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Apocalypse Explained # 618

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618. And it shall make thy belly bitter.- That this signifies that it was interiorly undelightful, because exteriorly adulterated, is evident from the signification of being bitter, or of bitterness, as denoting undelightfulness from adulterated truth, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of the belly, as denoting that which is interior. The reason why the belly denotes that which is interior, is, that after these words it is said, that "in the mouth it shall be sweet as honey," and by the mouth is meant that which is exterior, for what is received into the mouth, is masticated and passes into the belly, and thus goes from the exterior to the interior, for it enters into the viscera of man. But concerning the signification of belly, we shall speak presently. The reason why bitter or bitterness signifies that which is undelightful from adulterated truth, and that therefore to make bitter signifies to render undelightful, is, that what is sweet becomes bitter, and thus undelightful, by admixture with anything offensive, thence comes the bitterness of wormwood, gall, and myrrh. Now because "sweet" signifies what is delightful from the good of truth, and the truth of good, therefore "bitter" signifies what is undelightful from adulterated truth. What is undelightful is not perceived and felt by any man in the natural world as bitter, but by spirits and angels in the spiritual world, for all adulterated good of truth, when turned with them into taste, is sensitively perceived as bitter. For spirits and angels have taste equally as men, but the taste of spirits and angels flows from a spiritual origin, whereas that of men is from a natural origin. The bitter taste with spirits is from the adulterated truth of good, but, with men, from the mixture of the sweet with the offensive. The sensation of bitterness with John was also from a spiritual origin, for he was then in the spirit, otherwise he could not have eaten the little book. By adulterated truth is signified the truth of good applied to evil and mingled with its falsity, which is the case when the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, are applied to filthy loves, and thus mingled with evils. This is the undelightfulness here signified by the bitterness of the belly.

[2] The signification of what is interior in the Word, that is, of the interior things of the Word, shall be briefly explained. The interior things of the Word are those contained in its internal or spiritual sense; these are genuine truths; to these correspond the exterior truths of the Word, which are those in the external or natural sense, called the sense of the letter and literal sense. When the exterior things of the Word, or the truths of the Word in the sense of the letter or literal sense, are falsified and adulterated, then the interior truths of the Word are falsified and adulterated. When therefore man applies the Word in the sense of the letter to the evils of his earthly loves, then it becomes undelightful to the angels, who are in the internal or spiritual sense, and this undelightfulness is like the undelightfulness of what is bitter. It is evident from these things, that by the little book shall be bitter, and shall make thy belly bitter, is signified, that the Word was interiorly undelightful; but the undelightfulness of which we have just treated is spiritual undelightfulness. But spiritual-natural undelightfulness, which is also here signified by bitterness, arises from the fact that the truth of doctrine, which is collected interiorly from the sense of the letter of the Word, and is called its literal sense, is undelightful to those who are in the falsities of evil. For the subject here treated of is the understanding of the Word by the men of the church at its end, when they are, for the most part, in falsities from evil; and then the falsities of evil, confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, are delightful to them, but truths confirmed from the literal sense of the Word are undelightful. This also is the signification of the little book being in the mouth sweet as honey, but making the belly bitter.

[3] That bitter signifies adulterated truth of good, is evident also from the Word where bitter is mentioned, as in the following places.

Thus in Isaiah:

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink" (5:20, 22).

That good and truth adulterated are here signified by bitter, is evident, for it is said, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness," by which are signified the adulteration of good, and the falsification of truth. For good is adulterated when good is called evil and evil good, and truth is falsified when darkness is put for light and light for darkness, darkness denoting falsities, and light denoting truths. It is therefore evident from these things that similar things are signified by putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, also by its being said, "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink;" by them that are mighty to drink wine are signified those who adulterate the truth of the Word, and by men of strength to mingle strong drink, are signified those who falsify it, wine and strong drink denoting the truths of the Word, and mighty men, and men of strength, those who excel in ingenuity and skill in adulterating them.

[4] Again, in the same prophet:

"The new wine (mustum) mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. They shall not drink wine (vinum) with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it" (24:7, 9).

Here, by the new wine, which shall mourn, and by the vine which shall languish, is signified the truth of the Word and of the church, which is destroyed, new wine denoting the truth of the Word, and the vine, the truth of the doctrine of the church. By, all the merry-hearted do sigh, and by, they shall not drink wine with a song, is signified, that internal blessedness of mind and happiness of heart will perish, because the truth of spiritual good is destroyed. Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it, signifies that the truth of good will be undelightful by its falsification and adulteration.

[5] It is said in Moses, that the waters of Marah, which they could not drink because of their bitterness, were healed by wood cast into them (Exodus 15:23, 25). The waters of Marah which they could not drink because of their bitterness, represented truths adulterated; for waters signify truths, and bitterness signifies adulteration. The healing of the waters by the wood which was cast into them, represented the good of love and of life shaking off falsity and opening truth, and thus restoring it. For all truth is adulterated from evil of life and of love, therefore it is opened and restored by the good of love and of life, because all truth is of good, and the good of love is like fire, from which truth appears in the light.

[6] The same thing was signified by the pottage into which the sons of the prophets cast bitter gourds, or grapes of the field, which Elisha healed by casting in fine flour (2 Kings 4:38-41). By the pottage into which they cast bitter gourds, is signified the Word falsified; and by the fine flour which was cast in, by which it was healed, is signified truth from good; for truth which is from good dissipates the falsities which produce falsification.

[7] Since the sons of Jacob perverted all the truths of the Word, and by application to themselves and to their earthly loves, falsified and adulterated them, it is therefore said of them in the song of Moses, that their vine was as the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, and their grapes, grapes of gall, and clusters of bitternesses (Deuteronomy 32:32).

By a vine is signified the church as to truth, consequently also the truth of the church; and by grapes are signified goods thence, which are the goods of charity, and by clusters, the goods of faith; hence it is evident that by clusters of bitternesses are signified adulterated goods of faith.

[8] Again, it is said that waters of the curse were to be given to a woman accused by her husband of adultery; if she were guilty, those waters would become bitternesses in her, and her belly would swell and her thigh fall away (Num. 5:12-29).

The marriage of a man (vir) and wife signifies the marriage of truth and good, for love truly conjugial descends from that spiritual marriage. Adultery therefore signifies the conjunction of falsity and evil, and this was the reason why, if she were guilty, the water became bitternesses, which signifies the adulteration of good. And because the belly signified conjugial love, like the womb, and also the thigh, therefore the belly swelled and the thigh fell away, which, in the spiritual sense, signifies that the conjugial [principle] perished, or spiritual and natural conjugial love itself, the womb or belly signifying that spiritual conjugial love, and the thigh the natural conjugial love. From these things it is evident that bitter and bitterness, in general, signify the falsification and adulteration of truth and good, and that the various species thereof are signified by gall, wormwood, myrrh, wild grapes, bitter gourds, and many other things.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Deuteronomy 31:20

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20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.

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Apocalypse Explained # 443

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443. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. That this signifies obedience, and that all those who are in obedience are in heaven, and come into heaven, is plain from the representation, and thence the signification, of the tribe of Simeon, which denotes obedience, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of twelve thousand sealed, which denotes all those who are in heaven and come into heaven; concerning this see above. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, and Issachar, now mentioned, which form the third class of the sealed, signify those who are in the first or ultimate heaven, and come into it. For, as was stated above, all those who are in heaven, and come into heaven, are treated of here; and because there are three heavens, the third or inmost, the second or middle, and the first or ultimate, therefore those are treated of who are in the third, the second, and the first heaven respectively. Those who are in the third or inmost heaven, and come into that heaven, are signified by Judah, Reuben, and Gad, who, therefore, form the first class of those that are sealed; those who are in the second or middle heaven, and come into that heaven, are signified by Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh; these, therefore, form the second class of the sealed; but those who are in the first or ultimate heaven, and come into that heaven, are signified by Simeon, Levi, and Issachar; these, therefore, form the third class of the sealed.

[2] All those pertain to the first or ultimate heaven who obey the truths and goods which are taught in the Word, or in the doctrine of the church in which they were born, or by their master or teacher, from whom they have heard that this or that is true and good, and must be done. The greater part of these are not in truths themselves, but in falsities from ignorance; these falsities are nevertheless accepted by the Lord as truths, because they have for their end the good of life, by means of which the evils that are accustomed to adhere to falsities are removed. Concerning those falsities, and those who are in them, see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21). These, therefore, are in the ultimate or first heaven. But those who are in the second or middle heaven, are all in the spiritual affection of knowing and understanding truth and good, and in the affection of doing it; those, however, who are in the third or inmost heaven, are all in love. But we have treated of both of these above.

[3] Simeon and his tribe signify those who are in obedience, because Simeon, the father of the tribe, was so named from "hearing," and to hear signifies to obey, as is evident from these words of Leah his mother, when she bare him:

And Leah "conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because Jehovah hath heard that I am hated, he hath therefore given me this [son] also, and she called his name Simeon" (Genesis 29:33).

These words may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia 3867-3872), and also that to hear signifies to obey (n. 2542, 3869, 4653-4660, 5017, 5471, 5475, 7216, 8361, 8990, 9311, 9397, 9926, 10061); and above (n. 14, 108, 249). Because Simeon signifies obedience, he also signifies faith, for faith becomes faith in man when he obeys and does its precepts. Before this takes place, the knowledge of those things which he has received from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, and from preaching resembles faith, but it is not faith until he does these things; previous to this it is only of the thought from the memory, in which there is nothing of the will, consequently nothing of the man, for the will is the man himself. Therefore, when a man carries it out or obeys it, then it enters the will, thus the man himself, and becomes faith.

[4] This faith, which is obedience, is also signified by Peter, when he is called Simon, and the faith which is the affection for truth, is signified by Peter when called Simon son of Jonah (as in Matthew 16:17-19, and following verses; Mark 1:16-18, 36; 14:37, 38; Luke 5:3-11; 7:40-43; 22:31-33, and following verses; 24:34; John 1:40-42; 21:15-21).

Because Simeon in Hebrew signifies hearing, and hearkening, and therefore obedience, as stated above, and the son of Jonah truth from good, but Peter, truth itself, he is therefore called by the Lord, sometimes Peter, sometimes Simon Peter, and sometimes Simon son of Jonah. That such things are signified by those names, any one may see from the fact, that he was called by the Lord at one time Peter, at another Simon, at another, son of Jonah. This was not done without a cause and meaning. What was said to him at the time proves this; as, when he confessed that the Lord was the Son of God, and, therefore, the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to him, he is called Simon son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17, and following verses). He is called a rock [petra], as the Lord Himself is frequently called in the prophets. He was similarly called Simon son of Jonah, when the Lord said unto him, "Lovest thou me," and he answered, "I love thee;" but soon after, when he turned himself from the Lord, and was indignant because John who signifies the good of charity followed Jesus, he was called Peter (John 21:15-21); by Peter is then signified truth apart from good, or faith separated from charity.

[5] From these considerations it is evident, that Simon, when Peter is so named, has a similar signification to Simeon the son of Jacob, that is, obedience, the faith of charity, the affection for truth, and, in general, truth from good. For Simon in Hebrew signifies hearing, hearkening, and obedience, and Jonah in the same tongue signifies a dove, which, in the spiritual sense, signifies the good of charity and the son of Jonah, the truth of that good, or the faith of charity. But "rock" [petra], from which he is named Peter, signifies truth and faith, and in the opposite sense, falsity and the want of faith. See above (n. 411).

[6] That Simeon the son of Jacob, and the tribe named from him, signify obedience, and truth in the will, and thence faith, is also evident from the opposite sense, in which he signifies disobedience, and falsity in the will, and thence faith separated from the will, which is not faith; for most things in the Word have also an opposite sense, in which they signify contrary things. It is in this sense that Simeon is mentioned by his father Israel in the prophecy concerning his sons, in these words,

"Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence are their swords; into their secret let not my soul come, in their congregation let not my glory be united; because in their anger they slew a man (vir), and in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox; 1 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel" (Genesis 49:5-7).

Simeon and Levi are brethren, signifies faith separated from charity; weapons of violence are their swords, signifies that doctrinals serve to destroy the works of charity, and therefore charity itself. Into their secret let not my soul come, signifies that spiritual good does not desire to know the evils of their will. In their congregation let not my glory be united, signifies that neither does spiritual truth desire to know the falsities of their thoughts. For in their anger they slew a man, signifies that they have altogether averted themselves from truths, and in their aversion have extinguished faith. And in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox, signifies that from their depraved will they have utterly weakened external good which is of charity. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, signifies grievous turning away from good, and consequent damnation. And their wrath, for it was hard, signifies turning away from truth thence. I will divide them in Jacob, signifies that that faith must be extirpated from the external church. And scatter them in Israel, signifies from the internal church. But these things are more fully explained in the Arcana Coelestia 6351-6361).

[7] The first three sons, namely, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, were rejected and cursed by their father Israel, because in that prophecy the establishment of the church is treated of, and the church cannot be established by faith separated from charity, but by truth and good, which are from the Lord. For the church had fallen, even at that time, into the error, that merely to know the Word, and acknowledge its holiness, was the essential of the church, and not life or charity; and that the God of heaven and earth was some other than the Lord; therefore in that prophecy the first three sons, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, were rejected, because Reuben signifies faith alone, Simeon, faith without charity, and Levi, the absence of the good of charity, consequently, by those three in a series, is signified the non-existence of the church. For when faith alone is regarded as the essential of salvation, then charity is at once rejected and looked upon as of no value or importance in the work of salvation. And because those three signified those three things, therefore Israel their father, who signifies the church, rejected them. These three also destroyed the representative of a church, Reuben, by lying with Bilhah, the handmaid and concubine of his father (Genesis 35:22); and Simeon and Levi, by their slaying Hamor, his son Shechem, and the whole city, which was the nation descended from Hamor, for the sole reason that he loved their sister Dinah (Genesis 34:1 to end). This deed, in the spiritual sense, signifies that those two sons of Jacob, that is to say, that attribute of the church which was represented by them, extinguished the truth and good of the Ancient Church, which church still remained with the nation of Hamor; for that deed signifies in the spiritual sense that faith separated from charity extinguishes all the truth and good of the church. This, therefore, is the meaning of the words of Israel, "Into their secret let not my soul come, in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they slew a man (vir), and in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox." For man (vir) in the Word, signifies truth and intelligence, and ox moral and natural good. These things are more fully explained in the Arcana Coelestia 4426-4522).

[8] Hence also Simeon is passed over in the blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 33), and instead of him, Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned, who signify the truth and good of the church. But although Simeon and Levi were such, yet they elsewhere signify the faith of charity, and charity; Simeon, the faith of charity, and Levi, charity. In fact, the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood. For the character of the person who represents is of no importance, provided he be in external worship according to the laws and statutes, representation looking not to the person, but to the thing and nothing more is required in the person than the external in worship; concerning this see Arcana Coelestia 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3670, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4309, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806, 9229). The tribe of Simeon, therefore, in this passage of the Apocalypse, and also elsewhere in the Word, signifies obedience, the faith of charity, the affection for truth, and, in general, truth from good, as stated above. That Simeon and his tribe, when mentioned in a good sense, signify in the highest sense, providence; in the internal sense, faith in the will; in the interior sense, obedience; and in the external sense, hearing, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3869).

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. "They unstrung an ox (bovem)." This is the reading of the R.V., with the exception of "houghed" for "unstrung." The R.V. agrees with the Septuagint, which has eneurokopeisan tauron. The A.V. translates "digged down a wall." The difference of reading between the A.V. and the R.V. depends on a simple question of the pointing of the Hebrew.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.