Daniel, Chapter Eight: The Vision of the Ram and the Goat

A period of time passed after Daniel’s vision of the beasts rising from the sea. It is not until the third year of Belshazzar’s reign that Daniel reports another vision. He wrote,

"In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me-- to me, Daniel-- after the one that appeared to me the first time."

The setting of this vision is extremely important - it took place in the third year of Belshazzar’s reign. There is no clear indication in the Word of how long Belshazzar reigned in Babylon ¹ , so historically we cannot pin-point this vision at any time in the kings reign other than in the third year.

However, if we turn to the inner meaning of the Word, the time frame becomes very important. As we noted at the very beginning of this exposition, the term “the third year” represents the concept of completeness and the beginning of a new state ² . The state which is finishing is, of course, the reign of King Belshazzar, who represents the love of control exhibiting itself in the evils of daily or external life.

Chapter Five gives an overview of Belshazzar’s last night in this world, and tells of the profane feast he threw for his thousand lords. In drunken revelry he used the vessels from the temple of Jerusalem to toast his own false gods. At the very height of this debauchery, however, the words of judgment were written on the palace wall - you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Almost as soon as Daniel had interpreted these words, Darius and his army broke into the chamber, killing Belshazzar, and presumably everyone else - except Daniel.

Belshazzar’s feast, as we saw in the treatment of the fifth chapter, describes how evil, once it has taken hold of our conscious mind leads us further and further away from the presence of the Lord, and deeper and deeper into profanation.

Daniel’s vision in chapter seven shows graphically how that decline comes about: first we stop thinking about truth, and, as this happens, falsity extends its power over our minds. Eventually we loose all sense of right and wrong, and plunge headlong into a life of evil and falsity. The only force powerful enough to arrest this decline is the power of the Lord’s love, shown as the “Ancient of Days” and the power of judgment described as the “Son of Man”.

These two images of the Lord, and the judgment on our behaviour they imply are of immense importance because they hold open to us the promise of change and redemption. If we were stuck to eternity in the states of selfishness and greed described as the four beasts arising from the sea, then human life would be very bleak indeed. Thus Daniel’s vision in chapter seven gives way to a new one in chapter eight. In many ways the theme is much the same, yet the each new vision moves us closer to freedom from evil.

Chapter eight, therefore, begins in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, marking the end of one state and the beginning of a new - the end of a time of dominion by hell, and a new dawn of spiritual life breaking on us. Dawn, however, is always preceded by the darkest part of the night. We know light will soon break, but it is not yet here, and the anticipation of morning makes the night darker and longer still. Much the same is true of our regeneration. The more we want liberation from evil, the more powerfully the forces of our selfish loves press into our lives. The challenge of life is to continue fighting our evils in the face of their increased aggression towards us.

Apocalypse Explained 716: Falsities from evil cannot be expelled from a person in a moment, but little by little; for if they were expelled in a moment, the person would expire, because they constitute his life.

The greatest challenge we face as our spiritual life progresses is to use the things we know, rather than simply store them up as memories. In the vision in this chapter, we see a person who is making progress. We know from the historical section of the book that Belshazzar will be killed. We know from the Word the Lord’s promises that if we abide in His Word, He will abide in us, and we shall know the truth, and it will set us free ³ . It is, however, one thing to know this, and another all together to bring these things into daily and practical life. This chapter, and the rest of the book, deal with this theme.

The vision takes place while Daniel was at Shushan, the citadel, in the province of Elam, beside the River Ulai. While the doctrines do not explain this verse , it gives us important imagery about the state of selfishness within us in this state before it changes. The power of selfishness and its seeming impregnability are imaged in the picture of Shushan - protected behind the high walls of falsity and the conviction that one is absolutely right in all things.

Shushan is called “the citadel”, a strong place where the kings of Persia had their summer residence ⁴ . It is possible to imagine it as a strong fortress, designed to keep out the enemies of the king - it is a place where the kings were so confident they could relax in the summer heat. This imagery lends itself to the needs of the vision, especially in relation to the vision in chapter seven.

The only real enemy of selfishness is truth from the Lord, and so often truth can be twisted and bent in so many ways that it is an easy enemy to overcome. People do this all the time through justification of their lives, through denial and countless other ways of defusing the pangs of conscience and guilt. The whole tissue of lies which ensnares a person is like a citadel, defending one from the attack of truth. Thus while a fortress in the Word is usually used to describe a protection against evils and falsities ⁵ , in this case it is the opposite sense which is more appropriate - evil defending itself against goodness and truth.

It is not surprising, therefore that beside the citadel ran the river Ulai, for rivers in the Word mean wisdom ⁶ , and wisdom is a state of life when we use truth to guide our lives in this world. In the sense here, however, because this river is part of the Babylonian empire, the correspondence is converted into the opposite.

Arcana Coelestia 7323: Rivers are attributes of intelligence, and so are matters of truth, and therefore in the contrary sense they are the opposite of intelligence and so are matters of falsity.

Thus Daniel by correspondence saw the last states of evil and selfishness in a person as it is depicted in their external or behavioural aspects. He saw the defensiveness of falsity twisting and perverting truth to its own ends, drawing nourished by the waters of falsity and ignorance.

The side of our lives represented by this vision had a great deal of defending to do - and yet it is ironic that the very force the walls of our spiritual fortress are designed to block out, our conscience, is still with us. Daniel lived within those walls, alongside the king of Babylon. In this irony we see a foreshadowing of the judgment and final killing of Belshazzar.

Spiritual life is a battle fought on more than one plane at a time. The inner motivations, illustrated in the historical stories by Nebuchadnezzar, show how our selfish side is under continued pressure from our conscience to reform and change. The difficulty in change, however, comes in the application of this reform to our external lives. We do so many things from habit, for example, that habit seems to become our real self. Changing this is often like doing violence to our own persona.

In the vision in Chapter Seven, we saw how evil develops, and how it has to be judged. Knowing this, however, is different from the actual work. Too often people fall into the trap of believing that because they know something is wrong, and because they want to break the habit, that they have in fact broken the habit. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In Chapter 8, we have these verses:

3. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

4. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no beast could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

5. And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power.

7. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

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Aware that he was in the citadel, on the banks of the river, Daniel saw the first part of this vision. A ram with two horns, the last, or rear one the higher than the other. To understand the significance of this ram, one has to look at the context in which Daniel saw it. He was surrounded by Babylon, the love of control over their own and other people’s lives from an inner state of selfishness.

As people regenerate, their lives become increasingly divided between life from the conscience, and life from their selfishness. Thus they act from a mixture of motives. From their conscience they come to express states of goodness, kindness and charity. The actions based on conscience may often be seen as a refusal to commit evil, a biting back of a nasty word, or a act of honesty based on love for someone else. These early stages of regeneration are very important, for they show us what we could be if only our selfishness could be conquered.

Selfishness, however, is also often clothed over with an external goodness - selfish people portray themselves as good in order to make it possible for them to attain their own ends in life. Their external goodness is almost indistinguishable from genuine goodness. Thus the goodness in their behaviour is not connected with any spiritual goodness from the Lord, rather it is affiliated with selfishness itself ⁷ . Part of the difficulty of bringing our external being to the point where it is willing to submit to the conscience lies in sorting out the source of the good things we do in our lives.

In his vision Daniel saw a ram on the banks of the river. In the Word a “ram” represents states of good done by a person from a religious or spiritual motive. A person in this state is one who is in faith to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbour ⁸ . In the regenerating person this state of goodness gains momentum and power as the person puts selfishness aside and learns to think in terms of the truth. As this happens, and as the power of selfishness is gradually eroded, so the person increasingly becomes a form of charity itself, and more able to fight against the evils and falsities in their lives.

Apocalypse Explained 600: "'Sheep' mean those who are in the good of charity towards the neighbour thence in faith." Thus the ram, on the banks of the river is an image of the goodness coming into a regenerating person’s life. The horns on its head represent the power of that goodness faith against the influence of evil falsity ⁹ . Daniel makes specific mention of the relative sizes of the two horns, the higher of the two “came up last”.

In spiritual development there is an interplay between faith and charity. On a conscious level (remember this vision was seen during the reign of Belshazzar), the beginning of our spiritual development lies in our faith. Yet faith by itself does not constitute spiritual life. As we have seen before in the book of Daniel, knowledge about spiritual things, and even an intellectual humility do not bring a person to regeneration - if that were the case, then surely the book would finish at the end of chapter four when Nebuchadnezzar is humbled and praises God. Much of the work of regeneration takes place in changing the external things of our lives which are drawn from a selfish interior, and manifest themselves in our attitudes and behaviour. Thus our knowledge must be converted into action from truth, in other words, changed into charity.

