THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 34

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation)

1. COME near, O you nations, to hear; and hearken, O you peoples! let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all its productions.

VERSE 1. Here " nations" signify those who are in the Good of love, and "peoples" those who are in the Goods of charity and the Truths of faith thence derived; and therefore it is said of the nations that "they should come near", and of the peoples that "they should hearken." To "come near" signifies to be conjoined by love, and to "hearken" is to obey and to be instructed. Hence also it is said, "Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof"; the "earth" signifying the church as to Good, and the "fulness" thereof signifying Truths. Apocalypse Explained 331.

2. For the anger of Jehovah is upon all the nations, and His wrath upon all the host thereof: He has utterly destroyed them; He has given them up to slaughter.

Verse 2. By "nations" are here signified evils, and by "host" falsities from evil; the total destruction thereof by their being "utterly destroyed [or delivered to the curse], and given up to slaughter." Apocalypse Explained 573. See also Arcana Coelestia 3614.

Verses 2, 3. The anger of Jehovah, etc. - These things are said concerning the Last Judgment. By "the anger of Jehovah upon all the nations, and His wrath upon all the host thereof", is signified the destruction and damnation of all who are in evils and falsities thence derived, purposely and from the heart; "nations" are those evils, and the "host" or "army "all falsities thence derived. That such should be accursed and perish, is signified by "He has utterly destroyed them, and has given them up to slaughter. "The damnation of those who would perish by falsities, is signified by "their slain shall be cast out"; "slain", in the Word, being predicated of those who perish by falsities, and to be "cast out" is to be damned. The damnation of those who would perish by evils, is signified by "the stench of their carcases shall ascend"; "carcases", in the Word, being predicated of those who perish by evils, and their "stench" signifying damnation. "The mountains shall melt down with their blood", signifies the evils of the loves of self and of the world, and "blood" the falsities connected therewith.

4.Apocalypse Explained 405.

3. And their slain shall be cast out; and from their carcases their stench shall ascend; and the mountains shall melt down with their blood.

Verse 3. From their carcases their stench shall ascend. - Spheres of love and of faith are perceived in heaven as grateful odours; hence it was that aromatics and incense and odours in ointments were made representative in the Jewish church. But spheres of what is evil and false are perceived as stenches of various kinds. A cadaverous stench, as from putrid carcases, is perceived from the hell of robbers and murderers, and an excrementitious stench from the hell of adulters; thus everything evil has its own stench, and everything good has its own fragrance. Arcana Coelestia 925, 4631.

4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved; and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as the falling [fruit] from the fig-tree.

Verse 4. In this passage the sun, moon, and stars are called a "host" or "army", because by the "sun" is signified the Good of love; by the "moon", Truth from Good; and by the "stars", the knowledges of Truth and of Good. consequently they signify Goods and Truths in all their aggregate, which are called an "army" because they resist evils and falsities, and perpetually conquer them as enemies. Apocalypse Explained 573.

These, words are said concerning the day of the Last Judgrnent which was to come, and which also did come; for the Last Judgment predicted by the prophets of the Old 'I'estament, was executed by the Lord when He was in the world; and because then similar things were done to those described in the Last Judgment prodicted in the Apocalypse, which at this day has been performed by the Lord, therefore similar things are here said, as that "the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll", etc., as in Revelation 6:14. Apocalypse Explained 403.

5. For My sword shall be drunken in heaven: behold, on Edom it shall descend; and on the people of My curse, to judgment.

Verse 5. [To denote the interior falsities in the minds of those who are represented by " Edom" in a bad sense; for "heaven" is predicated of the interiors, and the "sword" is said to be "drunken in heaven" when the doctrine of the false, or when false doctrine is so imbued and impregnated with false principles as to be entirely false. As to the meaning of "drunkenness", see Chapter 28:1, the Exposition.]

On Edom it shall descend. - By "Edom" is signified the good of the natural principle to which are adjoined the doctrinals of Truth, but, in the opposite sense, by "Edom" [as in this passage] is signified the evil of self-love when false principles [or false doctrines] are adjoined to it. Many names, in the Word, have also an opposite sense, as has been often shown above, by reason that what is Good and True in the church in process of time degenerates into what is evil and false by various adulterations. Arcana Coelestia 3322. See also further respecting "Edom", Chapter 63:1, 2, 3, 5, the Exposition.

