9595. 'Ten curtains' means all the truths of which it consists. This is clear from the meaning of 'ten' as all, dealt with in 4638, so that 'a tenth part', which is one curtain, means a sufficient amount, 8468, 8540; and from the meaning of 'curtains' as the interior truths of faith which belong to the new understanding. For 'the dwelling-place' means the middle or second heaven, which is heaven by virtue of its reception of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, as shown above in 9594; consequently the curtains of which it was assembled and which enveloped it are the truths of faith belonging to the new understanding. They are interior truths, because exterior truths are meant by the curtains made from [the hair of] goats for the tent going all the way round, which are also dealt with in the present chapter.

[2] The fact that 'curtains' are the truths of faith which those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom possess is clear from places in the Word where they are mentioned, as in Isaiah,

Sing, O barren one that did not bear; for the sons of her that is desolate will be more than the sons of her that is married. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Lengthen the ropes, because you will break out to the right and to the left, and your seed will inherit the nations. Isaiah 54:1-3.

This refers to the Church to be established among the gentiles, which is called 'a barren one that did not bear' because it lacks truths from the Word, 9325. It says that 'her sons will be more than those of her that is married' because it will have more truths than the devastated former Church had; for 'sons' are truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 3373, 3704. 'Enlarging the place of the tent' stands for the holiness of worship springing from the good of love, 3312, 4391, 4599, 'stretching out the curtains of dwelling-places' for the holiness of worship springing from the truths of faith.

[3] In Jeremiah,

The whole land has been laid waste. Suddenly My tents have been laid waste, My curtains in a moment. Jeremiah 4:20.

'A land laid waste' stands for the Church, 9325, 'tents laid waste' for the holiness of worship springing from the good of love, 'curtains laid waste' for holy worship springing from the truths of faith.

[4] In the same prophet,

My tent has been laid waste, and all My ropes torn away. My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. There is no one stretching out My tent any more, and setting up My curtains. For the shepherds have become stupid. Jeremiah 10:20-21.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

Arise and go up against Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents and flocks, their curtains and all their vessels, and bear their camels away for themselves. Jeremiah 49:28-29.

'Arabia' and 'the sons of the east' stand for those with cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, 3249; 'taking tents and flocks' stands for taking the Church's forms of interior good, 8937, 'taking curtains' for taking the Church's interior truths, 'their vessels' the Church's exterior truths, 3068, 3079, 'camels' general facts, 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. In Habakkuk,

Below Aven I saw the tents of Cushan; the curtains of Midian shook. Habakkuk 3:7.

'The curtains of Midian' stands for the truths with those governed by simple good, 3242, 4756, 4788, 6773, 6775.

[5] All this shows what is meant by the following in David,

O Jehovah, You have put on glory and honour - He who covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. Psalms 104:1-2.

'Covering Himself with light, as if with a garment' stands for Divine Truths. Truth is meant by 'light', see 9548, and also by 'a garment', 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 9093, 9212, 9216; therefore 'stretching out the heavens like a curtain' means enlarging the heavens by means of an influx of God's truth, from which come intelligence and wisdom. 'Stretching and spreading out the heavens' has reference to the new or regenerated understanding part of the mind, see at the end of the very next paragraph, 9596.

1327. 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth' means the state of this Ancient Church, that internal worship started to perish. This is clear from the fact that the phrase used is 'the lip of the whole earth' and not, as previously in verse 7, the lip of those who started to build a city and a tower. 'The face of the whole earth' means the state of the Church since 'the earth' is the Church, as shown already in 662, 1066. The story of the Churches after the Flood is as follows: There were three Churches which receive specific mention in the Word - the first Ancient Church which took its name from Noah, the second Ancient Church which took its name from Eber, and the third Ancient Church which took its name from Jacob, and subsequently from Judah and Israel.