The two horns on the rams head represent this process. In the process of rebirth, our faith is paramount, and our charity secondary. Thus one horn was higher than the other to depict this imbalance. In a regenerated person faith and charity would be equal in a person’s life, for as soon a one learned something, the person would bring it into action. True power against evil comes from charity.

Daniel watched the ram as it moved about, pushing in all four directions of the compass. It is simple to see this as the extension of goodness in a regenerating person into the various parts of life. However, there is more to it than that. The doctrines make an interesting point in relation to directions in the spiritual world, for there quarters are determined by a person’s relationship to the Lord.

In the natural world directions are determined according to the rising and setting of the sun, and generally directions are determined in relation to north. In the spiritual world, however, the Lord is seen in the east like a sun, and all the directions there are drawn from that direction ¹⁰ .

Daniel does not specify which direction he was looking in when he saw the ram, but it must have been the east, for it pushed westward, northward and southward. If, as we have seen, the ram represents goodness in our lives as a result of living according to the Lord’s Word, then it makes sense that the ram must have stood in the east, for the east represents the Lord and all goodness and truth flow from Him.

Apocalypse Explained 600: "An angel perpetually faces the Lord as a sun, and therefore before him is the Lord as the east, and behind him the Lord as the west, and at his right hand is the south, and at his left hand the north."

The ram pushed first westward. The “west” takes its meaning in relation to the east, and if the east is where the Lord is present, then the west is where the Lord is seen in a state of obscurity ¹¹ . Perhaps another way of saying that is that in a regenerating person good actions from genuinely good motives begin to make their presence felt in the daily activities of a person so that his or her expressions of charity become more genuine and heartfelt, and less in service to the selfish side of one’s nature.

As the ram pushed westward, so it also pushed northward and southward. If one thinks of directions on two axes, one has east/west and north/south. The east west axis relates to a person’s love, to his or her charity and the presence of goodness in the actions a person does. The north/south axis, on the other hand, has reference to the way a person thinks. The south end of this axis represents thoughts based on truths when they are clearly seen and understood, while the northern end depicts things less clearly seen ¹² .

The ram pushing in these directions, therefore illustrates the progress made by a regenerating person whose thoughts and feelings are being greatly influenced by the presence of truth in the mind, and a commitment to bringing that truth into daily life. This becomes more apparent when one thinks of the context in which Daniel’s dream takes place - the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, meaning the end of the state of selfishness in the external. As we know from the historical series, Belshazzar would be killed by Darius the Mede. At the same time we know that the internal motivating force in a person’s life, represented by Nebuchadnezzar is also undergoing profound change, shown by that king’s gradual recognition and acceptance of the Lord.

Thus regeneration is marching onward. This progress is aptly described by Daniel’s words that nothing “could withstand [the ram]; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.”

Regeneration, as we have seen before, is not possible without the combats of temptation. As we make spiritual progress, our states of selfishness reassert themselves. We have seen this phenomena several times in this study. Nebuchadnezzar, after he was shown how he must be humbled, still exalted in his pride, and was reduced to the level of a wild animal. So too Belshazzar, warned of that he was found wanting, continued his wild debauchery. In our own lives we often become aware that the more primed we become to break a habit, the more strongly the habit exerts its control over us.

Arcana Coelestia 760: "Temptation is severe. In fact it impinges on, attacks, breaks down, and alters a person’s essential life."

The challenge came without warning. Daniel’s words echo the drama of the changes of state we go through as we struggle to bring selfish feelings, thoughts, attitudes and actions under control. One minute a person may be acting from the very best of intentions, and the next selfishness emerges to utterly destroy the activity by subverting it and leading into an act of selfishness. The mechanism used by the selfish, unrepentant and unregenerate side of our minds to accomplish this is depicted by the goat Daniel saw coming “from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground”.

Every detail of this and the next verses shows how strongly selfishness reasserts itself. Goats and sheep are closely related animals. Yet from time immemorial the difference in their nature has been used as symbolism for good and evil.

Sheep are portrayed in the Word as gentle creatures ¹³ , willing to follow the Shepherd, as we are shown so often in the Psalms and the Gospels. The Lord frequently used the image of sheep being rescued, or let into the sheep-fold. He is referred to as the gentle shepherd ¹⁴ .

Psalm 23:1: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

In sharp contrast to the gentle and peaceful image of sheep and shepherd is the harsh and destructive goat. The most damaging image given to the goat is the Lord’s teaching that at the day of judgment the sheep will be separated from the sheep, and be cast into hell. In that story in the Word, the goats represent those who had the opportunity to help the Lord in his times of distress, but had failed to do so.

Matthew 25:41: "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'"

It is not surprising therefore that Daniel’s vision of the ram pushing its way to the four corners of our minds is upset by the appearance of a goat. In every respect the ram and the goat are opposites, beginning with the fact that the ram must have come from the east, where the Lord is present, while the goat came from the west.

The west, as we saw earlier is a state of lack of charity. The goat came from our selfishness, and represents the selfish, unregenerate side of our minds re-exerting itself in an attempt to roll back the gains made by our conscience. To some degree this is similar to the action in the historical section of the book of Daniel as Darius the Mede’s one hundred and twenty satraps conspired to trick Daniel and thus destroy him.

Understanding that the goat came from the west makes it possible to grasp the spiritual concept of the goat itself. “Goats” represent states in people in which their charity, their love for the neighbour, does not form a part of their spiritual life. Such a person may have great stores of knowledge, but their lives remain untouched by this knowledge ¹⁵ . The cause of this is the basic selfishness which dominates a person’s life and which is described as Nebuchadnezzar. This inner selfishness naturally affects the way a person lives his or her life, depicted by Belshazzar. Any good done while a person is in this state is not real good, it is done only for the sake of one’s own person gain. The origin of a person’s goodness in this state, therefore, is not love for the neighbour, or charity, but is self. Thus the person cannot be a “sheep”, but rather is a goat, destructive of all spiritual values, and ultimately doomed to hell ¹⁶ .

This then is the male goat Daniel saw, coming from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground. Notice the distinction between “earth” and “ground”. In general the “ground” in human minds is the ability to receive goodness and truth from the Lord, and thus be regenerated ¹⁷ , while the earth represents the state of love a person has ¹⁸ . The implication is, therefore, that the challenge, or temptation to put aside the actual practice of good invades our minds with little warning. The goat’s feet touched neither earth, nor ground, meaning that this temptations do not draw from the sources of our spiritual life, which is goodness and truth from the Lord, as sheep do, but derive their origin in the reasoning of the human mind.

Arcana Coelestia 566: "In the Word a careful distinction is made between ground and land or earth. Whenever “ground” is used it means the Church or some aspect of the Church… But when “land” or “earth” occurs in the Word it frequently means where the Church or some aspect of the Church does not exist…"

This is the great challenge of spiritual life. So often we know what the Word teaches, and we know how and why we should use the truths there. A part of us is willing. Yet we still have external behaviour represented by the third year of Belshazzar’s reign - we still have attitudes and habits which are resistant and unwilling to change. Thus we fall into the trap of separating the things we know from the things we do. We fall into faith separated from charity, and as we stop acting according to what we know to be true, so states of goodness in our external life begin to perish ¹⁹ . When this happens, truth itself begins to perish, for the things a person then chooses to believe are things which favour their own tastes ²⁰ . The result is a slide into both false thinking and evil action.

A Brief Summary of New Church Doctrine 84: "When charity is thus removed, good works, which are of charity, slip away from the mind, and are obliterated, so that they are never remembered, nor is the least effort made to recall them to mind from the Law of the Decalogue."

We fall into this trap by believing certain fundamental falsities which undermine spiritual progress, for example, we start to believe that we are incapable of actually doing good, or that we cannot do good without expecting some reward from it ²¹ . This challenge is extremely powerful, and the power is represented by the “notable horn between his [ie. the goat’s eyes]”. This horn represents the attractive power human reasoning exerts over people ²² - a power so strong that it puts all our advances into spirituality to flight.

Thus as Daniel watched the he-goat approaching from the west, the animal ran at the ram “with furious power.” The goat “was moved with rage against the him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns.” This violent action describes the rage with which evil and falsity attacks goodness and truth. We have seem some of this before, in the rage of Nebuchadnezzar against Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego for refusing to worship his image. Later in the rage of the one hundred and twenty of Darius’ satraps against Daniel for worshipping God.

