5895. 'In which there will be no ploughing and harvest' means that in the meanwhile no good will be seen nor any truth derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ploughing' as the preparation made by good for the reception of truths, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'harvest' as truths derived from good, for a harvest is grain that has ripened by the time it is gathered in, so that 'harvest' means truth derived from good. Before this truth is produced truths are indeed to be seen, but they are truths that lead to good, not truths derived from good. When truth guides a person in his actions his truths are truths leading to good; but when good guides him in them his truths are truths derived from good. The reason why 'ploughing' is said to mean good is that 'the field' which is ploughed means the Church as regards good, 2971, and so the good which constitutes the Church, 3310, 3317, 4982. Consequently 'ploughing' is the preparation made by good for the reception of truths; and 'the oxen' too that were used in ploughing means forms of good within the natural, 2180, 2566, 2781.

[2] Because 'ploughing' had this meaning people in the representative Church were forbidden 'to plough with an ox and an ass together', Deuteronomy 22:10. They would never have been forbidden to do this if there had not been some cause of a more internal nature, thus a cause existing in the spiritual world. Without it what would have been wrong with the two ploughing together? And what value would such a law have in the Word? That cause of a more internal nature, a cause existing in the spiritual world, is that 'ploughing with an ox' means good within the natural, and 'ploughing with an ass' means the truth there, 'an ass' being truth contained in factual knowledge, thus truth within the natural, see 5492, 5741. The more internal or spiritual cause behind the existence of this prohibition was that the angels could not have a separate idea of good and truth. The two must be joined together and make one. For this reason the angels were unwilling to see any kind of ploughing done by an ox and an ass. Celestial angels refuse even to think about truth separate from good, for all truth with them exists within good, so that also for them truth is good. It was for the same reason that people were also forbidden to wear a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen, Deuteronomy 22:11; for 'wool' meant good, and 'linen' truth.

[3] The fact that 'ploughing', also 'harrowing', 'sowing', and 'reaping', mean the kinds of activities that are connected with good and the truth that goes with it is clear in Hosea,

I will make Ephraim ride, Judah will plough, Jacob will harrow for him. Sow for yourselves in keeping with righteousness, reap in keeping with godliness, break up 'your fallow ground; and it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and teaches righteousness. Hosea 10:11-12.

'Riding' is used in reference to Ephraim because 'riding' means having the use of an understanding, 'Ephraim' being the Church's gift of understanding. But 'ploughing' is used in reference to Judah because 'Judah' is the good which exists in the Church.

[4] In Amos,

Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough with oxen? in that you have turned judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11-12.

'Will horses run upon the rock?' stands for Will there be any understanding of the truth of faith? For 'rock' in the spiritual sense is faith, Preface to Genesis 22, while 'horses' means the powers of understanding, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321. 'Will one plough with oxen?' stands for Will there be any doing of good? For 'oxen' means good in the natural, see 2180, 2566, 2781. The fact that no doing of it was possible is meant by the words that follow - 'because you have turned judgement into poison'.

[5] In Luke,

Jesus said, No one putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62.

These words have the same meaning as those spoken by the Lord in Matthew,

Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:17-18.

The meaning of these words is that a person governed by good should not depart from it and resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith; see 3652, where those words spoken by the Lord have been explained. Thus 'one who puts his hand to the plough' is a person governed by good; but 'looking back' means someone who then looks to matters of doctrine concerning faith and in so doing forsakes good. This explains why Elijah was displeased with Elisha who, ploughing in the field when he received his call, asked whether he might first kiss his father and mother; for Elijah said,

Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19-21.

In the contrary sense 'ploughing' means evil that destroys good, and so means a laying waste, as in Jeremiah,

Zion will be ploughed [like] a field, and Jerusalem will be heaps, and the mountain of the house [will be turned] into the heights of the forest. Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12.

625. Upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies with all who are in truths and goods in respect to life, and at the same time in goods and truths in respect to doctrine according to each one's religion, consequently to teach the Word in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "peoples and nations," as being those who are of the spiritual church and those who are of the celestial church; those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word "peoples," but those who are of the celestial church are called "nations." Those who are of the spiritual church, who are called "peoples," are they who are in truths in respect to doctrine and life; and they who are of the celestial church, who are called "nations," are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and thus in good in respect to life. (But on this signification of "peoples and nations" in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331.) Also from the signification of "tongues and many kings," as being those who are in goods and truths in respect to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion; for "tongues" signify the goods of truth and confession of these according to each one's religion (See above, n. 330, 455); and "kings" signify truths that are from good, and "many kings" various truths from good, but according to each one's religion. (That "kings" signify truths from good, see above, n. 31, 553)

[2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good, because the peoples and nations outside of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, and yet because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbor the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love, and the good of love gives its quality to every truth, and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth; and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such when they come into the other life to perceive genuine truths and accept them. Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth, like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when there is in them the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbor; and with such in the other life the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances, and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths. From this it can be seen what is here meant by "many kings." (But respecting the falsities in which there is good that exist among the Gentiles, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it can be seen that "he must again prophesy upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings" signifies that the Word must still be taught to those who are in goods and truths in respect to doctrine, and thence are in life; but as it is said "upon peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," these words signify also that the Word must be taught in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine, for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons, and mentions persons, but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons. For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word have no idea of person or of place in any particular of what they think or speak, for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby renders them natural; it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places. It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom, and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable. While man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, times, and material things, and if these should be taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for without these he comprehends nothing; but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from persons, places, times, and material things; and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable, and to man also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a man who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes, after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and then the man, when he becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world. Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every man has; but because man while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of a material body, that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it; and what man thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived. So long as man is in the body in the world, he does not know that he has within him this mind, and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom, because, as has been said, all things that abide there flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense, which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such things as derive their quality from the material things of the body and the world.