519. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. - That this signifies truth mingled with the falsity of evil, is evident from the signification of name, as denoting the quality of a state, and the quality of a thing; see above (n. 148); and from the signification of a star, here, of the great star burning as it were a lamp, as denoting the truth of the Word falsified by proprium-love; and from the signification of wormwood, as denoting truth mingled with the falsity of evil. Wormwood has this signification from its bitterness, and bitterness arises from the mixing of that which is sweet with that which is not sweet and opposite. Bitterness, therefore, such as that of wormwood and gall, denotes, in the spiritual sense, truth mingled with falsity which is the opposite of truth, and is the falsity of evil. For relish and taste signify the affection of knowing and becoming wise, hence that which is savoury signifies what is delightful and pleasant belonging to wisdom; and delicacies, because they are savoury, signify the truth of wisdom. That this is from correspondence, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3502, 3536, 3589, 4791-4805). That wormwood, and also gall, from their bitterness, signify truth mingled with the falsity of evil, is evident also from that which follows in this verse; for it is said that "many men died of the waters because they were made bitter." This signifies that all such perished as to spiritual life, by means of truths falsified. For truths make the spiritual life of man, but falsities of evil extinguish it; and when truths are mingled with falsities of evil they are no longer truths, but truths falsified; and truths falsified are in themselves falsities. There were falsities of such a kind with the Jewish nation, while the falsities which existed amongst the upright Gentiles, were of another kind; the latter falsities are signified by vinegar, but the former, by gall and wine mingled with myrrh, in the Evangelists.

[2] And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, They gave Jesus vinegar to drink mingled with gall; but he would not drink. When they had crucified Him, "one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink" (Matthew 27: [33,] 34, 48; Mark 15:23, 36).

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now consummated, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is consummated" (John 19:28, 29).

Every circumstance related in the Evangelists concerning the passion of the Lord, signifies, in the spiritual sense, the state of the church at that time with respect to the Lord and the Word. For the Lord was the Word, because He was the Divine Truth; and as the Jews had treated the Word, or the Divine Truth, so they treated the Lord concerning which fact see above (n. 64, 195). Their giving to the Lord vinegar mingled with gall, which was also called wine mingled with myrrh, signified the quality of the Divine Truth from the Word with the Jewish nation, namely, that it was mingled with the falsity of evil, and thus altogether falsified and adulterated, therefore He would not drink it. But their afterwards giving to the Lord vinegar in a sponge, and placing hyssop about it, signified the quality of falsity among the upright Gentiles, which was falsity arising from ignorance of the truth, in which there was something good and useful; as this falsity is accepted by the Lord, He therefore drank that [which corresponded to it]. The hyssop which they placed about it, signified the purification thereof; the Lord's saying, "I thirst," signified Divine spiritual thirst, which is of Divine Truth and Good in the church, by which mankind are saved. Concerning the quality of the falsity of evil with the Jewish nation and that of the falsity of ignorance with the upright Gentiles, in which was good, see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21).

[3] The same is signified by gall and vinegar in David:

"They gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them; and let their reward be a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake" (Psalm 69:21-23).

This is said concerning the Lord, and gall, vinegar, and thirst have a signification similar to that explained above. By their table becoming a snare before them, is signified error in regard to every truth of doctrine from the Word, for a table denotes all spiritual food, and spiritual food signifies every thing of doctrine from the Word. Their eyes being darkened that they should not see, signifies understanding of truth; their loins being made to shake, signifies the will of good, and its marriage, union with the understanding of truth; the same is also signified by loins in other parts of the Word.

[4] So in Lamentations:

"He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunk with wormwood; therefore I said, My victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah: Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall" (3:15, 18, 19).