It is the nature of evil to attack goodness, to continually resist goodness and to drag goodness down into the states of hell ²³ . The tragedy for people who give in to this evils side of themselves, is that gradually their conscience is broken and lost - a decline shown in chapter seven when the four beasts arising from the sea are spoken of. In this chapter, however, it is the decline of one’s conscience and its ability to lead a person through life and is described by the ram’s horns being broken. As we saw earlier, the ram’s horns represent the power of good and truth in a person’s life, but when a person is in the grip of evil, good and truth have no influence over the way they feel and think, and consequently over how they act.

Arcana Coelestia 1683: "The inherent nature of evil is to wish to injure everyone, but the inherent nature of good is to injure no one. The evil are acting in conformity with their own life when they are attacking, for their constant desire is to destroy."

The actions of the he-goat illustrate the violence of evil against goodness perfectly. As the goat attacked the ram, there was no resistance from the ram, and so the goat “cast him down to the ground and trampled him.”

As Daniel watched the ram was defeated, and he observed that “there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand”. This is the darkest hour before the dawn. Remember that this vision takes place in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, and the “third year” represents the end of one state and the beginning of a new one. We know from the historical series that Belshazzar is finally killed by Darius the Mede, who elevates Daniel to a place of honour in his empire - but this state has yet to dawn. In the meantime, darkness is on the land - although morning is going to break.

Here's the next set of verses from Daniel 8:

8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.

9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land.

10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.

11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.

12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

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This next section of Daniel’s vision describes the progress of evil and falsity in a person who separates him or herself from goodness. In order for our lives to be transformed by truth, the truths we know must come forth into activity, otherwise they simply remain exercises of the mind. When we act according to truth, our lives are transformed because they become reflections of the Lord’s Word. Our actions themselves become expressions of the Lord love from which the truths originated. Thus by living according to truth a person is changed by the Lord.

The exact opposite happens when we chose to ignore truth and live according to our own interpretations of right and wrong. When we do this, our actions do not draw themselves from the Word, but from our own self-centred version of what we claim truth to be. The result is that we only believe and only do things which serve us. In this state we can say that Nebuchadnezzar rules the internals of our minds, and Belshazzar our external thoughts and actions. The result is the profanation of Belshazzar’s feast, and the cruelty of Nebuchadnezzar’s decrees.

While the conscience is bound around by these evils, it seems as thought “nothing can deliver us from his hand”, and indeed without the intervention of the Lord, we would be lost. How easy it would be for hell to claim our lives is described in the events Daniel saw after the ram was put to flight.

As he watched, the male goat grew very great. The evils of life flooding into us when we turn aside from the power of good and evil, is powerful. They have the ability to obliterate everything else. This growth in power is described by the he-goat growing in size, and becoming strong.

More important than the sheer size of the goat, however, was that happened to its horn. When Daniel first describes this horn in verse five, he comments that the goat “had a notable horn between his eyes”, which represents the power of human reasoning over matters of goodness and truth. As he watched, the horn was broken, and from it grew four other horns.

This dramatic change in the horn has an ominous meaning in the depiction of the slide into evil. If the central “notable” horn represents human reasoning on spiritual matters, it also represents the false conclusions people come to. When we reason apart from the teachings of the Word, we open our minds to the selfish side of our being, with the result that we slip deeper and deeper into self-orientation.

Thus we could say that the single horn represents the basic principle that we know better than the Lord, that our belief and interpretation about life is more valid than what the Lord teaches in the Word. It also means that we will pick and choose the things we wish to believe in. If one starts from that point of view, it soon becomes apparent that every area of our thinking, and thence of our action, is going to be affected.

The horn breaking is not so much a destruction of the power of human reasoning, but a development into other areas of our lives. The horn “breaking”, therefore is the division of our false reasoning into many different falsities ²⁴ .

The four smaller horns which came up in its place represent the joining together of these falsities with evil affections in our minds which are only too happy to be justified by our thoughts ²⁵ . Thus as a person slips into this line of thinking, he or she may well find him or herself enjoying things which the conscience had labelled unacceptable, but has now been made acceptable by the new outlook, or excuse offered by the understanding. The result is a powerful combination of the will and understanding acting in unison and bent on gratifying self.

Notice that the four horns are deployed according to the “four winds of heaven”. As in the case of the ram, who came from the east, and pushed to the west, the north and the south, so without mentioning those quarters in detail, we are told that the four horns occupied those same areas. The four quarters in the Word represent different states of goodness and truth in a person. But by taking the negative correspondence, they can also describe the states of evil and falsity. Thus the areas of our minds, which had once been opened up to goodness and truth by the ram, are now changed into strongholds of evil and falsity by the goat’s horns.

So far, however, the challenge of evil to good in a regenerating person is still somewhat straight forward. Each person has two distinct aspects to themselves - the selfish and the good. During the course of regeneration these two sides alternate in the battles of temptation, and sometimes it seems as thought the darker side of our being is going to win. As the dawn of new life approaches, so that appearance grows increasingly stronger. Sooner or later it will take a great effort to throw off our evils altogether - but at this stage of the story we are not ready for that yet. Thus deeper and darker temptations swirl around us.

In these states one is reminded of Jesus on the cross, when all the world was plunged into darkness, and He cried out “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It was still necessary for Him to die before the victory of resurrection.

So too with us. With the ram set to flight, and the goat grown so huge, with the four horns at the four corners of heaven, it seems as though things could not get any worse. The end is not yet near. “My time has not yet come!”

Thus as Daniel watched, one of the horns sprouted a little horn, “which grew exceedingly great towards the south, towards the east, and toward the Glorious Land”. This little horn marks a change in the decline of a person towards hell. The first four horns each represent the power of falsity in our lives, a falsity which generates evil, and which leads us further and further from heaven.

This little horn, however, represents a new kind of falsity, not a falsity which produces evil, but a falsity which is the result of evil ²⁶ . At this point one may wonder what the difference is between a falsity which produces evil and a falsity produced by evil. The falsity which produces evil arises in a willingness or approve or justify some evil in a person’s life. The evil, however, is still only potential, and only comes into being when the person acts on that falsity. One could call this a falsity of permission, for it gives a person permission to act in certain ways.

However, the falsity which comes from evil is a natural consequence of this. When a person acts according to evil, when he or she embraces evil, then the evil changes the way that person views life. They no longer need the original falsity to give them permission to act evilly. Now they have tasted the fruit of evil, and draw nourishment from it. The result is a falsity arising in direct consequence of the evil.

Thus the little horn grew, as the power of falsity grows at speed when it draws its origin from evil. When one comes into this state, one had passed the point of reasoning about whether it is permissible to act in certain ways, now one does so without any conscience, without any bonds to hold one back. Thus the horn’s influence spread throughout, like a cancer.

The danger this type of falsity represents in our development cannot be underplayed. We are told that the horn grew towards the south, towards the east. As was shown before, the south represents a state of spiritual light ²⁷ , while the east, where the Lord is in heaven, is a state of goodness ²⁸ . The horn growing into these regions illustrates how the falsities rooted in evil actually begin to obscure and obliterate the light of truth and warmth of love we have from heaven itself.

The impact of this can be seen in the lives of people who give in to evil. They may know that a certain action is wrong because they have read so in the Word. Yet they continue nevertheless. In time, their persistence in that activity puts to flight the restraining bonds of the conscience, and as a result they come into the fullness of the activity. As this happens, so they begin to think in terms of the activity, and to loose the ability to think or will contrary to it. When this happens one passes out of a state of temptation, and into an acquiescence to evil itself.

As Daniel watched the progress of the little horn, he noted that it “grew up to the host of heaven, and cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.” In this action it was very similar to the fourth beast in chapter seven, with its great iron teeth, which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue ²⁹ .

The horn cast down some of the “host” or army and some of the stars of heaven, which we told symbolises the goods and truths of heaven ³⁰ . “Stars” represent the knowledges of truth drawn from the Word. As we have seen throughout this study, truths are a person’s first line of defence against evil and falsity. The whole of Daniel’s life is a testimony to this. However, when a person lapses into a life of selfishness, which is made possible by misusing the things of the Word, then the person gives him or herself permission to act as they will. The result is the destruction of real faith and charity ³¹ . These are most dangerous to a person’s spiritual life, for they blot out any sense of sin, remorse or shame, and leave the person to the mercy of a life of unrestricted evil. The destruction of the sense of sin, and the knowledge that one has indeed committed evil, is described by the little horn growing towards the south which cast down the host and stars and trampled on them ³² . To trample them down means to utterly destroy them ³³ .

