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โจเอล 1

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1 พระวจนะของพระเยโฮวาห์ที่มาถึงโยเอล บุตรชายของเปธุเอล ว่าดังนี้ว่า

2 ท่านผู้เฒ่าทั้งหลาย ขอจงฟังเรื่องนี้ ชาวแผ่นดินทั้งสิ้น ขอจงเงี่ยหูฟัง สิ่งเหล่านี้เคยเกิดมาในสมัยของท่าน หรือเกิดมาในสมัยบรรพบุรุษของท่านบ้างหรือ

3 จงบอกให้ลูกของท่านทราบ และให้ลูกบอกหลาน และให้หลานบอกเหลนอีกชั่วอายุหนึ่ง

4 สิ่งใดที่ตั๊กแตนวัยเดินกินเหลือ ตั๊กแตนวัยบินก็กินเสีย สิ่งใดที่ตั๊กแตนวัยบินกินเหลือตั๊กแตนวัยกระโดดก็กินเสีย สิ่งใดที่ตั๊กแตนวัยกระโดดกินเหลือตั๊กแตนวัยคลานก็กินเสีย

5 เจ้าพวกขี้เมาเอ๋ย จงตื่นขึ้นและร้องไห้เถิด นักดื่มเหล้าองุ่นทุกคนเอ๋ย จงโอดครวญเถิด เพราะว่าน้ำองุ่นใหม่ถูกตัดขาดจากปากของเจ้าทั้งหลายแล้ว

6 เพราะว่าประชาชาติหนึ่งได้ขึ้นมาสู้กับแผ่นดินของข้าพเจ้า เขามีทั้งกำลังมากและมีจำนวนนับไม่ถ้วน ฟันของมันเหมือนฟันสิงโต เขี้ยวของมันเหมือนเขี้ยวสิงโตผู้ยิ่งใหญ่

7 มันได้ทำลายเถาองุ่นของข้าพเจ้าเสีย และได้ปอกเปลือกต้นมะเดื่อของข้าพเจ้า มันลอกเปลือกออกและโยนทิ้งเสีย กิ่งก้านก็ดูขาวโพลน

8 จงโอดครวญอย่างหญิงพรหมจารีซึ่งคาดเอวด้วยผ้ากระสอบที่ไว้ทุกข์ให้สามีของเธอที่ได้เมื่อวัยสาว

9 ธัญญบูชาและเครื่องดื่มบูชาได้ถูกตัดขาดเสียจากพระนิเวศของพระเยโฮวาห์ ปุโรหิตผู้ปรนนิบัติของพระเยโฮวาห์ก็โศกเศร้า

10 นาก็ร้าง พื้นดินก็เศร้าโศก เพราะข้าวถูกทำลายเสีย น้ำองุ่นใหม่ก็แห้งไปหมด น้ำมันก็ขาดมือไป

11 ชาวนาทั้งหลายเอ๋ย จงอับอายไปเถิด ผู้แต่งเถาองุ่นเอ๋ย จงคร่ำครวญเนื่องด้วยข้าวสาลีและข้าวบารลี เพราะผลของนาก็ถูกทำลายไปหมด

12 เถาองุ่นก็เหี่ยว ต้นมะเดื่อก็แห้งไป ต้นทับทิม ต้นอินทผลัม และต้นแอบเปิ้ล ต้นไม้ในนาทั้งสิ้นก็เหี่ยวไป เพราะความยินดีก็เหี่ยวไปจากบุตรทั้งหลายของมนุษย์

13 ท่านปุโรหิตทั้งหลายเอ๋ย จงคาดเอวและโอดครวญ ท่านผู้ปรนนิบัติที่แท่นบูชา จงคร่ำครวญ ท่านผู้ปรนนิบัติพระเจ้าของข้าพเจ้า จงเข้าไปสวมผ้ากระสอบนอนค้างคืนสักคืนหนึ่ง เพราะว่าธัญญบูชาและเครื่องดื่มบูชาได้ขาดไปเสียจากพระนิเวศแห่งพระเจ้าของท่าน

