In general, men are driven by intellect and women by affections, and because of this men in the Bible generally represent knowledge and truth and women generally represent love and the desire for good. This generally carries over into marriage, where the man's growing knowledge and understanding and the woman's desire to be good and useful are a powerful combination. In many cases in the Bible, then, "husband" refers to things of truth and understanding, much as "man" does. Magnificent things can happen in a true marriage, though, when both partners are looking to the Lord. If a husband opens his heart to his wife, it's as though she can implant her loves inside him, transforming his intellectual urges into a love of growing wise. She in turn can grow in her love of that blooming wisdom, and use it for joy in their married life and in their caring for children and others in their life. Many couples, even in heaven, stay in that state -- called "Spiritual" -- growing deeper and deeper to eternity. There is the potential, though, for the couple to be transformed: through the nurturing love of his wife the husband can pass from a love of growing wise to an actual love of wisdom itself, and the wife can be transformed from the love of her husband's wisdom into the wisdom of that love -- the actual expression of the love of the Lord they have built together. In that state -- called "Celestial" -- the husband represents love and the desire for good, and the wife represents truth and knowledge.

6534. 'And horsemen' means intellectual concepts. This is clear from the meaning of 'horsemen' as things connected with the understanding; for 'a horse' means the power of understanding, 2760-2761, 3217, 5321, 6125. The meaning of 'horsemen' as things connected with the understanding becomes clear in addition from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah alone led him; He caused him to ride over the heights of the land. Deuteronomy 32:12, 17.

This refers to the Ancient Church. 'Causing to ride over the heights of the land' stands for endowing with superior understanding.

[2] In David,

In your majesty ¹ climb into [your chariot], and ride on the word of truth and meekness and righteousness, and your right arm will teach you marvellous things. Psalms 45:4.

This refers to the Lord. 'Riding on the word of truth' stands for having a genuine understanding of truth. In the same author,

Sing to God, praise His name; exalt Him who rides on the clouds by His name Jah. Psalms 68:4.

This too refers to the Lord. 'The clouds' stands for the literal sense of the Word, preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end); 'riding on them' stands for being in command of the internal sense, in which truth resides with all the intelligence and wisdom it can bring.

[3] In Zechariah,

On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness; and on the house of Judah I will open My eye. But every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zechariah 12:4.

'Horse' stands for the power of understanding, and 'rider' or 'horseman' for the intellect. Does anyone not see that 'horse' here does not mean a horse, or that 'rider' does not mean rider, but that something else such as can be struck with panic and madness, and also with blindness, is meant? That something else, it is evident, is the understanding or intellect.

[4] By 'horses and horsemen' intellectual concepts are meant, and in the contrary sense reasonings and consequent falsities, as may be seen in John,

I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; to him a crown was given; he went out conquering. Then there came out another horse, fiery-red; and it was granted to him who sat on it that he should take peace away from the earth, and that men should slay one another. Therefore to him was given a great sword. I saw, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it held a balance in his hand. I saw therefore, and behold, a pale horse and he who sat on it, whose name was death. Revelation 6:2, 4-5, 8.

Here, as is evident from the details of the description, the horses and those seated on them mean things connected with an understanding consisting of truth, and in the contrary sense an understanding consisting of falsity. 'The white horse and he who sat on it' stands for an understanding consisting of truth gained from the Word; the one seated on the white horse is, as explicitly stated in Revelation 19:11, 13, 16, the Lord as to the Word. 'The fiery-red horse and he who sat on it' stands for reasonings resulting from desires for evil, which do violence to truths from the Word. 'The black horse and he who sat on it' stands for a destroyed ability to understand the truth, while 'the pale horse and he who sat on it' stands for damnation resulting from such destruction.

[5] 'Horses and horsemen' in the contrary sense stands for a perverted understanding and the falsities it produces, in Ezekiel also,

Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers - governors and leaders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. Her sister Oholibah was in love with the sons of Asshur - governors and leaders, her neighbours, clothed in perfect adornment, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. Ezekiel 23:5-6, 12.

'Oholah' stands for the perverted spiritual Church, which is Samaria, and 'Oholibah' for the perverted celestial Church, which is Jerusalem; for the Israelites who belonged to Samaria represented the spiritual Church, but the Jews who belonged to Jerusalem represented the celestial Church. 'The Assyrians' and 'the sons of Asshur' stand for reasoning against the truths of faith, 1186, 'horsemen riding on horses' for a perverted understanding, from which falsities are produced.

[6] In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and headstrong nation, marching into the breadth of the earth, to inherit habitations that are not its own Its horses are swifter than leopards, sharper than the evening wolves, so that its horsemen spread out, and therefore its horsemen come from afar. Habakkuk 1:6, 8.

'The Chaldeans' stands for those governed by falsities, though to outward appearances they are governed by truths; thus 'the Chaldeans' stands for the profanation of truth, whereas 'Babel' stands for the profanation of good, 1182, 1368. 'Marching into the breadth of the earth' stands for destroying truths - 'the breadth of the earth' meaning truth, see 3433, 3434, 4482. From this it is evident that 'the horsemen who spread out and who arrive from afar' are things connected with a perverted understanding, which are therefore falsities.

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