Arcana Coelestia 4897: "That 'stars' have this signification in the Word is because they are small luminaries which shine at night, when they give forth into our atmosphere gleams of light, just as knowledge gives forth gleams of good and truth."

In the historical series this blotting out of the “stars” of heaven can be seen in the denial by Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel’s true name. By calling him “Belteshazzar”, the represents the way we deny the source and origin of truth, and when that is denied, it becomes only too easy to relegate it to the farthest corners of our minds and finally forget about it all together. However, this little horn casting down the host and stars of heaven is doing something far more sinister than simply forgetting the truth. It is the actual destruction of truth as far as possible. This is done by twisting it around until it looses all meaning and power.

The state of evil and falsity which then rules the person mind are worse than any other sort ³⁴ . If a person lapsed into evil because of ignorance, or from having been taught falsities they still have a spiritual defence. On the other hand, to commit falsity with malice of forethought, when one knows the truth and chooses to reject it, and misuses the truth in such a way to make it permissible, then that person comes into a deeper level of falsity. The result is that without a recognition of goodness and truth from the Lord, the person in this state looses their intelligence and wisdom, for these originate in truth ³⁵ . In this state falsity and evil are confirmed in the person’s mind, and that person is alienated from the presence of the Lord.

To compound this matter, the horn exalted itself as high as the Prince of hosts. Here again we see the similarity of imagery to the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, which treats of Lucifer, son of the dawn, exalting himself to God. This is the very nature of selfishness, and the end to which all selfishness tends, for loving self is opposite to loving God, and should a person allow unbridled selfishness in his or her life, then eventually that person will challenge God Himself.

In this state there is no possibility of genuine worship of God at all. Thus the horn “took away the daily sacrifices”. Sacrifices in the Word are part of worship, and worship is based on humility. If a person cannot, or will not humble him or herself before the Lord, then there can be no worship. The effect of the horn exalting itself to the level of God in a person’s mind, is to destroy humility, for a person in that state thinks he or she knows best, and is willing to please self.

It is also said that the horn cast down the sanctuary of the Prince of Hosts, meaning that nothing would be considered sacred or holy any longer.

A person in this state lapses into the very depths of hell, for all spiritual value, all real hope for salvation, disintegrates in the face of the terrible selfishness rampant in the person’s heart. In its place is a sea of self-centred willing, thinking and acting. The horn, with all its power, was given an army "to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he was cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered."

The next two verses are:

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?"

14 And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed."

---

The vision Daniel witnessed describes the final states of evil in a regenerating person. From states of spiritual progress, represented by the ram pushing in all directions, one comes into alternate states of degeneration, depicted as the ram with his fearful horns. These alternations of state are of vital importance to ones spiritual development, because in the process of regeneration one moves from a state in which one has no spiritual life to one in which he or she has. Because regeneration is a process which takes place during the whole course of a person’s life, a person is often between these two states, and yet one has to be in one or within the other. So they alternate.

Arcana Coelestia 933: "The state of a person when he is being regenerated resembles ‘cold’ and ‘heat’, that is, a point when faith and charity do not exist and then when they do."

The Writings offer insight into how these alternations work:

Every time a person is engrossed in his own bodily and worldly interests faith and charity do not exist, that is, it is a period of cold. For at such times it is bodily and worldly interests that are active… When, however, the bodily interests in a person and those of his [unregenerate] will are inactive and quiescent, the Lord acts by way of his internal man and at that pint faith and charity are present with him, which here is called ‘heat’ ³⁶ .

We see the roots of this alternation very clearly in chapter seven. When a person sees evil and the power of falsity in their lives, as described by the four beasts arising from the sea, and one judges them according to their knowledge and love for truth itself, then life begins to change. As we saw in chapter seven, however, although the beast was killed, nevertheless the lion, the bear and the leopard had “their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time” ³⁷ . Judgment changes the way we look at our lives, but it doesn’t by itself take away the evils to which we are prone. Those have to be overcome by temptation.

It is in this vision that we see the mechanism of overthrow. First the one state, the ram, then the other, the goat. Of course the most pertinent question arising about this progress is how long it will last. Remember that this vision was seen in the third year of Belshazzar, and that the third year represents the end of one state and the beginning of the next. According to this we know that eventually the states of evil will pass away completely, and we will be delivered. But how long?

Daniel heard this very question from heaven: “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?” The answer is one of those verses in the Word which, without the internal sense to explain is, has exercised human minds for centuries.

And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary will be cleansed.”

This is how the verse is translated in the New King James Version of the Bible. Unfortunately it is not an accurate translation, leaving out some very important words. If one turns to the American Standard Version, one find the verse translated as follows:

And he said to me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

The difference seems minor, but by leaving out the “mornings” and “evenings”, the translators have left out a vital part of the information the Lord has given us. Swedenborg translates the passage differently, relying on a literal interpretation of the original Hebrew. Translated from his Latin the verse reads:

"And he said unto me, Even unto the evening, the morning, two thousand three hundred; for then shall the holy thing be justified."

This is the translation we shall use for this purposes of this exposition, for it does no good to leave words out, or to lump “evening” and “morning” together and turn them into “day”. Similarly, although the meaning is much the same, it does not use to speak of “the sanctuary shall be cleansed” when in fact the original says that “the holy thing shall be justified.”

How long, then, shall this state of alternation between goodness and evil last? The answer is quite clear. It involves the evening and the morning. As in all matters related to time in the Word, the internal sense deals with spiritual state, not temporal time. It is important, therefore to view this verse as a whole. Evening and morning are seen most clearly in juxtaposition to each other.

The terms evening and morning are frequently used in the Word to describe the end of one state and the beginning of the next. We have already seen in many places how “night” represents states of spiritual darkness and obscurity.

Arcana Coelestia 7844: "In the Word throughout mention is made of “evening”, and by it is signified the last time of the church, and also the first time; the last with those among whom the church is ceasing, and the first with those among whom it is beginning."

Evening as a prelude to the night means much the same. Spiritual obscurity has its origins in the things which belong to human selfishness and greed, for as we have seen, these block out the light of truth from the Lord ³⁸ .

In sharp contrast to this is the breaking light of dawn, when shadows are put to flight and the world is transformed by the sun. This early light has precisely the opposite meaning from the darkness of evening. It is the time when truth shines into human minds, and the Lord’s kingdom can be clearly seen in its light ³⁹ .

In the Arcana Coelestia, a series of distinctions are made between evening and dawn, which help greatly in understanding these two different states:

Evening:

• a state of shade, or of falsity and of no faith

• all things that are a person’s own

• a state of no faith

Dawn

• A state of light, or of truth, and of the knowledges of truth.

• whatever with a person which is from the Lord

• a state where there is faith

• the coming of the Lord.

Now perhaps it is possible to grasp the answer to the question of how long the states of alternation will last - to the evening and the dawn, in other words, when one passes from a state of no faith, and a life according to one’s own selfishness, to a state in which truth rules completely. In this latter state one will live from the Lord, for the power of selfishness will have been destroyed, and the person will be free to draw from their conscience for spiritual leadership.

In the historical series this state is the end of the reign of Belshazzar and the subsequent leadership of Darius the Mede, for Darius, even though he ruled Babylon, and even though he was susceptible still to flattery, prised Daniel. In this reign Daniel became second only to the king himself, wielding real power. Thus we see the triumph of the conscience over selfishness.

One should not ignore the concept of time in this verse, however. The evening and morning would continue two thousand three hundred. As elsewhere the numbers are vitally important. Two thousand draws on two basic numbers: two and multiplies of ten. Two, as we have seen in earlier chapters, contains the concept of joining two things into a marriage or union ⁴⁰ . This conjunction, however, only comes about through states of conflict and toil ⁴¹ . The number “ten” represents states of completion and fullness.

The implication, therefore, is that these alternations of state will continue through the temptations of a person’s life until the state described as three hundred occurs. Again this number is a composite between “three” and multiples of ten. “Three” describes, as we have seen earlier, a state which is full and thus the beginning of a new state. Ten represents fullness.

The answer, therefore, as to how long alternations of state will last is that they will last until they have run their course, and the person is ready to put aside the evening states, and fully embrace the morning.