14 จงเตรียมตัวถืออดอาหาร จงเรียกประชุมอันศักดิ์สิทธิ์ จงรวบรวมบรรดาผู้ใหญ่และชาวแผ่นดินทั้งสิ้นไปยังพระนิเวศของพระเยโฮวาห์พระเจ้าของท่าน และร้องทูลต่อพระเยโฮวาห์

15 อนิจจาหนอวันนั้น เพราะวันแห่งพระเยโฮวาห์ใกล้เข้ามาแล้ว วันนั้นจะมาเป็นการทำลายจากองค์ผู้ทรงมหิทธิฤทธิ์

16 อาหารถูกตัดออกจากเบื้องหน้าสายตาของพวกเราแล้ว เออ ความปีติและความยินดีก็ขาดไปจากพระนิเวศแห่งพระเจ้าของเราแล้ว มิใช่หรือ

17 เมล็ดพืชก็เน่าอยู่ในดิน ฉางก็รกร้าง ยุ้งก็หักพังลง เพราะว่าข้าวเหี่ยวแห้งไปเสียแล้ว

18 สัตว์ทั้งหลายร้องครวญครางแล้วหนอ ฝูงวัวก็งุนงง เพราะว่าไม่มีทุ่งหญ้าให้มัน ฝูงแกะก็อ่อนระอาไป

19 ข้าแต่พระเยโฮวาห์ ข้าพระองค์ร้องทูลพระองค์ เพราะว่าไฟได้เผาผลาญทุ่งหญ้าแห่งถิ่นทุรกันดาร และเปลวไฟได้ไหม้ต้นไม้ในทุ่งนาเสียหมดแล้ว

20 ถึงแม้ว่าสัตว์ป่าก็ร้องทูลพระองค์ด้วย เพราะว่าน้ำในห้วยแห้งไป และไฟก็เผาผลาญทุ่งหญ้าแห่งถิ่นทุรกันดาร


Many thanks to Philip Pope for the permission to use his 2003 translation of the English King James Version Bible into Thai. Here's a link to the mission's website: www.thaipope.org

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Explanation of Joel 1 - Revised

Napsal(a) J. E. Schreck

Joel Chapter 1, the Internal Sense.

(From Swedenborg's work, "The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms")

(Verse 1) The Word has been perverted by false worship,

(2) when instead the Word should have been obeyed by everyone in the Church,

(3) and communicated to everyone who holds false beliefs that arise from evil loves.

(4) Instead, the spiritual things of the Church have been destroyed by sensualism.

(5) Now, remorse should be awakened, because of this loss of faith,

(6) a faith which has been destroyed by the lust of worshipping false gods,

(7) depriving the Church of spiritual truth and good.

(8) The Church should return to the Lord

(9) with inward mourning and contrition

(10) over the loss of good and truth in the natural and spiritual man -

(11) especially people who seek the good of the Church and who desire its genuine doctrine: for the Church is about to perish.

(12) Spiritual truth, its good, its knowledge, and its delights, which constitute the Church, are perverted.

(13) Only by repentance can communion with the Lord be renewed.

(14) The Church can only remove the evil and falsity by acknowledging and worshipping the Lord,

(15) for the end of the Church is near, when it will be judged.

(16) Good works are not being done, nor are there any people who delight in spiritual things.

(17) Natural good has been subordinated to evil, and the truth and good of the Word are rejected.

(18) Wherefore there is no good in the Church,

(19) and our hearts must be turned again to the Lord: for the love of self has corrupted all things in the church.

(20) Although truth is desired, it has been misappropriated to ourselves.

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Apocalypse Explained # 543

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543. Verse 3. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts upon the earth, signifies that from infernal falsities they became corporeal-sensual in the church. This is evident from the signification of "smoke," as being infernal falsity (See above, n. 539). Infernal falsity is what is here signified by "smoke," because it has just been said that this smoke "went up out of the pit of the abyss," and "the pit of the abyss" signifies the hell where and from which are the falsities of evil that falsify the truths of the Word. The above is evident also from the signification of "locusts," as being man's ultimate sensual, which is in the falsity of evil (of which presently); also from the signification of "to go forth upon the earth," as being upon the church, for the "earth" signifies the church; moreover, the things contained in Revelation are predictions respecting the church and its state.

