4779. 'And put sackcloth on his loins' means mourning for lost good. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting sackcloth over the loins' as an act representative of mourning for lost good. For 'the loins' means conjugial love and from this all celestial and spiritual love, 3021, 3294, 4277, 4280, 4575. This meaning of 'the loins' is derived from correspondence, for as all the organs, members, and viscera of the human body correspond to the Grand Man, as shown at the ends of chapters, so the loins correspond to those who are within the Grand Man, which is heaven, and in whom genuine conjugial love has existed. And because conjugial love is the fundamental of all kinds of love 'the loins' therefore means in general all celestial and spiritual love. From this arose the custom of putting sackcloth over their loins when they mourned over lost good; for all good belongs to love.

[2] The fact that people put sackcloth over their loins to testify to this mourning becomes clear from the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, as in Amos,

I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; so will I cause sackcloth to come up over all loins, and baldness over every head, and I will make it as the mourning for an only-begotten son, and its end as a bitter day. Amos 8:10.

'Causing sackcloth to come up over all loins' stands for mourning over lost forms of good, 'all loins' standing for all forms of the good of love. In Jonah,

The men of Nineveh believed in God, and therefore they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloths, from the greatest even to the least of them. And when word reached the king of Nineveh he rose up from his throne, and laid aside his royal robe from upon him, and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he proclaimed that man and beast were to be covered with sackcloths. Jonah 3:5-8.

Clearly this was a sign representative of mourning over evil on account of which Nineveh was to perish, and so mourning over lost good.

[3] In Ezekiel,

They will let forth a cry over you with their voice and will cry out bitterly; and they will cause dust to come up over their heads, and will roll themselves in ashes, and will make themselves bald over you, and will gird themselves with sackcloths. Ezekiel 27:30-31.

This refers to Tyre, each action mentioned here being representative of mourning for falsities and evils and so for lost truths and goods. 'Letting forth a cry and crying out bitterly' stands for lamentation over falsity or lost truth, 2240; 'causing dust to come up over the head' stands for having been condemned on account of evil, 278; 'rolling themselves in ashes' for having been condemned on account of falsities; 'making themselves bald' for mourning because the natural man has no truth, 3301 (end); 'girding themselves with sackcloths' for mourning because the natural man has no good. Similarly in Jeremiah,

O daughter of My people, gird yourself with sackcloth. and roll yourself in ashes; make mourning as for an only-begotten son, very bitter wailing; for suddenly he who lays waste will come upon you. Jeremiah 6:26.

And elsewhere in the same prophet,

The elders of the daughter of Zion will sit on the ground, they will become silent; they will cause dust to come up over their head, they will gird themselves with sackcloths; the virgins of Jerusalem will cause their heads to come down to the ground. Lamentations 2:10.

Here similar representative actions are described which, as above, were appropriate for the types of good and truth which had become lost.

[4] In Isaiah,

A prophecy concerning Moab. He will go up to Bayith, and to Dibon into the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab will howl. On all heads there is baldness; every beard is shaved off; in its streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; on its roots and in its streets everyone will wail, descending into weeping. Isaiah 15:2-3.

'Moab' stands for those who adulterate all good, 2468. The mourning over that adulteration meant by 'Moab' is described by the kinds of things that correspond to that type of evil. Virtually the same description therefore occurs in Jeremiah,

Every head is bald, and every beard shaved off; upon all hands are cuts, and over the loins is sackcloth; on all the roofs of Moab and in its streets there is mourning everywhere. Jeremiah 48:37-38.

[5] When king Hezekiah heard the blasphemous utterances of the Rabshakeh against Jerusalem 'he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth', Isaiah 37:1; 2 Kings 19:1. The reason for mourning was that his utterances were directed against Jehovah, the king, and Jerusalem. Their being utterances made in opposition to truth is meant by the king rending his clothes, 4763, and utterances made in opposition to good by his covering himself with sackcloth; for when in the Word truth is dealt with, so also is good. This is so because of the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of good to truth and of truth to good in every single part; as also in David,

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed ¹ my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. Psalms 30:11.

Here 'dancing' has reference to truths, and 'gladness' to goods, as they also do in other parts of the Word. 'Loosing sackcloth' accordingly means releasing from mourning over lost good.

[6] In 2 Samuel,

David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird sackcloth round you, and wail before Abner. 2 Samuel 3:31.

Because an outrageous act had been committed against that which was true and good David therefore commanded them to rend their clothes and gird sackcloths round them. Something similar occurred in the case of Ahab, for when he heard Elijah's words that he was to be cut off because he had acted contrary to what was fair and right - meaning in the spiritual sense contrary to what is true and good - 'he tore his clothes apart, and put sackcloth over his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went about slowly, 1 Kings 21:27.

[7] The use of 'sackcloth' to refer to lost good is also clear in John,

When he opened the sixth seal, behold, a great earthquake took place, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood. Revelation 6:12.

'An earthquake' stands for an alteration in the state of the Church as regards good and truth, 3355. 'The sun' stands for the good of love, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 4060, 4300, 4696, and therefore 'sackcloth' here has reference to lost good. 'The moon' stands for the truth of faith, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2495, 4060, and 'blood' has reference to this because 'blood' means truth that has been falsified and rendered profane, 4735.

