4335. That in the Word by “those who grind” are meant those within the church who are in truth from the affection of good, and in the opposite sense those within the church who are in truth from the affection of evil, may be seen from the following passages.
In Isaiah:
Come down, and sit upon the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit in the earth, there is not a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; take a millstone and grind meal, uncover thy hair, make bare the foot, uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers (Isaiah 47:1-2
the “daughter of Babylon” denotes those whose externals appear holy and good, but their interiors are profane and evil (n. 1182, 1326); the “daughter of the Chaldeans,” those whose externals appear holy and true, but their interiors are profane and false (n. 1368, 1816); “to take a millstone and grind meal” denotes to hatch doctrinal things from the truths which they pervert; for as meal is from wheat or barley, it signifies truths from good, but in the opposite sense truths which they pervert in order to mislead.
In Jeremiah:
I will destroy from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp; and this whole land shall be for a waste and a desolation (Jeremiah 25:10-11).
[2] And in John:
Every craftsman of every craft shall not be found in Babylon any more, every voice of the millstone shall not be heard therein any more; and the light of a lamp shall not shine therein any more; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall not be heard therein any more (Revelation 18:21-23);
“the voice of a millstone being heard no more in Babylon” denotes that there will be no truth; and “the light of a lamp shining no more,” that there will be no intelligence of truth.
In Lamentations:
They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah; princes were hanged up by their hand, the faces of the old men were not honored; the young men were carried away to grind, and the children fall in the wood (Lam. 5:11-14);
“the young men being carried away to grind” denotes to hatch falsities by applying truths, and thus persuading.
[3] In Moses:
Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mills (Exodus 11:5).
The “firstborn of Egypt” denotes the truths of faith separated from the good of charity, which truths become falsities (n. 3325); the “firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mills” denotes the affection of such truth, whence come falsities. These things were represented by these historicals.
[4] In the same:
He shall not take in pledge the mills or the millstone, for they are the soul of him that pledgeth (Deuteronomy 24:6).
This law was enacted because by “mills” were signified doctrinal things, and by a “millstone,” the truths thereof, which are what are called the “soul of him that pledgeth.” It is manifest that this law would not have been given, nor would it have been said that it was his “soul,” unless mills and a millstone had a spiritual signification.
[5] That grinding derives its signification from representatives that come forth in the world of spirits, has been shown me; for I have seen there those who were as if grinding without any end of use, and merely for their own pleasure. And as in such a case truths are devoid of their own affection from good, they do indeed appear as truths in the outward form; but as there is no internal in them, they are phantasms; and if there is an evil internal, they are then employed to confirm the evil; and thus by application to evil they become falsities.
