THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 18

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation)

1. WOE to the land shadowing with wings! which is beyond the rivers of Cush;

2. Which sends ambassadors on the sea, and in vessels of rushes on the face of the waters : Go, you swift messengers, to a nation distracted and spoiled; to a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; a nation meted out by line, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

VERSES 1, 2. What is meant by "the land shadowing with wings", and "the land which the rivers have spoiled", no one can know, unless it be known that the "land" denotes the church, and that the "rivers" denote falsities. "The land shadowing with wings" is the church which is in thick darkness as to divine Truths; these are signified by [the darkening of] "wings", as may be seen above, Chapter 8:8, the Exposition; "beyond the rivers of Cush" [or Ethiopia] , signifies as to knowledges from the literal sense of the Word, which are falsified. "The nation trodden down, to which the messengers should go, whose land the ricers had spoiled", signifies those out of the church who are in falsities from ignorance; "rivers" denoting Truths of doctrine, and, in an opposite sense, falsities; that "the messengers should go to them", signifies that they should be invited, in order that the church may be amongst them. Apocalypse Explained 304.

"The land shadowing with wings" is the church, which by reasonings from scientifics darkens itself; "beyond the rivers of Cush", signifies knowledges by which it confirms its false principles; (see Apocalypse Explained 1164) "which sends ambassadors on the sea"; denotes to consult scientifics, signified by the "sea"; (see Arcana Coelestia 28) "in vessels of rushes on the face of the waters", which" vessels" signify the vilest [or most common] receptacles of Truth, [which are merely sensual ideas and conceptions.] Arcana Coelestia 6723.

That by "Cush" [or Ethiopia, ] are signified the interior knowledges of the Word, by which they confirm false principles, is evident from Jeremiah:

"Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; Cush and Puth, that handle the shield." (Jeremiah 46:8) Here "Egypt" stands for those who believe nothing [spiritual] except they understand it from scientifics; hence come all doubtful, negative, and false principles which is to "ascend", to "cover the earth", and to "destroy the city". "Cush" signifies the more universal or interior knowledges of the Word, by which false principles are confirmed; and " Puth " stands for knowledges from the literal sense of the Word, which are according to the appearances of the senses. Arcana Coelestia 1164

3. All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when the standard is lifted up on the mountains, behold! and when the trumpet is sounded, hearken!

Verse 3. By the "inhabitants of the world", and "dwellers on the earth", are signified all in the church who are in Goods and Truths, as above. The coming of the Lord is signified by "when the standard is lifted up on the mountains, behold! and when the trumpet is sounded, hearken! " "the standard upon the mouutains and the sounding of the trumpet" signifying convocation to the church. Apocalypse Explained 741.

As to the various meaning of a "standard", see above, Chapter 13:2, the Exposition.

4. For thus has Jehovah said unto me: I will sit still, and consider in My habitation; like the serene heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5. For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the blossom bas become a swelling grape, He shall cut off the shoots with pruninghooks, and the branches lIe shall take off, He shall cut away.

Verse 4. The "cloud of dew" signifies Truth from Good fructifying. Apocalypse Explained 594.

"Like the serene heat in the sunshine, and like the heat of harvest." These words, as the planting of a New Church is treated of, stand for love and charity. Arcana Coelestia 934.

6. They shall be left together to the bird of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the bird shall abhor it; and every beast of the earth shall despise it.

Verse 6. Speaking of "the land shadowed with wings", by which is understood the church, which, from the obscurity in which it is, catches at imaginary things for spiritual Truths, and thence, by reason of ignorance, comes into the negation thereof. By "birds and beasts" are also here signified thoughts of Truth-and affections of Good, as well- rational as natural, which are said to "abhor and despise it" [such a state of the church]; that such "abhorring and despising" cannot be predicated of birds and beasts, is manifest, but of the affections of Good and thoughts of Truth, that is, of those that are in them, Apocalypse Explained 650.

7. At that time shall a gift be brought to Jehovah of Hosts, from a people distracted and spoiled; and from a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; a nation meted out by line, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled; to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts, to the mountain of Zion.

Verse 7. The subject here treated of is concerning the invitation of all to the church, wherefore also "people" and "nation" are named. "The mountain of Zion" signifies the church, to which they are invited; by "a people distracted and spoiled", are signified those with 'whom truths are taken away, altered, or perverted by those who are in falsities of doctrine; by "a nation meted out by line, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled", are signified those with whom goods are treated in like manner :

"rivers" denoting falsities and reasonings from them. Apocalypse Explained 33.