[" Edom", therefore, in a bad sense, denotes all those in the church who, although they bear the Christian name, yet do not, on account of the, prevalence of selfish and worldly love in their minds, concern themselves about the truths of the Word and the spiritual things of the church. They thus remain merely natural; and when, at death, they come into the world of spirits, the judgment described in this chapter is executed upon them. Everyone should earnestly watch and pray against such a state. As to "Edom", see also above, Chapter 11:14, the Exposition.]

6. The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness: with the blood of lambs, and of goats; with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Verse 6. Here by "lambs", "rams", and "goats" are signiiled three degrees of the Good of innocence, spoken of above; but the subject here treated of is concerning the destruction of them by the falsities of evil; for "sword" signifies the false destroying Truth and Good, and "the blood with which it shall be filled" signifies destruction. Inasmuch as by "lamb" is signified innocence, which, viewed in itself, is love to the Lord, therefore by "Lamb", in the supreme sense, is signified the Lord as to the Divine Human; for the Lord, as to that principle, was Innocence itself. This appears in the following passage:

"He was oppressed and affiicted, yet He opened not His mouth; as a lamb He is led to the slaughter." (Isaiah 53:7) Apocalypse Explained 314.

7. And the unicorns shall fall down with them; and the bullocks, together with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust shall be made fat with fatness.

Verse 7. By "unicorns", in a bad sense, are meant the falsities of the sensual man S. S. 18.

[These words, as said of "Edom" in a bad sense, involve the destruction of all the semblances of good, denoted by "bullocks", etc., adopted by the natural man during his life in the world, which were confirmed by reasonings from fallacies, and from the literal sense of the Word not understood by means of genuine doctrine. These external semblances of good, which have merely selfish considerations for their origin, are, at the time of Judgment, destroyed by the falsities and by the falsifications of Truth in which they have lived, and which are signified by "the sword being filled" and by "the land being drunken with blood."]

8. For it is the day of vengeance to Jehovah; the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Verse 8. By "the day of vengeance to Jehovah" and by "the year of recompences" is signified the Last Judgment and the damnation of those who, by falsities and evils, have desolated all the Truths of the church, thus "for the controversy of Zion." Apocalypse Explained 850.

Verses 8-10. "The day of vengeance to Jehovah, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion", signifies the advent of the Lord, and the Last Jugment then accomplished by Him. "The torrents being turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone", signifies the hell into which they are cast who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of the false. The evil of infernal love and its punishment, is signified by "the pitch burning night and day, and not being quenched"; and the dire false from that evil is signified by "the smoke ascending for ever." Apocalypse Explained 578.

9. And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall become burning pitch:

10. By night and by day it shall not be quenched; for ever shall her smoke ascend: from generation to generation she shall lie waste; for ever and ever one shall pass through her;

Verses 9, 10. The land thereof shall become burning pitch; - from generation to generation she shall lie waste, etc. - By "burning pitch" is signified all evil originating in the love of self, by which the church altogether perishes and is devastated; wherefore it is said "The earth [or land] shall be turned into burning pitch; from generation to generation she shall lie waste." Who does not see that such things are not said of the earth itself? Apocalypse Explained 304.

11. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess her; and the owl and the raven shall dwell there: and He shall stretch over her the line of emptiness, and the plummet of devastation.

12. As to her nobles, none shall be there whom they can call [to] the kingdom; and all her princes shall be nothing.

Verses 11, 12. The "cormorant", the "bittern", the "owl", and the "raven" signify various kinds of, falsity, which exist when the divine Truths of the Word are accounted as nothing. The desolation and devastation of Truth is denoted by "the line of emptiness and the plummets of devastation"; and the falsities which, with such persons, are as primary truths, are signified by "princes." Arcana Coelestia 5043.

