377. Verses 7-8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him his name was Death, and hell followed with him. And there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

7. "And when he had opened the fourth seal," signifies prediction still further manifested (n. 378); "I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying," signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. n. 379); "Come and see," signifies attention and perception (n. 380).

8. "And I saw, and behold a pale horse," signifies the understanding of the Word then become nought in consequence of evils of life and then of falsities therefrom n. 381; "and he that sat upon him," signifies the Word (n. 382); "his name was Death, and hell followed with him," signifies eternal damnation (n. 383); "and there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies the loss of every good and thence of every truth from the Word, and in consequence, in the doctrine of their church from the Word n. 384; "with sword," signifies by falsity (n. 385); "and with famine," signifies by the loss, lack, and ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good (n. 386); "and with death," signifies the consequent extinction of spiritual life (n. 387); "and by the wild beasts of the earth," signifies the evils of life or lusts and falsities therefrom springing from the love of self and of the world, which devastate all things of the church with man n. 388.

6417. 'The son of a fertile one is Joseph' means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord's Divine spiritual. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine spiritual, in the internal sense as the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense as fruitfulness and multiplication, dealt with in 3969, 3971; and since 'Joseph' is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called 'the son of a fertile one'. 'Joseph' is used here to refer to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, while above 'Judah' is used to refer to His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms constituting heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven, the spiritual kingdom the middle or second heaven; and the Lord is seen by the spiritual kingdom as the moon, but by the celestial kingdom as the sun, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060. When one says that 'Joseph' in the highest sense represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual, the following is involved: The Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. What goes forth from His Divine Good and flows into heaven is in His celestial kingdom called the Divine celestial, but in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual, so that one uses the expression Divine spiritual or Divine celestial with reference to receptivity.