9348. 'For it will be a snare to you' means owing to evils that are enticing and deceptive. This is clear from the meaning of 'a snare', when it has reference to evils, as enticement and deception. The reason why evils are enticing and deceptive is that all evils spring from self-love and love of the world, 9335, and self-love and love of the world are born together within a person. These are the source of what the person feels as the delight of his life right from when he is first born; indeed the life that is his comes from them. Those loves therefore, like the hidden currents in a river, are constantly drawing the person's thought and will away from the Lord to self, and away from heaven to the world, thus away from the truths and forms of the good of faith to falsities and evils. At this time reasonings based on the illusions of the senses are especially predominant, and also the literal sense of the Word wrongly explained and used.

[2] These two things are what 'snares', 'traps', 'pits', 'nets', 'ropes', 'fetters', and also 'pretences' and 'deceits' are used to mean in the spiritual sense of the Word, as in Isaiah,

Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. Consequently it will happen, that he who is fleeing from the sound of terror will fall into the pit, and he who is climbing out of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the floodgates from on high have been opened, and the foundations of the earth have been shaken. Isaiah 24:17-19.

And in Jeremiah,

Fear, the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab. He who flees from the fear will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare. Jeremiah 48:43-44.

'Terror' and 'fear' are the disturbance and commotion in the mind when it is held fast between evils and forms of good, and consequently between falsities and truths. 'The pit' is falsity created by reasonings based on the illusions of the senses to lend support to delights that are attributable to self-love and love of the world; 'the snare' is the enticement and deception of evil that results from it.

[3] In Isaiah,

They will go and stumble ¹ backwards, and be broken, and snared, and caught. Isaiah 28:13.

'Falling backwards' stands for turning oneself away from goodness and truth; 'being broken' stands for dispensing with truths and forms of good; 'being snared' stands for being enticed by the evils of self-love and love of the world; and 'being caught' stands for being carried away by them.

[4] In Ezekiel,

The mother of the princes of Israel is a lioness. One of her cubs learned to seize prey; he devoured men (homo). The nations heard about him; he was caught in their pit, and they led him away with hooks to the land of Egypt. Later on he ravished widows ² and devastated cities; the land and its fullness was desolated by the sound of his roaring. Therefore the nations from the provinces round about lay in ambush against him, and spread their net over him; he was caught in their pit. They put him in a cage with hooks, and led him to the king of Babel; [they led him away] in nets, that his voice should no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 19:2-4, 7-9.

This describes the profanation of truth in successive stages by the enticements of falsities arising from evils. 'The mother of the princes of Israel' is the Church where primary truths are, 'the mother' being the Church, see 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581, 8897, and 'the princes of Israel' primary truths, 1482, 2089, 5044. 'A lioness' is falsity that arises from evil and that perverts the Church's truths; 'a lion's cub' is evil in its power, 6367. 'Seizing prey' and 'devouring men' mean destroying truths and forms of good, for 'man' is the Church's good, 4287, 7424, 7523. 'The nations' are evils, 1259, 1260, 1849, 2588 (end), 4444, 6306. 'A pit', in which the nations caught him, is falsity arising from evil, 4728, 4744, 5038, 9086. 'The land of Egypt', to which he was led away with hooks, is factual knowledge through which falsity comes, 9340. 'Ravishing widows' means perverting forms of good which have the desire for truth, for 'ravishing' means perverting, 2466, 2729, 4865, 8904, and 'widows' forms of good that have the desire for truth, 9198, 9200. 'Devastating cities' means destroying the Church's teachings that present the truth, 402, 2268, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4478, 4492, 4493. 'Desolating the land and its fullness' means destroying all things of the Church, 9325. 'The sound of the lion's roaring' is falsity. 'Spreading a net over him' means enticing by means of delights belonging to earthly kinds of love and by means of reasonings attributable to them. 'Leading away to the king of Babel' is the profaning of truth, 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1322, 1326.

[5] The fact that such things do not happen when a person does not love self and the world above all things is described in the following manner in Amos,

Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth if there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth if it has certainly not caught [anything]? Amos 3:4-5.

[6] It is evident to anyone that 'a snare' in the spiritual sense means enticement and deception effected by means of the delights of self-love and love of the world, thus the enticement and deception of evils, which operate through reasonings that are based on the illusions of the senses and lend support to those delights. For the ensnarement and capturing of people is brought about by nothing else. When the devil's crew makes its attack on a person it concentrates on his loves, which they charm in every way until they have captivated him; and when he has been captivated that person reasons from falsities against truths, and from evils against forms of good. Yet he does not remain content to do that; he also takes delight in snaring others and enticing them towards falsities and evils. The reason why he also takes delight in doing this is that he too is now one of the devil's crew.

[7] Since 'a snare', 'a trap', and 'a net' mean such things they also mean the destruction and so annihilation of spiritual life; for the delights belonging to those loves are what destroy it and annihilate it, since those loves, as stated above, are the source from which all evils spring. From self-love springs disdain for others in comparison with self, then mockery and denigration of them, followed by enmity if they disagree with oneself, and finally by the delight that goes with hatred, vengeance, and so with inhumanity, indeed barbarity. This love in the next life rises to such a height that unless the Lord shows such people favour and grants them dominion over others, they are not only disdainful of Him but also mock the Word which speaks of Him. At length they are stirred by hatred and vengeance to act against Him; and insofar as they are unable to do so they carry out their hatred and vengeance with inhumanity and barbarity against everyone who confesses Him. All this shows where the essential nature of the devil's crew springs from, namely from self-love. Therefore since 'a snare' means the delight of selfish and worldly love, it means the destruction and annihilation of spiritual life; for the whole of love and faith to the Lord, and the whole of love towards the neighbour are destroyed by the delight of selfish and worldly love where it reigns supreme; see the places referred to in 9335.

