2831. 'Behind [him] caught in a thicket' means entangled in natural knowledge. This is clear from the meaning here of 'caught in' as being entangled in, and from the meaning of 'a thicket' or fan entanglement' as factual knowledge, to be dealt with in what follows. Those who are spiritual are caught and entangled in natural knowledge as regards truths of faith for the following reasons: Those who are spiritual do not possess the perception of good and truth as those who are celestial do. Instead of perception they have conscience, which is formed from the goods and truths of faith which from early childhood they have taken in from parents and teachers, and after that from the doctrine of the faith into which they were born. The only way that those who do not possess the perception of good and truth can receive confirmation is from facts. Everyone forms some concept for himself regarding the things he has learned, and also regarding the goods and truths of faith. Without that nothing remains in the memory except as an empty vessel. Details that serve to confirm - derived from other cognitions, and even from factual knowledge - are added to and fill in the concept. The concept itself confirmed by many details not only causes itself to be fixed in the memory, from which it may be called forth into thought, but also enables faith to be instilled into it.

[2] As regards perception in general, since few know what perception is, this must be stated here. There is the perception of what is good and true in things that are celestial and spiritual; there is the perception of what is just and fair in public life; and there is the perception of what is honourable in private life. As regards the perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things, this is the perception which the more interior angels possess from the Lord. It was also the perception which members of the Most Ancient Church possessed, and it is the perception which celestial people possess, who are moved by love to the Lord. These people know in an instant from a certain inner awareness whether a thing is good and whether it is true, for the Lord instills it into them because they are joined by love to Him. But spiritual people do not possess such perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things. Instead of perception they have conscience which dictates. Conscience however, as has been stated, is formed from cognitions of good and truth which they have taken in from parents and teachers and later on from their own devotion to doctrine and the Word. And on these cognitions they pin their faith, even though these may not be goods and truths to any great extent. This being so, people can have a conscience that is derived from any variety of doctrine; even gentiles possess something not unlike conscience, derived from their own form of religion.

[3] The fact that those who are spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith but say and believe to be true that which they have learned and grasped becomes quite clear from the consideration that everyone calls his own tenets the truth - heretics more than others - and from the consideration that they are unable to see, let alone acknowledge, the truth itself, even though thousands of things might declare it. Let everyone search within himself to see whether he is able to perceive from any other source whether a thing is true, and whether when that which is absolutely true is made plain to him he still does not acknowledge it. Take for example someone who makes faith and not love the essential of salvation. Even if all the things were read out to him which the Lord spoke regarding love and charity, see 2371, and even if he knew from the Word that all the Law and all the Prophets hung on love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, he would still persist in the idea of faith and would say that this alone was what saved. It is altogether different in the case of those who possess celestial and spiritual perception.

[4] But as regards the perception of what is just and fair in public life, those in the world who are rational possess this, together with the perception of what is honourable in private life. So far as these two types of perception are concerned, one person differs from the next; but this in no sense implies that such persons possess the perception of the good and truth of faith, since this kind of perception is higher or more interior and flows in from the Lord by way of the inmost part of the rational.

[5] A further reason why spiritual people do not possess a perception of the good and truth of faith is that good and truth are not implanted in the will part of their minds, as in the case of celestial people, but in the understanding part; see 863, 875, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256. This is why spiritual people are not able to enter the first region of the light that celestial people dwell in, 2718, but in comparison with them are in obscurity, 1043, 2708, 2715. The fact that those who are spiritual are entangled in natural knowledge as regards truths of faith follows from this.

[6] As regards 'a thicket' or 'an entanglement' in the internal sense meaning natural knowledge, that is, factual knowledge such as becomes fixed in the exterior memory, this may also be seen from other places in the Word: in Ezekiel,

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in its boughs, and a forest shade, and lofty in height, and its trunk among entangled boughs. Ezekiel 31:3.

This refers to 'Egypt', which is knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. 'Asshur' stands for the rational, 119, 1186, which in the Word is also 'a cedar', and 'Lebanon' as well. 'Among entangled boughs' stands for among facts, for the human rational is based on the facts known to it which it commands.

[7] In the same prophet,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because you are exalted in height, and he has set his trunk up among entangled boughs, and his heart has become lifted up in his height, foreigners, the violent of the nations, will cut him down and cast him out. Ezekiel 31:10, 12.

This refers to Egypt. 'Setting his trunk among entangled boughs' stands for sticking to facts and looking at spiritual, celestial, and Divine things, from them as the standpoint. In the same prophet,

This is in order that none of all the trees by the waters may exalt themselves in their height, and set their trunk up among entangled boughs, and that none of all that drink water may reach above them in their height, for they will all be given over to death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to those going down to the pit. Ezekiel 31:14.

This refers to those who wish by means of reasonings based on factual knowledge to penetrate the mysteries of faith; these become totally blind, see 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1911, 2196, 2203, 2568, 2588. Reasoning based on facts is the meaning of 'setting their trunk up among entangled boughs'. In the same prophet,

It had strong shoots as sceptres for those who have dominion, and its height rose up above among entangled boughs. Ezekiel 19:11.

Here the meaning is similar.

[8] In the same prophet,

The slain of Israel in the midst of their idols, around their altars, and under every green tree, and under every entangled oak. Ezekiel 6:13.

This refers to the kind of worship which people invent for themselves who have faith in themselves, and so in those things which they hatch out from their factual knowledge. 'An entangled oak' stands for facts as they exist in that particular state, 'oaks' meaning perceptions arising out of facts, see 1442, 1443, 2144. The same feature occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

They looked at every high hill and every entangled tree, and there they offered their sacrifices. Ezekiel 20:28.