[2] That "locusts" signify man's ultimate sensual which is in the falsity of evil, can be seen from each and all the particulars related in this chapter to verse 12, in the explanation of which it is shown that "locusts" have no other meaning. But here it shall first be told what is meant by man's ultimate sensual. It does not mean the sensual of sight, of hearing, of smell, of taste, and of touch, for these things are proper to the body, but the ultimate of thought and affection, which is the first to be opened with infants, and which is such that they think of nothing else and are affected by no other objects than what make one with the senses just named. For infants learn to think by means of the senses, and to be affected by objects that are in accord with the things that are pleasing to the senses; consequently the first internal that is opened with them is the sensual that is called man's ultimate sensual, or the corporeal-sensual. But afterwards, as the infant grows older and becomes a boy, a more interior sensual is opened, from which he thinks naturally, and is also affected naturally. Later, in youth and early manhood, a still more interior sensual is opened, from which he thinks rationally, and if he is in the good of charity and faith, he thinks spiritually, and is also affected rationally and spiritually. This thought and affection is what is called the rational and spiritual man, while the former is called the natural man, and the first the sensual man.

[3] With every man the interiors that are of his thought and affection are opened successively, and this by a continuous influx out of heaven from the Lord. By this influx the sensual that most nearly adheres to the body is first formed, and from this man becomes sensual; afterwards the natural from which he becomes natural; and after this the rational and with it the spiritual, from which he becomes a rational and spiritual man; but this he becomes only so far as he thinks about God and about the Divine things that are from God, and this is formed and perfected so far as he is affected by these things, that is, so far as he wills and lives according to them. If he does not do this the spiritual man is opened in a general way, but is not formed, still less perfected. By the general opening of his spiritual man, man has the faculty of thinking, and from thought of speaking rationally; this is the general effect of the influx of heaven with every man. This makes clear that man's thoughts and affections may be spiritual, or natural, or also sensual; and that spiritual thoughts and affections are with those who think from God respecting God and Divine things; while there are only natural thoughts and affections with those who do not think from God respecting God and Divine things, but think only from themselves or from the world respecting themselves or the world. But it should be known that to think from self or from the world is to think not from these but from hell; for whoever does not think from God thinks from hell; no one can think from both at the same time. But those who deny God, and thence the Divine things of heaven and the church, and confirm themselves against these, all become sensual men more or less, according to confirmations; when they are thinking about spiritual things they think falsities only, and are affected by evils; and if they think any truths, whether spiritual, moral, or civil, it is only from the knowledge (scientia) of such things as are in the memory; and they see nothing beyond the nearest causes which they also are able to prove; and if they are affected by goods, it is only from a delight for the sake of self or the world, thus from a cupidity belonging to the love of self or the love of the world. The thought of the sensual man is what is called material thought, and its affection is what is called corporeal affection, which is cupidity.

[4] Furthermore, it is to be known that all the evils that man derives from his parents, which are called hereditary evils, have their seat in his natural and sensual man, but not in the spiritual; consequently the natural man, and especially the sensual man, is the opposite of the spiritual. For the spiritual man from infancy is closed, and is opened and formed only by Divine truths received by the understanding and will; and so far in extent and quality as the spiritual man is opened and formed, the evils of the natural and sensual man are removed, and goods are implanted in place of them. As all evils have their seat in the natural and sensual man it follows that falsities do also, because all falsities are of evil; for when man lusts and wills from evil he thinks and speaks from falsity. For the evil of the will, when it so forms itself in thought that it is manifest to others or to oneself as to its quality, is called falsity; thus falsity is the form of evil, as truth is the form of good. From this it can be seen who and of what quality the man is who is called a sensual man; also that a man becomes sensual when he follows out in act the evils into which he is born, and adds more to them from himself. So far as he does this and confirms himself in these evils, so far the spiritual man is kept closed; and when it is closed the natural and sensual man denies the Divine things that belong to heaven and the church, and acknowledges such things only as belong to the world and nature; and indeed, the sensual man is then so blind as to believe nothing but what he sees with his eyes and touches with his hands. Such are many of the learned, however intelligent and wise they may be thought to be from their ability of speaking from the knowledges [scientia] that are in the memory, and this apparently as the rational man speaks, since the spiritual mind is opened with them, as it is in every man in a general way, as has been said above.

