9011. 'I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee' means a state of blamelessness and so of freedom from punishment. This is clear from the meaning of 'a place' as a state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 3404, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381; and from the meaning of refuge, or a place to which one who killed another without premeditation or by chance might flee, as a state of blamelessness and so of freedom from punishment. For those who struck another by chance, that is, not from set purpose, thus not because of any previous contemplation of the deed or of an evil desire in the will, were not at all culpable. Therefore when they came to the place of refuge they were freed from punishment. By them were represented those who injure, but not from set purpose, someone's truths and forms of the good of faith and as a result wipe out his spiritual life; for their state is one of blamelessness and freedom from punishment. This is true of those who have thorough trust in their religion, which however is full of falsity, and who use what it teaches to reason against the truth and good of faith, and to do this convincingly, as conscientious and consequently zealous heretics are sometimes accustomed to do.

[2] The fact that they were represented [by those] who fled to places of refuge is clear in Moses,

You shall select suitable cities, which are to be cities of refuge for yourselves, so that one who strikes and kills a soul accidentally may flee there. If without premeditation, without enmity, he pushes him; or throws at him some implement without forethought; or [strikes him] with any stone from which he may die, while not seeing him, so that he causes it to fall onto him and he dies, though he was not his enemy and did not seek to harm him ... Numbers 35:11-12, 22-23.

And in the same author,

This is the case ¹ with one who kills, who shall flee there so that he may live, when he has struck his companion unwittingly, when he did not hate him previously ² - as when he goes with his companion into a forest to cut down timber, but when his hand with the axe in it is swung to cut down wood, the iron flies off the handle and hits his companion so that he dies, ³ he shall flee to one of these cities so that he may live. Deuteronomy 19:4-5.

[3] This describes the state of one blameless and freed from punishment, who through the falsities of faith which he had believed to be truths, or through factual knowledge based on the illusions of the senses, has injured someone, and so has done harm to his internal or spiritual life. To convey this meaning such an accident or chance is described by an implement of some kind, and by a stone which he causes to fall onto his companion so that he dies, and also by the axe or iron coming off its handle, while both were cutting down timber in the forest. The reason why such details are used to describe the matter is that 'an implement' means some known fact, and 'a stone' a truth of faith or in the contrary sense a falsity; and in like manner 'the iron of an axe' and 'cutting down timber' means to argue about what is good, using what one's religion teaches.

[4] Anyone may see that but for some hidden reason a killing that occurred accidentally would not have been described by the iron of an axe coming off its handle in a forest, for such an accident happens rarely, scarcely once in many years. But that accident has been described in such a way for the sake of the internal sense, which describes the harm done to a soul by another through the falsities of faith which, because his religion teaches them, he has believed to be truths. For anyone who causes harm through falsities which he believes to be truths does not do harm from set purpose or in spite of knowing better, because he acts in accord with his religious faith and therefore out of zeal. So that these things might be meant in the internal sense they are described, as has been stated, by those who kill companions accidentally, and by 'a stone', by 'cutting down wood in a forest', and by 'the iron of the axe coming off its handle onto a companion during the process'. For 'a stone' is a truth of faith in the natural man, and in the contrary sense a falsity, see 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 8941, and so is 'iron', 425, 426. 'The iron of the axe coming away from its handle' is truth separated from good, good being meant by 'handle' or 'wood', 643, 2812, 3720, 8354; 'cutting down wood' means placing merit in works, 1110, 4943, 8740; but 'cutting down timber in a forest' means discussing these and like matters, and also calling them into question; for 'a forest' means a religious system.

[5] Like matters are meant by 'cutting down timber in a forest with axes' in Jeremiah,

The mercenaries will go with strength, and they will come to her with axes, like those who cut down timber. They will cut down her forest, said Jehovah. Jeremiah 46:22-23.

Here 'cutting down timber in a forest' stands for acting in accord with false religious practices and destroying such things as constitute the Church. For the Church is called 'a forest', 'a garden', and 'a paradise'; it is called 'a forest' by virtue of its knowledge, 'a garden' by virtue of its intelligence, and 'a paradise' by virtue of its wisdom, 3220, 'trees' being perceptions of goodness and truth, and also cognitions or knowledge of them, 103, 2163, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7690, 7692. And since 'a forest' means the Church in respect of its knowledge, thus of its external aspects, it also means religious practices.

[6] The Church in respect of its knowledge or external aspects is also meant by 'a forest', or 'a wood', in David,

The field will be exultant and everything in it; then all the trees of the wood will sing. Psalms 96:12.