Here's a fourth set of verses:

15 Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.

16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision."

17 So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end."

18 Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright.

19 And he said, "Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be.

20 "The ram which you saw, having the two horns-- they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21 "And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king.

22 "As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.

23 "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.

24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; he shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; he shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.

25 "Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means.

26 "And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true; therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future."

The prophets of the Old Testament saw visions, but they had no idea what these visions meant. Daniel was no exception. He had seen a ram defeated by a goat, not an ordinary goat, but one with a “notable” horn. He must have grown increasingly puzzled as he watched the horn break and four lesser horns grow out of it. His puzzlement may have turned to fright and despair when he saw the power of the little horn as it grew towards the south and interfere with the daily sacrifices. He watched all if this, but didn’t understand what it meant.

He writes that he saw the vision, and was “seeking the meaning”, when the next vision broke upon him. This time he heard the voice of a man between the banks of the Ulai, and suddenly saw a man standing before him. He was afraid and fell on his face.

As in chapter seven, once again the vision is explained. In chapter seven, however, it is Daniel who asks for interpretation. In chapter eight the angel Gabriel is sent to explain it to him. The explanation in chapter seven is largely a reiteration of what Daniel had already seen. In chapter eight new information is introduced which leads to a deeper understanding.

Daniel begins by commenting that he wanted to understand the things he saw, and suddenly “there stood before him one having the appearance of a man”. In chapter seven we are not sure who Daniel asks, for he says he asked “one of them who were standing near” ⁴² . In this vision, however, it is very different. Daniel sees a man.

Remember that Daniel was in the citadel at Shushan, on the banks of the River Ulai when he sees this vision. As he saw the man so he heard a voice from between the banks of the Ulai river. Earlier it was noted that “rivers” refer to matters of truth and wisdom in a person. When describing the citadel at Shushan on the banks of the Ulai, it was pointed out that the river took its negative meaning, being the falsities which feed and protect the love of self.

However, each correspondence has both a positive and a negative correspondence. When the River Ulai is seen in context of the Babylonian palace, it makes sense to draw out the negative sense. Yet when the voice calls to the angel Gabriel from within the banks of the river, then one must assume a positive correspondence. In this context therefore, the river Ulai represents the wisdom of God being communicated to Daniel by means of the angel Gabriel.

Gabriel is mentioned four times in the Word, in Daniel chapters eight and nine, and twice in the Christmas story given in the book of Luke. Daniel refers to Gabriel as “the man Gabriel” who could fly swiftly (more about this in chapter nine), while in Luke Gabriel is clearly identified as an angel, who, as he said to Zacharias in the temple, stands in the presence of God.

In Hebrew the name “Gabriel” means a warrior, a valiant man, which is a very apt description of the angel. The Writings tell us that Gabriel was not a single angel, but the human appearance of an entire society or community of angels ⁴³ . The name given to the angel, is in accordance with the function he performs ⁴⁴ . Angels, or rather societies of angels in human form appeared to prophets to communicate Divine Truth to them ⁴⁵ . The Arcana Coelestia makes this point when it says:

Arcana Coelestia 8192: "'Angels' signify Divine truth, for the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven, consequently also the angels who constitute heaven; for in so far as they receive the Divine truth which is from the Lord, so far they are angels."

Apocalypse Explained 302: "A 'strong angel' signifies heaven because the whole angelic heaven before the Lord is as one man, or as one angel, likewise each society of heaven; therefore by 'angel' in the Word an angel is not meant, but an entire angelic society, as by 'Michael', 'Gabriel', 'Raphael'.

The truth Gabriel came to present to Daniel, therefore, was the meaning of the vision the prophet had just witnessed. As he approached Daniel, the latter was afraid and fell to his face. Here we have a response of the conscience when it is brought into close approximation to truth itself.

One must be wary of the trap of believing Daniel to be some disconnected observer of visions. The historical series in the first part of the book shows that this is not so. Daniel represents a person’s conscience, or the presence of truth guiding the human mind. Such a presence can never be simply neutral. The conscience plays a tremendous role in the way our minds develop, partly because it is through the conscience that we are able to understand the end result of selfishness and evil. The conscience reminds us of what good and truth really are, and how to come back into these states.

When we are in alternate states of evil, the conscience somewhat goes into abeyance, but it does not leave us, otherwise all our spiritual development would cease. Thus Daniel, while he watched the visions was seeing, correspondentially, the interaction of the conscience with the life of selfishness.

It is no surprise, therefore, that when the angel Gabriel, representing the Divine truth itself, came near to our human conscience, representing Daniel, that Daniel fell on his face. Symbolically this means the submission of the conscience to a higher authority - truth itself.

When a person is in a state of temptation, as is represented by this vision, it often appears that one’s knowledge and understanding of the Word disappears ⁴⁶ . This is the state represented by Daniel falling on his face in submission to a higher truth, and is later shown by his statement in the next verse that he “was in a deep sleep”, for, as we have seen earlier, sleep represents a state of spiritual obscurity.

Arcana Coelestia 1999: "True adoration, or humiliation of heart, carries with it prostration to the earth upon the face before the Lord, as a gesture naturally flowing from it. For in humiliation of heart there is the acknowledgement of self as being nothing but filthiness, and at the same time the acknowledgement of the Lord's infinite mercy toward that which is such; and when the mind is kept in these two acknowledgements, the very mind droops in lowliness toward hell, and prostrates the body; nor does it uplift itself until it is uplifted by the Lord. This takes place in all true humiliation, with a perception of being uplifted by the Lord's mercy."

It is part of the Lord’s mercy that He never leaves people in this state. The angel Gabriel, representing the power of the Lord’s truth, came to Daniel to begin the task of explaining what the vision meant. He begins by putting it into context: “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.” Notice that all the words of this statement are addressed to the understanding, the part of our minds which draws information from the Word, processes it into useful spiritual guidance. The conscience is the function of that truth in the understanding.

Thus the angel begins, “understand, son of man.” This latter phrase also speaks to the truth within us. Generally in the Word “sons” represent truths ⁴⁷ , while the “son of man” is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and received in our minds ⁴⁸ . Prophets were called “sons of men” because they represented the Lord in that they communicated His truth to the people of this world ⁴⁹ .

Thus when a person is in an state where the evil or selfish side of his or her personality is in ascendancy, and when our conscience has been set aside, the Lord lifts our minds to higher things. This is the dawn of the new state about to be break into our minds. The truth present with us comes forward to remind us of the presence of the Lord, and to reawaken our conscience and thus spur us on to resist the evil.

The angel reminds Daniel that this “vision refers to the time of the end”, the states when evils in our external man will finally be brought under control, and we will be freed from their influence ⁵⁰ . In places where the “time of the end” is referred to in the Word, it deals with “the consummation of the age is the last time of the church or its end”. Thus “end” represents a completion of a state, “when there is no Divine truth left except what has been falsified or set aside.” Using this concept, the angel’s words describing Daniel’s vision as a vision of “the end” refers to the final states of evil in a person before they are completely rejected and set aside. This idea is also contained in the opening words of the chapter, that Daniel saw this vision “in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar”.

That time, however, has not yet come. Daniel, flat on his face on the ground, and asleep, is touched by Gabriel, who stood him upright. In this new state, the explanation of the vision could begin.

Gabriel describes the dream in terms of the kings of the world. Thus the ram’s horns are the kings of Media and Persia. The goat is the kingdom of Greece, and the four horns coming from the broken “notable” horn are four kingdoms. The little horn growing to the south is a king with fierce features, “who understands sinister schemes”.

Over the centuries there have been many attempts to explain this vision in human and political terms, and in some ways the explanations often work. The kingdom of Media and Persia were in fact overrun by Alexander the Great, the Greek king. On his death his empire was divided into four regions. The king with the fierce features, then replaced them, and could be compared to the Roman Empire. This king would even rise against the “Prince of princes”, meaning that the Lord Himself would be put to death by the Romans. Finally however, the last king would be “broken without human means”, depicting the collapse of the Roman Empire ⁵¹ .

The difficulty with this interpretation of Gabriel’s words is that they do not really address the issues of the human soul. Perhaps historically this prophecy did come true in the events of the times, but the Lord is not concerned with temporal and political things. His concern is for the salvation of the human soul, and for this reason the Word is given to us. Each and every detail of the Word deals with, amongst other things, human salvation. It is necessary then to turn aside from political speculation and delve into the meanings given in the Writings.

