"The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you." (Isaiah 28:20)
Among the lesser known myths of Greek antiquity, there is the story of Procrustes, a celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims on an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched or cut off their legs to adapt them to its length. Hence, the phrase "the bed of Procrustes," or "Procrustean bed" came to refer to an idea, theory, or system to which facts, human nature, or the like, would be arbitrarily fitted.
This, as we shall see, is remarkably in harmony with what Swedenborg indicates is the correspondential meaning of a bed. But before we get into that, let me first call attention to a couple of other references to beds in Scripture that may help us understand the message of our text from Isaiah.
First, just for fun, let me note — because of the sharp contrast with the bed mentioned by Isaiah — the reference in Deuteronomy to the bed of Og, king of Bashan. "His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide." (Deuteronomy 3:11) (And I bet some of us thought the king-size bed was a modern invention!)
There are two references to beds in the book of Amos that I may want to refer to later: in the third chapter it speaks of "those who sit in Samaria on the edge of their beds and on the corner of their couches" (Amos 3:12) (with a footnote that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain), and another instance in chapter six where the prophet is addressing the complacent: "You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches… but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph" (Amos 6:4-6).
Now, turning to our text from Isaiah, we read this comment on it in the Interpreter's Bible: "Isaiah evidently knew what it was to put in some cold and sleepless nights on a short bed with blankets too narrow to tuck in. Under the graphic and humorous figure of the bed with the skimpy covering there is suggested the inadequacy of some current views of religion which neither cover the facts nor meet the needs for life. The modern world is full of them: ethical cults, humanistic philosophies, the half-truths of eccentric sects; all inadequate because, while they concede to God a place, they will not acknowledge that the ultimate source and hope of salvation is in his love. In fair weather a man can makeshift to live by such religions; but when the dark night falls and the storm begins to howl about his life, he has nothing to fall back upon, and the little faith that met his small demands when all was well offers him neither protection nor covering... Everyone should consider whether his religion is equal to the demands of life."
One might well ask: is it enough to reduce religion to a minimum, to boil it down to a few ethical principles? No, reduction can never be the last word about religion. When we talk of music, we don't ask how much we can get rid of and have it still be counted musical. When we speak of the family, we never dream of considering how many of a parent's duties we can evade and still be reckoned a parent. It should be the same with our religion. It is not a question of how little we can do with and still think we have a faith; it is rather a question of how much that is true and vital we can make our own. The person who tries to reduce religion to duty and decency is too drastic; in the crises of life that person will find that his bed is too short and the blanket too narrow to wrap around him.
In the New Church commentary on Isaiah, the author J. H. Smithson says briefly of our text: "No false doctrine [the bed] will avail, at the time of judgment, to protect those who are therein confirmed against the influence and destructive power of what is evil and false." If I understand correctly what he intends by that, it would be that even though one were essentially dedicated to "duty and decency," if one at the same time has an inadequate faith, one is in great danger of being overwhelmed by the forces of evil in times of crisis.
Commenting further on this in the exposition of the chapter, Smithson states: By "the bed being shorter than that one can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it," is implied that doctrines founded in fallacious reasonings and in false principles, prevent the growth and extension of the rational mind, and obstruct the process of regeneration; and that they have no power to enlighten the mind with heavenly truth, or to warm it with heavenly love.
Earlier in the paragraph the author attempted to distill the basic and relevant wisdom concerning the deeper meaning of beds, when mentioned in Scripture, as follows: A bed signifies doctrine. The ground and reason of this is from correspondence; for, as the body rests on its bed, so does the mind rest on its doctrine. But by a bed is signified the doctrine which everyone acquires to himself, either from the Word, or from his proper intelligence, for there in the mind reposes, and, as it were, sleeps. The beds in which they lie in the spiritual world are of no other origin. Everyone's bed there is conformable to the quality of his knowledge and intelligence—the wise have magnificent beds, the foolish have mean ones, and they who are in falsities have filthy ones. This is the signification of a bed in Luke: "I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Luke 17:34). Speaking of the Last Judgment, "two in one bed" means two in one doctrine, but not in similar life. In John, "Jesus saith unto the sick man, 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk; and he took up his bed and walked'." (John 5:8–9). And in Mark, "Jesus said unto the sick of the palsy, 'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee;' and He said unto the scribes, 'Whether it is easier to say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee;" or, to say, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk;"' and he took up his bed, and went forth from them". (Mark 2:5-12). That here something is signified by "bed" is evident... By taking up his bed and walking is signified to meditate in doctrine. Doctrine is also signified by a bed in Amos. Sitting on the edges of their beds and the corners of their couches refers to what is more remote from the truths and goods of doctrine.
Let me try to expand on that a bit. I'm sure we all have known people who tend to perch precariously on the edges of beds and the corners of couches. One almost gets the idea that they are almost afraid to commit themselves to the extent of sitting firmly or fully on the bed or couch! It's the "I can only stay for a moment!" mentality; the apparent unwillingness to become, as we say, "too involved." "Let me just rest ever so lightly on the edge, not get too settled, for fear I might want to beat a hasty retreat." Some people seem to go through their whole life with that attitude: minimum faith, minimum involvement in the life of the church, minimum concern for those in need, minimum effort at getting on with the task of personal regeneration. And, it seems to work — at least for a while. But what happens when such a person is suddenly faced with one of the storms of life? What happens when personal disaster strikes?
Then, perhaps for the first time, one discovers that the meager principles by which he has been living, principles founded on fallacious reasonings and false principles, have no power to support the mind with heavenly truth, or to warm it with heavenly love. "The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you."
What steps can we take to avoid having this happen to us? There is a marvelous passage in the 35th chapter of Isaiah which speaks directly to this problem, Isaiah 35:1–7.
In many earlier versions, including ones Swedenborg used, the animal named in that last verse is not a jackal but a dragon—and it is with that reading that Swedenborg interprets the verse. The gist of it is that in a place where dragons used to lie (that is, make their bed) grass will now grow.
First, let us consider a bed which forms the habitation of dragons. In Apocalypse Revealed 537 we read, "By dragons here are understood those who are in faith alone, who reject the works of the law as not contributing to salvation." To be "in faith alone" is to try to live in some of the ways we have described, limiting our responses to human needs to what we consider our minimum duty. Not only is our bed too short, it is infested with dragons! Instead of this we need to have as our bed a place where "grass can grow"—denoting that "there will be true memory-knowledge instead of things in which there is no truth" (Arcana Coelestia 6723).
Then, the redemption that is now possible is beautifully summed up in the verses in Isaiah 35:8–10.
