348. 'The fruit of the ground' is used to mean the works of faith devoid of charity. This also is evident from what follows. In effect the works of faith devoid of charity are the works of no faith at all. In themselves they are dead since they belong purely to the external man. Such works are referred to in Jeremiah as follows,
Why does the way of the wicked prosper? You have planted them, they have also taken root, they have gone on, they are also producing fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their heart. 1
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Jeremiah 12:1-2, 4.
'Near in their mouth but far from their heart' 1
means adherents to faith separated from charity, of whom it is said that 'the land mourns'. They are also called in the same prophet 'the fruit of works',
The heart is deceitful above all, and is something hopeless. Who knows it? I Jehovah who searches the heart and tries the reins, to give to everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his works. Jeremiah 17:9-10.
In Micah,
The earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their works. Micah 7:13.
But the fact that this kind of fruit is no fruit at all, that is, a work that is dead, and that both this fruit and root perish, is stated in Amos,
I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Amos 2:9.
And in David,
You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from the sons of man. Psalms 21:10.
But works that stem from charity are alive, and are referred to as 'taking root below' and 'yielding fruit above', as in Isaiah,
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. Isaiah 37:31.
'Producing fruit upwards' is doing so from charity. In the same prophet such fruit is called 'a fruit that is excellent',
On that day the branch of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the land will be excellence and an adornment for the survivors of Israel. Isaiah 4:2.
It is also 'the fruit of salvation', as it is called in the same prophet,
Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain with righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bear the fruit of salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I Jehovah will create it. Isaiah 45:8.
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