Poznámky pod čarou:

624. Verse 11. And he said to me, Thou must again prophesy, signifies Divine command to still teach the Word. This is evident from the signification of "saying," when the angel speaks, by whom in this chapter the Lord in relation to the Word is represented, as being command, for what the Lord says is a command; also from the signification of "to prophesy," as being to teach the Word (of which presently). It is said he must still teach the Word, because such understanding of the Word as still remained in the church was explored, and it was found that the Word was delightful in respect to the sense of the letter, for this is signified by "the little book was in the mouth sweet as honey," "the little book" meaning the Word. It was commanded to still teach the Word in the church, because its end was not yet come. The end of the church is described by "the sounding of the seventh angel;" but here the state of the church next before the end is described by "the sounding of the sixth angel;" this state of the church is here treated of. Before the end, the Word when taught is still delightful to some, but not so in the last state of the church or its end, for then the Lord opens the interior things of the Word, which are undelightful, as has been said above in treating of the eating up of the little book and its making the belly bitter.

[2] Why the Word must still be taught although its interior truths are undelightful, and why the Last Judgment does not come until the consummation, that is, when there is no longer any good or truth remaining with the men of the church, is wholly unknown in the world, although known in heaven. The reason is that there are two classes of men upon whom judgment is effected; one class consists of the well-disposed, and the other of those who are not well-disposed. The well-disposed are the angels in the ultimate heaven, most of whom are simple, because they have not cultivated the understanding by interior truths, but only by exterior truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, according to which they have lived; for this reason their spiritual mind, which is the interior mind, was not indeed, closed, but neither has it been opened, as it is with those who have received interior truths in doctrine and in life; this is why they have become simple in respect to spiritual things, and are called well-disposed. But the ill-disposed are those who have lived outwardly as Christians but inwardly have admitted evils of every kind into the thought and into the will, so that while in the external form they appeared to be angels, in internal form they were devils. When such come into the other life they come into association for the most part with the well-disposed, that is, with the simple good who are in the ultimate heaven; for exterior things consociate, and the simple good are such that what appears in external form to be good they believe to be good, their thought not penetrating farther. These ill-disposed must be separated from the well-disposed before the Last Judgment comes, and also afterward and they can only be separated successively. This is why before the time of the Last Judgment the Word must still be taught, although interiorly, that is, in respect to its interiors, it is undelightful; and as these interior things are undelightful they do not receive them, but only such things from the sense of the letter of the Word as favor their loves and the principles derived from them, on account of which the Word in respect to the sense of the letter is delightful to them. It is therefore by means of these interior things that the well-disposed are separated from the ill-disposed.

[3] That for this reason the time is extended after the Last Judgment before the new church is fully established, is an arcanum from heaven which at this day cannot enter the understanding except with a few; yet this is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

The servants of the householder coming said unto him, Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then are these tares? And they said, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up at the same time the wheat with them. Let both, therefore, grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into the barn. He that hath sowed the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom; the harvest is the consummation of the age. As then the tares are gathered up and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the consummation of this age (Matthew 13:27-30, 37-43).

"The consummation of the age" signifies the last time of the church; that until then the well-disposed are not to be separated from the ill-disposed, because they are consociated by outward things, is signified by "lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up at the same time the wheat with them." (On this see the small work on The Last Judgment 70.)

[4] "To prophesy" signifies to teach the Word, because a "prophet" means in the highest sense the Lord in relation to the Word, and in a relative sense one who teaches the Word, but in an abstract sense the Word itself, and also doctrine from the Word. This a "prophet" signifies, therefore "to prophesy" signifies to teach the Word and doctrine from the Word. That such is the signification of "to prophesy" and "prophet" can be seen from passages in the Word where these are mentioned, understood in the spiritual sense, as in the following.

In Matthew:

Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I profess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Matthew 7:22, 23).

This treats of salvation, that one is saved not by knowing the Word and teaching it, but by doing it; for just before, it is said that those only will enter the kingdom of the heavens who do the will of God (verse Matthew 7:21); and just after, that he who hears the Lord's words and does them is a prudent man, but he who hears and does not is a foolish man (verses Matthew 7:24-27). This makes clear what these words mean, namely, that worship of the Lord by prayers and by words of the mouth only is meant by "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord;" and to teach the Word and doctrinals from the Word is meant by "have we not prophesied by Thy name?;" "name" signifying according to doctrine from the Word, and "to prophesy" to teach; "to cast out demons" signifies to deliver from falsities of religion, "demons" meaning the falsities of religion; "to do many mighty works" signifies to convert many. But because these works were done not for the Lord's sake, nor for the sake of truth and good and the salvation of souls, but for the sake of self and the world, thus only that they might appear in outward form, so in reference to themselves it was not good but evil that was done; this is meant by the Lord's saying "I know you not, ye that work iniquity." Doing such things does not appear to be working iniquity, and yet everything that a man does for the sake of self and of the world is iniquity, since there is in it no love of the Lord and of the neighbor, but only the love of self and the world; and his own love awaits everyone after death.

[5] In the same:

In the consummation of the age many false prophets shall arise and shall lead many astray. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22).

"False prophets" and "false Christs and false prophets" do not mean prophets in the common acceptation of the word, but mean all those who pervert the Word and teach falsities; such are also "false Christs," since "Christ" signifies the Lord in respect to Divine truths, so "false Christs" signify Divine truths falsified. "To show great signs and wonders" signifies the efficacy and power of falsities through confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word, and it is by this that signs and wonders are produced in the spiritual world; for the sense of the letter of the Word, however falsified, has power; respecting which wonderful things might be related. "The elect" signify those who are in spiritual good, that is, who are in the good of charity.

[6] In the same:

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Yea, whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward (Matthew 10:41, 42).

This no one can understand unless he knows what is signified by "prophet," "righteous man," "disciple," and "little ones," also by "receiving them in their name." "Prophet" in an abstract sense signifies the truth of doctrine, "disciple" the good of doctrine, "a righteous man" the good of life, and "to receive them in their name" signifies to receive these things from the love of them; thus, "to receive a prophet in the name of a prophet" signifies to love the truth of doctrine because it is truth, or to receive truth for its own sake; "to receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man" signifies to love good and to do it because it is good, thus to receive it from the Lord from love or the affection of the heart; for he who loves truth and good for their own sakes loves them from themselves, thus from the Lord from whom they proceed, and as he does not love them for the sake of self and the world, he loves them spiritually, and all spiritual love continues with man after death and gives eternal life. "To receive a reward" signifies to carry with oneself that love, and thus to receive the blessedness of heaven; "to give to drink to one of the little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple" signifies to love innocence from innocence, and from it to love good and truth from the Word and to teach them; "to give to drink a cup of cold water," signifies to love and teach from a little innocence, "little ones" signifying the innocent, and in an abstract sense innocence itself; "to give to drink a cup of cold water" signifies to teach from a little innocence, and "a disciple" the good of doctrine from the Lord; "to give water to little ones to drink" signifies to teach truth from spiritual innocence, and also to teach truths to the innocent. This is the spiritual interpretation of these words, and unless this is known who can know what is meant by "receiving a prophet and a righteous man in the name of a prophet and righteous man" and that "they shall receive the reward of a prophet and a righteous man"? "Reward" signifies love with its delights enduring to eternity.

[7] In the same:

Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see but have not seen them, and to hear the things which ye hear but have not heard them (Matthew 13:17).

"Prophets and righteous men" mean in the spiritual sense all who are in the truths of doctrine and in the good of life according to truths; and "to see and hear" signifies to understand and perceive, here interior truths proceeding from the Lord, for when man understands and perceives these and also does them, he is reformed. Interior truths proceeding from the Lord are meant, because the Lord, when He was in the world, disclosed such truths. In the sense of the letter this means to see and hear the Lord, but as the Lord is the Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church, and as in consequence all Divine truths are from the Lord, and the Lord Himself taught them, and continually teaches them by means of the Word, so "to see and hear the Lord" signifies to understand and perceive these.

[8] In Joel:

I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; that your sons and your daughters may prophesy, your old men dream dreams, and your young men see visions (Joel 2:28).

This is said of the Lord's coming, and of the perception of Divine truth by those who receive the Lord and believe in Him; the "spirit" that will be poured out upon all flesh signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for this is meant in the Word by the Holy Spirit; "to prophesy" signifies to understand and teach the truths of doctrine; "to dream dreams" signifies to receive revelation; and "to see visions" signifies to perceive revelation; "sons and daughters" signify those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good; "old men" signify those who are in wisdom, and "young men," those who are in intelligence.

