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Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture # 84
84. Readers who pay attention to it can see that we find in the Word paired expressions which seem to be repetitious of the same idea, such as brother and companion, poor and needy, devastation and desolation, empty and void, adversary and enemy, sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice (or righteousness) and judgment, and so on. These pairs seem to be synonyms, but in fact they are not, for the words brother, poor, devastation, empty, adversary, sin, anger, nation, joy, mourning, and justice (or righteousness) refer to goodness, and in an opposite sense to evil, whereas the words companion, needy, desolation, void, enemy, iniquity, wrath, people, gladness, weeping, and judgment refer to truth, and in an opposite sense to falsity. Still, it seems to the reader who does not know this arcanum that brother and companion, poor and needy, devastation and desolation, empty and void, and adversary and enemy have the same meaning, and likewise sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice (or righteousness) and judgment. And yet these do not have the same meaning, but by their combination come to have a united one.
[2] We find in the Word many other combinations as well, such as fire and flame, gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, bread and water, bread and wine, purple and fine linen, and so on, and this because fire, gold, bronze, wood, bread, and purple symbolize goodness, while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine and fine linen symbolize truth.
Similarly we are told that people are to love God with all their heart and with all their soul, and that God will create in a person a new heart and a new spirit. For the heart refers to the goodness of love, and the soul to truth springing from that goodness.
We also find words which, because they have to do with both goodness and truth, are used alone without being combined with any others.
But nothing of what we have said, and still more, is apparent except to angels, and to those who, when attending to the natural sense, attend also to the spiritual sense.
Isaiah 56
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Thus says Yahweh, "Keep justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
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Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
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Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, "Yahweh will surely separate me from his people;" neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."
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For thus says Yahweh, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant:
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to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
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Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;
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even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
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The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet will I gather [others] to him, besides his own who are gathered."
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All you animals of the field, come to devour, [yes], all you animals in the forest.
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His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can't bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
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Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who can't understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
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"Come," [say they], "I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure."
