Apocalypse Revealed #757
757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.
Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:
Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)
I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)
And in Jeremiah:
...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)
It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.
[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:
In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)
The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)
Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).
[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:
Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)
In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)
...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)
I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)
There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)
I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)
Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)
[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.
Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)
And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.
That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.
V:
1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.
2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.
3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14
Luke 14
1
It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.
2
Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.
3
Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
4
But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.
5
He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"
6
They couldn't answer him regarding these things.
7
He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,
8
"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, don't sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,
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and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
10
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
12
He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.
13
But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;
14
and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."
15
When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!"
16
But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
17
He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'
18
They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'
19
"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'
20
"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come.'
21
"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
22
"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'
23
"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24
For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"
25
Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,
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"If anyone comes to me, and doesn't disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple.
27
Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.
28
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
29
Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,
30
saying, 'This man began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'
31
Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.
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So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.
34
Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
35
It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
