3941. And Reuben went in the days of wheat-harvest. That this signifies faith as regards its state of love and charity, is evident from the representation of Reuben, as being the faith which is the first thing of regeneration (see n. 3861, 3866); from the signification of “days,” as being states (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785); and from the signification of “wheat,” as being love and charity-to be explained in what follows; hence “wheat-harvest” is an advancing state of love and charity. The means of the conjunction of the external man with the internal have been described under the representation of the four sons of Jacob by the handmaids; and the subject now treated of is the conjunction of good and truth by means of the rest of the sons; and therefore the “dudaim” are first spoken of, by which this conjunction or conjugial relation is signified. The reason why a “wheat-harvest” signifies an advancing state of love and charity, is that a “field” signifies the church, and thus the things of the church; and the “seeds” sown in the field signify the things of good and truth; and the plants born from them, such as wheat, barley, and other grains, signify the things of love and charity, and also of faith. The states of the church in regard to these things are therefore compared to “seedtime” and “harvest,” and are so called, as inGenesis 8:22 (n. 932).

[2] That “wheat” denotes the things of love and charity, may also be seen from the following passages.

In Moses:

Jehovah maketh him to ride on the high places of the earth, and feedeth him with the increase of the fields, and maketh him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; butter of the herd and milk of the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the sons of Bashan, and of he-goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat, and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape (Deut 32:13-14);

here in the internal sense the subject treated of is the Ancient Church and its state when it was set up; and all the things of love and charity and all the things of faith that were in it, are described by significatives. The “fat of the kidneys of wheat” is the celestial of love and charity; and as “fat” or “fatness” signifies the celestial (n. 353), and “wheat,” love, they are frequently joined together in the Word-as also in David:

O that My people were obedient to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways. He should feed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee (Psalms 81:13, 16).

And again in the same:

Jehovah, He maketh thy border peace, and filleth thee with the fat of wheat (Psalms 147:14).

[3] That “wheat” is love and charity, may be seen in Jeremiah:

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden down the portion of My field, they have made the portion of My field a wilderness of solitude. Wasters are come upon all the hills in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from one end of the land even to the other end of the land; no flesh hath peace. They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns (Jeremiah 12:10, 12-13);

“vineyard” and “field” denote the church; the “wilderness of solitude,” its vastation; the “sword that devoureth,” the vastation of truth; “no peace,” no good that affects; “sowing wheat,” the goods of love and charity; “reaping thorns,” the evils and falsities of the love of self and of the world. (That a “vineyard” is the spiritual church, may be seen above, n. 1069; and that a “field” is the church as to good, n. 2971; that a “wilderness” is vastation, n. 1927, 2708; that a “devouring sword” is the vastation of truth, n. 2799; and that “peace” is good that affects, n. 3780)

[4] In Joel:

The field is wasted, the ground mourneth, for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth, the husbandmen were ashamed, the vine-dressers have howled, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar (Joel 1:10-11, 13).

Everyone sees that the state of the vastated church is that which is here described; thus that “field” and “ground” are the church; the “corn” ¹ its good, and the “new wine” its truth (n. 3580); and that the “wheat” is celestial love, and the “barley” spiritual love; and as the state of the church is treated of, it is said, “gird yourselves and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar.”

[5] In Ezekiel, the Spirit of Jehovah said to the prophet:

Take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel, and make thee bread thereof. With the ordure of man’s dung shalt thou make a cake before their eyes. Thus shall the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean (Ezekiel 4:9, 12-13); where the profanation of good and truth is treated of; the “wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt” denote the kinds of good and its derivative truth; the “bread” or “cake” “made thereof with the ordure of human dung,” denotes the profanation of all of them.

[6] In John:

I saw and behold a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and hurt thou not the oil and the wine (Revelation 6:5-6); where the vastation of good and truth is treated of; a “measure of wheat for a penny” denoting the scarcity of love; and “three measures of barley for a penny,” the scarcity of charity.

[7] In Ezekiel:

Judah and the land of Israel were thy merchants; with wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balsam, they made thy tradings (Ezekiel 27:17); where the subject is Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of good and truth; the goods of love and charity and their happinesses are the “wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balsam;” “Judah” is the celestial church, and the “land of Israel,” the spiritual church, from which those things are; “tradings” are acquisitions.