Verses 11, 13, 14, 15. These words describe not only the fallen church, but the quality of the unregenerate man. That every man ought to be regenerated is not only declared in the Word, but is obvious also to reason, since he is born with a propensity to evils of every kind derived from his parents, and these have their abode in his natural man, who of himself is diametrically opposed to the spiritual man; and yet he is born to be an inhabitant of heaven, to which place he cannot be admitted unless he be rendered spiritual, which call only be effected by regeneration. Hence it necessarily follows that the natural man, with his lusts, ought to be conquered, subdued, and inverted, for otherwise he cannot stir a step towards heaven, but must needs cast himself deeper and deeper into hell. How plain must this appear to everyone who believes that he is born with a propensity to evils of every kind, and who acknowledges that there are such principles as good and evil, and that the one is contrary to the other: also that there is a life after death, a hell, and a heaven; and that hell is formed by evil, and heaven by good. 'The natural man, considered in himself, as to his nature, differs not at all from the nature of beasts, nay, with regard to his will, to all intents and purposes he is a wild beast; he differs, indeed, from beasts with respect to his understanding, for this is capable of elevation above the lusts of the will, and not only of seeing, but also of regulating them; hence it is that a man is capable of thought from understanding, and of speech fron thought, which beasts are not. What is the quality of man by birth, and what it would be unless he were regenerated, may be seen in savage beasts of all kinds; - he would be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild boar, a scorpion; a tarantula; a viper, a crocodile, etc.; so that unless he were transformed into a sheep by regeneration, what would he be but a devil amongst devils in hell? And supposing the innate ferocity of men under no restraint from the laws of civil government, would they not assault and murder one another, or at least despoil one another of their possessions, even to their very clothes? Are there any of the human species who are not by birth satyrs and priapi, or four-footed reptiles? And who among them, unless he be regenerated, becomes after all anything better than an ape. That external morality, which man assumes for the purpose of concealing his internals, can make him nothing more. True Christian Religion 574.

13. And in her palaces shall spring up thorns; the thistle and the bramble in her fortresses: and she shall become a habitation of dragons, a court for the daughters of the owl.

Verse 13. Treating concerning "Edam", and concerning the "Gentiles", by whom are understood those who are in falsities and evils. The falsities and evils in which they are, are signified by "thorns", the "thistle", and the "bramble"; the dogmas defending them are signified by "palaces" and by " fortresses"; the devastation of all Good and Truth is signified by being "a habitation of dragons" and "a court for the daughters of the owl"; "owls" denoting those 'who for Truth see falsities, and their "daughters" the concupiscences of falsifying Truths. Apocalypse Explained 714.

14. And monsters [Zijim] and wild beasts [Ijim] shall meet together; and the satyr shall call to his fellow: there also the screech-owl shall repose, and shall find for herself a place of rest.

15. There shall the arrow-snake nestle, and lay; and she shall hatch, and gather [her young] under her shadow: there also shall the vultures be gathered together, each one with her mate.

Verse 14. Monsters [ZijimJ and wild beasts [Ijim], etc. - See above, Chapter 13:21, 22, the Exposition and note.

16. Search you out from the Book of Jehovah, and read: not one of these shall fail; not a female shall lack her mate: for His mouth, it has commanded; and His spirit, it has gathered them.

Verse 16. Search you out from the Book of Jehovah, etc. - [These words involve the command to "search the Scriptures", etc., as in John 5:39, and denote that the truths of prophecy, or of the Word, will be certainly fulfilled, and that the fallen state of the church and of the individual unregenerate mind, signified by "Edom", in a bad sense, will experience what is here depicted.]

The necessity of searching the Scriptures may appear from considering the conjunction of the truths of the church with its scientifics, and the manner in which it is effected; for a principle is not to be drawn from scientifics, so that the truths of faith may by them be entered into, since the scientifics appertaining to man are derived from things sensual, thus from the world, whence result innumerable fallacies; but a principle is to be derived from the truths of faith, that is, by this method; - first, the doctrinals of the church are to be learned; and afterwards exploration is to be made from the Word whether they be true, since they are not true because the rulers of the church have pronounced them so, and their followers confirm them to be so, for thus the doctrinals of all churches and of all religions would be pronounced true merely on the authority of the soil in which they are propagated, and of their birth-place; thus not only the doctrinals of the Papists, and also of the Quakers, would be true, but also of the Jews, and likewise of the Mahometans, because their leaders have pronounced them so, and their followers confirm the same. From which considerations it is evident that the Word ought to be searched, and examination to be made from the Word whether the above doctrinals be true; when this is done from the affection of truth, then man is enlightened by the Lord, so as to apperceive, without knowing whence, what is true, and he is confined therein according to the good in which he is principled. Afterwards, when he is confirmed, and thus in an affirmative principle from the Word that they are the truths of faith, it is then allowable for him to confirm them by all the scientifics he possesses, of whatsoever name and nature, for then, inasmuch as a principle of affirmation reigns universally, he accepts the scientifics which are in agreement, and rejects those which, by reason of the fallacies they contain, disagree. Arcana Coelestia 6047.