This passage also treats of the Lord. That the Lord found nothing but falsities and falsified truths in the church, which was at that time with the Jews, is signified by, "He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunk with wormwood." Wormwood denotes the falsity of evil mingled with truths, thus that which is falsified. The combat of the Lord with the hells, and His despair that the Jewish nation would ever be brought to receive and acknowledge truths, is signified by, my victory hath perished, and my hope from Jehovah: Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. For spirits who are in the falsities of evil and yet in truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, make a somewhat long resistance before they are subdued, and cast down into hell. The reason of this is, that by means of truths they have communication with heaven, and this communication and resulting conjunction must be broken off, and taken away, before they are cast down; this involves despair concerning victory, such as the Lord suffered upon the cross, when He said, "I thirst," and they gave Him vinegar.

[5] In Jeremiah:

"Jehovah God hath cut us off, and given us water of gall to drink" (8:14).

And again:

"Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them waters of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations; and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them" (9:15, 16).

And again, in the same prophet:

"Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink waters of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy hath gone forth into all the land" (23:15).

These things are also said concerning the Jewish nation, which, in a thousand ways, perverted the Word, falsified its truth, and adulterated its good. Wormwood signifies the evil of falsity, and waters of gall, the falsity of evil, both being mixed with the truths and goods of the Word. That they were of themselves, and from the heart, in evils and falsities thence, is signified by Jehovah feeding them with wormwood, and making them drink waters of gall; for evil and falsity are attributed to Jehovah, that is to the Lord, although they are of man himself; the reason of which has been shown above in various places. By the hypocrisy which is gone forth into all the land from the prophets of Jerusalem, is signified such mingling of falsity and truth, because they spoke truths and taught falsities. They spoke truths when [they spoke] from the Word, and taught falsities when [they taught] from themselves and their own doctrine. Their destruction by means of the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil, is signified by, I will scatter them among the nations, and I will send a sword after them. To scatter among the nations, denotes to destroy by means of the evils of falsity, and to send a sword after them denotes to destroy by means of the falsities of evil. That nations signify evils, may be seen above (n. 175:14, 331); and that sword signifies the combat of truth against falsity, and, the combat of falsity against truth, and its destruction, may also be seen above (n. 131, 367).

[6] So in Amos:

"Behold, Jehovah will smite the great house with sprinklings, and the little house with breaches. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood" (6:11, 12).

And in the same:

"They have turned judgment to wormwood, and thrust down justice to the earth" (5:7).

Jehovah will smite the great house with sprinklings, and the little house with breaches, signifies much perversion and falsification of truth among the learned, and some with the unlearned, a great house signifying a learned man, and a little house, an unlearned man; sprinklings denote truths destroyed by falsities, and breaches, the same, but in a less degree. That there is no understanding of truth, and will of good where the falsity of evil is, is signified by, "Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with oxen?" Horses running denote the understanding of truth, and ploughing with oxen denotes the will of good. That this is the result of their falsifying the truths and adulterating the goods of the Word, is signified by the words, "for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood;" judgment signifying the truth of the Word, and the fruit of justice the good thereof.

[7] That the sons of Jacob, who were called Israelites and Jews were of such a character, is plainly declared by Moses in his song, in which they are thus described:

"Of their vine the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; their wine (vinum) is the venom of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps" (Deuteronomy 32:32, 33).

A vine signifies the church, which is said to be of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah, because Sodom signifies every kind of evil arising from the love of self, and Gomorrah all the falsities of those evils. Grapes signify the goods of the church, and clusters, the truths of the church. That instead of the goods of the church, they had evils and falsities of the worst kind mingled with truths, is signified by their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Wine (vinum) signifies the truth and good of faith; that this is external in which there is evil from the interior, is signified by their wine is the venom of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. That the sons of Jacob were of such a nature and quality, although the church was with them, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248).

[8] That gall and wormwood signify evil and falsity mingled with good and truth, is still further evident from these words in Moses:

"Lest there should be among you, man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart looketh back this day from Jehovah our God, to go and serve the gods of the nations; lest there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood" (Deuteronomy 29:18).