[5] Because in what now follows in this chapter the locust is much treated of, and by it the sensual, which is the ultimate or extreme of the natural man, is signified, it is important that what the sensual is and what its quality is should be fully known, and thus who and what the sensual man is. I will therefore present here what is said and shown respecting it in the Arcana Coelestia, as follows: The sensual is the ultimate of man's life, adhering to and inhering in his corporeal, n. 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730. He is called a sensual man who judges all things from the senses of the body, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that this is something, and rejecting everything else, n. 5094, 7693. Such a man thinks in what is ultimate, and not interiorly from any spiritual light, n. 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693.

The interiors of his mind, which sees from the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees there nothing of the truth of heaven and the church, n. 6564, 6844, 6845. In a word, he is in a gross natural light, and thus perceives nothing that is from the light of heaven, n. 6201, 6310, 6564, 6844, 6845, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624. Thence interiorly he is against the things of heaven and the church, n. 6201, 6317, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949. The learned who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the church are sensual, n. 6316. Sensual men reason acutely and readily, because their thought is so near their speech as to be almost in it, and because they place all intelligence in speaking merely from the memory, n. 195, 196, 5700, 10236. But they reason from the fallacies of the senses, by which the common herd are captivated, n. 5084, 6948, 6949, 7693. Sensual men are more crafty and malicious than others, n. 7693, 10236. The covetous, adulterers, the voluptuous, and the deceitful, are especially sensual, n. Arcana Coelestia 6310. Their interiors are foul and filthy, n. Arcana Coelestia 6201. Through their interiors they communicate with the hells, n. 6311. Those who are in the hells are sensual, and this in proportion to the depth of their hells, n. 4623, 6311. The sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself with the sensual of man from behind, n. 6312. Those who reasoned from the sensual, and thence against the genuine truths of faith, were called by the ancients "serpents of the tree of knowledge [scientia]," n. 195, 196, 197, 6398, 6949, 10313. The sensual of man and the sensual man are further described, n. Arcana Coelestia 10236; and the extension of the sensual principle in man, n. 9731. Sensual things ought to be in the last place and not in the first, and with a wise and intelligent man they are in the last place, and are subject to things interior, but with an unwise man they are in the first place, and are dominant, and these are such as are properly called sensual, n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 7645. If sensual things are in the last place, through them a way is opened to the understanding, and truths are disengaged by a kind of extraction, n. Arcana Coelestia 5580. These sensual things of man stand next to the world, and admit the things that flow from the world, and as it were sift them, n. 9726.

Through these the external or natural man communicates with the world, and through rational things with heaven, n . 4009. Sensual things thus supply such things as are serviceable to the interiors belonging to the mind, n. 5077, 5081. There are sensual things that minister to the intellectual part, and others that minister to the will part, n. 5077. Unless the thought is elevated from sensual things, man has but little wisdom, n. 5089. A wise man thinks above the sensual, n. 5089, 5094. When a man's thought is elevated above sensual things he comes into a clearer light, and at length into heavenly light, n. 6183, 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922. Elevation above sensual things and withdrawal from them were known to the ancients, n. 6313. Man in his spirit is able to see things that are in the spiritual world if he can be withdrawn from the sensual things which are from the body and be elevated into the light of heaven by the Lord, n. 4622. The reason is that it is not the body that thinks, but the spirit of man in the body, and so far as man thinks in the body so far he thinks grossly and obscurely, thus in darkness, but so far as he does not think in the body he thinks clearly and in light, n. 4622, 6614, 6622. The ultimate of the understanding is sensual knowledge, and the ultimate of the will is sensual delight, concerning which see n. 9996. The difference between the sensual things that man has in common with the beasts and those not in common with them, n. 10236. There are sensual persons not evil because their interiors are not shut in the manner above referred to; the state of such in the other life, n. 6311.