They who read the Word, and on such occasion look to the Lord, by acknowledging that all Truth and all Good are from Him, and not in the least from themselves, are illustrated, and see Truth and perceive Good from the Word. This illustration is from the light of heaven. Arcana Coelestia 9405.

17. And He has cast the lot for them; and His hand has divided it unto them by the line: they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

Verse 17. [These words are quoted in Arcana Coelestia 6343, but only to show the frequent employment of the expressions in the Word to indicate the marriage union of the Good and the True, which is everywhere in the Word, and in which its great sanctity consists. This verse, however, is considered by expositors in general to relate to the desolate state of Edom at the fulfilment of this prophecy, when "the land of Edam would be inhabited for ever by the birds and beasts" mentioned in the previous verses. (See note, p. 359.) But, judging from the internal sense affixed to the margin, it would appear that this verse does not describe the land of Edom as "marked out by the line" for the habitation of wild beasts and for consequent desolation, but for the remnant of those signified by "Edam", who, at the time of judgment, can be delivered from destruction and reclaimed. We know that, at the time of judgment" there are always such "remnants", and such as "escape." (See Chapter 11:11-14, the Exposition.) These" remnants", in the world of spirits, are eventually; after instruction, raised up into heaven, which is "the land they shall possess for ever"; and of those in the church on earth who correspond to these "remnants", the Lord can make a New Church.]

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Isaiah Chapter 34

1. COME near, O you nations, to hear; and hearken, O you peoples! let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all its productions.

2. For the anger of Jehovah is upon all the nations, and His wrath upon all the host thereof: He has utterly destroyed them; He has given them up to slaughter.

3. And their slain shall be cast out; and from their carcases their stench shall ascend; and the mountains shall melt down with their blood.

4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved; and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as the falling [fruit] from the fig-tree.

5. For My sword shall be drunken in heaven: behold, on Edom it shall descend; and on the people of My curse, to judgment.

6. The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness: with the blood of lambs, and of goats; with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7. And the unicorns shall fall down with them; and the bullocks, together with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust shall be made fat with fatness.

8. For it is the day of vengeance to Jehovah; the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

9. And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall become burning pitch:

10. By night and by day it shall not be quenched; for ever shall her smoke ascend: from generation to generation she shall lie waste; for ever and ever one shall pass through her;

11. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess her; and the owl and the raven shall dwell there: and He shall stretch over her the line of emptiness, and the plummet of devastation.

12. As to her nobles, none shall be there whom they can call [to] the kingdom; and all her princes shall be nothing.

13. And in her palaces shall spring up thorns; the thistle and the bramble in her fortresses: and she shall become a habitation of dragons, a court for the daughters of the owl.

14. And monsters [Zijim] and wild beasts [Ijim] shall meet together; and the satyr shall call to his fellow: there also the screech-owl shall repose, and shall find for herself a place of rest.

15. There shall the arrow-snake nestle, and lay; and she shall hatch, and gather [her young] under her shadow: there also shall the vultures be gathered together, each one with her mate.

16. Search you out from the Book of Jehovah, and read: not one of these shall fail; not a female shall lack her mate: for His mouth, it has commanded; and His spirit, it has gathered them.

17. And He has cast the lot for them; and His hand has divided it unto them by the line: they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

2162. 'Wash your feet' means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, and also in a like manner from the train of thought. That arcana lie concealed here becomes clear to a certain extent from the fact that Abraham besought the three men to take a little water and wash their feet, and to relax under a tree, even though he knew that it was the Lord or Jehovah; also from the fact that if it was not so such details would not have been mentioned.

[2] That 'feet' means natural things becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, and consequently from representatives derived from these that existed among the most ancient people and so occur in the Word. Celestial and spiritual things are represented by 'the head' and the parts of the head; by 'the breast' and the parts of the breast are represented rational concepts and aspects of these; by 'the feet and the parts of the feet are represented natural things and the different kinds of these. Consequently 'the sole' and 'the heel' of the foot mean the lowest natural things, regarding which see 259, while 'a shoe' means the lowest things of all, which are filthy, regarding which see 1748.

