2348. From a boy even to an old man. That this signifies falsities and evils both recent and confirmed, can be seen from the signification of a “boy” and of an “old man,” when predicated of falsities and evils; namely, that “boys” denote those not yet matured, thus recent ones; and “old men,” those which have attained to considerable age, thus those confirmed. “Boy” and “old man” occur elsewhere in the Word in a similar sense, as in Zechariah:

There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem; and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets (Zech. 8:4-5); where “Jerusalem” denotes the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 402, 2117); the “streets,” truths therein (n. 2336); thus “old men,” confirmed truths; and “old women,” confirmed goods; “boys playing in the streets,” recent truths; and “girls,” recent goods and their affections and the derivative gladnesses. It is evident from this how celestial and spiritual things are changed into things historic, in their descent into the worldly things of the sense of the letter, in which sense it scarcely appears otherwise than that old men, boys, women, and girls, are meant.

[2] In Jeremiah:

Pour out upon the child in the street of Jerusalem, and upon the assembly of young men in like manner; for even the man with the woman shall be taken, the old man with him that is full of days (Jeremiah 6:11);

here the “street of Jerusalem” denotes the falsities that reign in the church (n. 2336), of which the recent and the maturing are called the “child” and the “young men,” and the old and the confirmed are called the “old man” and “him that is full of days.”

Again:

I will scatter in thee the horse and his rider, and I will scatter in thee the chariot and him that is borne in it, and I will scatter in thee man and woman, and I will scatter in thee the old man and the boy (Jeremiah 51:21-22); where in like manner the “old man” and the “boy” denote confirmed truth and recent truth.

[3] Again:

Death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the child in the street, the young men from the roads (Jeremiah 9:21); where the “child” denotes the truths which are first born, and which are cut off when death comes into the windows and palaces, that is, into the things of the intellect and of the will. (That “windows” denote things of the intellect, see above, n. 655, 658; and that “palaces,” or “houses,” denote things of the will, n. 710)

2336. That a “street” signifies truth, may be seen from many passages in the Word, as in John, where the New Jerusalem is treated of:

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, every gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass (Revelation 21:21).

[2] The “New Jerusalem” is the Lord’s kingdom, which, being described as to good and truth, is described by “walls,” “gates,” and “streets.” By the “streets” are meant all things of truth which lead to good, or all things of faith which lead to love and charity; and because truths then become of good, thus transparent from good, the street is said to be “gold, as it were transparent glass.” Again:

In the midst of the street of it and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits (Revelation 22:2),

where also the New Jerusalem or the Lord’s kingdom is treated of. The “midst of the street” denotes the truth of faith, by means of which comes good, and which afterwards comes from good; the “twelve fruits” are what are called the fruits of faith; for “twelve” signifies all the things of faith (as shown above, n. 577, 2089, 2129-2130).

[3] In Daniel:

Know and perceive that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, even unto Messiah the Leader, shall be seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks, and it shall be restored and built with street and moat (Daniel 9:25),

where the Lord’s advent is treated of; “it shall be restored with street and moat,” denotes that there will then be what is true and good. That Jerusalem was not then restored and built is well known; and that it is not to be restored and built anew everyone may also know provided he does not keep his ideas fixed on a worldly kingdom, but on the heavenly kingdom that is meant by “Jerusalem” in the internal sense.

[4] In Luke:

The master of the house said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind (Luke 14:21).

They who remain in the sense of the letter apprehend from this nothing else than that the servant should go everywhere, and that this is signified by the “streets and lanes;” and that he should bring in everybody, and that this is signified by the “poor, maimed, lame, and blind.” But each of these words contains deep secrets within it, for they are the Lord’s words. That he should “go into the streets and lanes,” signifies that he should seek everywhere for some genuine truth, or truth which shines from good, or through which good shines. That he should “bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind,” signifies such as were so called in the Ancient Church and were such as to the faith, but were in the life of good, who should thus be informed about the Lord’s kingdom-thus the nations which were not yet instructed.

[5] As “streets” signified truths, it was a representative rite among the Jews to teach in the streets (as appears in Matthew 6:2, 5, and in Luke 13:26-27). In the Prophets, “streets,” wherever named, signify in the internal sense either truths, or things contrary to truths, as in Isaiah:

Judgment is cast away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth hath stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter (Isaiah 59:14).

Again:

Thy sons have fainted, and have lain at the head of all the streets (Isaiah 51:20).

In Jeremiah:

Death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the child from the street, the young men from the roads (Jeremiah 9:21).

[6] In Ezekiel:

Nebuchadnezzar shall tread down all thy streets with the hoofs of his horses (Ezekiel 26:11),

speaking of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of truth (n. 1201); the “hoofs of the horses” denote the memory-knowledges that pervert truth.

In Nahum:

The chariots rave in the streets, they run to and fro in the roads (Nah. 2:4).

The “chariots” denote the doctrine of truth, which is said to “rave in the streets,” when falsity is in the place of truth.

In Zechariah:

There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets (Zech. 8:4-5),

speaking of the affections of truth, and the consequent gladnesses and joys. (Besides other places, as Isaiah 24:11; Jeremiah 5:1; 7:34; 49:26; Lam. 2:11, 19; 4:8, 14; Zeph. 3:6).