9642. The planks for the corner of the south toward the south. That this signifies even into its interior and inmost things where truth is in light, is evident from the signification of “the planks of the Habitation,” as being the good which supports heaven (see n. 9634); from the signification of a “corner,” when said of the quarters of the world, as being where that state is which is marked out and signified by the quarter (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “the south toward the south,” as being the interior and inmost things where truth is in its light; for by “the south” is signified a state of light, which is a state of intelligence from truths, and thus an interior state; for light (and with the light intelligence and wisdom) in the heavens, increases toward more interior things; and farther from these truth is in shade, which state of truth is signified by “the north.” From this then it is that by “the corner of the south toward the south” is signified even to the interior and inmost things where truth is in light.

[2] The same is signified by “the south” or “noonday” in Isaiah:

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth (Isaiah 43:6).

In this passage a new church is treated of; “saying to the north” denotes to those who are in darkness or ignorance concerning the truths of faith, who are the nations outside the church; “saying to the south” denotes to those who are in light from the knowledges of good and truth, who are those who are within the church; wherefore it is said to the latter that they should “not keep back,” but to the former that they should “give up.”

[3] In Ezekiel:

Set thy faces toward the south, and drop toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field unto the south; and say to the forest of the south, Behold, I kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned. Set thy faces toward Jerusalem, and drop against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel (Ezekiel 20:46-47; 21:2).

“The south” here denotes those who are in the light of truth from the Word, thus those who are of the church, but who are in falsities which they confirm from the sense of the letter of the Word wrongly unfolded; whence it is said, “the forest of the field unto the south,” and “the forest of the south.” A “forest” denotes where memory-knowledge reigns; but a “garden,” where truth reigns. From this it is plain what is signified by “setting the faces toward the south, and dropping [words] toward the south, and prophesying against the forest of the field unto the south;” and afterward by “setting the faces toward Jerusalem, and dropping against the holy places, and prophesying against the land of Israel; for “Jerusalem” and “the land of Israel” denote the church, and “the holy places” there denote the things which are of the church.

[4] In Isaiah:

If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and sate the afflicted soul; then thy light shall arise in darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the noonday (Isaiah 58:10); where “darkness” and “thick darkness” denote ignorance of truth and good; while “light” and “the noonday” denote the understanding of them. And in Isaiah:

Bring forth counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow like the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; reveal not the wanderer (Isaiah 16:3); where “in the midst of the noonday” denotes in the midst of the light of truth.

In Jeremiah:

Sanctify ye the battle against the daughter of Zion; arise, and let us go up into the south, for the day is going away, for the shadows of the evening have been bent down (Jeremiah 6:4); where “going up into the south” denotes against the church, in which truth is in light from the Word.

In Amos:

I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light (Amos 8:9);

denoting the extinguishing of all the light of truth from the Word.

[5] In David:

Thou shalt not be afraid for the dread of night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence in the thick darkness, for the death that wasteth at noonday (Psalms 91:5-6);

“the dread of night” denotes the falsities of evil which are from hell; “the arrow that flieth by day,” the falsity which is openly taught; “the death that wasteth at noonday,” the evil which is openly lived in, whereby truth is destroyed where it can be in its light from the Word.

[6] And in Isaiah:

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds from the south, to pass through; it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land (Isaiah 21:1).

The he-goat of the goats magnified himself exceedingly; and his horn grew toward the south, and toward the east, and toward comeliness; and it grew even unto the army of the heavens, and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Daniel 8:8-10).

The subject here treated of is the state of the future church, and it is foretold that the church will perish through the doctrine of faith separated from the good of charity; “the he-goat of the goats” denotes such a faith (n. 4169, 4769); its “horn growing toward the south” denotes the power of falsity therefrom against truths; “toward the east” denotes against goods; “toward comeliness” denotes against the church; “unto the army of the heavens” denotes against all the goods and truths of heaven; “casting down to the earth some of the army and of the stars” denotes to destroy these goods and truths, and the very knowledges of good and truth (n. 4697).

[7] In the same prophet is described a war between the king of the south and the king of the north (chap. 11), and by “the king of the south” is signified the light of truth from the Word, and by “the king of the north” reasoning from memory-knowledges about truths; the alternations that the church was to undergo until it should perish, are described by the various events of this war.

[8] As “the south” signified truth in light, it was ordained that the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad should encamp “toward the south” (Numbers 2:10-15); the encampments represented the setting in order of all things in the heavens in accordance with the truths and goods of faith and love (see n. 4236, 8103, 8193, 8196); and “the twelve tribes” which encamped signified all truths and goods in the complex (n. 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); by “the tribe of Reuben” was signified the truth of faith in doctrine (n. 3861, 3866, 5542); by “the tribe of Simeon,” the derivative truth of faith in life (n. 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5482); and by “the tribe of Gad” were signified works from these truths (n. 6404, 6405). This shows why these tribes were encamped “toward the south;” for all things of truth, that is, of faith, belong to “the south,” because they belong to light.

[9] From all this it is now evident what is signified by “the corner of the south,” namely, where the state of truth is in light. For all states of the good of love and of the truth of faith are signified by “the four corners of the earth”—states of the good of love by “the corner of the east, and the corner of the west,” and states of the truth of faith by “the corner of the south,” and “the corner of the north.” In like manner by “the four winds” in the book of Revelation:

Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth (Revelation 7:1).

Satan shall go forth to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth (Revelation 20:8).

He shall send His angels, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to the ends of them (Matthew 24:31).

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live (Ezekiel 37:9).

[10] As by these “winds,” that is, by these “quarters,” were signified all things of good and of truth, thus all things of heaven and of the church, and by “the temple” was signified heaven or the church, therefore it has been customary from ancient times to place temples in an east and west direction, because “the east” signified the good of love in its rising, and “the west,” the good of love in its going down. This had its origin from the representatives in which were the ancients who belonged to the church.