[3] Similar things are meant by the representations in the dreams and visions in the Prophets, such as the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was fine gold, the breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were partly iron and partly clay, Daniel 2:32-33. In this case 'the head' means celestial things, which are inmost and are 'gold', as shown in 113, 1551, 1552; 'the breast and arms' spiritual or rational things, which are 'silver', as shown in 1551; but 'the feet' means lower things, which are natural, the truths of which are meant by 'iron' and the goods by 'clay' or mud. As regards 'iron' meaning truth, see 425, 426, and 'clay' good, 1300, both of which in the present case are natural. These things come in the same order in the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and in the Church which is the Lord's kingdom on earth, and also in every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord.

[4] It is similar with the vision which Daniel himself saw, of which the following is said,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz and whose body was like tarshish, ¹ and whose face was like the appearance of lightning, and whose eyes were like fiery torches, and whose arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze. Daniel 10:5-6.

Specifically these words mean the interiors of the Word as to goods and truths. 'The arms and feet' are its interiors, which constitute the sense of the letter, for natural things occur there, since natural things are the source from which the exteriors of the Word are drawn. What further is meant by each of these parts, namely the loins, body, face, eyes, and many others in man, becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of when the Grand Man - which is the Lord's heaven - and the representatives that originate in heaven but occur in the world of spirits are dealt with.

[5] That which one reads about Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders seeing the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for pureness, Exodus 24:9-10, means that they saw, represented in natural things, merely the external features of the Church, and also the literal sense of the Word, in which too, as has been stated, external things are represented by natural things. And these external things are 'the feet' under which there is so to speak 'a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky itself'. It is clear that it was the Lord whom they saw, though only in those lower or natural things, since He is called 'the God of Israel', whom all things of the Church represented and whom all things of the Word in the internal sense meant. For the Lord is presented visually in accordance with the things that are meant at the time. When, for example, in John, He was seen as a Man on a white horse, the Word was in this case meant by Him, as is explicitly stated in Revelation 19:11, 13.

[6] The living creatures seen by Ezekiel, which were cherubs, are described as regards celestial and spiritual things by their faces and wings, and also many other things. But as regards natural things they are described as follows, by their feet, a straight foot, and the soles of their feet being like the sole of a calf's foot, and sparkling like the shine of burnished bronze, Ezekiel 1:7. The reason their feet, that is, natural things, are said to have sparkled like burnished bronze is that 'bronze' means natural good, dealt with in 425, 1551. It was similar when the Lord appeared to John as the Son of Man: His eyes were like a flame of fire and His feet were like burnished bronze, Revelation 1:14-15; 2:18.

[7] That 'feet' means natural things is further evident from the following places: In John, who saw,

A mighty angel coming down out of heaven, wrapped in a cloud, and a rainbow around his head, his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire. In his hand he had a little book opened, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Revelation 10:1-2.

This angel in a similar way means the Word. The nature of the Word in the internal sense is meant by 'the rainbow around his head' and by 'his face being like the sun'; but the external sense, or sense of the letter, is meant by his 'feet'. 'The sea' is natural truths, 'the land' natural goods, from which it is clear what is meant by his setting his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.

[8] Reference is made in various places in the Word to 'a footstool', but no one knows what is meant by this in the internal sense; as in Isaiah,

Jehovah said, The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Where is this house which you are going to build for Me and where is this place of My rest? Isaiah 66:1.

'The heavens' means the celestial and spiritual things, and so the inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and of the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Also meant by 'the heavens' are those same things as they exist with every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord or a Church. Thus 'the heavens' also means the celestial and spiritual things regarded in themselves which are matters of love and charity and of faith that springs from these, and so means all things that belong to internal worship and similarly all things that belong to the internal sense of the Word. These things are meant by 'the heavens' and are called 'the Lord's throne', but by 'the earth' are meant all lower things corresponding to those meant by 'the heavens'. By 'the earth' lower rational and natural things are meant, which from correspondence are likewise referred to as celestial and spiritual things, such as those that exist in the lower heavens and also in the Church, and those things which belong to external worship and also those present in the literal sense of the Word. In short, all things that stem from internal things and manifest themselves in external are, being natural things, called 'the earth' and 'the Lord's footstool'. What heaven and earth mean in the internal sense of the Word, see also 82, 1733. What the new heaven and new earth mean, see 2117, 2118 (end). And that man is a miniature heaven, see 911, 978, 1900.

