1311. The symbolism of and Jehovah went down as a judgment on them is established by remarks above and below and by the symbolism of coming down, when it is Jehovah who does so. With respect to remarks above: earlier sections [§§1302-1309] discuss the building of the city and tower of Babel. With respect to remarks below: later sections [§§1319-1328] discuss the muddling of their language and the scattering of the people. With respect to the symbolism of coming down, when it is Jehovah who does so: Jehovah is said to come down when there is a judgment.
Jehovah (the Lord) is present everywhere and knows everything from eternity, so he cannot be said to come down to see. Only the letter of the story speaks in these terms, and in doing so it adapts to the human way of seeing things. The true, inner sense does not. That sense presents things not as they appear to be but as they are in themselves. So in the current instance, the inner sense presents "coming down to see" as a judgment.
[2] It is called a judgment when evil reaches its peak. The Word expresses this as a time when things in general culminate or when wickedness does. 1 The situation is that every evil has limits it is allowed to reach. When it goes beyond these limits, it brings evil on itself as a punishment. This is true at a specific and at a general level. The evil it brings on itself as punishment is what is then called a judgment.
At first it seems as though the Lord does not see or notice that anything bad is happening, because when we go unpunished for the evil we do, we think the Lord does not care. The moment we pay a penalty is when we first believe the Lord sees, and we even imagine he inflicts the punishment. It is because of these appearances, then, that the text says Jehovah went down to see.
[3] Jehovah is depicted as descending because he is described as the Highest, or as being on the highest heights, and this too accords with appearances, because he is not on the highest heights but at the deepest inner depths. That is why "highest" and "inmost" mean the same thing in the Word. The actual judging or punishment of evil reveals itself at a lower level or at the lowest, which is why Jehovah is said to come down, as he also is in David:
Jehovah, bend your heavens and come down and let me speak with you. 2 Touch the mountains and they will smoke; hurl lightning and scatter them. (Psalms 144:5-6)
Here too Jehovah's coming down stands for the punishment of evil, or a judgment on evil. In Isaiah:
Jehovah Sabaoth will come down to do battle on Zion's mountain and on its hill. (Isaiah 31:4)
In the same author:
You will come down; before you, mountains will disintegrate. (Isaiah 64:3)
The descent here is likewise for the purpose of punishment — or judgment — on evil. In Micah:
Jehovah was leaving his place, and he came down and trampled on the lofty places of the earth, and the mountains melted under him. (Micah 1:3-4)
Footnotes:
1. For biblical passages Swedenborg mentions elsewhere that speak of "things in general" culminating, or being finished, or coming to an end (Latin consummari or consummatio), see, for example, Isaiah 28:22; Jeremiah 4:27; 30:11; Daniel 9:27; 12:7; Matthew 13:39-40, 49; 24:3; 28:20; for passages that speak specifically about sin, iniquity, or wickedness culminating, see Genesis 15:16; Lamentations 4:22; Daniel 9:24; James 1:15. [LHC, JSR]
2. The words "and let me speak with you" do not actually appear in Psalms 144:5. They may possibly be an accidental import from Numbers 11:17, where Jehovah speaks of coming down to talk with Moses. [LHC, SS]