[6] That the "locust" signifies nothing else but this sensual of man that has now been described can be seen also from other passages in the Word where the locust is mentioned. As in Moses:

Moses stretched forth his staff over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought along an east wind all the day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locust. And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the border of Egypt, very grievous; before it there was no such locust, nor after it shall there be such. And they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left remaining; so that there remained not any green thing in the tree or in the herb of the field, in all Egypt. And the locust filled the house of Pharaoh, and the house of all his servants, and the house of all the Egyptians (Exodus 10:13-15, 6).

All the miracles in Egypt, like all other miracles recorded in the Word, involve and signify spiritual things pertaining to heaven and the church, thus the Egyptian plagues signify spiritual plagues; this plague of the locusts signifies the destruction of the whole natural man by the breaking in of evil and falsity from the sensual; "Egypt" signifies the natural man in respect to knowledge [scientificum] and to what is pleasurable in it, and "the locust" the falsity and evil of the sensual man laying waste the natural man, that is, driving out from it or destroying there all the truth and good of the church; it is therefore said, "and the locust went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all its border," "the land of Egypt" signifying the natural with the men of the church, and "its border" the sensual with them, for the sensual is the ultimate or most external of the natural, consequently its border; the "locust" means falsity and evil there. Because the falsity and the evil of the sensual man are the most grievous, for they are corporeal and earthly, it is said that the locust was "very grievous, and that before it there was no such locust, nor after it shall there be such;" and this for the reason that the Egyptians had a knowledge of correspondences, and from that a knowledge of the spiritual things which belong to heaven; but these they turned into magic. Because the falsity and the evil of the sensual man, when they break into the natural man, entirely lay it waste by destroying every truth and every good therein, it is said that "the locust covered the whole surface of the earth so that the land was darkened, and did eat every herb of the land, 1 and all the fruit of the tree," "the land of Egypt" meaning the natural with the men of the church, "the herb of the land" the truth there, and "the fruit of the tree" the good there. "The locust filling the house of Pharaoh, and of his servants, and of all the Egyptians," has a similar meaning, for "the house of Pharaoh, of his servants, and of all the Egyptians," signifies the natural mind in its whole extent, "house" in the Word signifying the interiors of man which belong to his mind and disposition, here the things of his natural mind.

[7] It is said that here "the locust going up over all the land of Egypt" signifies the breaking in of falsity and evil out of the sensual man into the natural; and yet the natural man is interior and the sensual exterior, and there is no breaking in or influx from the exterior into the interior, but only from the interior into the exterior. It should be known, therefore, that the breaking in or influx of the sensual man into the natural means the blocking up of the natural man until it becomes like the sensual, whereby evil and falsity become more widely extended, and the natural and the sensual become alike corporeal and earthly. In other cases, man learns from infancy to separate the sensual man from the natural, by speaking truth and doing good, even while his thoughts from the sensual man are false, and his will is evil; and this he continues to do until they are entirely separated, which is done when man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord. But if these are not separated man can think and will no otherwise than insanely, and thus speak 2 and act insanely.

[8] Because the "locust" here signifies the sensual in respect to falsity and evil, or, what is the same, the falsity and evil of the sensual man, the "locust" and the "caterpillar" have the same signification in David:

He sent among them a swarm that devoured them, and the frog that destroyed them. He also gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labor unto the locust (Psalms 78:45, 46).

And in the same:

He spake, and the locust came, and the caterpillar without number, which did eat up every herb in the land, and did eat up the fruit of their land (Psalms 105:34, 35).

But here the "locust" signifies the falsity of the sensual man, and the "caterpillar" its evil, or the falsity and evil in the sensual man and from it. The latter is signified by "caterpillar," and the former by "locust," because the caterpillar is also a locust, as is evident from this fact that this was said by David respecting the locusts in Egypt, and yet in Moses the locust only is mentioned, and not the caterpillar.

