4335. In the Word 'those who are grinding' means those within the Church who are led to know the truth by an affection for good, and in the contrary sense those within the Church who are led to know it by an affection for evil, as may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground, without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. Take a mill and grind flour; uncover your hair, bare your feet, uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers. Isaiah 47:1-2.

'The daughter of Babel' stands for those among whom externally things give the appearance of being holy and good but interiorly they are unholy and evil, 1182, 1326. 'The daughter of the Chaldeans' stands for those among whom externally things give the appearance of being holy and true, but interiorly they are unholy and false, 1368, 1816. 'Taking a mill and grinding flour' stands for producing teachings out of the truths which they pervert; for 'flour', being the product of wheat or of barley, means truths which are products of good, but in the contrary sense truths which they pervert so as to lead people astray. In Jeremiah,

I will banish from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of mills, and the light of the lamp. And this whole land will be a waste and desolation. Jeremiah 25:10-11.

[2] In John,

No craftsman of any craft will be found in Babylon any more; no sound of a mill will be heard in it any more; and the light of a lamp will not shine in it any more, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will not be heard in it any more. Revelation 18:21-23.

'No sound of a mill will be heard in Babylon any more' means that there will not be any truth. 'The light of the lamp will not shine any more' means that neither will there be any understanding of truth. In Lamentations,

They have ravished women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands, the faces of the old men have not been honoured. The young men have been led away to grind at the mill, and the boys collapse under the wood. Lamentations 5:11-14.

'The young men have been led away to grind at the mill' stands for being led away to produce falsities by the use of truths, and so by the power of persuasion.

[3] In Moses,

Ah the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from Pharaoh's firstborn seated upon his throne, even to the servant-girl's firstborn who is behind the mill. Exodus 11:5.

'The firstborn of Egypt' stands for truths of faith which have been separated from the good of charity and therefore become falsities, 3325.

'The servant-girl's firstborn who is behind the mill' stands for the affection for such truth from which falsities are obtained. These were the things represented by such historical events.

[4] In the same author,

He shall not take as a pledge the mill or the milling stone, for they are the livelihood ¹ of him who pledges them. Deuteronomy 24:6.

This law was laid down because 'the mill' meant matters of doctrine and 'the milling stone' the truths that were an integral part of them and are called 'the livelihood of him who pledges them'. But for the spiritual meaning which 'mill' and 'milling stone' possess that law would obviously not have been given; nor would it have been said that they were 'his livelihood'.

[5] I have been shown that 'grinding' derives its spiritual meaning from the representatives which manifest themselves in the world of spirits. For I have seen people there who seemed to be grinding; these spirits, I have been told, mean those who gather large numbers of truths together not with any use in view, other than for the sake of their own pleasure. Because truths in that case are devoid of their own affection which originates in good, they do indeed look like truths to external appearance; but because there is no inner substance to them they are sheer fancies. But if evil is present within them truths are used to support that evil, and so are made falsities through that use of them.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1182. 'Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar' means that these types of worship existed in those areas, and that at the same time these same nations mean types of worship themselves, whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy. This is clear from the meaning of 'Babel' and of 'the land of Shinar'. In the Word much reference is made to Babel, and wherever it occurs it means such worship, that is to say, worship whose exteriors look holy but whose interiors are unholy. But since Babel is the subject in the next chapter it will be shown there that Babel means such things, and also that such worship in the beginning was not as unholy as it became subsequently. For the real nature of external worship is determined entirely by its interiors. The more undefiled the interiors are, the more undefiled is the external worship, but the more foul the interiors the more foul the external worship. And the more unholy the interiors are, the more unholy is the external worship. To put it briefly, the more love of the world and self-love exist in someone with whom external worship exists, the less life and holiness his worship has within it. The more hatred towards the neighbour there is present within his self-love and love of the world, the more unholiness his worship has within it. The more wickedness there is present within his hatred, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. And the more deceit that wickedness contains, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. These types of love and these forms of evil are the interior features of the external worship meant by 'Babel', which is dealt with in the next chapter.