991. And to all the fishes of the sea. That this signifies memory-knowledges [scientifica], is evident from the signification of a fish. “Fishes” in the Word signify memory-knowledges, which spring from things of sense. For memory-knowledges [scientifica] are of three kinds: intellectual, rational, and sensuous. All these are planted in the memory, or rather memories, and in the regenerate man are called forth thence by the Lord, through the internal man. These memory-knowledges which are from things of sense come to man’s sensation or perception when he lives in the body, for he thinks from them. The rest, which are interior, do not come so much to perception until man puts off the body and enters the other life. That “fishes” or the creeping things which the waters produce, signify memory-knowledges, may be seen above n. 40); and that a “whale” or “sea monster” signifies the generals of these knowledges n. 42). Moreover the same is evident from the following passages in the Word.
In Zephaniah:
I will make man and beast to fail; I will make the fowls of the heavens and the fishes of the sea to fail (Zephaniah 1:3),
where the “fowls of the heavens” denote things of reason, and the “fishes of the sea” lower rational things, that is, man’s thought from sensuous memory-knowledges.
[2] In Habakkuk:
Thou makest man as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping thing that has no ruler over them (Habakkuk 1:14), where “making man as the fishes of the sea” means that he is altogether sensuous.
In Hosea:
Therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the wild animal of the field and the fowl of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered (Hosea 4:3), where the “fishes of the sea” denote memory-knowledges from things of sense.
In David:
Thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas (Psalms 8:6-8),
speaking of the dominion of the Lord in man, the “fish of the sea” denote memory-knowledges. That “seas” signify the gathering together of knowledges [scientificorum seu cognitionum], may be seen above n. 28).
In Isaiah:
The fishers shall lament, and all they that cast a hook into the river shall mourn, and they that spread a net upon the faces of the waters shall languish (Isaiah 19:8); “fishers” denoting those who trust only in things of sense, and out of these hatch falsities; the subject being Egypt, or the realm of memory-knowledge.