[8] In Moses:

A land of wheat and barley, a land of vine and fig-tree and pomegranate, a land of olive, of oil, and of honey (Deuteronomy 8:8);

describing the land of Canaan, which in the internal sense is the Lord’s kingdom (n. 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 3038, 3705). The goods of love and charity are signified by the “wheat and barley;” and the goods of faith by the “vine and the fig-tree.”

[9] In Matthew:

Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12).

John the Baptist thus speaks of the Lord; the “wheat” denotes the good of love and charity; the “chaff,” that in which there is nothing of good. In the same:

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into My barn (Matthew 13:30).

The “tares” denote evils and falsities and the “wheat,” goods. They are comparisons, but the comparisons in the Word are all made by means of significatives.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3580. And a multitude of corn. That this signifies the derivative natural good, and that “new wine” signifies the derivative natural truth, is evident from the signification of “corn,” as being good; and from the signification of “new wine,” as being truth; which when predicated of the natural signify natural good and truth, and then “bread and wine” are predicated of the rational. (That “bread” is celestial good, see above, n. 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478; and that “wine” is what is spiritual, thus truth from good, n. 1071, 1798.)

[2] That “corn and new wine” have this signification, may be seen also from the following passages in the Word.

In Haggai:

The heavens are closed from dew, and the earth is closed from her produce. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine; and upon that which the ground bringeth forth (Haggai 1:10-11); where “drought” denotes a lack of dew and of rain, thus a lack of truth derived from any good; “drought upon the corn” is a lack of good and “drought upon the new wine” is a lack of truth.

In Moses:

Israel shall dwell securely, alone at the fountain of Jacob in a land of corn and new wine; yea, his heavens shall drop down dew (Deuteronomy 33:28);

“alone” denotes those who are not infested by evils and falsities (n. 139, 471); a “land of corn and new wine” denotes the good and truth of the church.

[3] In Hosea:

I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall bud forth as the lily, and shall fix his roots as Lebanon; his branches shall go forth, and his honor shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon; they that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall vivify the corn, and blossom as the vine; his memory shall be as the wine of Lebanon (Hos. 14:5-7); where “corn” denotes spiritual good and wine,” spiritual truth.

In Isaiah:

The curse shall devour the earth. The new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish, all the glad of heart shall sigh (Isaiah 24:6-7); where the vastation of the spiritual church is treated of; the “new wine mourning” denotes that truth shall cease.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob. And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together unto the goodness of Jehovah, to the corn and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the sons of the flock and of the herd (Jeremiah 31:11-12).

The “corn and new wine” denote good and the derivative truth; “oil,” the good from which they come, and which is from them; “the sons of the flock and of the herd,” the truth which thus comes therefrom; and as these things have such a signification, they are called “the goodness of Jehovah.”

[5] In Hosea:

She did not know that I gave her the corn, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold which they made for Baal. Therefore will I return and take away My corn and My new wine in their appointed season, and I will pluck away My wool and My flax (Hos. 2:8-9); where the church perverted is treated of; and it is manifest that by “corn” is not meant corn; nor by “new wine,” new wine; neither by “oil,” “silver,” “gold,” “wool,” and “flax,” are such things meant, but those which are spiritual; that is, those of good and truth.

[6] In like manner where a new church is treated of, in the same Prophet:

I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will hearken to the heavens; and these shall hearken to the earth; and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and these shall hearken to Jezreel (Hos. 2:20-22); where “Jezreel” denotes a new church.

In Joel:

Awake ye drunkards and weep, and howl all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth (Joel 1:5, 10).

[7] Again:

Rejoice ye sons of Zion, and be glad in Jehovah your God; for He hath given you the early rain for righteousness; and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the early rain and the latter rain in the first. And the floors shall be filled with pure corn, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil (Joel 2:23-24).

Again in the same Prophet:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall go forth out of the house of Jehovah (Joel 3:18); where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of; and by “sweet wine,” by “milk,” and by “waters,” are signified spiritual things whose abundance is thus described.

[8] In Zechariah:

Jehovah their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people. For how great is His goodness! and how great is His beauty! corn shall make the young men to flourish, and new wine the virgins (Zech. 9:16-17).

In David:

Thou dost visit the earth, and delightest in it; Thou greatly enrichest it; the stream of God is full of waters; Thou preparest them corn; the meadows are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing (Psalms 65:9, 13).

From all this we can see what is signified by “corn and new wine.”