In the same author,

Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrathah; we found Him in the fields of the wood. Psalms 132:6.

These words refer to the Lord. In Isaiah,

The light of Israel will be a fire, and his Holy (One a flame. It will burn the glory of his forest, and his Carmel; it will consume from the soul even to the flesh. As a consequence the remaining trees of the wood will be [so small] a number that a child may write them down. He will cut down the entangled boughs of the forest with an axe, ⁴ and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isaiah 10:17-20, 34.

'The forest' stands for the Church in respect of its cognitions of truth, and 'Carmel' for the Church in respect of its cognitions of good, in the same way as 'Lebanon' and 'Hermon' do. 'The trees of the wood' stands, as above, for cognitions, and 'being a number that a child may write down' stands for the fewness of them, 'entangled boughs of the forest' standing for factual knowledge, 2831.

[7] In the same prophet,

You said, By the multitude of my chariots I will go up [to] the height of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon, where I will cut down the tallness of its cedars, the choice of its fir trees, After that I will come to its remotest height, ⁵ the forest of its Carmel. Isaiah 37:24.

In Jeremiah,

I will visit on you according to the fruit of your works, and I will kindle a fire in its forest. Jeremiah 21:14.

In Ezekiel,

Prophesy against the forest of the field towards the south, and say to the forest of the south, Behold, I will kindle in you a fire, and it will devour every tree. Ezekiel 20:46-47.

In Micah,

Guide ⁶ Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your inheritance inhabiting alone a forest in the midst of Carmel. Micah 7:14.

Does anyone fail to see that in these places a forest is not meant by 'a forest', nor Lebanon and Carmel, which were forests, by 'Lebanon' and 'Carmel', but that some aspect of the Church is meant? What aspect of the Church it is however has lain hidden up to now because the internal sense has lain hidden. But how astonishing that in a world so learned as Europe - more learned than all the other continents - where the Word exists, in every detail of which the internal sense is present, there is no awareness of that sense! Yet it was known to the ancients in Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, and Arabia, and from them in Greece, in whose books, symbols, and hieroglyphics such matters are still met with. The reason why awareness of that matter has perished is lack of belief that what is spiritual has any real existence.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3404. 'Isaac sowed in that land' means interior truths from the Lord as they appear to the rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'sowing' in the highest sense as Divine Truth from the Lord who is the Sower, 3038, and in the internal sense as the truth and good residing with a person, which stem from that Divine Truth, 3373; and from the meaning of 'land' as rational concepts which, when enlightened from the Divine, are appearances of truth, 3368, or what amounts to the same, are interior truths from the Lord as they appear to the rational. These appearances or truths belong on a higher degree, for as far as verse 14 it is these that are the subject in the internal sense. These appearances of truth are the kind that exist with angels, and are such as go immeasurably above anyone's understanding as long as he lives in the world.

[2] To make it clearer still what appearances of truth are, let the following example be added: It is well known that the Divine is infinite as regards Being (Esse) and eternal as regards Manifestation (Existere), and that what is finite is incapable of comprehending what is infinite, or indeed of comprehending what is eternal, since what is eternal is the Manifestation (Existere) of what is infinite. And because the Divine itself is infinite and eternal, so are all things which proceed from the Divine infinite and also eternal. And as those things are infinite angels are quite incapable of grasping them, for they too are finite beings. That being so, things that are infinite and eternal present themselves to angels within appearances that are finite, though within appearances such as are very far above the range of what man can comprehend. For example, man is quite incapable of possessing any idea of what is eternal except from what is temporal. And being incapable of having any idea other than this he is incapable of comprehending what 'from eternity' is and so what the Divine prior to the existence of time or creation of the world is. And as long as his thinking contains any idea at all that is formed from what is temporal, he slips inevitably, if he thinks about what is eternal, into errors from which he cannot be rescued. But the angels, whose ideas are not formed from anything temporal but from timeless state, are enabled to perceive it supremely well, for to them eternity is not eternity of time but eternity of state devoid of any idea of that which is temporal.

[3] From this one may see what the appearances existing with angels are like compared with man's, and how superior their appearances are to man's. For man cannot have one shred of thought, not even the least shred, that is not in some way temporal and spatial in origin, whereas angels' thought has no such origin at all. Instead their thought has its origin in timeless state, in which the being (esse) and the manifestation (existere) of things is the only consideration. These few comments show the nature of the appearances of truth which are the subject in these verses, and that these appearances belong to a higher degree. The verses that follow deal in order with the appearances of truth that belong to a lower degree which are also suitable to the human race.