748. "And eat her flesh and burn her with fire." This symbolically means that Protestants will with hatred condemn and destroy in themselves the evils and falsities inherent in the Roman Catholic religion, and will renounce the religion itself and expunge it in themselves.

This is said of Protestants, who will deal thus with the harlot, that is, with the Roman Catholic religion. To eat her flesh means, symbolically, with hatred to condemn and destroy in themselves the inherent characteristics of that religion, which are evils and falsities, about which we will say more below. And to burn her with fire means, symbolically, to renounce that religion as profane and expunge it in themselves.

This is what burning with fire means because the penalty for profaning something holy was burning. Therefore, according to Divine law, people who profaned the name of Jehovah by worshiping other gods were burned with fire - they and all their belongings (Deuteronomy 13:12-18). Therefore Moses burned with fire the golden calf that the children of Israel were profanely worshiping (Exodus 32:20, Deuteronomy 9:21). Moreover, because two of Aaron's sons profaned holy things, they were consumed by fire from heaven (Leviticus 10:1-6). Nor is anything else symbolized by the fire and pyre in Tophet but the fire of hell, which awaits those who profane holy things (Isaiah 30:33, Jeremiah 7:11, 31-32; 19:5-6, 2 Kings 23:10), for there the people worshiped Molech with a heinous sacrifice. ¹

[2] Since the fourth beast in Daniel 7 symbolizes a religion that profanes the Word and consequently the sanctities of the church (no. 717), therefore we are told that it was burned with fire (Daniel 7:11).

Now, because it is profane worship to worship a person instead of the Lord, we are accordingly told here that they burnt the harlot with fire, which symbolically means that they renounced the religion itself and expunged it in themselves.

To eat her flesh means, symbolically, with hatred to condemn and destroy in themselves the inherent characteristics of that religion, which are evils and falsities, because that is the symbolic meaning of eating her flesh. For flesh symbolizes the inherent characteristics of a thing which relate to goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, to evils and falsities, and to eat means, symbolically, to consume, thus to destroy.

That flesh symbolizes a person's inherent character, which in itself is evil, is clear from the following passages:

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. (John 6:63)

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be children of God...: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh... (John 1:12-13)

(God) remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. (Psalms 78:39)

The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:3)

(Jerusalem) committed harlotry with the Egyptians..., great of flesh. (Ezekiel 16:26)

Jesus... said to (Peter), ."..flesh and blood has not revealed this to you...." (Matthew 16:17)

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm... (Jeremiah 17:5)

[3] Because flesh symbolizes a person's inherent character, and people who hate others attack their personal character with the intention of destroying it, therefore to eat the flesh has also this symbolic meaning, as in the following passages:

Let the dying die, and the cut off be cut off. Those that are left eat each other's flesh. (Zechariah 11:9)

They shall devour Israel with the whole mouth... Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm - Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh. (Isaiah 9:12, 20-21)

I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh... (Isaiah 49:26)

...everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend... (Jeremiah 19:9)

To eat the flesh of sons and daughters (Jeremiah 19:9, Leviticus 26:29, Deuteronomy 28:53) means, symbolically, to destroy truths and goods in oneself, for sons symbolize truths, and daughters goods, as may be seen in nos. 139, 543, 545, 612[1-4] above.

Moreover, in the Word we find reference to "all flesh," and this symbolically means all mankind (Genesis 6:12-13, 17, 19).

脚注:

6371. 'The sceptre will not be removed from Judah' means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'being removed' as departing; from the meaning of 'the sceptre' as power and control, in particular the power and control of truth from good, dealt with in 4876 (end), for the sceptre is an emblem of royal power and control, and truth is meant by royal power, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 6148; and from the representation of' Judah' as the celestial kingdom, dealt with above in 6363. From all this it is evident that 'the sceptre will not be removed from Judah' means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom.

[2] Viewed from the sense of the letter the contents of this verse will be seen to mean that the kingdom was not going to be removed from the Jewish people before the Lord came. That understanding of the verse is quite correct; but even so, this historical consideration, like every other, has an inner meaning. For the removal of the kingdom from the Jewish people when the Lord came is a worldly matter; but the spiritual content that belongs to the inner meaning is evident when one understands power and control by 'the sceptre' and the celestial kingdom by 'Judah'. Yet the notion that power and control would depart from the celestial kingdom when the Lord came is an arcanum that no one can know unless it is revealed to him. And what that arcanum entails is this: Prior to the Lord's Coming into the world there was among men and among spirits an influx of life from Jehovah or the Lord which came by way of the celestial kingdom, that is, through the angels who were in that kingdom. This was the source of their power at that time. But when the Lord came into the world, and by so doing made the Human within Himself Divine, He took to Himself what had rested with angels of the celestial kingdom, namely that power and control. For what flowed from God and passed through that heaven had until then been the Divine human. ¹ That influx was also the Divine Person who presented Himself, when Jehovah revealed Himself in this way. But this Divine human came to an end when the Lord made the Human within Himself Divine. From this one may now see what this arcanum entails. Angels of that kingdom do, it is true, still exercise great power and control, but only in the measure that the Lord's Divine Human resides in them through their love for Him. See what has been stated and shown already on these matters in 1990, 2803, 3061, 4180, 4687, 5110, 6280.

脚注: