10
ישבו לארץ ידמו זקני בת ציון העלו עפר על ראשם חגרו שקים הורידו לארץ ראשן בתולת ירושלם׃
Eichah 2:10
Arcana Coelestia #6377
6377. 'He washes his clothing in wine' means that His Natural consists in Divine Truth from His Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purifying, dealt with in 3147; from the meaning of 'wine' as the good of love towards the neighbour and the good of faith, and in the highest sense as Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'clothing' as the exterior which covers the interior, dealt with in 5248, thus the natural since this is exterior and covers the rational, which is interior. Therefore 'clothing' also means truth since this is exterior and covers good, which is interior, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954.
[2] The fact that 'wine' means love towards the neighbour and the good of faith may be recognized from what has been shown regarding the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, in 2165, 2177, 3464, 4581, 5915. These paragraphs show that 'bread' is the good of celestial love, and that 'wine' is the good of spiritual love. The same may also be recognized from the minchah and the drink-offering in sacrifices. The minchah in them meant the good of love, and the drink-offering the good of faith. The minchah consisted of the kinds of things that meant the good of love, while the drink-offering consisted of wine that meant the good of faith. The sacrifices themselves were also called 'bread', 2165. For the use in sacrifices of a drink-offering consisting of wine, see Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 23:12-13, 18-19; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:6-7, 18-end; 29:1-7 and following verses.
[3] The meaning that 'wine' has of love towards the neighbour and the good of faith is also evident in Isaiah,
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! And come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.
No one can fail to see that they did not have to buy wine and milk, but that they were to acquire what is meant by 'wine and milk', which is love towards the neighbour and faith. These gifts come from the Lord 'without money and without price'.
[4] In Hosea,
Threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive to her. 1 Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean. They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah, their sacrifices will not be pleasing to Him. Hosea 9:1-4.
Here also in the internal sense reference is made to the good of love and the good of faith, to the demise of them. The good of love is meant by 'threshing-floor' by virtue of the grain there and the bread made from it, while the good of faith is meant by 'winepress', 'new wine', and 'libation of wine'. 'Ephraim will return to Egypt' stands for the fact that the understanding would resort to factual knowledge for advice concerning the arcana of faith; 'in Assyria they will eat what is unclean' stands for that which is the outcome of consequent false reasoning - 'Ephraim' being the area of understanding in the Church, see 5754, 6112, 6238, 6267; 'Egypt' the area of factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5702; and 'Assyria' that of reasoning, 1186. The line of thought in this passage also shows that the words used here contain something more than what one sees in the letter. For everything hangs together in the internal sense, but not so in the external sense, for example when it says that 'threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive to her', immediately followed by 'Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean'. Moreover, without the internal sense what meaning would Ephraim's return to Egypt and their eating in Assyria what is unclean have?
[5] 'Winepress' and 'wine' are also used in Jeremiah to describe the demise of mutual love and the good of faith,
He who lays waste has fallen on your vintage, therefore joy and gladness have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, for I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; none will tread the headed. 2 Jeremiah 48:32-33.
[6] The fact that 'wine' means the good of mutual love and of faith is also evident in John,
I heard a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, Do no harm to oil and wine. Revelation 6:6.
[7] 'Oil' stands for the good of celestial love, and 'wine' for the good of spiritual love.
'Oil' and 'wine' have a similar meaning in the Lord's parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke,
A certain Samaritan was journeying, and seeing him who had been wounded by the robbers was moved with compassion for him; going therefore to him, he bandaged his wounds, and poured on oil and wine. Luke 10:33-34.
'He poured on oil and wine' means that he performed the works of love and charity, 'oil' being the good of love, see 886, 3728. A like meaning was involved in the practice of the ancients, who poured oil and wine onto a pillar when they consecrated it, Genesis 35:14, 4581, 4582.
[8] The fact that 'wine' means the good of love and faith is evident from the words the Lord used when He instituted the Holy Supper. He said then regarding the wine,
I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29; Luke 22:17-18.
Anyone can see that He was not about to drink wine in that kingdom, but that the good of love and faith is meant, which He was about to impart to those who belonged to His kingdom. Much the same is meant by 'wine' in Isaiah 24:9, 11; Lamentations 2:11-12; Hosea 14:7; Amos 9:13-14; Zechariah 9:15-16; Luke 5:37-39.
[9] Since 'wine' means the good of love and faith, Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Good is therefore meant in the highest sense, for that Truth, when it flows into a person and is accepted by him, brings him the good of love and faith.
[10] Since most things in the Word also have a contrary meaning, so too does 'wine', the contrary meaning of which is falsity from evil, as in Isaiah,
Woe to those who rise in the morning around dawn, and then follow strong drink, who continue into dusk, so that wine may inflame them! Woe to heroes at drinking wine, and to valiant men in mixing strong drink! Isaiah 5:11, 22
In the same prophet,
Also these err through wine, and go astray through strong drink. The priest and the prophet err through strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine, they go astray through strong drink. They err among the seers, they are tottery in judgement. Isaiah 28:7.
In the same prophet,
The shepherds know no understanding, they all look to their own way. Come, I will get wine, and we will be drunken from strong drink; and let there be tomorrow, as there is this day, great abundance. Isaiah 56:11-12.
In addition to these places 'wine' is used with the contrary meaning in Jeremiah 13:12; Hosea 4:11; 7:5; Amos 2:8; Micah 2:11; Psalms 75:8; Deuteronomy 32:33.
Falsity from evil is also meant by the cup of the wine of wrath in Jeremiah 25:15-16; Revelation 14:8, 10; 16:19; the winepress of the wrath of God's anger, Revelation 19:15; and the wine of whoredom, Revelation 17:2; 18:3.
Fußnoten:
1. The Latin means them but the Hebrew means her, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse, as well as possibly here in his rough draft.
Numbers 14
1
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3
And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8
If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
10
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13
And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15
Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16
Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17
And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18
The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20
And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22
Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25
(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28
Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29
Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
30
Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31
But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32
But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
34
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
35
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36
And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37
Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
39
And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40
And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.
41
And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
42
Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
43
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
44
But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
45
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