[8] The fact that those loves are the origins of all evils, that hell arises from them and lies within them, and that those loves are the fires of hell is not known in the world at the present day. Yet people could have known this from the consideration that those loves are the opposites of love towards the neighbour and love to God, and the opposites of humility of heart, and from the consideration that from those loves alone spring all disdain, all hatred, all vengeance, and all inhumanity and barbarity, as anyone may realize who gives any thought to the matter.

[9] The fact that 'a snare' therefore means the destruction and annihilation of spiritual life is evident from the following places: In David,

Jehovah will rain on the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone. Psalms 11:6.

'Fire and brimstone' are the evils of selfish and worldly love. For this meaning of 'fire', see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9144, and for 'brimstone', 2446, from which it is evident what 'snares' mean. In Luke,

... lest that day comes on you suddenly, ³ for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Luke 21:34-35.

This refers to the last phase of the Church, when there is no faith because there is no charity, since self-love and love of the world will reign. This is followed by annihilation, which is meant by 'a snare'. In Jeremiah,

Among My people are found wicked ones. They keep watch, like fowlers laying [snares]; they set a gin to catch human beings. Jeremiah 5:26.

In David,

Those seeking my life ⁴ lay snares, and those seeking my hurt speak of ways to annihilate, and contemplate deceits all the day. Psalms 38:12.

In the same author,

Keep me from the hands of the trap they have set for me, and from the snares of the workers of iniquity. Let them fall into their own nets, ⁵ the wicked together, until I pass by. Psalms 141:9-10.

In Isaiah,

He will be as a sanctuary, though He will be as a stone to strike against and as a rock to stumble over, ⁶ for both houses of Israel; He will be as a snare and as a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many among them will trip, and fall, and be broken to pieces, and be snared and caught. Isaiah 8:14-15.

This refers to the Lord. 'A stone to strike against' and 'a rock to stumble over' stand for stumbling blocks that are laid; and 'a snare' and 'a trap' for the annihilation accomplished by those who attack and try to destroy truths and forms of the good of faith in the Lord by means of falsities that lend support to self-love and love of the world. For to all proud people the very fact that the Divine appeared in a human form, and that He did so not in royal majesty but in a guise that was despised, is not only a stumbling block but also a snare.

From all this it is now evident that 'it will be a snare' means the enticement and deception of evils, and consequent annihilation, as in other places in Moses,

... lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land onto which you will come, lest it becomes a snare in your midst. Exodus 34:12.

In the same author,

You shall not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. Deuteronomy 7:16.

In the same author,

Beware lest perhaps you are ensnared to follow ⁷ the nations, and lest perhaps you inquire after their gods. Deuteronomy 12:30.

'The nations' are evils and the falsities arising from them.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6306. 'Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite' means because of the victory over evil. This is clear from the representation of 'the Amorite' as evil, dealt with in 1857; and from the meaning of 'taking out of the hand' as acquiring through victory. As regards 'the Amorites', it should be recognized that they mean evil, just as 'the Canaanites' and all the other nations in the land that are mentioned in the Word mean various kinds of evil and also of falsity. Such things were represented by the nations when the children of Israel were taking possession of the land of Canaan. The reason for this was that whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven those nations represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life. Also, because the nations represented the things of hell they were utterly destroyed; and entrance into any treaty with those who might remain was forbidden.

[2] The action of the children of Israel, of their taking possession of and dwelling in the land of those who represented the hells, was representative. It represented what happened around the time of the Lord's Coming, when spirits from hell had possession of a large part of heaven but He, by coming into the world and making the human within Himself Divine, cast them out of there and down into hell, and thereby delivered heaven from them, which He then gave as an inheritance to those who belonged to His spiritual kingdom.

[3] The representation of the Amorite nation as evil in general is evident from the places where it is referred to, as in Ezekiel, Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, ¹ Your tradings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3, 45.

'Father' in the internal sense means the Church's good, or in the contrary sense evil, and 'mother' means the Church's truth, or in the contrary sense falsity; and this is why it is said, 'Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite'.

[4] In Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. Amos 2:9-10.

Here also 'the Amorite' stands for evil, for the evil of self-love is described by 'the height of the cedars' and 'the strength of an oak'. The reason why 'the Amorite' means evil in general is that the entire land of Canaan was called 'the land of the Amorite'; for it says, 'I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite'. In addition the second Book of Kings says,

Manasseh king of Judah did what was evil, greater than all the evil which the Amorites did, who were before him. 2 Kings 21:11.

[5] 'With my sword' means through truth engaged in conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'sword' as truth engaged in conflict, dealt with in 2799, 4499.

'And my bow' means received from doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'bow' as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709.

[6] The words used here, 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were, it is quite evident, uttered by Israel on account of the internal sense; for Jacob did not take that portion from the Amorite with sword or bow. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, as is evident from Genesis 33, where these words occur, Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city. And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Genesis 33:18-19.

The fact that this field was the portion he gave to Joseph is clear in Joshua,

The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs; and they had become an inheritance for the children of Joseph. Joshua 24:32.

From this it is evident that the portion had been bought, and that this is what was given to Joseph. Nor was the city of Shechem nearby meant, the city in which Simeon and Levi killed every male and which they took with the sword, Genesis 34. This is made clear by the fact that Jacob detested what they did and for that reason cursed Simeon and Levi, completely dissociating himself from the crime. He said,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard. ² I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

From all this it may now be seen that the words 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were uttered by him, when the spirit of prophecy rested on him, for the sake of the internal sense.

Poznámky pod čarou: