10300. Salted. That this signifies the longing of truth for good, is evident from the signification of “salt,” as being that longing for good which is of the love of truth (of which below); hence “salted” denotes that in which is this longing. The reason why there must be a longing of truth for good is that this longing is conjunctive of the two; for insofar as truth longs for good, so far it is conjoined with it. The conjunction of truth and good is what is called the heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself with man; and therefore when in Divine worship, and in each and all things of it, there is a longing for this conjunction, heaven is in each and all things there. Thus the Lord is in them. This is signified by the requirement that the incense should be salted. Salt has this signification from its conjunctive nature; for it conjoins all things, and from this gives them relish; salt ¹ even conjoins water and oil, which otherwise will not combine.

[2] When it is known that by “salt” is signified a longing for the conjunction of truth and good, it can be known what is signified by the Lord’s words in Mark:

Everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt; salt is good, but if the salt have lost its saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves (Mark 9:49-50).

“Everyone shall be salted with fire” denotes that everyone will long from genuine love; “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt” denotes that there shall be in all worship a longing from genuine love; “salt without saltiness” signifies a longing from some other love than genuine love; “to have salt in themselves” denotes the longing of truth for good. (That “fire” denotes love, see n. 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055; and that “sacrifice” denotes worship in general, n. 922, 6905, 8680, 8936.) Who can know what it is to be salted with fire, and why the sacrifice should be salted, and what it is to have salt in themselves, unless it is known what is meant by fire, salt, and by being salted?

[3] In like manner in Luke:

Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all his possessions, he cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the land, nor for the dunghill: they shall cast it out (Luke 14:33, 35).

“To renounce all his possessions” denotes to love the Lord above all things; “his possessions” denote the things which are man’s own; “salt that has lost its savor” denotes a longing from what is one’s own, thus from the love of self and the world: such a longing is “salt without savor,” not fit for anything. So also in Matthew:

Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is no longer fit for anything but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot by men (Matthew 5:13-14).

[4] That in all worship there must be a longing of truth for good is also signified by the law that every offering of the meat offering should be salted; and that upon every offering there should be the salt of the covenant of Jehovah (Leviticus 2:13). By the “meat offering,” and the “offering,” which is sacrifice, is signified worship, as above; and salt is there called “the salt of the covenant of Jehovah,” because by a “covenant” is signified conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396, 9416). Moreover, longing is the very ardor of love, thus its continuity; and love is spiritual conjunction.

[5] As the longing of truth for good conjoins, so the longing of falsity for evil disjoins, and that which disjoins also destroys; consequently by “salt” in the opposite sense is signified the destruction and devastation of truth and good, as in Jeremiah:

Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm; he shall not see when good cometh, but shall dwell in parched places, in a salt land which is not inhabited (Jeremiah 17:5-6).

“To make flesh his arm” denotes to trust in one’s self, thus in what is one’s own, and not in the Divine (n. 10283); and as one’s own consists in loving self more than God and the neighbor, it is the love of self which is thus described: hence it said that “he shall not see when good cometh,” and that “he shall dwell in parched places, and in a salt land,” that is, in filthy loves and their longings, which have destroyed the good and truth of the church.

[6] In Zephaniah:

It shall be as Gomorrah; a place left to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a waste forever (Zeph. 2:9).

“A place left to the nettle” denotes the ardor and burning of the life of man from the love of self; “a pit of salt” denotes a longing for what is false, which, as it destroys truth and good, is called “a waste forever.” It is said that it shall be “as Gomorrah,” because by “Gomorrah and Sodom” is signified the love of self (n. 2220).

[7] That Lot’s wife was turned into a statue of salt, because she turned her face to these cities (Genesis 19:26), signified the vastation of truth and good; for in the internal sense to “turn the face to anything” denotes to love (n. 10189); hence it is that the Lord says:

Let him not turn back to what is behind him; remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:31-32).

The whole land thereof shall be sulphur, and salt, and a burning, according to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:22).

By “land” here, as elsewhere in the Word, is meant the church (see at the places cited in n. 9325).

[8] From this then it was that the cities which were no longer to be inhabited were after their destruction sown with salt (Judges 9:45). From all this it is evident that by “salt” in the genuine sense is signified the longing of truth for good, thus what is conjunctive; and in the opposite sense, the longing of falsity for evil, thus what is destructive.

[9] He therefore who knows that “salt” denotes the longing of truth for good and their capability of conjunction, is able to know also what is signified by the waters of Jericho being healed by Elisha by casting in salt into their outlet (2 Kings 2:10-22); for by Elisha, as by Elijah, was represented the Lord in respect to the Word (n. 2762, 8029); and by “waters” are signified the truths of the Word; by the “waters of Jericho” the truths of the Word in the sense of the letter, and likewise by the “outlet of the waters;” and by “salt” is signified the longing of truth for good, and the conjunction of both; whence comes healing.

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5351. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. That this signifies a new will in the natural, and its quality, is evident from the representation of Manasseh in the Word, as being spiritual good in the natural, and thus a new will (of which below): this name also involves the very quality of this good, or of this new will. That the “name” involves this quality may be seen from the names given to others also, the quality of which is at the same time indicated, as is the name “Manasseh” in the words, “for God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house;” for in this way is described the quality signified by “Manasseh.” Moreover when it is said “he called the name,” there is also signified that the name itself contains the quality; for the “name” and “calling the name” signifies the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421).

[2] The reason why the firstborn, who is named Manasseh, signifies spiritual good in the natural, or the new will therein, is that good is actually the firstborn in the church, or in the man who becomes a church; whereas truth is not the firstborn, and yet it appears as if it were (n. 352, 367, 2435, 3325, 3494, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930), as may also be seen from the fact that in man the will precedes; for man’s willing is the first of his life, and his understanding comes after, and applies itself in accordance with his willing. What proceeds from the will is called “good” in those who by regeneration have received from the Lord a new will, but “evil” in those who have not desired to receive it; and what proceeds from the understanding is called “truth” in the regenerate, but “falsity” in the unregenerate. Yet as man’s will does not appear to the sense except through the understanding (for the understanding is the will in form, or the will formed to the sense), it is therefore supposed that the truth which proceeds from the understanding is the firstborn, and yet it is not, except in appearance, for the reason given.

[3] Hence the old controversy as to whether the truth which is of faith, or the good which is of charity, is the firstborn of the church. They who decided from the appearance, said that truth is the firstborn, but they who did not decide from the appearance, acknowledged that good is the firstborn. Hence also it is that at the present day faith is made the first and very essential of the church, and charity is made secondary and not essential; but men have gone into error much further than the ancients, by declaring that faith alone saves. In the church by “faith” is meant all the truth of doctrine, and by “charity” all the good of life. They indeed call charity and its works the “fruits of faith;” but who believes that fruits do anything for salvation when it is believed that a man may be saved by faith at the last hour of his life, whatever his previous life has been, and when in their teaching they even separate works, which are of charity, from faith, saying that faith alone saves without good works, or that works, which are of the life, do nothing toward salvation? Oh, what a faith! And oh, what a church! They adore dead faith, and reject living faith; and yet faith without charity is as a body without a soul, and we know that a body without a soul is removed from sight and cast forth, because of its stench: so is it with faith without charity in the other life. All those who have been in faith so called without charity are in hell, while all who have been in charity are in heaven; for everyone’s life remains, but not his doctrine except insofar as it is derived from his life.

[4] That by “Manasseh” is signified the new will in the natural, or what is the same, spiritual good there, cannot be so well shown from other passages of the Word as that by “Ephraim” is signified the new understanding in the natural, or spiritual truth therein. Nevertheless the signification of “Manasseh” can be inferred from that of “Ephraim;” for in the Word where two are thus mentioned, by the one is signified good, and by the other truth; and therefore that by “Manasseh” is signified spiritual good in the natural, which good is of the new will, will be seen in what presently follows about “Ephraim.”