Arcana Coelestia # 10540
10540. 'And now, take off your finery' means the nature of their external which is such that it is without anything Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'finery', when the Church is the subject, as holy truth or that which is Divine in external things, dealt with above in 10536; and from the meaning of 'taking it off' as shedding it, thus being without it. The fact that that which is Divine in external things or holy truth is meant by 'finery' is clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,
I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shod you with badger; and I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with finery, and put bracelets onto your hands and a chain onto your neck. And I put a jewel onto your nose, and earrings on your ears, and a crown of glory onto your head. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver; and your garments were fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, [honey,] and oil; therefore you became extremely beautiful, and attained to a kingdom. For this reason your fame 1 went out among the nations, regarding your beauty; for this was made perfect by My finery which I had put on you. Ezekiel 16:10-14.
[2] This refers to Jerusalem and means the Church which had been established by the Lord after the Flood and was succeeded by the Israelite and Jewish Church. The character of the latter is also described in the same chapter; but the character of that previous Ancient Church is described in the verses just quoted, its holy truths being described by the adornments spoken of there. Anyone may see that things such as have to do with the Church are meant by those specifically mentioned, and that each one means something particular. What other purpose does such a description of Jerusalem serve?
[3] Yet which aspect of the Church is meant by each one becomes clear solely from the internal sense. For this sense shows what exactly in the spiritual world corresponds to each item in the description. The following is made clear by that sense,
'Embroidered cloth' means true factual knowledge, 9688.
'Fine linen' means intellectual truth from the Divine, 5319, 9469, 9596, 9744.
'Bracelets' means the power of truths, 3103, 3105.
'A neck-chain' means the flowing in of truth derived from good, and the consequent joining together of interior things and exterior ones, 5320.
'A nose-jewel' means the perception of truth, and 'earrings' obedience to truths, 4551, 10402.
'A crown of glory' means spiritual good, or the good of truth, good being meant by 'a crown', 9930, and that which is spiritual by 'glory', 9815.
'Gold and silver' means goodness and truth in general, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9874.
'Fine flour, honey, and oil' means truths and forms of good, external and internal ones, truth from good being meant by 'fine flour', 9995, external good by 'honey', 10530, and internal good by 'oil', 886, 4582, 4638, 9474, 9780, 10254, 10261.
'Beauty' means the outward form taken by truth derived from good, 3080, 3821, 4985, 5199.
And 'Jerusalem', about which those things are said, means the Church, see 402, 2117, 3654. From all this it is evident what 'finery' means, namely holy truth in its entirety.
[4] All the finery of the daughters of Zion which is itemized in Isaiah has a like meaning,
On that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, and of the networks, and of the crescents, and of the perfume containers 2 , and of the chainlets, and of the bracts 3 , and the tiaras, and the garters, and the sashes, and the perfume boxes 4 , and the charms; the rings, and the nose-jewels, the changes of clothes, and the robes, and the veils, and the pin-cases, the mirrors, and the muslin, and the turbans, and the linen garments. And it will happen, that instead of fragrance there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair 5 , baldness, and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth, burning instead of beauty. Your people will fall by the sword, and [so will] your strength in war. Isaiah 3:18-25.
Those who confine themselves to the literal sense inevitably think that all these items with which the daughters of Zion are said to be adorned must be understood literally, and that it was because of that finery and the pride and arrogance it would create that the people of that kingdom would perish, since it says, your people will fall by the sword, and your strength in war. But those who raise their minds to some extent above the literal statement can see that such things should not be understood literally.
[5] From various places in the Word they can see that 'the daughters of Zion' should not be taken to mean the daughters of Zion but such things as are aspects of the Church, which are also meant by the daughters of Jerusalem, the daughters of Israel, the daughters of Judah, and many other daughters. Regarding 'daughters', that they mean the Church and aspects of the Church, see 6729, 9055(end). Since therefore the Church and aspects of the Church are meant by 'the daughters of Zion' it follows that all their finery itemized in this chapter of Isaiah mean the Church's truths and forms of good, and that each item means some specific truth or form of good. For nothing that appears in the Word, not even one small expression, is devoid of meaning.
