As this story from the Book of Judges begins, the enemy Midianites are encamped about 7 km north of Gideon and the people with him, who are in camp beside the spring of Harod. In Hebrew, the spring of Harod means the spring of trembling, which fits the story line, and which also fits the inner meaning, in this story line on our own lives.

This is Part 2 of a three-part study on the story of Gideon that Coleman Glenn and I have been doing. The sub-title we've given this series is “Weakness and Strength.” Throughout the story you see these themes coming through. In part 1, Gideon was called to lead his people against the massive Midianite enemy army. But he's not feeling strong; he’s hiding in a winepress when the Angel of Jehovah says to him, “Jehovah is with you, you mighty man of valour!”

Gideon asks for a sign - some proof - and the angel makes fire come out of a rock and consume Gideon’s offering. In the strength of that Gideon tears down the altar of Baal in the town, blows a trumpet, and gathers the people together for battle.

But then, he feels weakness. Gideon needs another sign that the Lord will really be with him. There’s similar weakness and strength in our early efforts at spiritual growth. The call of Gideon in us is some sense of a desire for something deeper, something spiritual, something more than the pursuit of pleasure that the Midianites represent.

The tearing down the altar of Baal is a commitment to do something for more than just our own pleasure and enjoyment. When we embark on trying to become a better, more spiritual, person don’t we also experience doubts - doubts about what it is that we’re going to do as spiritual people? Or doubts about our ability to actually follow through with our intentions?

That brings us to this story, in Judges 7. Gideon and the people are gathered together for battle but are at a place of trembling. What we’re going to explore today is how the Lord takes what we have, refines, mobilises and equips it with the power of His truth to go and rout the Midianites.

Finding the Right People for the Fight:

The first task, at this point in the story, is to find the right people for the fight. There they are, outnumbered 5 to 1, and Jehovah says something to Gideon that probably sounded crazy to him:

“The people who are with you are too many…”

Gideon may well have thought, “We were doing pretty well to get 32,000 people to come when the odds are this bad, and You want less?”

The Lord knew that if that many people went to battle and they won they would then think that it was because of them that the battle had been won. When we find ourselves with some motivation to change and become a better person we can have a lot of our self involved: “I’m deciding to do the right thing!".

That's admirable in one sense and misguided in another. We need to realise that it’s only through the Lord’s strength and the people He picks that we will have victory.

Round 1: “Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn back…”

In the story, there are two rounds of removing people from the army. First, Gideon is told to say,

“Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn back and depart at once from Mount Gilead” (Judges 7:3). “And twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand remained” (Judges 7:3). These are the people who get behind a cause - sort of. There are the people in the front of the group, leading the charge saying, “Yeah!!” And then there are the people who are just as happy to be somewhere towards the back saying, “Yeah…”. If you ask them, “Do you want to be here?”, their response might be, “Yeah… sure.” And if you ask further, “Actually, would you rather go home?”, their response is, “Yes! See ya!”

If we look within ourselves when we’re trying to change we’ll probably find that there are a fair number of ideas and thoughts that aren’t quite on board. If you imagine a natural example of someone deciding that they’re going to be a better student, they might say, “Yeah, I’m going to develop my study skills and be proactive and optimise my time management.” And you ask them, “What does that mean? What will that look like?”

They’d say, “Uhh…. I dunno. But that’s the sort of stuff you’re supposed to do, right?”

The number of people that turned back, 22,000, is significant. In the Word, 12 means fullness, completeness, all, like the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples, and 12 gates into the Holy City New Jerusalem.

The number 11 is almost but not quite 12, not fully there, not completely integrated into a whole. The 22,000 is a multiple of 11, and has a similar meaning. Those religious ideas that we don’t fully get or buy into are not going to be effective against the Midianites, so it’s better if they just go home.

Round 2: “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps…”

So what in us IS fit to fight against the Midianites? Jehovah says that the 10,000 soldiers still with Gideon are still too many. This is the sort of description that just screams that there must be some sort of deeper, symbolic meaning in the story. Otherwise all these weird-seeming details would be just the whims of a bizarre god.

The people are commanded to go down to the water and, though it’s not exactly clear from the text what it looked like, those that drank like dogs were the ones who were selected. The teachings of the New Church provide this explanation of the significance of this difference.

In Apocalypse Explained 455:9, it says, “Midian” here means those who do not care for truth, because they are merely natural and external; therefore Midian was beaten by those who “lapped the waters in the hand with the tongue like a dog,” who symbolize people who have an appetite for truths. From a natural affection, they seek to know truths, a “dog” meaning appetite and eagerness, “waters” truths, and “lapping them with the tongue” to have an appetite for and to eagerly seek.

This lapping represents the part of us that really wants to know the truth, the part of us that is so eager that we’re bouncing up and down as our Master brings the water dish. You might think, “I’m not sure that there’s much of me that is that eager to learn the truth.” There were only 300 men out of an original 32,000. That’s not much, and it's probably just a small part of our minds, but it’s enough. It's what the Lord selects in us.

To identify the part of you that is represented by these 300 men, I find it’s helpful to think of people who just love a certain subject area and lap up any new information they can get on it. Think of a kid who memorises tons of facts about rugby or cricket and can tell you what the final score was from a game from the 1970s. Or a teenage girl who knows everything about her favourite band. There are times when we just love learning more about a certain subject.

Do you know any people who have that sort of passion about truths from the Word? It can be helpful to try to pick up their infectious enthusiasm and eagerness. I had a professor in university who taught ancient history - not the most exciting of courses to the average college student. She had such genuine, infectious enthusiasm about her subject area that it would rub off on her students. People would say, “I never knew that someone could care so much about an old broken pot.”

Think of those people in your life who have that sort of passion for learning from the Word and look for that in yourself - even if it’s just 0.9% of yourself (which is what you get if you divide 300 by 32,000). That part of you that’s eager to learn the truth - that’s what the Lord will use to rout the Midianites.

Seeing the Camp and Overhearing the Dream:

After the second round of winnowing, Gideon has the group that Jehovah has approved for him to take into battle, but there’s one final thing that Jehovah has him do before the battle to give him the courage to attack. He says, “afterward your hands shall be made firm to go down against the camp” (7:11).

At nighttime He tells Gideon to take his servant, Purah, and sneak down to the camp of the Midianites. One thing that happens in this part of the story is that he sees the enemy as a whole for the first time and it’s overwhelming. “Now the Midianites and Amalekites and all the sons of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the lip of the sea in multitude” (7:12).

This is what the life of external pleasure can look like. It’s everywhere - like the sand of the beach - consumerism and self-absorption and this pandering to people’s lowest desires - it’s just saturated throughout the world we live in. And we can feel like, “Who am I to think that I won’t get caught up in all that stuff?”

But then, they go down to the camp and they overhear one man telling another about a dream he had about a baked loaf of barley bread overturning and collapsing a tent. A dream at nighttime means a dim perception of something - not a clear sight but some sense of something. This tent being knocked over and collapsing means the camp of Midian, which seemed to have such a solid hold over the children of Israel, no longer having any dwelling place there. This means us getting to have some sense that the focus on just having as much pleasure and fun as possible just doesn’t have to have as much of a hold on us as before. With the Lord’s help, we can look down on it from above and see it for what it is and say, “I don’t actually want that.” Gideon hears the interpretation that the other man gives that this dream means that God has given Midian into Gideon’s hand. Then he worships the Lord, returns to the camp and musters his men for battle.

Torches and Trumpets:

Gideon divides the men into 3 groups, gives each of them a trumpet, an empty pitcher, and a torch to go inside the pitcher. They surround the camp, blow the trumpets, break the pitchers so the torches can be seen, and yell, “The sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!”

Eagerness for the truth leads us to learn the truths that we can use to combat the enemy—trumpets and torches. The Word can seem to us like an empty pitcher sometimes—like it’s meant to hold water but it’s dry and there’s nothing there. But when we’re eager for the truth we can sometimes see that it’s actually got a torch inside it, burning and shining.