[9] The "locust" and the "caterpillar" have a similar signification in Joel:

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine which has been cut off from your mouth (Joel 1:4, 5).

And elsewhere in the same:

The floors shall be full of pure grain, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. And I will recompense to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you (Joel 2:24, 25).

Evidently these noxious little animals signify falsities and evils devastating or consuming truths and goods with the man of the church, since it is said that "all drinkers of wine should howl because of the new wine which is cut off from your mouth," "wine" and "new wine" signifying the truth of the church; likewise because it is said that "the floors shall be full of grain, and the presses shall overflow with new wine and oil," the "floor" signifying the doctrine of the church, "grain" and "oil" its goods, and "new wine" its truths.

[10] So in Nahum:

The fire shall devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the caterpillar; make thyself many as the caterpillar; make thyself many as the locust. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of the heavens; the caterpillar spreadeth itself abroad and flieth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy commanders as the locust of locusts, which encamp in the walls in the day of cold; when the sun ariseth they fly away, and their place is not known where they are (Nahum 3:15-17).

This is said of "the city of bloods," which signifies doctrine fabricated out of falsified truths, thus out of falsities; the destruction of those who are in a faith and life according to that doctrine is signified by "the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off," "the fire that shall devour" signifying evil destroying good, and "the sword" falsity destroying truth; and because evil and falsity from the sensual man are meant it is said, "the caterpillar shall devour thee; make thyself many as the caterpillar; make thyself many as the locust; thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of the heavens." Multiplication like that of the caterpillar and of the locust is mentioned because falsifications of the Word are made in the greatest abundance by those who are sensual, thus by the sensual man, for the sensual man is signified here by the "caterpillar and locust" as has been said above. The sensual man falsifies the Word more than others, because the ultimate sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, is for the natural and sensual man, while the interior sense is for the spiritual man; consequently when man is not a spiritual man, but is natural and sensual, and is in evil and in falsities therefrom, he does not see the truths and goods in the Word, but applies its ultimate sense to confirm his falsities and evils. "Merchants" signify those who falsify and who communicate and who offer for sale. "Thy crowned are as the locust, and thy commanders as the locust of locusts," signifies that the primary and chief things of doctrine, that is, "a city of bloods," are the falsities of evil, and from these again come the falsities of evil; "which sit in the walls in the day of cold" signifies in the truths of the Word that do not appear to be truths, because they have become falsified, and are from evil, "walls" meaning truths that do not appear because they are falsified, and "the day of cold" meaning a state of the love of evil; "the sun ariseth, they fly away, and their place is not known where they are," signifies that they consume every truth and good, so that there is nothing left. "Multiplying as the locust" has a similar signification in Jeremiah 46:20, 22, 23; also in the (Judges 6:5) book (Judges 7:12) of Judges 6:5; 7:12.

[11] The "locust" signifies also falsity in the most external things, or the densest falsity, in Moses:

Thou shalt carry out much seed into the field, but shall gather but little; for the locust shall consume it (Deuteronomy 28:38);

which is one of the curses if they did not keep and do the commandments of Jehovah. "The seed of the field" means the truth of the Word, and the "locust" dense falsity from the sensual man that consumes and destroys it. "Locust" has a similar signification in Amos 7:1, 2; Isaiah 33:3, 4; and in David Psalms 109:22, 23.

[12] Because the sensual of man is the ultimate and lowest of the life of man's thought and affection (as has been said above) and because the lowest, when viewed by those who are in a higher or more eminent place, is little, for this reason it is compared to locusts. As in Isaiah:

Jehovah who dwelleth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts (Isaiah 40:22).

This signifies that men in respect to intelligence are in things lowest, and the Lord in things highest.

[13] In like manner, men viewed by those who are in the persuasion of their superiority over others are compared to locusts, in Moses:

The spies of the land of Canaan said, We saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak which come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own eyes as locusts, and so we were in their eyes (Numbers 13:33).