[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,

In His anger the Lord covers the daughter of Zion with a cloud, He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool on the day of His anger. Lamentations 2:1.

Also in David,

Exalt Jehovah our God, and bow down at His footstool. Holy is He! Psalms 99:5.

Elsewhere in the same author,

We will enter His dwelling-places, we will bow down at His footstool. Psalms 132:7.

People in the representative Church - and thus the Jews - imagined that God's house and the temple were His footstool. They did not know that by the Lord's house and the temple was meant external representative worship. What the internal features of the Church were, meant by 'heaven' or God's throne, they had no knowledge at all.

[10] In the same author,

Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I make your enemies a stool for your feet. Psalms 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-43.

Here 'footstool' in a similar way means natural things - both sensory impressions and factual knowledge, and man's rational ideas formed from these - which are called 'enemies' when worship is perverted by them (which is done from the literal sense of the Word). As a result worship exists solely in things that are external, and no internal worship - or rather only internal worship that is defiled - exists, concerning which see 1094, 1175, 1182. When these have became perverted and defiled in this manner they are called 'enemies'; but because, regarded in themselves, they have reference to internal worship, when this is restored, they become - both the things that belong to external worship and those that belong to the sense of the letter of the Word - 'a footstool', as stated already.

[11] In Isaiah,

The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Isaiah 60:13.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and Church, the celestial-spiritual things of which are meant by 'the glory of Lebanon', that is, cedar trees, but the celestial-natural things of it by 'the fir, the pine, and the box', as also in other places in the Word. Thus it is the external aspects of worship that are referred to when it is said that 'I will make the place of My feet glorious'; and this cannot he made glorious by the fir, the pine, and the box, but by the things meant by these.

[12] That 'feet' means these things is also clear from the representatives in the Jewish Church, for example, by the requirement that Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle, Exodus 30:19-20; 40:31-32. No one is able to see that arcana were represented by this, for what is such washing of the hands and feet but some external act which does not do anything at all if the internal is not pure and clean? Nor can the internal be made pure and clean by such a washing. But because all the forms of ritual of that Church meant internal things that are celestial and spiritual, so it was with this form; that is to say, it meant the cleanliness of external worship, which is clean when internal worship is present within it. This explains why their lavers were made of bronze, and also the large laver which was called 'the bronze sea', together with the ten smaller ones made of bronze around Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 7:23, 38. They were made of bronze because 'bronze' represented good present in external worship, which is the same as natural good. Regarding this meaning of bronze, see 425, 1551.

[13] Similarly representative was the prohibition that no man among Aaron's descendants who had a broken foot or a broken hand should draw near to offer fire-offerings to Jehovah, Leviticus 21:19, 21. 'Broken feet and hands' represented those people whose external worship was perverted.

[14] That 'feet' means natural things is also evident from various other places in the Prophets, as in these prophetical utterances in Moses,

Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable among his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your shoes will be iron and bronze. Deuteronomy 33:24-25.

These words will not be understood by anybody unless he knows what the meaning of oil, foot, iron, bronze, and shoe are in the internal sense. 'Foot' is the natural; 'shoe' the still lower natural, such as that which is connected with the senses and the body, see 1748; 'oil' is the celestial, 886; 'iron' natural truth, 425, 426; and 'bronze' natural good, 425, 1551. From these places it is evident what these words embody.

[15] In Nahum,

The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.

Here 'the dust of the feet' means the natural and bodily things with man which give rise to clouds. The same is also meant by these words in David,

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet. Psalms 18:9.

[16] When goods and truths of faith are perverted by natural light, as people call it, it is described in the Word as the feet and hoofs of a beast which trouble waters and trample on food, as in Ezekiel,

You have come forth into the rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet and trampled their rivers. I will destroy all its beasts from over many waters, and the foot of man will not trouble them any longer, nor will the hoofs of beast. Ezekiel 32:2, 13.

This refers to Egypt, which meant forms of knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. Thus by 'feet and hoofs which trouble the rivers and water' are meant facts gained from sensory and from natural things, on the basis of which people reason about the arcana of faith and do not believe anything until they grasp it by this method. This amounts to not believing at all, for the more such people go on reasoning, the less believing they are; see what is said in 128-130, 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1385. From all these quotations it is now evident that 'feet' in the Word means natural things. But what further meaning 'feet' may have is evident from the context in which the expression occurs.

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