4744. And the pit was empty, there was no water in it. That this signifies that there was then nothing true, is evident from the signification of a “pit,” as being falsities (see n. 4728); from the signification of “being empty, “as being where there is nothing true because nothing good (of which hereafter); and from the signification of “water,” as being truth (n. 680, 2702, 3058, 3424). That “being empty” denotes where there is nothing true because nothing good, is evident from other passages in the Word, as in Jeremiah:

Their great ones have sent their little ones for waters; they came unto the pits, and found no waters; they returned with their vessels empty; they were affected with shame and ignominy, and covered their head (Jeremiah 14:3); where “empty vessels” denote truths in which there is no truth from good. Again:

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath troubled me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up (Jeremiah 51:34); where an “empty vessel” denotes where there is no truth; and “Babylon,” those who vastate, that is, deprive others of truths (n. 1327 at the end). Again:

I beheld the earth, and lo it was void and empty; and the heavens, and they had no light (Jeremiah 4:23).

In Isaiah:

The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; and the owl and the raven shall dwell therein; and they shall stretch over it the line of a void, and the plummet of emptiness (Isaiah 34:11).

[2] Again:

The city of emptiness shall be broken; every house shall be shut up, that no one may come in. There is a cry in the streets upon the one, the joy of the land shall be exiled, what is left in the city shall be a waste (Isaiah 24:10-12);

here “emptiness” is expressed by another word in the original tongue, which, however, involves a similar meaning. That “emptiness” is where there is no truth because no good, is evident in the internal sense from the particulars mentioned, as from the signification of a “city,” of a “house,” of a “cry,” of “wine,” and of “streets.”

In Ezekiel:

Hath said the Lord Jehovih, Woe to the city of bloods! I will also make the hearth great, setting the pot empty upon the coals that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may be heated, and that the uncleanness thereof may melt therein, the scum thereof be consumed (Ezekiel 24:9, 11);

it is evident here what “being empty” signifies; an “empty pot” is that in which there is uncleanness and scum, that is, evil and falsity.

[3] So in Matthew:

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, but findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and prepared for him. Then goeth he, and joineth to himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there (Matthew 12:43-45).

The “unclean spirit” denotes uncleanness of life in man, and also the unclean spirits with him, for unclean spirits dwell in the uncleanness of man’s life; “dry places,” or where there is no water, denote where there are no truths; the “empty house” denotes the interiors of man again filled with uncleanness, that is, with falsities from evil.

In Luke:

God hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away (Luke 1:53);

“the rich” denote those who know many things; for “riches” in the spiritual sense are memory-knowledges, doctrinal things, and the knowledges of good and truth. They are called the “empty rich” who know these things, and do not do them; for truths to them are not truths, because without good (see n. 4736).

4736. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness. That this signifies that they should conceal it meanwhile among their falsities, that is, that they should regard it as false, but still retain it because it was of importance to the church, is evident from the signification of a “pit,” as being falsities (see n. 4728); and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being where there is no truth. For the word “wilderness” has a wide signification, it means where the land is uninhabited, and thus not cultivated; and when predicated of the church, it denotes where there is no good, and consequently no truth (n. 2708, 3900). Thus by a “pit in the wilderness” are here meant falsities in which there is no truth, because no good. It is said in which there is no truth because no good; for when anyone believes that faith saves without works, truth may indeed exist, but still it is not truth in him, because it does not look to good, nor is it from good. This truth is not alive, because it has in it a principle of falsity, consequently with anyone who has such truth, the truth is but falsity from the principle which rules in it. The principle is like the soul, from which the rest have their life. On the other hand there are falsities which are accepted as truths, when there is good in them, especially if it is the good of innocence, as with the Gentiles and also with many within the church.