Arcana Coelestia # 7553
7553. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail. That this signifies falsities destroying all things of the church with them, is evident from the signification of a “rain of hail,” as being falsities from evil destroying the truths and goods of faith, thus the things of the church. That a “rain of hail” has this signification is because it is like stones, and destroys both men and beasts, also the produce of the field, and likewise because it is cold. A “rain” in general signifies a blessing, and in the opposite sense a curse (see n. 2445); when a blessing, it signifies the influx and reception of the truth that is of faith and of the good that is of charity, for this is a blessing; but when it signifies a curse, it signifies falsity that is contrary to the truth of faith, and evil that is contrary to the good of charity, for these are a curse. But a “rain of hail” in general signifies the curse that belongs to falsity from evil, and indeed to falsity from evil against the truths and goods of the church.
[2] This is signified by a “rain of hail” in the following passages:
I will dispute with God with pestilence and with blood; and I will make it rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an inundating rain, and hailstones, fire, and sulphur (Ezekiel 38:22);
“Gog” denotes outward worship separate from inward, thus those who when charity is extinct make everything of Divine worship consist in outward things; “hailstones” denote falsities from evil.
[3] In the same:
My hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity, and that divine a lie; say unto them that daub with what is untempered, that it shall fall; there shall be an inundating rain, by which ye hailstones shall fall; and a wind of storms shall burst through it (Ezekiel 13:9, 11);
“the prophets that see vanity and divine a lie” denote those who teach evils and falsities; “those who daub with what is untempered” denotes that they invent falsities, and make them appear like truths. These are called “hailstones” from falsities; but “hail” in this and in the passage above quoted is expressed in the original by another word which means “great hail.”
[4] In Isaiah:
Then Jehovah shall cause the glory of His voice to be heard, and His arm shall see quiet, in the indignation of anger, and a flame of devouring fire, with scattering and inundation, and with hailstone (Isaiah 30:30-31); where “hailstone” denotes the vastation of truth through falsities. In the same:
Behold the Lord is strong and mighty; like an inundation of hail, a storm of slaughter, like an inundation of mighty waters overflowing, shall He cast down to the earth with the hand; the hail shall overthrow the refuge of a lie, and they shall inundate the hiding place of waters (Isaiah 28:2, 17);
“an inundation” denotes immersion in falsities, and thus the vastation of truth (n. 705, 739, 790, 5725, 6853); “an inundation of hail” denotes the destruction of truth through falsities.
[5] In David:
He smote their vine with hail, and their sycamores with grievous hail; and He shut up their beast with the hail, and their cattle with coals of fire. He sent against them the wrath of His anger (Psalms 78:47-49).
He made their rains hail, a flaming fire in their land, and smote their vine and their fig-tree, and broke in pieces the tree of their border (Psalms 105:32-33);
“hail and rain” denote the vastation of truth and good through falsities from evil; the “vine” denotes the truth and good of the internal church; the “sycamore” and the “fig-tree,” denote the truths and goods of the external church. In the same:
Who giveth snow like wool; He scattereth the hoar frost like dust, who castest forth His hail like morsels; who can stand before His cold? (Psalms 147:16-17);
“hail” denotes falsities from evils. In the same:
He made darkness His hiding place, His circuits His tent, the darkness of the waters, the clouds of the heavens, from the brightness before Him the clouds passed, with hailstone and coals of fire; Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave His voice, hailstone and coals of fire, so that He sent arrows and scattered them (Psalms 18:12-15);
“hailstone” denotes falsities from evil which vastate truths and goods.
[6] In John:
The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it fell upon the earth, so that the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up (Revelation 8:7);
“hail” denotes falsities from evil; “fire mingled with blood,” the evil of cupidities together with falsified truths; the “trees that were burnt up” denote the knowledges of truth destroyed by the evil of cupidities; the “green grass that was burnt up” denotes the memory-knowledges of truth likewise destroyed. (That “fire” denotes the evil of cupidities, see n. 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324; that “blood” denotes falsified truth, n. 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326; that “trees” denote knowledges, n. 2722, 2972)
[7] In Joshua:
It came to pass, as they fled before Israel in the going down of Bethhoron, when Jehovah cast down upon them great stones from the heavens even unto Azekah, that they died; there were more who died with the hailstones than they whom the sons of Israel slew with the sword (Josh. 10:11);
this is said of the five kings who fought against Gibeon; by these kings and their people were represented those who are in falsities from evils, therefore they died with the hailstones; morsels of hail are called “stones,” because “stones” also signify falsities. From all this it is evident what is signified by “hail” and “rain of hail,” namely, falsities from evils; and consequently the vastation of truth and good is also signified, for this is effected through falsities from evils.
Genesis 19
1
The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,
2
and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
3
He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
5
They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."
6
Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.
7
He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.
8
See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."
9
They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.
10
But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
11
They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12
The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:
13
for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."
14
Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
15
When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."
16
But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.
17
It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"
18
Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.
19
See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
20
See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."
21
He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22
Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24
Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
25
He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
26
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27
Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.
28
He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29
It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
30
Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31
The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.
32
Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
33
They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34
It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
35
They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.
36
Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.
37
The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38
The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
