535. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. (12:2) This symbolizes the emerging doctrine of the New Church and the difficulty of its being accepted owing to the opposition to it by people meant by the dragon.

Being with child symbolizes the emerging doctrine because the child that she had in her womb, whose birth is described in verse 5, symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church. For to be with child, to be in labor, and to give birth means, symbolically in the spiritual sense, to conceive and give birth to such things as are matters of spiritual life, as we will show. To cry out in labor and be in pain to give birth symbolizes the difficulty of that doctrine's being accepted owing to the opposition to it by people meant by the dragon. This is apparent from the following particulars in this chapter, as that the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child, and that afterward it pursued the woman into the wilderness.

[2] That to be with child, to be in labor, and to give birth has this symbolic meaning is apparent from the following passages:

Jesus... said..., ."..unless one is born again..., he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, while that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:3-6)

Sing, O barren woman, who have not given birth! ...cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate woman than the children of the married one. (Isaiah 54:1)

...(they) ceased... until the barren woman bore seven, and she with many children became feeble. (1 Samuel 2:5)

The barren woman symbolizes gentiles, who are without genuine truths because they do not have the Word. The married woman and the woman with many children symbolize Jews, who have the Word.

She who has borne seven will become feeble; she will take her last breath. (Jeremiah 15:9)

This likewise refers to Jews.

We have conceived, we have labored, we have, as it were, given birth to wind; we have not produced the means of the land's salvation. (Isaiah 26:18)

Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child... Shall the earth labor in one day? Shall a nation be born all at once? Shall I bring to the time of birth and not cause delivery? ...Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb? (Isaiah 66:7-9)

Labor to give birth, O earth, in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of the God of Israel. (Psalms 114:7)

Oh this day! ...for children have come to the mouth of the womb, and there is no strength to give them birth. (Isaiah 37:3)

Sin shall labor to give birth and shall not ¹ be able to break through. (Ezekiel 30:15-16)

...I heard the voice... of an ailing woman, ...as of one laboring to give birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She sighs, she stretches out her hands. "Woe is me, for my soul is weary of murderers!" (Jeremiah 4:31)

Pangs and sorrows take hold of them; like a woman in childbirth they labor to give birth. (Isaiah 13:6-8)

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up... The sorrows of a woman laboring to give birth shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, for he does not spend time where children are born. (Hosea 13:12-13)

As for Ephraim, like a bird your glory shall fly away - from birth, from pregnancy, and from conception... Give them, Jehovah... a miscarrying womb and dry breasts... Also, when they bear offspring, I will kill the longed-for fruit of their womb. (Hosea 9:11-12, 14, 16)

In these places also, the difficulty in accepting doctrinal truths from the Word is described by various references to the pain experienced in laboring to give birth. So, too, in many other places elsewhere.

Moreover, Jehovah, or the Lord, is called a former from the womb (Isaiah 44:2, 24; 49:1, 5), and a former from the womb means the Reformer.

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5201. 'And they fed in the sedge' means instruction. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the sedge', or longer grass that grows near rivers, as facts known to the natural man. Since such factual knowledge is meant by 'grass or 'plant', as is plain from the Word, 'feeding in the sedge' therefore means receiving instruction in factual knowledge, and through this knowledge instruction regarding things that are true and good. For factual knowledge serves as a means. Indeed it is like a mirror in which an image of interior things reveals itself; and this image is like another mirror in which forms of the truth and the good of faith, and therefore things which belong to heaven and are called spiritual, reveal and represent themselves. But being an interior one, this image is seen by none but those who have faith that is rooted in charity. This is what is meant in the genuine sense by 'feeding in the sedge'.

[2] The meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction is evident from those places in the Word where one reads the expression, such as in Isaiah,

Then He will give rain for your seed with which you sow the land, and bread of the produce of the land; and there will be fatness and wealthiness. On that day, they will feed your cattle in a broad grassland. Isaiah 30:23.

'Cattle' stands for those in whom goodness and truth are present, 'feeding in a broad grassland' for receiving abundant instruction.

[3] In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people - to restore the land; to share out the devastated inheritances; to say to the bound, Go out; to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isaiah 49:8-9.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'Feeding along the ways' stands for receiving instruction in truths, 'the ways' being truths, 627, 2333. 'Pasture' stands for the actual instruction. In Jeremiah,

Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture! Therefore said Jehovah God of Israel against the shepherds feeding My people..... Jeremiah 23:1-2.

'The shepherds' stands for those who give instruction, and 'the flock' for those who receive it, 347, 3795, so that 'feeding' means giving instruction.

[4] It has become customary to refer to those who teach as 'pastors' or 'shepherds' and to those who learn as 'the flock'. For this reason the use of the expression 'feeding' has become commonly accepted when talking about preaching or about instruction given in doctrine or the Word. But when the expression is used in this way it is only a comparison and not, as when it occurs in the Word, one that holds any spiritual meaning within it. The reason 'feeding', when used in the Word, has a spiritual meaning is that when instruction and doctrine based on the Word are being talked about in heaven, that discussion is represented in a visual way in the world of spirits, where spiritual realities make their appearance within natural images. That representation consists of grasslands that are lush with grass, plants, and flowers, and where also there are flocks; and every variation of this scene occurs, as determined by the nature of the discussion that is taking place in heaven regarding instruction and doctrine.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will bring back Israel to his habitation so that he may feed on Carmel and Bashan; and on mount Ephraim and in Gilead his soul will be satisfied. Jeremiah 50:19.

'Feeding on Carmel and Bashan' stands for receiving instruction in forms of the good of faith and charity. In the same prophet,

There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like deer, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6. In Ezekiel

I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the loftiness of Israel; and they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 34:14.

[6] In Hosea,

Now Jehovah will feed them like a sheep in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.

'Feeding in a broad place' stands for giving instruction in truths, for 'a broad place' means truth, see 1613, 3473, 3434, 4482.

In Micah,

You, Bethlehem Ephrath, from you will come forth for Me one who will be Ruler in Israel. He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah. Micah 5:2, 4.

In the same prophet,

Guide ¹ your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance which is dwelling alone. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. Micah 7:14.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will feed and rest, with none making them afraid. Zephaniah 3:17.

[7] In David,

Jehovah is my Shepherd; He will make me lie down in green pastures; ² He will lead me away to still waters. Psalms 23:1-2.

In the same author,

He made us and not we ourselves, His people and the flock of His pasture; therefore we are His, His people and the flock of His pasture. ³ Psalms 100:3.

In the Book of Revelation,

The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will guide them to living springs of water. Revelation 7:17.

In John,

I am the door. If anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said to Peter, Feed My lambs; a second time, Feed My sheep; and a third time, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.

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