Here also, gall and wormwood signify the mingling of good and truth with evil and falsity, which is the case when other gods are worshipped with the heart, and Jehovah only with the lips; for then the external sounds like good, and appears like truth, but the internal is evil and falsity. And when the interiors are evils and falsities, and the exteriors goods and truths, then both are mingled together with the result that the good becomes gall, and the truth becomes wormwood. Similarly when man in his heart hates his neighbour, and denies the truths of the church, and yet outwardly shows charity towards his neighbour, and professes the truths of the church, then there is in him a root producing gall and wormwood, for the evils and falsities from the interior enter, and mingle with the goods and truths which he manifests in externals.

[9] So in Job:

"Though evil be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth; his bread in his bowels shall be changed, it is the gall of asps in the midst of him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall [suck] the venom of asps, the viper's tongue shall slay him" (20:12-16).

This is a description of the hypocrisy from which a man speaks things holy, and pretends to have good affections while inwardly he denies and blasphemes. His interior quality is described by his hiding evil under his tongue, and keeping it within his mouth; that consequently good is infected with evil, and cast out, is signified by "yet his bread in his bowels shall be changed, and the gall of asps in the midst of him," bread denoting the good of love, and in his bowels denoting interiorly, and the gall of asps, good mingled with evil. That similarly truth is cast out by falsity, is signified by he hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. This falsity is meant by the gall of asps.

[10] It must be observed, that good and evil, and the truth of good and the falsity of evil are mingled together, when evil and falsity are in man's spirit, but good and truth in his bodily actions and speech. For that which is in man's spirit, that is, what is interior, acts into that which is of the body, or exterior; for it inflows and causes the exterior, which appears to be good and true, to be bitter like gall and wormwood, although apparently sweet before men. And because the good and truth of man's mouth and speech are of such a quality, therefore after death, when he becomes a spirit, the good is separated from the evil, and the falsity from truth, and good and truth being thus taken away, man's spirit becomes entirely his own evil and falsity. But it must be observed, that the mingling of good and evil, and of truth and falsity, is not the profanation of good and truth, for only those who have first received truth and good in their heart and faith, and afterwards in heart and faith deny them, are guilty of profanation.

175. To him will I give power over the nations. That this signifies power over his evils, which will be dispersed by the Lord in such case, is evident from the signification of nations, as denoting evils, concerning which we shall speak in what follows; and from the signification of giving power over them, as denoting that evils are then dispersed by the Lord. To have power, when it is said, "over the nations," is to disperse, when used in reference to evils; thus are words applied to their subjects. The reason why they are dispersed by the Lord is, that the Lord disperses evils by means of truths. He first reveals them by means of truths; and when a man acknowledges them, the Lord then disperses them. (That the Lord alone does this, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 200.) Peoples and nations are often mentioned in the Word, and it is believed by those who know nothing of the spiritual or internal sense of the Word that peoples and nations are thereby meant; whereas by peoples are meant those who are in truths, or, in the opposite sense, those who are in falsities, and by nations, those who are in goods, or, in the opposite sense, those who are in evils. And when such are meant by peoples and nations, then also, in the abstract, by peoples are meant truths or falsities, and by nations goods or evils, for the true spiritual sense is not concerned with persons, spaces, times and similar things, that are proper to nature.

[2] The natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, is one with the things of nature, and therefore serves as a basis for the sense which is without these things. For all things in nature are ultimates of Divine order; and the Divine does not stop in the midst, but flows down to ultimates, and thus subsists. This is why the Word is such in the letter; unless it were of this nature, it would not serve as a basis for the wisdom of angels, who are spiritual. It may be seen, therefore, how much those err who despise the Word on account of its style. The reason why nations signify those who are in good, and, in the abstract goods themselves, is, that men in ancient times lived divided into nations, families and houses. They then mutually loved each other; the father of a nation loved the whole nation which sprang from himself; thus the good of love was the ruling good among them. This is why by nations are signified goods; but when men went in opposition to this, as was the case in the following ages, when empires took their rise, then nations signified evils. (See what is further said upon this subject in the small work, The Earths in the Universe 49, 90, 173, 174.)

[3] That nations in the Word signify goods or evils, and peoples truths or falsities is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"The nations shall walk to thy light and kings to the splendour of thy rising. Then shalt thou see and flow, and thine heart shall be enlarged, because the multitude of the sea is converted unto thee, the hosts of the nations come unto thee: thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day and night, to bring unto thee the host of the nations; and their kings shall be led down; for the nation or kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. And the nations by wasting shall be wasted. Thou shalt suck the milk of nations, yea, the breasts of kings shalt thou suck; a little one shall become a thousand, and the few a numerous nation" (60:3, 5, 11, 12, 16, 22).

Here the Lord is treated of; and by nations are meant all those who are in the good of love, and by kings all those who are in the truths of faith towards Him. It is therefore evident who are meant by the nations of whom it is said, they "shall walk to thy light," and by "the host of the nations that shall be brought;" and also who are meant by kings, respecting whom it is said, "they shall walk to the brightness of thy rising," and "the kings of the nations shall be led down." It is also plain what is meant by sucking the milk of the nations and the breasts of kings; milk is the delight of the good of love, similarly breasts, as milk is from them. The multiplication of truth and the fructification of good, are described by a little one becoming a thousand, and the few a numerous nation. But by the nations which shall perish are meant all those who are in evils, and also the evils themselves.

[4] In the same:

"Behold I will lift up my hand towards the nations, and towards the peoples I will lift up my standard, that they may bring thy sons in the bosom and carry thy daughters upon the shoulder; and kings shall be thy nourishers, and princesses those who shall suckle thee; with the face to the earth shall they bow down to thee" (49:22, 23).

The subject here treated of is also the Lord, and those who shall worship and adore Him. To lift up His hand towards the nations, and His standard towards the peoples is to claim to Himself all who are in the goods of love and thence in truths; concerning whom it is said, that they shall bring thy sons in the bosom, and carry thy daughters upon the shoulder, sons denoting the affections of truth and daughters the affections of good (as may be seen above, n. 166). And of these it is said, kings shall be thy nourishers, and princesses those who shall suckle thee. Kings signify truths themselves, and princesses the goods thereof; and because a man is regenerated by means of these, and also nourished, it is therefore said that they shall be nourishers and those who shall give suck. (That man is regenerated by truths and by a life according to them, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 23, 24, 27, 186.) This is the internal sense of those words; and without that sense who could understand them?

[5] In the same:

"Jehovah said, Behold I spread out upon" Jerusalem "peace as a river, and as a torrent the glory of the nations that ye may suck. He shall come to gather together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory. They shall announce my glory in the nations; then shall they bring your brethren from all nations, a gift to Jehovah upon horses and upon the chariot, to the mountain of my holiness" (66:12, 18, 19, 20).

Jerusalem here signifies the church of the Lord in the heavens and on earth. It is said the church in the heavens, because the church is there also (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 221-227). By nations and tongues, are meant all those who are in the goods of love and thence in truths. To bring from all nations a gift to Jehovah, upon horses and upon the chariot, denotes worship from the good of love, which is signified by a gift to Jehovah. Horses and chariots signify intellectual and doctrinal things, for from these and upon these worship is founded. (That horses and chariots have such a signification may be seen in the small work, The White Horse 1-5.)

[6] In the same:

"In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the peoples; the nations shall seek" (11:10).

The root of Jesse is the Lord; to stand for an ensign of the peoples denotes that He may be seen by those who are in truths. The nations which shall seek, denote those who are in the good of love.

It is supposed that by nations are here meant the nations that will accede to, and acknowledge the Lord, from which there will be a church, called the church of the Gentiles. Yet these are not meant by the nations, but all those who are in love and faith towards the Lord, whether within the church or without it (which may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 308, 318-328).

[7] In the same:

"A strong people shall honour thee, the city of the powerful nations shall fear thee" (25:3).

"Open ye the gates that the righteous nation may enter in. Thou hast added to the nation, Jehovah, thou hast added to the nation, thou art glorified" (26:2, 15).

"Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples" (34:1).

In the same:

"I, Jehovah, have called thee in justice, for a covenant to the people, for a light of the nations" (42:6).

In Jeremiah:

"And the nations shall bless themselves in him - and in him shall they glory" (4:2).

In the same:

Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations? - and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee" (10:7).

And in Daniel:

"I saw in visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of man. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him" (7:13, 14).

And in David:

"Let the peoples confess thee, O God; let all the peoples confess thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the peoples in rectitude, and shalt lead the nations upon earth" (67:3-4).

In the same:

"That I may see the good of thy chosen and be glad in the joy of thy nations" (106:5).

In the Apocalypse:

The glory and honour of the nations shall be brought into the New Jerusalem (21:26).

In Isaiah:

"Ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah; the ministers of our God, shall be said to you; ye shall eat the riches of the nations, and in their glory shall ye glory" (61:6).

In Lamentations:

"The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the nations" (4:20).

In these places, by nations are meant all those who are in love to the Lord, whether they be within the church, where the Word is, or out of it. That by nations, in an opposite sense, are meant those who are in evils, and, in the abstract, evils themselves, is evident from the following passages;

[8] as in Jeremiah:

"I will bring a nation upon you from far: it is a strong nation, it is a nation of an age, a nation whose language thou knowest not. It shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, and shall eat thy sons and thy daughters: it shall eat up thy vine and thy fig-tree; it shall desolate cities with the sword" (5:15, 17).

The vastation of the church is here treated of. By nation is meant the evil which will consummate it; hence it is said, that it shall eat up the harvest and the bread, the sons and daughters, the vine and the fig-tree, and impoverish cities with the sword. By these things are signified all the goods of love and truths of faith: by the harvest is signified a state of reception of truth from good (see Arcana Coelestia 9295); by bread, the good of love (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 218); by sons and daughters, the affections of truth and good (see above, n. 166); by vine, the internal church, thus the internal things of the church (see Arcana Coelestia 1069, 5113, 6376, 9277); by the fig-tree, the external church, thus the external things of the church (n. 5113); by cities, doctrines (see Arcana Coelestia 402, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493); by sword, falsity destroying (see above, n. 73, 131). From these considerations it is evident that by nation is signified the evil which destroys everything of the church.

[9] In the same:

"Behold I lay stumbling blocks before this people, that they may stumble upon them, the fathers and the sons together. Behold a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation from the sides of the land. They have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses" (6:21-23).

In this passage also, nation denotes evil, and people falsities; the stumbling blocks upon which the fathers and the sons stumble denote perversions of good and truth; fathers denote goods, and sons the truths therefrom. It is said, a people from the land of the north, and a nation from the sides of the land, because the north signifies that falsity from evil, and the sides of the land those things that are outside the church, thus they signify evils remote from the goods of the church. To roar like the sea, and to ride upon horses, denotes to persuade from the fallacies of the senses, and by reasonings therefrom.

[10] In Ezekiel:

"The land is full of the judgment of bloods, and the city is full of violence, therefore I will bring upon them the worst of the nations, and they shall occupy their houses; the king shall mourn and the prince shall be clothed with stupor" (7:23, 24, 27).

The land is the church; being full of the judgment of bloods, signifies that it is immersed in falsities destroying goods; city denotes doctrine; to be full of violence signifies offering violence to the good of charity; the worst of the nations denotes dire falsities from evil; to occupy their houses denotes to possess their minds; the king who shall mourn is the truth of the church; the prince who shall be clothed with stupor signifies truth subservient. (That the land signifies the church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1413, 1607, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 9325, 9643; that bloods denote falsities destroying goods, n. 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127; that city denotes doctrine, n. 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493; that violence denotes to violate the good of charity, n. 6353; that house denotes the things that belong to a man's mind, n. 710, 2231, 2233, 2559, 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023, 6690, 7353, 7848, 7910, 7929, 9150; that the king who shall mourn denotes the truth of the church, may be seen above, n. 31.)