[6] And because that Church will be bereaved of its truths and forms of good, meant by all that finery, the prophecy goes on to say that instead of fragrance there will be rottenness, instead of a girdle a falling apart, instead of well-set hair baldness, instead of a robe a girding of sackcloth, burning instead of beauty, and also that the people will fall by the sword, as will [their] strength in war. For 'fragrance' or 'spice' means the perception of Divine Truth, 10199, 10291, and 'rottenness' the deprivation of it; 'a girdle' means a bond holding truths and forms of good in connection with one another, 9341(end), 9828, 9837, 'a falling apart instead of it' the disintegration and diffusion of them; 'well-set hair' means true factual knowledge, 2831 6 , 'baldness' being deprived of an intelligent understanding of truth and of a wise discernment of good, 9960; 'burning' means the destruction of these by the evils of self-love, 1297, 2446, 7852, 9055, 9141, 'beauty' the outward form that truth springing from good takes within the Church, thus the perfection of it, 3080, 3821, 4985, 5199; and 'the sword' by which the people will fall means falsity destroying truth and good, 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294. Having no 'strength in war' means having no resistance to evil and falsity, for 'war' is spiritual conflict, and temptation, 1659, 1664, 2686, 8273, 8295, 10455.
From all this it is now evident that 'finery' in general means the Divine Truth which the Church possesses.
[7] The like is meant by 'finery' in the second Book of Samuel,
O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in twice-dyed pleasantly 7 , who put gold finery on your clothing. 2 Samuel 1:24.
These words appear in David's lamentation over Saul, which he entitled in verse 18 of that chapter, To teach the children of Judah the bow. 'The bow' in this verse means doctrine consisting of truth engaged in conflict against falsities of evil, 2686, 2709, 6422. This being so, 'daughters of Israel' means the Church's affections for truth, 2362, 3963, 6729, 6775, 6788, 8994; 'being clothed in twice-dyed pleasantly' means being endued with the Church's interior truths, which spring from good, 4922, 9468; 'putting gold finery on clothing' means giving truths that spring from good a beautiful appearance, good being meant by 'gold', see in the places referred to in 9874, and truth in general by 'clothing' or 'garment', in the places referred to above in 10536(end). The reason why David's lamentation over Saul has to do with doctrine consisting of truth, meant by 'the bow', engaged in conflict against falsity of evil is that 'the king' or the royal office held by Saul means Divine Truth in respect of protection and of judgement, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.
[8] The like is meant by 'finery' in other places: In David,
Give to Jehovah the glory of His name; bow down to Jehovah in the finery of holiness. Psalms 29:2.
'In the finery of holiness' means with the authentic truths of the Church. Similarly in Isaiah,
Your sons will make haste. Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together. I am the Living One, said Jehovah; you will put them all on as finery, and gird them round yourself like a bride. Isaiah 49:17-18.
These words too refer to Zion, by which the celestial Church is meant, 'sons' who 'will make haste' meaning this Church's truths. (For the meaning of 'sons' as truths, see 489, 491, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 9807.) This explains why it says that Zion will put them all on as finery and gird them round herself like a bride; such can be said of the Church's truths, but not of the sons of Zion.
[9] Since almost everything in the Word also has a contrary meaning, so do those objects constituting finery. In the contrary sense they mean truths that have been falsified, as in Jeremiah,
You who have been laid waste, what will you do? If you clothe yourself in twice-dyed, if you adorn yourself with gold finery, if you widen your eyes with stibium 8 , in vain will you make yourself beautiful. Jeremiah 4:29, 30.
And in Hosea,
I will visit on her 9 the days of the baals to whom she burned incense, and put on her nose-jewel and her finery, and went after her lovers and forgot Me. Hosea 2:13.
And in other places.