[8] Because 'being clothed in sackcloth and rolling oneself in ashes' represented mourning over evils and falsities, it also represented both humility and repentance. For humility begins first with the acknowledgement that in oneself one is nothing but a source of evil and falsity. Repentance begins with the same acknowledgement and does not become a reality except through humility, and humility does not become a reality except through heartfelt confession that in oneself one is such a source of evil and falsity. For 'putting on sackcloth' was an expression of humility, see 1 Kings 21:27-29, also of repentance, Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13. But the fact that this was no more than some representative, and so merely an external activity of the body and not an internal activity of the heart, is evident in Isaiah,

Is he to bow his head like a rush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, and a day of that which is pleasing to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I choose, to loose ² the bonds of wickedness, to break bread for the hungry? Isaiah 58:5-7.

Notes de bas de page:

2441. That 'the sun had gone forth over the earth' means the final period which is called the Last Judgement is clear from the meaning of 'sunrise' when the subject is the times and states of the Church. That the times of the day, like the seasons of the year also, in the internal sense mean the consecutive states of the Church has been shown already in 2323, and that 'the dawn' or 'the morning' means the coming of the Lord or approach of His kingdom, in 2405. Thus 'sunrise' or its going forth over the earth is His actual arrival or presence, the reason being that both the sun and the east where it rises mean the Lord - 'the sun', see 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, and 'the east', 101.

[2] The reason the Lord's arrival or presence coincides with the final period called the judgement is that His presence separates the good from the evil, and leads on to the good being raised into heaven and the evil casting themselves down into hell. For in the next life the Lord is the Sun of the whole of heaven, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Actually it is the Divine celestial manifestation of His Love which appears before their very eyes as the sun and produces the light itself of heaven. To the extent therefore that those in the next life abide in celestial love they are raised up into that celestial light which comes from the Lord. But to the extent they are remote from celestial love they cast themselves away from that light into the darkness of hell.

[3] This then is the reason why 'sunrise' which means the Lord's arrival or presence entails both the salvation of the good and the condemnation of the evil; and why at this point it is first stated that 'Lot came to Zoar', that is, that people represented here by Lot were saved, and immediately after this that 'Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire', that is, the evil were condemned.

[4] To those there who are immersed in the evils of self-love and love of the world, that is, who hate all things to do with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, the light of heaven actually appears as thick darkness. This is why it is said in the Word that to those people the sun was darkened, which means that they rejected everything to do with love and charity and accepted everything contrary to these, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

Anyone may see that 'covering the heavens', 'darkening the stars', 'covering the sun', and 'making the bright lights dark' mean different things from these.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

The sun will be darkened in its going forth and the moon will not give its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

And in Joel,

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:2, 10.

This therefore shows what is meant by these words spoken by the Lord when He was describing the final period of the Church which is called the judgement, in Matthew,

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. Matthew 24:29.

'The sun' is not used to mean the sun, nor 'the moon' the moon, nor 'stars' the stars, but 'the sun' is used to mean love and charity, 'the moon' faith derived from these, and 'the stars' cognitions of good and truth, which are said to have been darkened, to lose their light, and to fall from heaven when the acknowledgement of the Lord, and love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, cease to exist any longer. And when these have become non-existent self-love together with falsities deriving from it take possession of man; for the one thing results as a consequence of the other.

[6] This also explains the following in John,

The fourth angel poured out his bowl into the sun and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; therefore men were burned by the fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. Revelation 16:8-9.

This too refers to the last times of the Church when all love and charity is being annihilated, or to express it in ordinary language, when no faith exists any longer. The annihilation of love and charity is meant by the statement that the bowl was poured out into the sun; consequently it is in that case self-love and its desires that are meant by the statement that men were scorched with fire and that they were burned by a fierce heat; and this led to their blaspheming the name of God.

[7] By 'the sun' the Ancient Church understood nothing other than the Lord and the Divine celestial manifestation of His love. It was their custom when praying therefore to turn towards the rising of the sun - yet without giving any thought at all to the sun itself. Later on however when their descendants had lost even this together with every other representative and meaningful sign they began to worship the sun and moon themselves. This kind of worship spread to very many nations, so much so that they dedicated temples to the sun and to the moon, and erected pillars. And because the sun and moon now assumed an opposite meaning they mean self-love and love of the world, which are the complete reverse of celestial and spiritual love.

[8] In the Word therefore worshipping the sun and moon is used to mean worship of self and of the world, as in Moses,

Lest you lift your eyes to heaven and you see the sun and moon and stars, all the host of heaven, and you are drawn away and bow down to them and serve them. Deuteronomy 4:19.

And in the same author,

If anyone has gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, and to the sun or moon, or to all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, you shall stone them with stones, and they shall die. Deuteronomy 17:3, 5.

People turned the worship of old into such idolatry when they no longer believed that anything internal was meant in the religious observances of the Church, only that which is external.

[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,

At that time the bones of the kings of Judah, of the princes, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they will spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they have loved and which they have served. Jeremiah 8:1-2.

'The sun' stands for self-love and its desires. 'Spreading out the bones' means the hellish things which such people possess. In the same prophet,

He will break down the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire. Jeremiah 43:13.

'The pillars of the house of the sun' stands for worship of self.