[11] Again, in David:

"Jehovah rendereth vain the counsel of the nations, he subverteth the thoughts of the peoples" (Psalms 33:10).

Nations denote those who are in evils, and peoples those who are in falsities; and because both the former and the latter are signified, it is therefore said, that Jehovah rendereth vain the counsel of the nations, and subverteth the thoughts of the peoples, which are two expressions as it were signifying one thing, but yet they are distinct in the internal sense, in which nations signify one thing, and peoples another.

[12] In Luke:

"Then they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be taken captive among all nations, and at length Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations, until the times of the nations be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring" (21:24, 25).

The consummation of the age is here treated of, which is the last time of the church, when there is no longer any faith because no charity, or no truth because no good. This is described in the above passage by correspondences. To fall by the edge of the sword is to be destroyed by falsities; to be taken captive among all nations is to be possessed by evils of every kind; Jerusalem, which shall be trodden under foot is the church; the sun denotes love to the Lord; the moon, faith towards Him; the stars denote knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth; the signs in them denote that they therefore would perish; the sea and the waves roaring are fallacies and reasonings.

[13] In Matthew:

"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places; and they shall deliver you up to tribulation; and ye shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake" (24:7, 9; Luke 21:10, 11).

These things are also said by the Lord concerning the last time of the church; and by nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom is signified that there will be dissensions of evils and falsities among themselves. By famines and pestilences are signified defect and consumption of truths; by earthquakes, the perversion of the church; by being hated by all nations is signified to be hated by all those who are in evil; by the name of the Lord, on account of which they shall be hated are signified all things of love and faith by which the Lord is worshipped (as may be seen above, n. 102, 135).

[14] In Ezekiel:

"Behold, Asshur a cedar in Lebanon, he is become high and his branches are multiplied: in his branches have all the birds of the heavens built their nests, and under his branches all the beasts of the field have brought forth, and in his shade have dwelt great nations. But his heart is lifted up in his height, wherefore I will give him into the hand of the strong, one of the nations, strangers shall cut him off, and the violent of the nations shall cast him down; whence all peoples of the earth have descended from his shade, and have deserted him" (31:3, 5, 6, 11, 12).

These things could not be understood by any one without a knowledge of the spiritual or internal sense of the Word. It may be supposed that they are mere comparisons, in which there is not any spiritual signification, when, nevertheless, the most minute particulars therein signify something pertaining to heaven and the church; therefore they shall be briefly explained. Asshur denotes the enlightened Rational of the man of the church; this is called a cedar in Lebanon, because a cedar signifies the same thing as Asshur, specifically truth from good in the Rational; and Lebanon denotes the mind wherein the Rational resides, because cedars grew in Lebanon. By his branches being multiplied are meant truths therefrom. The fowls of heaven building their nests in his branches signify the affections of truth; and the beasts of the field which brought forth under his branches, the affections of good. The great nations which dwell under his shade, are the goods of love; his heart lifted up in his height, is the love of self. To be delivered into the hands of the strong one of the nations, and to be cast down by the violent of the nations, denote his being destroyed as to goods and truths by the evils derived from the love of self. The people of the earth who went down from his shade and left him, signify all the truths of the church. It is therefore evident that by nations are signified goods, and, in the opposite sense, evils; by the nations which dwelt under his shade, goods, and by the nations which cut him off and cast him down, evils. (See moreover what is said and shown concerning nations and their signification in Arcana Coelestia, namely, that by nations in the Word are signified those who are in good, and hence that they signify goods themselves, n. 1059, 1159, 1258, 1260, 1416, 1849, 6005; concerning the assembly of the nations as denoting truths and goods, n. 4574, 7830; concerning the holy nation, as denoting the spiritual kingdom, n. 9255, 9256. When it is said nation and people, by nation are meant those who are in celestial good, and by people those who are in spiritual good, n. 10288. That by nations, especially those of the land of Canaan, are meant evils and falsities of every kind, n. 1059, 1205, 1868, 6306, 8054, 8317, 9320, 9327.)