The "Nephilim" and the "Anakim" signify in the Word those who are in the strongest persuasion of their being more eminent and wise than others; and in the abstract sense they signify direful persuasions (See Arcana Coelestia 311, 567, 581, 1268, 1270, 1271, 1673, 3686, 7686). That the spies appeared to these and also to themselves like locusts, is in agreement with the appearances in the spiritual world, for there, when those who are in a persuasion of their own superiority look at others, they see them as little and vile, and these then also appear such to themselves.

[14] As the "locust" signifies the sensual, which is the ultimate of the life of man's thought, or the ultimate in which the understanding closes, and upon which it rests, so this ultimate is like a base and foundation upon which interior or higher things stand, which belong to man's understanding and will, likewise the interior and higher things in the Word that are called spiritual and celestial. And as all things, to continue and to subsist, must have a foundation, so the sense of the letter of the Word, which is its ultimate and base, is natural and sensual; and this in a good sense, and, consequently, its truth and good, are meant by the "locust." This is why John the Baptist ate locusts, and why the sons of Israel were allowed to eat them. Of John the Baptist it is said:

That he had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6).

John the Baptist was so clothed because like Elijah he represented the Word; and by "his raiment of camel's hair, and leathern girdle, and eating locusts and wild honey," he represented the ultimate sense of the Word, which, as was said, is sensual-natural, because it is for the sensual-natural man. "Raiment" signifies truth clothing good; "camel's hair" the ultimate of the natural man, which is the sensual; the "locusts and wild honey" also signify that ultimate or the sensual as regards appropriation; the "locust" the sensual in respect to truth, "wild honey" the sensual in respect to good, and "eating" appropriation. It is to be known that in ancient times, when the churches were representative churches, all who were in ministries were clothed and also ate according to what they represented.

[15] That the sons of Israel were permitted to eat locusts is evident from these words in Moses:

Every winged thing that creeps, that walks on four feet, shall be an abomination unto you, but that which walks upon four, which has legs above its feet to leap withal upon the earth, ye shall eat; and among these the locust is mentioned (Leviticus 11:20-22).

To eat locusts was permitted on account of their having legs above the feet to leap with, because "legs" signify natural good conjoined to spiritual good, and "feet" natural truth from that good; and every truth that is from good ought to be appropriated and conjoined to man, but not truth that is not from good, for such truth is conjoined with some evil; therefore it is said that "every winged thing that creeps, that walks upon four, that had no legs above its feet, shall be an abomination." It is said also "to leap upon the earth," because "leaping," in reference to flying things, signifies to live, the same as "walking" in reference to the animals of the earth; and spiritual living comes from truths that are from good, which are signified by "leaping with the feet, above which are legs;" but spiritual dying comes from truths conjoined to evil, which is signified by "walking upon four feet, above which are no legs;" therefore to eat such is said to be "an abomination. "

[16] As a "horse" signifies the intellectual, and a "locust" the sensual, which is the ultimate of the intellectual, and the intellect lives when it is in its ultimate, the ancients spoke of horses as leaping and jumping like locusts. Thus in Job:

Dost thou give the horse might? Dost thou clothe his neck with shaking? Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? The glory of his nostril is terror (Job 39:19, 20).

The understanding is here described by a horse, namely, that like a horse it is mighty, it shakes and curves the neck, and leaps as it goes; and as the ultimate of the understanding is the sensual, and this is signified by the "locust," and the life of the understanding in this ultimate is signified by "jumping and leaping as it goes," therefore the horse is said "to leap as a locust." The most ancient books, among which is Job, were written by pure correspondences; for a knowledge [scientia] of correspondences was then the knowledge of knowledges; and those writers were held in highest esteem who were able to compose books abounding in the most numerous and significant correspondences. Such is the book of Job; but the spiritual sense therein collected from correspondences does not treat of the holy things of heaven and the church, as the spiritual sense in the Prophets does; consequently that book is not among the books of the Word; but yet passages are quoted from it on account of the correspondences of which it is full.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Latin "land," the Hebrew in the passage quoted has "field."

2. Latin is "will."

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.