Arcana Coelestia # 264
264. In the Word references to the conception and bearing of sons are taken in purely a spiritual sense; that is to say, conception stands for the thought and imagination of the heart, and 'sons' for truths. This becomes clear from the following in Hosea,
As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the womb, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons I will bereave them so that no human being is left. But woe to them when I shall have departed from them! Hosea 9:11-12.
Here 'Ephraim' means those who have intelligence, that is, understanding of truth, while 'sons' means truths themselves. A similar reference is made elsewhere in Hosea to Ephraim, that is, a person who has intelligence but has become unwise,
The pains of childbirth have come upon him, he is an unwise son, for now he will not present himself at the mouth of the womb of sons. Hosea 13:13.
And in Isaiah,
Blush, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not gone into labour, I have not given birth, nor have I reared young men nor brought up young women. As when the report comes to Egypt, they will go into labour over the report of Tyre. Isaiah 27:4-5.
Here 'Sidon' stands for people who have possessed cognitions of faith but have destroyed them by means of facts and have consequently become sterile.
[2] And in the same prophet,
Before she went into labour she gave birth, and before pain came to her she brought forth a male child. Who has heard of such a thing as this? Who has seen such? Does a land give birth in one day? And shall I [bring to the point of birth and not] cause to give birth? said Jehovah. Shall I who cause to give birth shut up [the womb]? said your God. Isaiah 66:7-9.
This refers to regeneration, 'sons' in a similar way meaning the truths of faith. Because goods and truths are the conceptions and births of the heavenly marriage, the Lord too calls them 'sons' in Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, but the seed are the sons of the kingdom. Matthew 13:37-38.
And the goods and truths of a saving faith are called 'the sons of Abraham' in John 8:39, for as stated in 255, 'seed' means faith. Consequently 'sons', who are the embodiment of the seed, are the goods and truths of faith. This also is why the Lord, being Himself the Seed, called Himself the Son of Man, that is, the Church's Faith.
Isaiah 27
1
In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
2
In that day, sing to her, "A pleasant vineyard!
3
I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
4
Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.
5
Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me."
6
In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
7
Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?
8
In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
9
Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more.
10
For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
11
When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
12
It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.
13
It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
