140. Because thou hast there them, that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel. That this signifies those whose understanding is enlightened, and who teach truths, but still love to destroy by guile those who belong to the church is evident from the historical parts of the Word which treat of Balaam and Balak, understood according to the spiritual sense, which shall therefore here be first treated of.

[2] Balaam was a soothsayer from Pethor of Mesopotamia, and was therefore called by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the people of Israel; but Jehovah prevented this, and caused him to speak prophetically; notwithstanding, he afterwards consulted with Balak how he might destroy that people by guile, by withdrawing them from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of Baal-peor. By Balaam, therefore, are meant those whose understanding is enlightened and who teach truths, but still love to destroy by guile those who belong to the church.

That Balaam was a soothsayer is evident from these words in Moses:

"The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand, and they came unto Balaam" (Numbers 22:7).

"When Balaam saw that it was good in the eyes of Jehovah to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for divinations" (Numbers 24:1).

And in Joshua:

"Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the sons of Israel slay with the sword upon their slain" (13:22).

That he was called by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the people of Israel, may be seen, Numbers 22:5, 6, 16, 17; Deuteronomy 23:3, 4; but that Jehovah prevented this, and caused him to speak prophetically, Numbers 22:9, 10, 12, 20; 23:5, 16. The prophecies which he uttered may be seen Numbers 23:7-10, 18-24; 24:5-9, 15-19, 20-24; all of which things are truths, because it is said, that:

"Jehovah put a word into his mouth" (Numbers 23:5, 12, 16).

That afterwards he consulted with Balak how he might destroy the people of Israel by guile, by withdrawing them from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of Baal-peor, is clear from these words in Moses:

"In Shittim the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And especially did he join himself unto Baal-peor. Therefore twenty and four thousand were slain of Israel" (Numbers 25:1-3, 9).

They slew Balaam amongst the Midianites: and the sons of Israel led captive all the women of the Midianites, which thing was "agreeable to the counsel of Balaam to deliver them to iniquity against Jehovah, in the matter of Peor" (Numbers 31:8, 16).

That by Balaam are meant those whose understanding is enlightened and who teach truths follows from what is said in the above passages; for he spoke truth prophetically concerning Israel, and also concerning the Lord; that he spoke also concerning the Lord may be seen in his prophecy (Numbers 24:17). To speak prophetically concerning Israel, is not to speak concerning the people of Israel, but concerning the Lord's church, which is signified by Israel. The enlightenment of his understanding he himself also describes in these words:

"The saying of Balaam, the son of Beor, of the man whose eyes are opened, who heareth the words of God, falls prostrate, and has his eyes uncovered" (Numbers 24:3, 4, 15, 16).

To have the eyes opened, or to have them uncovered, is to have the understanding enlightened; for eyes in the Word signify the understanding (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2701, 4410-4421, 4523-4534, 9051, 10569).

[3] That by Balaam are also meant those who love to destroy by guile those who belong to the church is also evident from what has been shown above; and moreover, that when he rode upon the ass, he continually meditated the use of divinations, to destroy the sons of Israel. When he could not accomplish this by curses, he consulted with Balak to destroy them by calling them to the sacrifices of his gods, and to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab; by the sons of Israel whom he wished to destroy, is signified the church, because the church was instituted amongst them (see Arcana Coelestia 6426, 8805, 9340).

[4] The arcanum concerning the ass upon which Balaam rode, which turned three times out of the way on seeing an angel with a sword drawn, and the fact of its speaking to Balaam, shall be here briefly explained. Balaam, when he rode upon the ass, continually meditated divinations against the sons of Israel; the gain with which he should be honoured was in his mind, as is clear from these words concerning him,

"He went not as at other times to seek for divinations" (Numbers 24:1).

He was also a soothsayer in heart, therefore he thought of nothing else, when he thought in himself. By the ass upon which he rode is signified, in the spiritual sense of the Word, an enlightened Intellectual; therefore to ride upon an ass or mule was amongst the distinctions of a chief judge and of king (as may be seen above, n. 31; and in Arcana Coelestia 2781, 5741, 9212). The angel with the sword drawn signifies Divine truth enlightening and fighting against falsity (as may be seen above, n. 131); hence, the ass turning three times out of the way signifies that the enlightened understanding did not agree with the thought of the soothsayer, which also is meant by what the angel said to Balaam:

"Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is evil before me" (Numbers 22:32).

By way, in the spiritual sense of the Word, is signified that which a man thinks from intention (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 479, 534, 590, and in the small work, The Last Judgment 48). That he was withheld from the thought and intention of using divinations by the fear of death, is clear from what the angel said to him:

"Unless the ass had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee" (Numbers 22:33).

[5] It sounded in the ears of Balaam as if the ass spoke to him, although she did not speak, but the speech was heard as if proceeding from her. That this is the case, has often been shown me by actual experience. It has been granted me to hear horses, as it were, speaking, although the speech was not from them, but as it were from them. This was actually the case with Balaam, to the intent that this history might be described in the Word for the sake of the internal sense in detail. In the internal sense is described how the Lord defends those who are in truths and goods, lest they should be hurt by those who speak as from enlightenment, and yet have the disposition and intention to lead astray. He who believes that Balaam could do injury to the sons of Israel by divinations is much deceived; for these could avail nothing against them; this Balaam also confessed when he said:

"Divination avails not against Jacob, nor soothsayings against Israel" (Numbers 23:23).

The reason why Balaam could lead that people astray by guile was because they were such in heart that they worshipped Jehovah with the mouth only, but Baal-peor with the heart; and because they were of such a nature, this was permitted.