სქოლიოები:
1. literally, name
2. Probably worn around the neck
3. i.e. thin metal plates worn as jewelry
4. literally, houses of the soul
5. literally, instead of the work of plaited [hair]
6. The Latin here rendered literally the work of plaited [hair] and idiomatically well-set hair is opus implexum. In 2831 the second of these words applies to the branches of trees and is consequently rendered entangled.
7. literally, with pleasant things
8. literally, break open the eyes with stibium. Stibium was a cosmetic used for blackening the eyelids and eyebrows, thereby making the eyes look brighter or more open.
9. i.e. I will punish her for
Jesaja 3
1
Denn siehe, der HERR HERR Zebaoth wird von Jerusalem und Juda nehmen allerlei Vorrat, allen Vorrat des Brots und allen Vorrat des Wassers,
2
Starke und Kriegsleute, Richter, Propheten, Wahrsager und Älteste,
3
Hauptleute über fünfzig und ehrliche Leute, Räte und weise Werkleute und kluge Redner.
4
Und will ihnen Jünglinge zu Fürsten geben, und Kindische sollen über sie herrschen.
5
Und das Volk wird Schinderei treiben, einer über den andern und ein jeglicher über seinen Nächsten; und der Jüngere wird stolz sein wider den Alten und ein loser Mann wider den Ehrlichen.
6
Dann wird einer seinen Bruder aus seines Vaters Haus ergreifen: Du hast Kleider; sei unser Fürst, hilf du diesem Unfall!
7
Er aber wird zu der Zeit schwören und sagen: Ich bin kein Arzt; es ist weder Brot noch Kleid in meinem Hause; setzet mich nicht zum Fürsten im Volk.
8
Denn Jerusalem fällt dahin, und Juda liegt da, weil ihre Zunge und ihr Tun wider den HERRN ist, daß sie den Augen seiner Majestät widerstreben.
9
Ihr Wesen hat sie kein Hehl und rühmen ihre Sünde, wie die zu Sodom, und verbergen sie nicht. Wehe ihrer Seele! Denn damit bringen sie sich selbst in alles Unglück.
10
Prediget von den Gerechten, daß sie es gut haben; denn sie werden die Frucht ihrer Werke essen.
11
Wehe aber den Gottlosen, denn sie sind boshaftig, und es wird ihnen vergolten werden, wie sie es verdienen.
12
Kinder sind Treiber meines Volks und Weiber herrschen über sie. Mein Volk, deine Tröster verführen dich und zerstören den Weg, den du gehen sollst.
13
Aber der HERR stehet da zu rechten, und ist aufgetreten, die Völker zu richten.
14
Und der HERR kommt zu Gericht mit den Ältesten seines Volks und mit seinen Fürsten. Denn ihr habt den Weinberg verderbt, und der Raub von den Armen ist in eurem Hause.
15
Warum zertretet ihr mein Volk und zerschlaget die Person der Elenden? spricht der HERR HERR Zebaoth.
16
Und der HERR spricht: Darum daß die Töchter Zions stolz sind und gehen mit aufgerichtetem Halse, mit geschminkten Angesichten, treten einher und schwänzen und haben köstliche Schuhe an ihren Füßen,
17
so wird der HERR den Scheitel der Töchter Zions kahl machen und der HERR wird ihre Geschmeide wegnehmen.
18
Zu der Zeit wird der HERR den Schmuck an den köstlichen Schuhen wegnehmen und die Hefte, die Spangen,
19
die Kettlein, die Armspangen, die Hauben,
20
die Flittern, die Gebräme, die Schnürlein, die Bisamäpfel, die Ohrenspangen,
22
die Feierkleider, die Mäntel, die Schleier, die Beutel,
23
die Spiegel, die Koller, die Borten, die Kittel
24
und wird Gestank für guten Geruch sein und ein loses Band für einen Gürtel und eine Glatze für ein kraus Haar und für einen weiten Mantel ein enger Sack; solches alles anstatt deiner Schöne.
25
Dein Pöbel wird durchs Schwert fallen und deine Krieger im Streit.
26
Und ihre Tore werden trauern und klagen, und sie wird jämmerlich sitzen auf der Erde,