By offering a "gift" on the altar, is signified all Divine Worship, by reason that Divine Worship, with the Jewish nation, consisted principally in offering burnt-offerings and sacrifices [as gifts]; by which were therefore signified all things of Worship, H. D. N. J. 214, 221.

Worship does not consist in prayers, and in external devotion, but in a life of charity; prayers are only its externals, for they proceed from man by [or through] his mouth; wherefore such as the man is as to life, such are his prayers. It is of no consequence that he puts himself in a posture of humility, kneeling on his 'knees, and groaning when he prays, for these are external things; and unless external things proceed from internal, they are only gestures and sounds without life, There is an affection in every single thing which man speaks, and every man, spirit, and angel is his own affection, for the affection of each is his life; it is the affection itself which speaks, and not the man without it; wherefore, such as the affection is, such is. the prayer. Spiritual affection is what is called charity towards the neighbour; in that case there is true worship; prayer is what proceeds from it.

Hence it may be manifest that the essential of worship is a life of charity, and its instrumental is gesture and prayer; or that the life of charity is the primary of worship, and prayer is its secondary. From which consideration it is evident that they who place all Divine Worship in oral piety, and not in actual piety, are in a great error. Actual piety consists in acting from a principle of sincerity and rectitude, and from a principle of justice and equity in every work and in every function, and this because it is commanded by the Lord in the Word; for thus man in all his works has respect to heaven and to the Lord, with whom he is thereby conjoined. But to act with sincerity and rectitude, with justice and equity, merely from the fear of the law, or the loss of reputation, of honour, and of gain, without at all thinking of the Divine Law, of the precepts of the Word, and of the Lord, and yet to pray devoutly in temples, is external piety, which, howsoever holy it appears, is still not piety, but is either hypocrisy, or is some pretence derived from habit, or is something persuasive grounded in a false principle that Divine Worship consists in that alone; for it does not look to heaven and to the Lord with the heart, but only with the eyes, the heart looks to self and the world, and the mouth speaks from habit of the body alone and its memory; by such worship man is conjoined to the world and not to heaven, and to self and not to the Lord. Apocalypse Explained 325.

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Isaiah Chapter 18

1. WOE to the land shadowing with wings! which is beyond the rivers of Cush;

2. Which sends ambassadors on the sea, and in vessels of rushes on the face of the waters : Go, you swift messengers, to a nation distracted and spoiled; to a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; a nation meted out by line, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3. All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when the standard is lifted up on the mountains, behold! and when the trumpet is sounded, hearken!

4. For thus has Jehovah said unto me: I will sit still, and consider in My habitation; like the serene heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5. For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the blossom bas become a swelling grape, He shall cut off the shoots with pruninghooks, and the branches He shall take off, He shall cut away.

6. They shall be left together to the bird of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the bird shall abhor it; and every beast of the earth shall despise it.

7. At that time shall a gift be brought to Jehovah of Hosts, from a people distracted and spoiled; and from a people terrible from the first, and hitherto; a nation meted out by line, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled; to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts, to the mountain of Zion.

1165. Verse 16. And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, signifies lamentation over their doctrine and religious persuasion, as is evident from the explanation of like words above (n. 1134). "Woe, woe," signifies lamentation when it is said, "Woe that city," but it signifies cursing when it is said, "Woe to that city."

(Continuation)

Let experience testify further on this subject. The quality of all who come from the earth into the spiritual world is known from their ability or inability to resist evils as if from themselves. Those who are able to do this are saved, while those who are not able are not saved. The reason is that man is not able to resist evils from himself, but only from the Lord; for it is the Lord who resists evils in man and gives man to feel and perceive as if he does it from himself. Therefore those in the world who have acknowledged the Lord, and have acknowledged that all good and truth are from Him, and that nothing is from man, and thus that power over evils is from the Lord, and not from themselves, such resist evils as if from themselves. But those who have not acknowledged this in the world are unable to resist evils as if from themselves, for such are in evils and in the delight of evils from love; and to resist the delight of love is the same as resisting themselves, their own nature, and their own life. An experiment was made whether such were able to resist evils when the punishments of hell were described to them, and even when those punishments were seen and were felt; but it was in vain; for they hardened their minds, saying, Let this be so, and let it come, but so long as I am here let me be in the pleasures and joys of my heart. The present I know; what is to come I give no thought to; no more evil will come to me than to very many others. Such when their time is fulfilled are cast into hell; and there they are compelled by punishments to refrain from doing evil; but punishments do not take away the will, intention, and consequent thought of evil; they merely take away the acts. All this makes clear that the power to resist evils is not from man, but is from the Lord with those who acknowledge Him, and that the Lord causes it to appear as if done by man.