was... the appearance of a man (on a throne).... From the appearance of His loins and upward..., and from the appearance of His loins and downward..., (there was) the appearance of fire and of brightness all around. (Ezekiel 1:26-28)

The man on the throne means the Lord. The appearance of fire from His loins upward and downward symbolizes His Divine love, and the brightness all around symbolizes the Divine wisdom emanating from it.

(Daniel saw a man) whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz. (Daniel 10:5)

The man was an angel having the Lord in him. Gold of Uphaz symbolizes the goodness of love.

The thighs or loins have the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 5:27, Psalms 45:3, and elsewhere.

Regarding the correspondence of the thighs or loins with married love, which is the fundamental love of all loves, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), nos. 5050-5062.