337. And the kings of the earth and the great men, the rich men and the commanders, and the powerful, and every slave and every freeman. (6:15) This symbolizes those people who before the separation had possessed an understanding of truth and good, a knowledge of their concepts, and learning, acquired from others or on their own, and yet who lacked a life in accordance with them.

All these things are symbolized in turn by these classes of people, and this no one can know but one who knows what kings, great men, rich men, commanders, the powerful, and a slave and a freeman mean symbolically. In the spiritual sense kings symbolize people who possess truths; great men, people who possess good qualities; rich men, people who possess concepts of truth; commanders, people who possess concepts of goodness; the powerful, people who possess learning; slaves, people who acquire these things from others, thus as a matter of memory; and freemen, people who acquire these things on their own, thus with judgment.

It would take too long, however, to confirm from the Word that these are the symbolic meanings of all these designations. We have previously shown what kings symbolize, in no. 20; and what rich men symbolize, in no. 206. What great men symbolize is apparent in Jeremiah 5:5, Nahum 3:10, Jonah 3:7; for greatness is predicated of goodness (nos. 896, 898). And we will see below that the powerful and slaves and freemen are people who possess learning, acquired from others or on their own.

We say that they possess these things and yet lack a life in accordance with them, since evil people, even the worst of them, can have a knowledge and understanding of concepts of truth and goodness, and a great deal of learning as well. But because they lack a life in accordance with them, they do not really possess them. For whatever resides in the intellect alone, and is not present at the same in a person's life, does not exist in the person, being outside of him, as though in a forecourt. But whatever is present at the same time in a person's life exists in the person, being within him as though in the house. Consequently these people are preserved and the former rejected.

20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.