65. 3. The description of the battle between the ram and the goat in Daniel shows that in the Word, goats mean people who are devoted to a faith divorced from caring. Spiritually understood, everything in Daniel, like everything in Sacred Scripture as a whole (as noted in Sacred Scripture 5-26), is about matters of heaven and the church. This then holds true for what it says in chapter 8 about the battle between the ram and the goat, as follows:

In a vision I saw a ram that had two tall horns, the taller of which rose up behind [the other]. With its horn the ram pushed westward, northward, and southward and became enormous.

Then I saw a goat that came from the west across the surface of the whole earth; it had a horn between its eyes. It charged at the ram in the fury of its strength, broke the ram’s two horns, and cast the ram to the ground and trampled it. The large horn of the goat was broken, and four horns sprang up in its place. A little horn came out of one of them, which grew tremendously toward the south, toward the dawn, and toward the glory, and even to the host of the heavens, and cast down to earth some of the host and some of the stars, and trampled them. The goat even exalted itself toward the Leader of the Host, and took the daily offerings away from him and cast down the dwelling place of his sanctuary, because it cast truth to the ground. And I heard a holy one saying, “How long will this vision last concerning the daily offerings and this destructive sinning, the trampling of the holy place and the host?” And he said, “Until the evening [and] the morning: then the holy place will be set right.” (Daniel 8:2-14)

6. There emanate from the Lord what is heavenly, what is spiritual, and what is earthly, in that order. What emanates from his divine love is called heavenly and is divine goodness. What emanates from his divine wisdom is called spiritual, and is divine truth. What is earthly is a product of the two; it is a combining of them on the outermost level.

Angels of the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, the ones who make up the third or highest heaven, are focused on the divine quality emanating from the Lord that is called heavenly, since they are focused on good desires that come from love, which they receive from the Lord. Angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, the ones who make up the second or middle heaven, are focused on the divine quality emanating from the Lord that is called spiritual, since they are focused on the truths that lead to wisdom, which they receive from the Lord. ¹ We of the church in the world, though, are focused on a divine-earthly quality, which also emanates from the Lord.

[2] It follows from all this that as what is divine emanates from the Lord to its outermost limits, it comes down through three levels, and that they are called heavenly, spiritual, and earthly. The divine emanation that comes down to us from the Lord comes down through these three levels, and when it has come down it has these three levels within itself. Everything divine is like this, so when it is on its outermost level, it is full [of the inner levels].

That is what the Word is like.

In its outermost meaning it is earthly, in its inner meaning it is spiritual, and in its inmost meaning it is heavenly; and on every level of meaning it is divine.

It is not obvious from the literal meaning (which is earthly) that the Word is like this, because we here on earth have not known anything about the heavens before. This means that we have not known that spiritual quality or that heavenly quality; so we have not known the difference between them and what is earthly.

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