[9] In Amos:

The Lord Jehovih doeth not a word without revealing His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion roareth, who will not fear? The Lord Jehovih hath spoken, who will not prophesy? (Amos 3:7, 8).

Here also "to prophesy" signifies to receive Divine truth and to teach it (but this may be seen explained above, n. 601.

"To prophesy" and "prophets" have a similar signification in the following passages in Revelation:

I will give unto My two prophets to prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth (Revelation 11:3).

Again:

The time of judging the dead, and of giving the reward to His ¹ servants the prophets (Revelation 11:18).

Again:

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

Again:

Be glad, O heaven, ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment (Revelation 18:20).

That here "prophets" mean those who are in the truths of doctrine, and in an abstract sense the truths of doctrine, and "to prophesy" means to receive and teach these, especially to teach about the Lord Himself, will be seen hereafter.

[10] In Amos:

Amos said to Amaziah, Jehovah took me from following the flock and said, Go, prophesy against My people Israel: and thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not against the house of Isaac. Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line (Amos 7:14-17).

"To prophesy against Israel, and to drop against the house of Isaac," signifies to refute those of the church who are in the falsities of evil, "to prophesy" signifying to teach and refute, and "Israel" and "the house of Isaac" signifying the church. Because the falsities of evil are what must be refuted, this is said to Amaziah, who represented the perverted church; "his wife shall be a harlot" signifies the falsification and adulteration of the Word; "his sons and daughters shall fall by the sword" signifies that the truths and goods of the church will be destroyed by the falsities of evil; and "the land shall be divided by line" signifies that the church and everything belonging to it will be scattered.

[11] In Hosea:

By a prophet Jehovah caused Israel to come up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he guarded. Ephraim hath provoked to anger with bitterness; therefore he shall leave his bloods upon him (Hosea 12:13, 14).

By the "prophet" here in the nearest sense Moses is meant, by whom Israel was led out of Egypt and afterwards guarded; but in the spiritual sense "prophet" means the Lord in relation to the Word, and "Israel" all those of the church who are in truths from good, and "Egypt" the natural man, which separated from the spiritual man is damned. Therefore "By a prophet Jehovah caused Israel to come up out of Egypt" signifies that the Lord leads out of damnation those who are in truths from good by means of the Divine truth, which is the Word, and guards them by means of it. "Ephraim hath provoked to anger with bitterness" signifies that they perverted the Word as to the understanding of it, "Ephraim" signifying the understanding of the Word, and "bitterness" perversions and falsities therefrom, from which is what is undelightful; "therefore he shall leave his bloods upon him" signifies damnation on account of the adulteration of the truth that is in the Word.

[12] In the same:

The days of visitation are come, the days of retribution are come; Israel, the foolish prophet, and the man insane of spirit, shall know it; this because of the multitude of iniquity and great hatred. Ephraim is a watchman with my God; but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God (Hosea 9:7, 8).

The "days of visitation and retribution" signify the days of the Last Judgment, when the evil suffer punishment, and this is retribution, which is always preceded by visitation; "Israel," "prophet," and "the man of spirit," do not mean Israel, prophet, and the man of spirit, but all those of the church who are in the falsities of evil and in the evils of falsity, and who teach these and confirm them by the sense of the letter of the Word. The falsities of evil are signified by "the multitude of iniquity," and the evils of falsity by "great hatred;" "Ephraim who is a watchman with God" signifies the understanding of the Word, and this is why he is called "a watchman with God;" but as those who are in the falsities of evil and in the evils of falsity pervert the understanding of the Word, and thus craftily lead astray, it is said "the prophet is the snare of a fowler, and hatred in the house of God."

[13] In Ezekiel:

Prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou to the prophets out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah; Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Woe unto the foolish prophets that go away after their own spirit, and after that which they have not seen! And My hand shall be against the prophets that behold vanity, and that divine falsehood (Ezekiel 13:2, 3, 9).

By "prophets" here and elsewhere in the Word are meant in the nearest sense such prophets as those were in the Old Testament through whom the Lord spoke; but in the spiritual sense those prophets are not meant, but all whom the Lord leads; with these also the Lord flows in and reveals to them the secrets of the Word, whether they teach or not; such, therefore, are signified by "prophets" in the spiritual sense. But "the prophets that prophesy out of their own heart, and go away after their own spirit, and who behold vanity and divine falsehood," mean all who are not taught and led by the Lord but by themselves, consequently they have insanity in place of intelligence, and folly in place of wisdom, for they have the love of self in place of the love to God, and the love of the world in place of the love to the neighbor, and from these loves falsities continually pour forth. From this it can be seen what these words signify in series.

[14] In Micah:

It shall be night unto you for vision, and darkness shall arise to you for divination; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall grow black over them (Micah 3:6).

"It shall be night unto you for vision" signifies that there shall be the understanding of falsity instead of the understanding of truth; "darkness for divination" signifies falsities instead of revealed truths; "the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day grow black over them," signifies that light shall no more flow in from the Lord out of heaven and enlighten, but thick darkness from the hells which shall darken the understanding.

[15] In many passages "prophets" are mentioned, and no one has had any other idea respecting them than that the prophets of the Old Testament, through whom the Lord spoke unto the people, and through whom He dictated the Word, are meant; but as the Word has a spiritual sense in each and every particular of it, therefore in that sense "prophets" mean all whom the Lord teaches, thus all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who love truth, because it is truth, for the Lord teaches these, and flows into their understanding and enlightens; and this is more true of these than of the prophets of the Old Testament, for they did not have their understanding enlightened, but the words they were to say or write they received merely by hearing, and did not even understand their interior sense, still less their spiritual sense. From this it can be seen that "prophets" mean in the spiritual sense all who are wise from the Lord; and this whether they teach or do not teach. And as every truly spiritual meaning is abstracted from the idea of persons, places, and times, so the "prophet" also signifies in the highest sense the Lord in relation to the Word, and as to doctrine from the Word, and likewise the Word and doctrine; and in the contrary sense "prophets" signify the perversions and falsifications of the Word and the falsities of doctrine. As this is what "prophets" signify in both senses, I will cite a few passages only in which prophets are mentioned, and in which they mean all who receive and teach the Word and doctrine, and in a sense separate from persons the Word and doctrine, and in the contrary sense those who pervert the Word and teach falsities of doctrine, and in an abstract sense the perversion of the Word and falsities of doctrine.

[16] In Isaiah:

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail; the old man and the honored of face he is the head; but the prophet, the teacher of a lie, he is the tail (Isaiah 9:14, 15).

In the same:

Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; your prophets and your heads, the seers, hath He covered (Isaiah 29:10).

In Jeremiah:

They have denied Jehovah when they said, It is not He, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword and famine. But the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them (Jeremiah 5:12, 13).

In the same:

I have sent unto them all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them (Jeremiah 7:25).

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts against the prophets, Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink waters of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is hypocrisy gone forth into all the land. Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they make you vain; they speak the vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah (Jeremiah 23:15, 16).

In the same:

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of an age prophesied over many lands and over great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet who prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass that prophet shall be known that God sent him (Jeremiah 28:8, 9).

In Matthew:

Woe unto you, hypocrites and Pharisees, because ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye witness against yourselves that ye are the sons of them that slew the prophets. I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some of them shall ye kill and crucify; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous even to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee (Matthew 23:29-37; Luke 11:47-51).

In these passages it seems as if "prophets" mean merely the prophets through whom Jehovah, that is, the Lord, spoke, consequently that by "slaying the prophets" the Lord simply meant their slaughter. But the Lord meant at the same time the slaughter and extinction of Divine truth that comes from the falsification and adulteration of the Word; for by a person and his function the thing itself which the person did and said is meant in the spiritual sense; thus a "prophet" means Divine truth or the Word and doctrine therefrom; therefore as the function of a person and the person are in effect one, so the thing itself that the prophet teaches is meant by "prophet." "To shed blood" also means to adulterate the truths of the Word; and as the Jewish nation was such it is said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee," these words meaning in the spiritual sense that such extinguish all Divine truth which they have from the Word.

[17] Because a "prophet" means Divine truth, which is the Word, and which is in the church from the Word, and this cannot be extinguished except by those who have the Divine truth of the Word, therefore the Lord said:

That it was not fitting for a prophet to perish out of Jerusalem (Luke 13:33).

"Jerusalem" meaning the church in respect to the doctrine of truth.

In the Word "priest and prophet" are also often mentioned, and "priest" means there one who leads men to live according to Divine truth, and "prophet" one who teaches it. In this sense "priest and prophet" are mentioned in the following passages. In Jeremiah:

The law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18).

In that day the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed (Jeremiah 4:9).

In Ezekiel:

They shall seek a vision from the prophet; but the law hath perished from the priest, and counsel from the elders. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with astonishment (Ezekiel 7:26, 27).

"Vision from the prophet" means the understanding of the Word; "law from the priest" the precepts of life; "counsel from the elders" wisdom therefrom. "King" and "princes" mean intelligence through truths from good; such is the spiritual meaning of these words.

[18] In Isaiah:

The priest and the prophet err through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they err among the seeing, they stumble in judgment (Isaiah 28:7).

In Jeremiah:

An astonishing and horrible thing has come to pass in the land; the prophets have prophesied a lie, and the priests bear rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so (Jeremiah 5:30, 31).

From the prophet even unto the priest everyone doeth a lie (Jeremiah 8:10).

When a prophet or a priest shall ask thee, saying, What is the prophetic saying of Jehovah? say unto them, I have abandoned you, and the prophet, and the priest (Jeremiah 23:33, 34).

In Zephaniah:

Her prophets are very light, men of treacheries; their priests profane what is holy; they violently wrest the law (Zephaniah 3:4).

In Jeremiah:

The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law have not acknowledged Me, and the prophets have prophesied by Baal, and have walked after those that do not profit. The houses of Israel are ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets (Jeremiah 2:8, 26);

not to mention many other passages where "prophets and priests" are mentioned together, and thereby "priests" are meant those who teach life, and lead to good, and by "prophets" those who teach truths which lead; but in an abstract sense "priests" and "the priesthood" mean the good of love, consequently the good of life, and "prophets" the truth of doctrine, consequently the truth that leads to the good of life; in a word, "prophets" must teach, and "priests" lead.

[19] In Zechariah:

In that day I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, that they may no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land; and it shall come to pass that when any man shall prophesy anymore, his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through. It shall come to pass in that day that the prophets shall be ashamed every man of his vision when they have prophesied, neither shall they wear a tunic of hair to dissemble; and he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a man that tilleth the ground, for a man sold me from boyhood (Zechariah 13:2-5).

This is said of the Lord's coming into the world, and of the abolition of representative worship and of the falsities with which the doctrine of the church then abounded; for the Jewish nation, with which the church was, placed all worship in externals, and nothing in internals, that is, nothing in charity and faith, which are internal, but in sacrifices, and in such things as are external, consequently their worship and doctrine consisted of mere falsities, and the nation itself, viewed in itself, was idolatrous. The abolition of such things by the Lord is described by these words of the prophet; therefore "I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, that they may no more be remembered," signifies the abolition of idolatrous worship, that is, of worship merely external without any internal; "I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land" signifies the abolition of the falsities of doctrine; "when they have prophesied anymore, his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live," signifies that the church to be instituted by the Lord, which shall be an internal church, shall completely extinguish the falsities of doctrine, if anyone shall teach them; "to prophesy" signifying to teach the falsities of doctrine, "father and mother," the church in respect to good and in respect to truth, "father," the church in respect to good, and "mother," the church in respect to truth, and "thou shalt not live" signifying to extinguish. The same is meant by "his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through." The abolition of the falsities of doctrine is meant also by "the prophets shall be ashamed, every man of his vision, neither shall they wear a tunic of hair to dissemble," "prophets" and "their vision" here also meaning the falsities of doctrine, and "to wear a tunic of hair to dissemble" signifying to pervert the external things of the Word such as are in the sense of its letter, for "tunic of hair" with the prophets represented the ultimate sense of the Word, the same as "the raiment of camel's hair" of John the Baptist. His saying "I am a man that tilleth the ground, for a man sold me from boyhood," signifies that this is the case with those of the Jewish Church, which was merely external, not internal, because of their being born in it, and consequently devoted to it.

[20] In Daniel:

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy city of holiness, to finish the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal up the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies (Daniel 9:24).

This is said of the Lord's coming, when iniquity is consummated, or when there shall be no longer any good or truth remaining in the church. "Upon the people and upon the city of holiness" signifies upon the church and its doctrine, which are then wholly vastated and extinguished. "To finish the transgression and to seal up sins" signifies when all in the church are in the falsities of doctrine and in evils in respect to life, for, as has been shown at the beginning of this article, the Lord's coming and the Last Judgment therewith do not take place until there is no longer any truth of doctrine or good of life remaining in the church, and this for the reason there mentioned, that the well-disposed may be separated from the ill-disposed. "To bring in the righteousness of the ages" signifies the Last Judgment, when everyone will be rewarded according to his deeds; "to seal up the vision and the prophet" signifies the end of the former church and the beginning of the new, or the end of the external church, which was representative of things spiritual, and the beginning of the internal, which is a spiritual church, "vision and the prophet" meaning the falsities of doctrine; and these same words signify also that the Lord will fulfill all things that are predicted of Him in the Word; "to anoint the holy of holies" signifies the glorification of the Lord's Human by union with the Divine Itself; it signifies also that all worship afterwards must be from love to Him.

[21] In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, I have set thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet (Exodus 7:1).

The Lord said to Moses, "I have set thee a god to Pharaoh," because Moses represented the Law, by which is meant the Divine truth, and this too is signified by "God" in the spiritual sense; for Moses received from the Lord's mouth the words that he was to say to Pharaoh, and he who receives these is called a "god;" this is why angels are called "gods," and thence also signify Divine truths. That Aaron was "his prophet" signifies that he taught the truth received by Moses and declared it to Pharaoh, for a "prophet," as has been said above, signifies one that teaches truth, and in an abstract sense the doctrine of truth. (But this may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 7268, 7269.)

[22] This is why the prophets of the Old Testament represented the Lord in relation to the doctrine of Divine truth, and the chief of them represented the Lord in relation to the Word itself, from which comes the doctrine of Divine truth, as Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist; and as the Lord is the Word, that is Divine truth, He Himself in the highest sense is called a "Prophet." As Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word:

Moses and Elijah appeared speaking with the Lord when He was transfigured (Matthew 17:3, 4; Mark 9:4, 5; Luke 9:30).

There "Moses and Elijah" mean the Word both historical and prophetical, "Moses" the historical Word, and "Elijah" the prophetical, and for the reason that when the Lord was transfigured He presented Himself in the form in which the Divine truth is in heaven. That Elijah represented the Lord as to the Word is evident from the miracles done by Him, all of which signified such things as belong to Divine truth or the Word; and as John the Baptist in like manner represented the Lord as to the Word he was called "Elijah," as can be seen in Malachi:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh; and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5, 6).

And it is openly declared:

That John was Elijah (Matthew 11:14; 17:10-12; Mark 9:11-13);

not that he was Elijah, but he represented something similar to that which Elijah represented, that is, the Word; and as the Word teaches that the Lord was to come into the world, and because, moreover, in each and all particulars in the inmost sense the Word treats of Him, therefore:

John was sent before Him to teach them that the Lord was to come (as m ay be seen Matthew 11:9, 10; Luke 1:76; 7:26).

[23] From this it can now be seen why the Lord is called a "Prophet," namely, because He was the Word, that is, Divine truth itself (as is evident from John 1:1, 2, 14). That the Lord is called a "Prophet" because He was the Word can be seen also in Moses:

Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. I will put My words in his mouth, that he may speak unto you all that I shall command him. The man who will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, of him I will require it (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

It is said that "Jehovah was to raise up a prophet like Moses," because Moses represented the Lord in relation to the Law, that is, the Word, as has been said above; therefore it is also said of Moses:

That Jehovah spake with him mouth to mouth, and not as with other prophets, by visions, dreams, and dark sayings (Numbers 12:1-8).

By this also the representation of the Lord by Moses is described; for the Lord from Jehovah, that is, from the very Divine that was in Him from conception, spoke with Himself; this is meant by "I will put My words in his mouth, that he may speak unto you all that I shall command him;" and this, too, was represented with Moses by "Jehovah spake with him mouth to mouth, and not as with other prophets." Again this is why:

The Lord is called a Prophet (Matthew 21:11; Luke 7:16; John 7:40, 41; 9:17).

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