The trumpet can blast and announce the arrival of the power of Jehovah in the situation. Think about the desires for a life of pleasure and then think of these words of the Lord from the Sermon on the Mount blasting through the air like a trumpet and shining down onto where those ideas are camped:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33).

“Every man’s sword against his companion….”

After they smash their pitchers and blow their trumpets they don’t attack: they just stand there and the Midianites destroy each other. This reveals something about Midian: it seems to be this cohesive group that is working together, like all the ideas out there about pursuing having a good time above all other things seem to be all one message. But Midian’s name in Hebrew means strife or contention.

We might think of people who pursue pleasure as being happy and fulfilled but a life that’s focused on pleasure actually is not peaceful at its heart. It’s competitive. It’s a craving, desperate want for more - for better experiences or better stories than everyone else... a cooler car, a nicer house, better clothes - more better clothes - never satisfied with what it has, always anxious that someone else has something better. It doesn’t want to commit to doing one thing because what if something better comes along? And then, even while doing something fun, there’s FOMO, fear of missing out on what other people are doing. And there’s bingeing - bingeing on TV, food, alcohol, whatever - underneath all of that is not peace and contentment but stress and unhappiness.

With the Lord’s help we can see that we don’t have to worry about that stuff. We worry about earthly treasures getting stolen or damaged but heavenly treasures can’t be stolen or broken. And we don’t need to worry about who has the best clothes and house and stuff. All those conflicting external ideas about what we should do and say and wear and go to etc. they can keep on fighting it out. We can focus on seeking first the kingdom of God and his justice.

Getting Reinforcements to Pursue the Enemy:

Then the enemy flees and Gideon and his men pursue them. Gideon calls in reinforcements. It seems that it’s fine to have extra people involved at this point. Given that some of the men he called were from the same places he’d called them from before, it seems likely that some or even many of the original 32,000 may have been involved.

The principle seems to be that as long as eagerness for the Lord’s Word leads the way, then other, less motivated or integrated ideas can fall in behind and help out. It’s important that they pursue the Midianites, to kill as many of them as possible and drive the rest all the way out of the land. When we notice that selfish desires for just having a good time are losing hold in our lives, it’s important to really drive them all the way out, to really examine ourselves and where we still have Midianite tendencies lurking.

Because Gideon's army pursues the Midianites, and calls in the help of the men from the mountains of Ephraim, they manage to even capture the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. These princes symbolize the ruling falsities that have been in charge of our pleasure-seeking. Oreb means raven, which is a black bird with a harsh cry that in the Word is a symbol of falsity that has no interest whatsoever in what the truth is. Zeeb means wolf. A wolf in sheep’s clothing looks innocent but is actually destructive of innocence, just like certain kinds of pleasure seeking can seem like harmless fun but actually lead to destroying things that matter. It’s good that the men caught these princes and killed them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when we look out at the world we see a lot of secularism and consumerism and people who just seem so shallow and obsessed with pointless stuff. When we compare that to the few religious people we know, the odds seem to be against us. We can think, “How is our small group ever going to have an impact against the overwhelming cultural trend?” How are my children ever going to get to adulthood without being totally corrupted and having everything good and religious stolen away by pleasure-seeking Midian?

Probably for most of us, if we’re honest, we can look inside ourselves and see that there’s part of us that buys into it - part of our minds and hearts that wants it too. We want to have the most fun, see the coolest things, have the coolest stuff. That’s when it can be so powerful to remember this story of how 300 Israelites routed 145,000 Midianites. Even the smallest bit of eagerness for the truth has the power from the Lord to win against worldliness every single time - in our lives and in other people’s lives. The Lords truths, when eagerly taken in, can allow us to see pleasure-seeking for what it is - an infighting, anxious turmoil - that we can rise above, shine the light on and drive out of our lives with the Lord’s help.

(Odkazy: Gideon: Weakness and Strength, Part 3 of 3)

455. And peoples and tongues, signifies all who are in falsities from ignorance and from various religions. This is evident from the signification of "peoples," as being those who are in the truths of doctrine, and in a contrary sense those who are in the falsities of doctrine (of which above, n. 175; but here, those who are in the falsities of doctrine from ignorance; for here are treated of those who are saved, although from the doctrine of their religion they have been in falsities. All those who are in the good of life in accordance with the dogmas of their religion, which they have believed to be true although they are not true, are saved, for falsity is not imputed to anyone who lives well according to the dogmas of his religion, because it is not his fault that he is ignorant of truths. For the good of life in accordance with a religion contains within itself the affection of knowing truths, and these truths are learned and accepted when such persons come into the other life, for every affection remains with man after death, and especially the affection of knowing truths, because this is a spiritual affection; and when man becomes a spirit, he is his affection; consequently the truths that are then desired are imbibed and thus received deeply in the heart. (That when a man lives well falsities of religion are accepted by the Lord as truths, see above, n. 452.) The above is evident from the signification of "tongues," as meaning their confessions from religion, for "tongues" mean speech, and "speech" signifies confession and religion, because the tongue utters and confesses the things that pertain to religion.

[2] There is frequent mention in the Word of the "lip," the "mouth," and the "tongue;" and the "lip" signifies doctrine, the "mouth" thought, and the "tongue" confession. "Lip," "mouth," and "tongue," have this signification because these are the externals of man, by means of which things internal find expression, and it is things internal that are signified in the internal or spiritual sense. For the Word in the letter consists of external things that are manifest before the eyes and are perceived by the senses, therefore the Word in the letter is natural, and this in order that the Divine truth that it contains may be there in what is ultimate and thus in fullness. But these external things, which are natural, include in themselves things internal that are spiritual, and these therefore are the things that are signified.

[3] That "tongues" signify confessions from religion, and according to the dogmas of religion, can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

The time shall come for bringing together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory (Isaiah 66:18).

This is said of the Lord's coming; "nations and tongues" signify all who are in the good of life according to their religions; "tongues" signify religions from confessions; it is therefore said "that they may come and see My glory," "glory" signifying Divine truth, by which the church exists.

[4] In Daniel:

Behold, with the clouds of the heavens one like the Son of man. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, tongues, and nations might worship Him (Daniel 7:13, 14).

"The Son of man who was to come in the clouds of the heavens," evidently means the Lord, and "the clouds of the heavens" mean the Word in the letter, in which it is said that the Lord is to come, for the Word treats of Him, and in the inmost sense of Him alone. Therefore it is said "Son of man," because the Lord is called "the Son of man" from Divine truth, which is the Word. But respecting this see more above n. 36 where these words are explained:

Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him (Revelation 1:7).

The Lord's power from Divine good is meant by "dominion," and from Divine truth by "glory," and heaven and the church are meant by "kingdom." "Peoples, tongues, and nations," signify all those who are in doctrine and in a life according to their religions; those who are in doctrine are called "peoples," those who are in life "nations," and "tongues" mean religions.

[5] In Zechariah:

In those days ten men out of all tongues of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of a man that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you (Zechariah 8:23).

The spiritual sense of these words may be seen above n. 433; namely, that a "Jew" means those who are in love to the Lord and in the truths of doctrine from Him; and that "all tongues of the nations" mean those who are of various religions.

[6] "Tongues" have a like signification in the following passages.

In Moses:

From these were the islands of the nations separated in their lands, every man according to his tongue, according to their families, in their nations. The habitations of the sons of Shem, according to their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations (Genesis 10:5, 31).

In Revelation:

Thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings (Revelation 10:11).

Again:

And they of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half (Revelation 11:9).

Again:

And it was given unto the beast to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and there was given him power over every tribe and tongue and nation (Revelation 13:7).

Again:

I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim unto those that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people (Revelation 14:6).

And again:

The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues (Revelation 17:15).