[2] As regards the first Ancient Church, that called Noah, this was the parent so to speak of those that followed, and as is usually the case with Churches in their earliest phases, it was more untarnished and innocent, as is also clear from verse 1 of this chapter which says that it had one lip, that is, one doctrine. That is to say, everyone regarded charity as the essential. But in the course of time, as usually happens to Churches, that Church also started to decline, chiefly because many people started to divert worship to themselves so as to set themselves above others, as is clear from verse 4 above - 'they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves'. In the Church such people were inevitably like some fermenting agent, or like firebrands that start a fire. When the danger of profaning what is holy was consequently near at hand, referred to in 571, 582, the state of this Church was, in the Lord's Providence, altered. That is to say, its internal worship perished but its external worship remained, which here is meant by the statement that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth'. From this it is also clear that the kind of worship called Babel was not prevalent in the first Ancient Church but in those that followed when people started to be worshipped in place of gods, especially after they had died. This was the origin of so many pagan deities.

[3] The reason internal worship was allowed to perish and external remain was to prevent what is holy being profaned. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal condemnation with it. Nobody is able to profane what is holy unless he possesses cognitions of faith and also acknowledges them. Anyone who does not possess them cannot acknowledge them, still less profane them. It is internal things which may be profaned, for it is in internal things, not external, that holiness resides. The situation is similar with someone who does evil but does not have evil in mind. The evil he does cannot be attributed to him any more than to someone who does not deliberately intend evil, or to anyone devoid of rationality. Thus anyone who does not believe in the existence of a life after death, but who nevertheless has external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life because he does not believe that they exist. The situation is different with those who do know and acknowledge them.

[4] This too is why a person is allowed rather to live engrossed in lusts and pleasures, and so to isolate himself from internal things, than to enter into a knowledge and acknowledgement of internal things and so profane them. The Jews of today therefore are allowed to immerse themselves in avarice so that in this way they may be removed from an acknowledgement of internal things, for they are the kind of people who, if they acknowledged them, would inevitably profane them. Nothing does more to isolate a person from internal things than avarice, for this is the lowest of all earthly desires. The same applies to many inside the Church, and to gentiles outside, though gentiles, least of all people, are able to profane anything. This then is the reason for the statement here that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth', and the reason why these words mean that the state of the Church was altered, that is to say, its worship became external, having no internal worship within it.

[5] The same situation was represented and meant by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and later on the Jews, were carried away. This is spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,

And there will be a nation and a kingdom that will not serve the king of Babel, and who will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babel. With the sword and famine and pestilence I will visit this people, until I have consumed it by his hand. Jeremiah 27:8 and following verses.

'Serving the king of Babel and putting its neck in his yoke' is being utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgement of the good and the truth of faith, and so of internal worship.

[6] The point is clearer still in the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah to all the people in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity, thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs. Jeremiah 29:16-17.

'Remaining in the city and not going out to the king of Babel' represented and meant people who possessed the cognitions of internal things, that is, of the truths of faith, and who profaned them - people on whom, it is said, He was sending 'the sword, famine, and pestilence', which are forms of punishment for profanation, and whom He was making 'like rotten figs'.

[7] That 'Babel' means people who deprive others of all knowledge and acknowledgement of truth was also represented and meant by the following words in the same prophet,

I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will carry them off to Babel, and will smite them with the sword. And I will give over all the wealth of this city, and all its labour, and all its precious things; and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and seize them. Jeremiah 20:4-5.

Here 'all its wealth, all its lab our, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah' means in the internal sense cognitions of faith.

[8] In the same prophet,

With the families of the north I will bring the king of Babel against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them and make them into a ruin, a hissing, and everlasting wastes. And this whole land will be a waste. Jeremiah 25:9, 11.

Here 'Babel' is used to describe the vastation of the interior things of faith, that is, of internal worship. Indeed, as shown already, anyone whose worship is worship of self possesses no truth of faith. He destroys and lays waste, and leads off into captivity, everything that is true. This is why Babel is also called 'a destroying mountain' in Jeremiah 51:25.

For more concerning Babel, see what has been stated already in 1182.