Arcana Coelestia # 1071
1071. And he drank of the wine. That this signifies that he desired to investigate the things which are of faith, is evident from the signification of “wine.” The “vineyard” or the “vine” as has been shown, is the spiritual church, or the man of the spiritual church; the “grape” “bunches” and “clusters” are its fruit, and signify charity and what is of charity. But “wine” signifies the faith thence derived, and all things that belong to it. Thus the “grape” is the celestial of that church, and the “wine” is the spiritual of that church. The former, or the celestial, is of the will, as has been said before; the latter, or the spiritual, is of the understanding. That his “drinking of the wine” signifies that he desired to investigate the things of faith, and this by reasonings, is evident from his becoming drunken, that is, fallen into errors. For the man of this church had no perception, as had the man of the Most Ancient Church, but had to learn what was good and true from the doctrinal things of faith collected and preserved from the perception of the Most Ancient Church, which doctrinal things were the Word of the Ancient Church. Like the Word, the doctrinal things of faith were in many cases such as without perception could not be believed; for spiritual and celestial things infinitely transcend human apprehension, and hence arises reasoning. But he who will not believe them until he apprehends them, can never believe, as has been often shown before. (See n. 128-130, 195, 196, 215, 232, 233.)
[2] That “grapes” in the Word signify charity and what is of charity, and that “wine” signifies the faith thence derived and the things that belong to it, is evident from the following passages.
In Isaiah:
My beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil, and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (Isaiah 5:1-2, 4), where “grapes” denote charity and its fruits.
In Jeremiah:
Gathering I will gather them, saith Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree (Jeremiah 8:13), where the “vine” denotes the spiritual church; “grapes” charity.
In Hosea:
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree, at the beginning (Hosea 9:10).
“Israel” denotes the Ancient Church; “grapes” its being endued with charity. The sense is opposite when “Israel” denotes the sons of Jacob.
In Micah:
There is no cluster to eat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig. The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men (Micah 7:1).
“Cluster” denotes charity, or what is holy; “first-ripe fig” faith, or what is right.
[3] In Isaiah:
Thus saith Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it (Isaiah 65:8); where “cluster” denotes charity, and “new wine” the goods of charity and the truths thence derived.
In Moses:
He washed His garment in wine, and His vesture in the blood of grapes (Genesis 49:11); a prophecy relating to the Lord. “Wine” denotes the spiritual from the celestial, the “blood of grapes” the celestial relatively to spiritual churches. Thus “grapes” denote charity itself, “wine” faith itself.
In John:
The angel said, Put forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe (Revelation 14:18).
Here the subject is the last times when there is no faith, that is, when there is no charity; for faith is no other than of charity, and essentially is charity itself; so that when it is said that there is no longer any faith, as in the last times, it is meant that there is no charity.
[4] As “grapes” signify charity, so “wine” signifies the faith thence derived, for wine is from grapes. This will be evident from the passages already cited about the vineyard and the vine, and also from the following.
In Isaiah:
Gladness is taken away, and exultation, from Carmel; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither joyful noise; no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease (Isaiah 16:10),
meaning that the spiritual church, which is “Carmel” is vastated; “not treading out wine in the presses” means that there are no longer any who are in faith. Again:
The inhabitants of the earth are burned, and man shall be left feeble; the new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish; they shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it; there is a crying in the streets because of the wine (Isaiah 24:6-7, 9, 11).The subject here is the vastated church, and “wine” denotes the truths of faith, there held to be of no value.
In Jeremiah:
They will say to their mothers, where is the corn and the wine? when they faint as one wounded in the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:12).
“Where is the corn and the wine” signifies where is love and faith; the “streets of the city” signify here, as elsewhere in the Word, truths; “being wounded in them” signifies not to know what the truths of faith are.
[5] In Amos:
I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof (Amos 9:14).
This is said of the spiritual church, or “Israel” of which planting vineyards and drinking the wine thereof is predicated, when it becomes such as to have faith from charity.
In Zephaniah:
They shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof (Zephaniah 1:13; Amos 5:11).
Here is described the opposite condition, when the spiritual church is vastated.
In Zechariah:
They shall be as the mighty Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their sons shall see it and be glad (Zechariah 10:7); said of the house of Judah, that it should be such from the goods and truths of faith.
In John:
That they were not to hurt the oil and the wine (Revelation 6:6), meant that no injury is to be done to the celestial and the spiritual, or to what is of love and faith.
[6] As “wine” signified faith in the Lord, in the Jewish Church faith was represented in the sacrifices by a libation of wine (Numbers 15:2-15; 28:11-15, 18-31; 29:7-39; Leviticus 23:12-13; Exodus 29:40). Wherefore it is said in Hosea: The threshing-floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall deceive therein; they shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria; they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah, neither shall [their libations] be pleasing to Him (Hosea 9:2-4).
Here the subject is Israel, or the spiritual church, and those in it who pervert and defile the holy and true things of faith by desiring to investigate them by means of knowledges and reasonings. “Egypt” is memory-knowledge, “Assyria” reasoning, “Ephraim” one who reasons.
Isaiah 5
1
Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2
He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3
"Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5
Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.
6
I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."
7
For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
8
Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9
In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
11
Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
12
The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
13
Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
15
So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
16
but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17
Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
19
Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"
20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22
Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
23
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!
24
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore Yahweh's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.
26
He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29
Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.
30
They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
