247. 'The serpent going on its belly' means that the sensory part was no longer able to look upwards to celestial things, as previously, only downwards to bodily and worldly things. This is clear from the fact that in earliest times 'the belly' meant things closest to the earth, ‘the breast’ those that were above the earth, and ‘the head’ those that were the highest. This is why in this verse the sensory part, which in itself is the lowest part of man since it directs itself to what is earthly, is referred to as ‘going on its belly’. And in the Jewish Church lying flat with the belly on the ground and sprinkling dust over the head had the same meaning. In David it is said,

Why do You hide Your face ¹ and forget our misery and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust, and our belly cleaves to the ground. Rise up, as a help for us, and redeem us for Your mercy's sake. Psalms 44:24-26.

Here too it is clear that when a person turns away from the face of Jehovah he starts to cling with his belly to the dust and the ground. In Jonah also the belly of the great fish into which he was cast means the lower parts of the earth, as is clear from his own prophecy,

Out of the belly of hell I cried, and You did hear my voice. Jonah 2:2.

Here 'hell' stands for the lower earth.

სქოლიოები:

377. Verses 7, 8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the wild beasts of the earth.

"And when he had opened the fourth seal," signifies, prediction manifested still further: "I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying," signifies, out of the inmost heaven from the Lord: "Come and see," signifies attention and perception. "And I looked, and behold a pale horse," signifies not any understanding of the Word, from evils of life, and then from the falsities thence; "and he that sat upon him," signifies the Word; "his name was Death, and Hell followed with him," signifies eternal damnation; "and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies deprivation of all good, and thence of truth, from the Word, and thence in the doctrine of their church derived from the Word; "with the sword," signifies, by falsity; "and with hunger," signifies, by deprivation, lack, and ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good; "and with death," signifies the extinction thereby of spiritual life; "and with the wild beasts of the earth," signifies evils of life, or lusts and the falsities thence arising from the love of self and of the world, which devastate all things of the church with man.