"Waters" here signify the truths of the Word, for "waters" in the Word signify truths, and in the contrary sense falsities; therefore here "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," mean those who are in truths falsified, which in themselves are falsities, and are consequently in evils of life.

[7] In Luke:

The rich man said to Abraham, Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and may cool my tongue, for I am tortured in this flame (Luke 16:24).

In this parable, as in others, the Lord spake by correspondences, as can be seen by this, that the "rich man" does not mean the rich, nor does "Abraham" mean Abraham, nor by "the water with which Lazarus might cool the tongue" are water and tongue meant, nor does the "flame" mean flame, for in hell no one is tortured by flames; but a "rich man" means those who are of the church where the Word is, from which they have spiritual riches, which are truths of doctrine; so the "rich man" here means the Jews, with whom was the Word at that time; "Abraham" means the Lord; the "water into which Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger" signifies truth from the Word; and "tongue" signifies a thirst and eagerness to pervert the truths that are in the Word; and the "flame" the punishment of that eagerness, which is various and manifold. This makes evident what these things signify in the series, and that "to cool the tongue with water" signifies to allay the thirst and the eagerness to pervert truths, and to confirm falsities thereby. Who cannot see that it does not mean that Lazarus should dip the tip of his finger in water to cool the tongue?

[8] In Zechariah:

This shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will strike all the peoples that shall fight against Jerusalem; his flesh shall waste away as he stands upon his feet, and his eyes shall waste away in their sockets and his tongue shall waste away in his mouth (Zechariah 14:12).

This is said of those who endeavor to destroy the truths of doctrine by means of falsities; and this is signified by "fighting against Jerusalem," "Jerusalem" signifying the church in respect to doctrine, and thence the truths of the doctrine of the church; "the flesh shall waste away" signifies that all good of love and of life will perish, for this is what "flesh" signifies; "standing upon his feet" means upon bones without flesh, which signifies that they will be wholly corporeal-natural, "feet" signifying the things that belong to the natural man, here its lowest things; "his eyes shall waste away in their sockets" signifies that all the understanding of truth will perish, "eyes" signifying the understanding; "his tongue shall waste away in his mouth" signifies that all the perception of truth and all the affection of good will perish; "tongue" signifying also the perception of truth and the affection of good, the perception of truth from its speaking, and the affection of good from its power of tasting, for "taste" signifies appetite, desire, and affection.

[9] In the book of Judges:

Jehovah said unto Gideon, Everyone that lappeth the waters with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; and everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped in their hand were three hundred men; and these were led against Midian and smote him (Judges 7:5-7).

"Midian" here means those who do not care for truth, because they are merely natural and external; therefore Midian was smitten by those who "lapped the waters in the hand with the tongue like a dog;" these mean such as have an appetite for truths, thus they who from some natural affection seek to know truths, a "dog" signifying appetite and eagerness, "waters" truths, and "lapping them with the tongue" to have an appetite for and eagerly seek. So it was by these that Midian was smitten. Anyone can see that such things would not have been commanded unless they had been significative.

[10] In David:

Thou hidest them in the hiding place of Thy faces from the pride of man; Thou concealest them in a pavilion from the strife of tongues (Psalms 31:20).

"A hiding place of faces in which Jehovah hides them," signifies the Divine good of the Divine love, for "the face of Jehovah" signifies the good of love, and "the hiding place" signifies inwardly in man; "the pride of man" signifies the pride of self-intelligence; the "pavilion in which He hides them" signifies Divine truth; and "the strife of tongues" signifies the falsity of religion from which they reason against truths. This makes clear what these things signify in series.

[11] In Jeremiah:

Lo, I will bring upon you a nation, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not know nor shall thou understand what they speak. It shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread (Jeremiah 5:15, 17).

This does not mean that a nation of an unknown tongue or of an unintelligible speech should be brought; but an evil nation of an utterly different religion is meant, whose dogmas they shall not know nor understand the reasonings therefrom; and in an abstract sense the falsities of evil which are altogether contrary to the truths of good are signified; for "nation" in an abstract sense means evil, and "tongue" here means the falsity of religion, and "to speak" means to reason therefrom; therefore it is added, "it shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread," for "harvest" signifies truths by which there is good, "bread" the good therefrom, and "to eat up" to consume and deprive.

