9127. Bloods shall not be shed for him. That this signifies that he is not guilty of the violence that is done, is evident from the signification of “blood,” as being in the supreme sense the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord’s Divine good, and in the internal sense thence derived, the truth of good (see n. 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877). Wherefore by “shedding blood” is signified doing violence to truth Divine, or to the truth of good, and also to good itself. For he who does violence to truth does violence likewise to good, because truth has been so conjoined with good that the one belongs to the other; and therefore if violence is done to the one, it is done to the other also. From this it is plain that by “bloods not being shed for him” is signified that he is not guilty of violence done to truth and good.
[2] He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, knows no otherwise than that by “bloods” in the Word are signified bloods; and that by “shedding blood” is merely signified killing a man. But the internal sense does not treat of the life of man’s body, but of the life of his soul, that is, of his spiritual life, which he is to live forever. This life is described in the Word in the sense of the letter by such things as belong to the life of the body; namely, by the flesh and blood. And because the spiritual life of man exists and subsists through the good which is of charity and the truth which is of faith, therefore in the internal sense of the Word the good which is of charity is meant by “flesh,” and the truth which is of faith is meant by “blood.” And in a still more interior sense, the good which is of love to the Lord is meant by “flesh,” and the good of love toward the neighbor is meant by “blood.” But in the supreme sense, which treats of the Lord alone, “flesh” denotes the Divine good of the Lord, thus the Lord Himself as to Divine good; and “blood” denotes the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Lord as to Divine truth. These things are understood in heaven by “flesh and blood” when a man is reading the Word; in like manner when he attends the Holy Supper; but in this the bread is the flesh, and the wine is the blood, because by “bread” the same is signified as by “flesh,” and by “wine” the same as by “blood.”
[3] But this is not apprehended by those who are sensuous, as is the case with most men in the world at this day; and therefore let them remain in their own faith, provided they believe that in the Holy Supper, and in the Word, there is something holy, because from the Divine. Granting that they do not know wherein this holiness consists, nevertheless let those who are endowed with any interior perception (that is, who are able to think above the things of sense), consider whether blood is meant by “blood,” and flesh by “flesh,” in Ezekiel:
Son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovih; Say to every bird of the heaven, to every wild animal of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves from every side upon My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth; and ye shall drink blood even to drunkenness, of My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. Ye shall be sated at My table with the horse and the chariot, and with the strong one, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations (Ezekiel 39:17-21).
I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of the strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all; free and bond, small and great (Revelation 19:17-18).
It is very clear that in these passages by “flesh” is not meant flesh, and by “blood” is not meant blood.
[4] In like manner then with the “flesh and blood” of the Lord, in the following passage in John:
The bread that I will give is My flesh. Verily, verily, I say unto you Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. This is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:51-58).
That the Lord’s “flesh” denotes the Divine good of His Divine love; and that His “blood” denotes the Divine truth proceeding from His Divine good; can be seen from the fact that these are what nourish the spiritual life of a man. From this also it is said, “My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed;” and also, “this is the bread that came down from heaven.” And as man is conjoined with the Lord through love and faith, it is also said, “he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him.” But as before said those alone apprehend this saying who can think above the sensuous things of the body; especially those who are in faith and in love to the Lord, for these are raised by the Lord from the life of the sensuous things of the body toward the life of their spirit; thus from the light of the world into the light of heaven, in which light those material things which are in the thought from the body disappear.
[5] He therefore who knows that “blood” denotes truth Divine from the Lord, is also able to know that by “shedding blood” in the Word is not signified killing, or depriving a man of the life of the body; but killing or depriving him of the life of the soul, that is, destroying his spiritual life, which is from faith in and love to the Lord. That “blood,” when understood as being shed unlawfully, denotes truth Divine destroyed by means of falsities from evil, is clear from the following passages, in Isaiah:
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have washed away the bloods of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of cleansing (Isaiah 4:4).
Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity (Isaiah 59:3, 7).
Also in thy skirts is found the blood of poor innocent souls (Jeremiah 2:34).
Because of the sins of the prophets, the iniquities of the priests, that shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of Jerusalem, they have wandered blind in the streets, they are defiled with blood; the things which they cannot [defile], they touch with their garments (Lam. 4:13-14).
I passed by thee, and saw thee trodden down in thy bloods, and I said, In thy bloods live; I washed thee with waters, and I washed away thy bloods from upon thee, and I anointed thee with oil (Ezekiel 16:6, 9).
Thou, son of man, wilt thou plead with the city of bloods? Make known to her all her abominations. And thou shalt say, Thou art become guilty through thy blood which thou hast shed, and art defiled through thine idols which thou hast made. Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to His arm, have been in thee, and have shed blood. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood; and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains (Ezekiel 22:2, 4, (Ezekiel 22:4)6, 9).
I will set wonders in the heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and a pillar of smoke. The sun shall be turned into thick darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day come (Joel 2:30-31).
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood (Revelation 6:12).
The second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood (Revelation 8:8).
The second angel poured out his vial into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man, whence every living soul died in the sea. The third angel poured out his vial into the rivers, and into the fountains of waters, and they became blood (Revelation 16:3-4).
[6] In these passages by “blood” is not meant the blood of man’s bodily life that is shed, but the blood of his spiritual life, which is truth Divine, to which violence has been done through falsity from evil. The like is meant by “blood” in Matthew:
Upon you shall come the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zachariah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar (Matthew 23:35);
by which is signified that the truths of the Word have had violence done to them by the Jews, from the earliest time even to the present, insomuch that they would not acknowledge anything of internal and heavenly truth. Therefore neither did they acknowledge the Lord. Their “shedding His blood” signified the complete rejection of truth Divine, for the Lord was Divine truth itself, which is “the Word made flesh” (John 1:1, 14). The complete rejection of truth Divine which was from the Lord, and which was the Lord, is meant by these Words in Matthew:
Pilate washed his hands before the people, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just man; see ye to it. And all the people answered, His, blood be on us, and on our children (Matthew 27:24-25 (Matthew 27:26)
Therefore this subject is thus described in John:
One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water. He that saw bare witness, and his witness is true; and he knoweth that he saith true things, that ye may believe (John 19:34-35 (John 19:36)
that water also came out was because by “water” is signified external truth Divine, such as is the Word in the letter (that “water” denotes truth, see n. 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568).
[7] From all this also it is evident what is signified by being purified “by the blood of the Lord,” namely, that it is through the reception of the truth of faith from Him (n. 7918, 9088). So also it is plain what is signified by these words in John:
They overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of His testimony (Revelation 12:11);
“by the blood of the Lamb” denotes through the Divine truth which is from the Lord, which is also “the Word of His testimony.” “The blood of the Lamb” denotes innocent blood, for “a lamb” denotes innocence (n. 3519, 3994, 7840). The truth Divine that proceeds from the Lord in heaven has innocence inmostly within it, for it affects no others than those who are in innocence (n. 2526, 2780, 3111, 3183, 3494, 3994, 4797, 6013, 6107, 6765, 7836, 7840, 7877, 7902).