[6] Moreover it is to be noted that man's understanding can be enlightened, although his will is in evil; for the intellectual faculty is separated from the voluntary faculty in the case of all those who are not regenerated; but these two faculties act as one only in those who are regenerated; for it is the office of the understanding to know, to think, and to speak truths, but that of the will, to will the things that are understood, and from the will or love to do them. The disagreement between these faculties is quite manifest with evil spirits; for when such are turned towards good spirits they even understand truths, and also acknowledge them, almost as if they were enlightened; but as soon as they turn themselves from them, they return to the love of their will, and see nothing of truth; indeed, they even deny the things that they had heard (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 153, 424, 455).

[7] The possibility of having his understanding enlightened has been granted to man for the sake of reformation. For in man's will dwells every kind of evil, both that into which he is born, and that into which he comes of himself; and the will cannot be amended unless man knows, and by the understanding acknowledges, truths and goods, and also evils and falsities, otherwise he cannot turn away from the latter and love the former. (More may be seen concerning the will and the understanding in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 28-35.)

9341. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting the boundary' as the full range, dealt with immediately above in 9340; from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a place where no one lives and nothing is grown, so that when it applies to the spiritual matters of faith and the celestial aspects of love 'the wilderness' is a place where no good nor any truth resides, as is the situation with the level of the senses (that this is what the sensory level of the human mind is like, see end of 9331), for no celestial good nor any spiritual truth exists on the sensory level, only delight and pleasure having a bodily and worldly origin exist there, which being so 'the wilderness' means this outermost level of mind in a member of the Church; and from the meaning of the Euphrates, to which 'the River' refers here, as good and truth belonging to the rational level. The reason why the Euphrates has this meaning is that Assyria lay there, and Assyria or Asshur means the rational level of the mind, 119, 1186.

[2] This rational level is meant by 'the Euphrates' where the words 'from the wilderness to the Euphrates' occur, and also 'from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates', as in Joshua,

From the wilderness and Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea, the going down of the sun, will be your boundary. Joshua 1:4.

And in Moses,

To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the River Euphrates. Genesis 15:18.

Similarly in David,

You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You sent out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the River. Psalms 80:8, 11.

'A vine out of Egypt' stands for the spiritual Church represented by the children of Israel; 'to the sea' and 'to the River' stand for interior truths and forms of good. The like occurs in Micah,

They will come to you from Asshur and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, ¹ from mountain to mountain. Micah 7:12.

[3] But something different is meant by 'the Euphrates' when, from the middle of the land of Canaan as the standpoint, it is seen to be the furthest limit of the land on one side or that which encloses it on one side. In this case that river means the last and lowest level of the Lord's kingdom, that is, the last and lowest level of heaven and the Church in respect of rational goodness and truth. The fact that the boundaries of the land of Canaan, which were seas and rivers, meant the lowest things in the Lord's kingdom, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516. 'The Euphrates' therefore meant the kinds of truths and forms of good on the sensory level that were in agreement with truths and forms of good on the rational level. But since the sensory level of the human mind lies next to earth and the world and receives its impressions from them, 9331 (end), it does not acknowledge anything as good except that which delights the body, nor anything as truth except that which lends support to that delight. In this sense therefore 'the River Euphrates' means pleasure which is attributable to self-love and love of the world, and falsity that supports it with reasonings based on the illusions of the senses.

[4] These things are meant by 'the River Euphrates' in John,

A voice said to the sixth angel, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were released, and they killed a third part of mankind. Revelation 9:14-15.

'The angels bound at the Euphrates' stands for falsities which arise through reasonings based on the illusions of the senses, and which lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world. In the same book,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the rising of the sun. ² Revelation 16:12.

Here 'the Euphrates' stands for falsities from a similar origin. 'Dried up water' stands for those falsities after they had been removed by the Lord; and 'the way of the kings from the rising of the sun' stands for the fact that at that time the truths of faith were seen by and revealed to those governed by love to the Lord.

'Waters' are truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323.

'The way' is truth that has been seen and revealed, 627, 2333, 3477.

'The kings' are those with whom truths exist, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

'The rising' or 'the east' is the Lord, also love from Him and to Him, 101, 1250, 3708.

'The sun' has the same meaning, 1529, 1530, 2440, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812.

[5] In Jeremiah,

You have forsaken Jehovah your God at a time when He led you in the way. For this reason what have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor, or what [have you to do] with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:17-18.

'Leading in the way' stands for teaching truth. 'What have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities arising through a perverse use of factual knowledge? 'What have you to do with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities that arise on account of reasonings - reasonings which are based on the illusions of the senses and lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world?

[6] In the same prophet,

Jehovah [said] to the prophet, Take the girdle which you have bought, which is over your loins, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. He went away and hid it by the Euphrates. Afterwards it happened at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go away to the Euphrates, take from there the girdle. Therefore he went away to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it. But behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:3-7.

'The girdle of the loins' is the outward bond that holds within itself all things of love and consequently of faith. 'Being hidden in the cleft of a rock beside the Euphrates' means in a place where faith dwells in obscurity and is rendered no faith at all by falsities that are the product of reasonings. 'The girdle that had been spoiled, so that it was profitable for nothing' stands for the fact that then all the things of love and faith had been broken apart and scattered.

[7] When Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him and to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, Jeremiah 51:63, the meaning was that the prophetical part of the Word would be destroyed by like falsities. In the same prophet,

The swift will not flee away, nor the strong man escape. Northwards on the bank of the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth takes revenge on His adversaries, for the Lord Jehovah Zebaoth holds a sacrifice in the land of the north beside the River Euphrates. Jeremiah 46:6, 10.

Here also 'the River Euphrates' stands for truths that have been falsified and forms of good that have been adulterated by reasonings based on illusions, and therefore stands for factual knowledge which lends support to self-love and love of the world.

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