[12] In Ezekiel:

Thou art not sent to a people of deep lip and heavy of tongue, but to the house of Israel; not to great peoples of deep lip and heavy of tongue, whose words thou shalt not hear. If I should send thee to them, will they not hearken unto thee? (Ezekiel 3:5, 6).

"Peoples of deep lip and heavy of tongue, whose words are not heard," signify those who are in an unintelligible doctrine, and thus in an abstruse religion, whose dogmas cannot be comprehended, "lip" signifying doctrine, "tongue" religion, and "words" its dogmas; therefore these peoples mean the nations that do not have the Word, by which Jehovah, that is, the Lord, is known. That these will receive Divine truths when they are instructed is signified by "these would hearken if he should be sent unto them."

[13] In Isaiah:

Thou wilt not see an obstinate people, a people of depths of lip that thou canst not hear; barbarous in tongue, without intelligence (Isaiah 33:19).

"A people of depths of lip and barbarous in tongue" has a similar signification here as "peoples of deep lip and heavy of tongue" above. Evidently a people with a speech that cannot be understood is not meant; for it is added, "barbarous in tongue, without intelligence," for there may be intelligence in the tongue or speech of such, but not in their religion.

[14] In the same:

I have sworn that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear (Isaiah 45:23).

This is said of the coming of the Lord; and "every knee shall bow" signifies that all who are in natural good from spiritual good will worship Him, the "knee" signifying the conjunction of natural good with spiritual. This shows that bending the knees signifies acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and adoration from spiritual good and delight in the natural; "every tongue shall swear" signifies that all will confess the Lord who are in good from religion, "to swear" signifying to confess, and "tongue" religion according to which one lives.

[15] In David:

And my tongue shall meditate of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day (Psalms 35:28).

Here, too, "tongue" signifies confession from the doctrine of the church, for it is said "to meditate of;" "righteousness" is predicated of the good of the church, and "praise" of its truth, as also elsewhere in the Word. So again in the same:

My tongue shall meditate of Thy righteousness all the day (Psalms 71:24).

[16] In the same:

With gall the wicked compass me, the mischief of their lips doth cover them; burning coals overwhelm them; with fire let them be cast into pits, that they rise not again; a man of tongue shall not be established in the earth (Psalms 140:9-11).

"Gall" signifies truth falsified, which in itself is falsity; "the mischief of their lips" signifies the falsity of doctrine therefrom, for "lips" signify doctrine; "burning coal by which they are overwhelmed," and the "fire with which they are to be cast into pits," signify the pride from self-intelligence and the love of self, through which they fall into mere falsities, "burning coals" signifying the pride of self-intelligence, "fire" the love of self, and "pits" falsities. Moreover all falsities of doctrine in the church and all falsifications of the Word spring from the pride of self-intelligence and from the love of self. This makes evident what is signified by "a man of tongue shall not be established in the earth," namely, a false religion.

[17] In the same:

My soul, I lie in the midst of lions, the sons of man are set on fire, their teeth are spear and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Psalms 57:4).

"Lions" signify those who plunder the church of truths, and thus destroy it; the "sons of man who are set on fire," signify those who are in the truths of the church, and in an abstract sense the truths themselves, which are said to be "set on fire" by the pride of self-intelligence, whence come falsities; "their teeth are spear and arrows" signifies reasonings from external sensuals and thus from the fallacies and falsities of religion, by which truths are destroyed, "teeth" signifying the ultimates of man's life, which are external sensual things, and here reasoning from these, and "tongue" signifying the falsities of religion; therefore it is said "their tongue a sharp sword," "sword" signifying the destruction of truth by falsities.

