6988. Or who hath made him dumb. That this signifies no utterance, is evident from the significance of “dumb,” as being no utterance; for it is opposed to “mouth,” by which is signified utterance (of which just above, n. 6987). By “utterance” is not here meant that of the voice, or speech, for this utterance is natural; but by “utterance” is meant confession of the Lord, and the profession of faith in Him; for this utterance is spiritual. Hence it is evident what is signified in the internal sense by the “dumb,” namely, they who cannot confess the Lord, thus cannot profess faith in Him, by reason of ignorance, in which state are the nations outside the church, and also the simple within the church. That such are signified by the “dumb,” is plain in Isaiah:

Then shall the lame leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; because in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the plain of the desert (Isaiah 35:5-6);

“the tongue of the dumb shall sing” denotes that they shall confess the Lord and what is of faith in Him; “in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the plain of the desert,” denotes that they have the knowledges of truth and good; the “wilderness” is a state of no knowledges of faith from ignorance.

[2] By the dumb who were restored by the Lord are also signified the nations that by His coming into the world were delivered from falsities and the evils thence derived; as by the dumb person in Matthew:

Behold they brought to Him a dumb man, obsessed by a demon; but when the demon was cast out, the dumb spoke (Matthew 9:32-33).

And by the dumb person in the same:

There was brought unto Jesus one obsessed by a demon, blind and dumb; and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spoke and saw (Matthew 12:22).

In like manner by the dumb person also obsessed by a demon, in Mark 9:17-30.

[3] Be it known that the miracles wrought by the Lord all signify the state of the church, and of the human race saved by His coming into the world, namely, that those were liberated from hell who had received the faith of charity. Such things are involved in the Lord’s miracles. In general all the miracles recorded in the Old Testament signify the state of the Lord’s church and kingdom. In this way Divine miracles are distinguished from diabolical or magical miracles, however much they may appear alike in the external form, as was the case with the miracles of the magicians in Egypt.