1186. That 'Asshur' is reasoning is clear from the meaning of 'Asshur' or Assyria in the Word, where in every case it stands for those things that belong to reason. It stands for them in both senses, namely for rational things and for reasonings - reason and rational things being used strictly speaking to mean things that are true, and reasoning and reasonings to mean those that are false. Because 'Asshur' means reason and reasoning it is very frequently linked with Egypt, which means facts, for reason and reasoning are based on facts. That Asshur means reasoning is clear in Isaiah,

Woe to Asshur, the rod of My anger, he does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right He has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have intelligence. Isaiah 10:5, 7, 13.

Here 'Asshur' stands for reasoning, and therefore he is referred to as 'not thinking and not considering what is right', and it is said that 'he acts by his own wisdom, for he has intelligence'.

[2] In Ezekiel,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. One committed whoredom and doted on her lovers, on Asshur (the Assyrians), her neighbours, clothed in violet, leaders and governors, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses The sons of Babel came to her and they defiled her with their whoredom. Ezekiel 23:2-3, 5-6, 17.

Here 'Egypt' stands for facts, 'Asshur' for reasoning, 'the sons of Babel' for falsities springing from evil desires.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jerusalem, you committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, you committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, you multiplied your whoredom even into the land of Canaan towards Chaldaea. Ezekiel 16:26, 28-29.

Here likewise 'Egypt' stands for facts, 'Asshur' for reasoning. Reasoning, based on facts, concerning spiritual and celestial things is called 'whoredom' both here and elsewhere in the Word. Anyone may see that committing whoredom with Egyptians and with Assyrians is not the meaning.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Israel, what have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River (the Euphrates)? Jeremiah 2:18, 36.

Here likewise 'Egypt' stands for facts, 'Asshur' for reasoning. In the same prophet,

Israel is a scattered flock; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Asshur has devoured him, and last this king of Babel has removed his bones. Jeremiah 50:17-18

'Asshur' stands for reasoning concerning spiritual things.

[5] In Micah,

And this will be peace, when Asshur comes into our land and when he treads our palaces, and we will set up over him seven shepherds and eight princes of men and they will rule the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates; and he will deliver [us] from Asshur when he comes into our land and when he treads our border. Micah 5:5-6.

This refers to Israel, or the spiritual Church, concerning which it is said that 'Asshur will not enter in', that is, reasoning will not do so. 'The land of Nimrod' stands for the kind of worship meant by Nimrod, which has interior evils and falsities within it.

[6] The fact that in the Word 'Asshur' also means reason present with the member of the Church, by means of which reason he sees clearly what is true and what is good, is clear in Hosea,

They will tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove from the land of Asshur. Hosea 11:11.

Here 'Egypt' stands for the knowledge a member of the Church possesses, 'Asshur' for his reason. That 'a bird' means facts that are known and understood, and 'a dove' rational good, has been shown already.

[7] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur. ¹ On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isaiah 19:23-25.

This refers to the spiritual Church, meant by Israel, 'Asshur' being its reason, and 'Egypt' its knowledge. These three constitute the intellectual powers of the member of the spiritual Church which come in that order one after another. In other places where Asshur is mentioned it means the rational, true or false, as in Isaiah 20:1-6; 23:13; 27:13; 30:31; 31:8; 36, 37; 52:4; Ezekiel 27:23-24; Ezekiel 31:3-18; 32:22; Micah 7:12; Zephaniah 2:13; Zechariah 10:11; Psalms 83:8. 'Asshur' stands for reasoning in Hosea 5:13; 7:11; 10:6; 11:5; 12:1; 14:3; and in Zechariah 10:10, where the reference is to Ephraim who means the intellectual part of the mind, though in this instance when perverted.

Poznámky pod čarou:

7502. 'behold, the hand of Jehovah will be on your livestock that are in the field' means the laying waste of the truth and good of faith which they had acquired from the Church to which they had belonged. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand of Jehovah being on someone' as a plague or punishment, for 'hand' means power, 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189, and 'the hand of Jehovah' almighty power, 878, 3387, and since those who are confined to the superficial things of the Church are led by appearances to believe that every plague or punishment comes from Jehovah (for they attribute all things to His power), 'the hand of Jehovah being on someone' means punishment, in this instance laying waste or vastation (for the stages In the vastation of those who molested were punishments); from the meaning of 'livestock' as forms of the truth and good of faith, dealt with in 6016, 6045, 6049; and from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3310. 'The field' is the Church because 'seed' which is cast onto the field means the truths of faith, and also because 'the products of the field', such as wheat, barley, spelt, and forms of the good of charity, and truths of faith, thus the kinds of things that belong to the Church.

[2] To understand why it is that hellish spirits who molest the upright in the next life undergo vastation in respect of the truths of faith taught by the Church, it should be recognized that those who molest the upright belonged to the Church. Those who have not belonged to the Church cannot molest others who do belong to it. They cannot do so because falsities, which are opposed to the truths of faith taught by the Church, are what spirits use when they molest, and those who have been outside the Church cannot molest anyone by means of such falsities because they have never come to know them. It is those who have claimed to be believers but have lead an evil life that turn to falsities in the next life and molest the upright with them, see 7097, 7127, 7317. Therefore to prevent the truth of faith which they had acquired from the teachings of their Church while they were living in the world from affording them any light at all from heaven (for they take with them into the next life everything they have come to know in the life of the body; nothing whatever is missing), and to prevent them from using things seen in the light of heaven to lend support to the falsities and evils belonging to hell, everything like that is taken away from them, and they are left finally with the evils forming their life and with the resulting falsities. This vastation is the subject at present.

[3] The reason why those who have belonged to the Church but led an evil life are devastated in stages in this way before they are cast into hell is that they had come to know the truths of faith, which put them in contact with heaven. The heavenly communities with whom they were in contact in the world, and with whom they are still in contact in the next life, cannot be separated from them except in stages. For in heaven such is the nature of order originating in the Lord that nothing is carried out in a violent manner. Everything people do they do in freedom, of their own accord so to speak. Therefore those communities are not wrenched away from them, but separated gradually, so that those people may seem to depart of their own free will and accord. From this one may now see what vastation is like for those who have known the truths of faith taught by the Church and yet have led an evil life.

[4] Without revelation no one can be aware of what such vastation is like; for without revelation people have no knowledge of things that take place in the next life. And since people show little concern to find out from the Word about the truths and forms of the good of faith, because they have no affection for truth for its own sake, let alone for life's sake, neither are such things revealed to them. Yet these things are discernible in the Word; indeed the whole sequence in which they occur and the course they take is presented in its internal sense. Since therefore people in the Church have no affection for knowing truth from the Word, only an affection - for worldly reasons - for substantiating the teachings of their Church, whether true or false, they know nothing whatever about the state after death, nothing about heaven, and nothing about hell. They do not even know what makes heaven or what makes hell with a person. In fact their ignorance is such that they teach and believe that anyone can be admitted into heaven, some believing that a person can be admitted by the power which they have arrogated to themselves, others by the Lord's mercy, irrespective of the life the person has been leading. Scarcely any know that heaven is given to people while they live in the world, through a life of charity and faith, and that this life is enduring. These matters have been stated in order that people may know what members of the Church are like who advocate faith alone but are unconcerned about the life of faith; for these are the ones who are represented by the Egyptians here and in what follows below.