[18] In Job:

Wilt thou draw out leviathan with a fish-hook, and overwhelm his tongue with a cord? (Job 41:1)

In this and the preceding chapter the Behemoth and the leviathan are treated of, and both signify the natural man, the "Behemoth" the natural man in respect to goods which are called the delights of natural love, and the "leviathan" the natural man in respect to truths which are called knowledges and cognitions, from which is natural light. These are both described by pure correspondences according to the ancient style. That reasoning from the light of nature by means of knowledges [scientifica] can be restrained by God only, is described in that chapter and the subsequent one by the "leviathan," and also by these words, "Wilt thou draw out leviathan with a fish-hook, and overwhelm his tongue with a cord?;" "tongue" signifying reasoning from knowledges [scientifica]. That the "leviathan" signifies the natural man as regards knowledges [scientifica] can be seen from other passages where it is mentioned (as Isaiah 27:1; Psalms 74:14; Psalms 104:26). Also from the fact that the "whale," by which the leviathan is meant, signifies the natural man in regard to knowledges [scientifica].

[19] In Isaiah:

The heart of the hasty shall have intelligence for knowing, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be swift to speak (Isaiah 32:4).

The "hasty" mean those who readily seize upon and believe whatever is said, thus also falsities; of such it is said that "they shall be intelligent and know," that is, receive truths; "stammerers" mean those who are hardly able to apprehend the truths of the church; that they will confess them from affection is meant by "their tongue shall be swift to speak," "swiftness" is predicated of affection.

[20] In the same:

Then shall the lame leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing aloud; for waters shall break out in the wilderness, and brooks in the plain of the desert (Isaiah 35:6).

This is said of the coming of the Lord; the "lame" signifies those who are in good but not genuine good, because they are in ignorance of truth through which good comes; "to leap as a hart" signifies to have joy from the perception of truth; the "dumb" signifies those who on account of ignorance of truth are unable to confess the Lord and the genuine truths of the church; "he shall sing" signifies joy from the understanding of truth; "waters shall break out in the wilderness" signifies that truths shall be opened where they were not before; and "brooks in the plain of the desert" signify intelligence there, for "waters" signify truths, and "brooks" intelligence.

[21] This makes clear what is signified in the spiritual sense by "the deaf man that had an impediment in his speech" whom the Lord healed, which is thus described in Mark:

Jesus took aside the deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, touched his tongue; and looking up into heaven, He said to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened; and straightway his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake aright (Mark 7:32-35).

The Lord's miracles, because they are Divine, all involved and signified such things as pertain to heaven and the church, therefore they were healings of the diseases which signified the various healings of the spiritual life, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 7337, 8364, 9031). The "deaf man" signifies those who are without the understanding of truth, and thence in no obedience; "his difficulty in speaking" signifies the difficulty of such in confessing the Lord and the truth of the church; the "ears" opened by the Lord signify the perception of truth and obedience; and the "tongue" whose bond was loosed by the Lord signifies the confession of the Lord and of the truths of the church.

[22] Again, that the apostles and others after the Lord's resurrection spoke with new tongues signifies also the confession of the Lord and of the truths of the new church. This is thus referred to in Mark:

Jesus said, These signs shall follow them that believe; in My name shall they cast out demons, and they shall speak with new tongues (Mark 16:17).

"To cast out demons" signifies to remove and reject the falsities of evil; and "to speak with new tongues" signifies to confess the Lord and the truths of the church from Him. So:

To the apostles there appeared divided tongues like as of fire, which sat on them. And being filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak with other tongues (Acts of the Apostles 2:3, 4).

The "fire" signified the love of truth, and "filled with the Holy Spirit" signified the reception of Divine truth from the Lord; and "new tongues" signified confessions from the love of truth or zeal; for, as was said above, all Divine miracles, consequently all miracles mentioned in the Word, involved and signified things spiritual and celestial, that is, such things that pertain to heaven and the church: by this Divine miracles are distinguished from miracles not Divine. It is unnecessary to quote more passages from the Word to show that "tongues" do not mean speech in the ordinary sense, but confessions from the truths of the church, and in the contrary sense confessions from the falsities of any religion.