'Entangled tree' stands for things which are not dictated by the Word but by a person's own factual knowledge. The fact that worship used to take place in groves and depended for its meaning on the nature of the trees, see 2722.

[9] In Isaiah,

For wickedness will burn like a fire, it will consume brier and thorn, and will kindle the entangled boughs of the wood. Isaiah 9:18.

'Brier and thorn' stands for falsity and evil desire, 'the entangled boughs of the wood' for facts. In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth will hew down the entangled boughs of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isaiah 10:34.

'The entangled boughs of the wood' stands for facts, 'Lebanon' for rational concepts. In Jeremiah,

Raise a standard towards Zion, for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great destruction. A lion has risen up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out and come from his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be destroyed, and left without inhabitants. Jeremiah 4:6-7.

'From his thicket' stands for from factual knowledge, and that which 'rises up' from this and enters into Divine arcana 'makes the land a waste', that is, lays waste the Church.

[10] The reason why in the Word facts are called 'thickets' is that facts are by nature like thickets, especially when the desires of self-love and love of the world, and false assumptions, exert an influence on them. Celestial and spiritual love is a love which arranges into order the facts that belong to the external memory, whereas self-love and love of the world disrupt that order and bring confusion to everything there. These are matters of which man is not aware because he takes that to be order which in fact is perverted order, that to be good which in fact is evil, and that to be truth which in fact is falsity; therefore those things are 'in a thicket'. He is also unaware of these matters because the things that belong to the external memory where facts reside are - in comparison with those that belong to the internal memory, where rational concepts reside - in a thicket, or in some gloomy woodland. How shadowy, gloomy, and darkened it is there in comparison, nobody can know as long as he lives in the body, for during that time he imagines that all wisdom and intelligence arise from facts; but he will know it in the next life when he has entered the things that belong to the internal memory. In the external memory which is proper to man during his life in the world nothing is more lacking than the light of wisdom and intelligence. But that everything there is by comparison dark, disordered, and entangled, see 2469-2494.

2722. That 'he planted a grove in Beersheba' means doctrine from this with the cognitions composing it and the nature of it is clear from the meaning of 'a grove' and from the meaning of 'Beersheba'. As regards 'groves', holy worship in the Ancient Church was offered on mountains and in groves. It was offered on mountains because 'mountains meant the celestial things of worship, and in groves because 'groves' meant the spiritual things of it. As long as that Church - the Ancient Church - retained its simplicity their worship on mountains and in groves was holy, the reason being that celestial things, which are those of love and charity, were represented by places that were high and lofty, such as mountains and hills, while spiritual things, which derive from celestial, were represented by places with fruits and foliage such as gardens and groves. But after representatives and meaningful signs began to be made idolatrous because people worshipped external things without internal, that holy worship became profane; and they were therefore forbidden to hold worship on mountains and in groves.

[2] The fact that the Ancients held holy worship on mountains becomes clear from what is said about Abram in Chapter 12,

He removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, Bethel being towards the sea and Ai towards the east. ¹ And there he built an altar and called on the name of Jehovah. Genesis 12:8 (1449-1455).

It is also clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' as the celestial entity of love, 795, 796, 1430. The fact that people also held worship in groves is clear from what is said in the present verse, 'Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of [Jehovah,] the God of Eternity', and also from the meaning of 'a garden' as intelligence, 100, 108, 1588, and of 'trees' as perceptions, 103, 2163. The fact that worship on mountains and in groves was forbidden is clear from the following: In Moses,

You shall not plant for yourself a grove of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah your God which you shall make for yourself. And you shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates. Deuteronomy 16:21-22.

In the same author,

The altars of the nations you shall destroy; you shall break down their pillars and cut down their groves. Exodus 34:13.

They were also commanded to burn the groves of the nations with fire, Deuteronomy 12:3.

[3] Now because the Jews and Israelites, among whom the representative ritual observances of the Ancient Church were introduced, were steeped solely in external things and were at heart nothing but idolaters, and because they were people who neither had nor wished to have knowledge of anything internal or of the life after death, and who did not know that the Messiah's kingdom was a heavenly kingdom, therefore whenever they were in freedom they held profane worship on mountains and hills, and also in groves and forests. They also made for themselves high places to serve instead of mountains and hills, and carved images of a grove instead of groves, as becomes clear from many places in the Word, as in the Book of Judges,

The children of Israel served the baals and the groves. Judges 3:7.

In the Book of Kings,

Israel made groves, provoking Jehovah to anger. 1 Kings 14:15.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Judah built for themselves high places and pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every leafy tree. 1 Kings 14:23.

Elsewhere in the Books of Kings,

Israel built for themselves high places in every city. And they set up pillars and groves on every high hill and under every leafy tree. 2 Kings 17:9-10.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Manasseh king of Judah erected altars to Baal and made a grove, as Ahab king of Israel had done. And the carved image of a grove that he had made he placed in the house of God. 2 Kings 21:3, 7,

From this it is evident that they also made for themselves carved images of a grove. The fact that king Josiah destroyed these images is mentioned in the same book,

Josiah made them bring out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels made for Baal and for the grove, and for the sun and moon, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem, and the booths which the women had woven [in the house of Jehovah] for the grove. He also cut down the groves which Solomon had made, as well as the grove in Bethel which Jeroboam had made. 2 Kings 23:4-5, 7, 14-15.

The fact that King Hezekiah as well demolished such things is also stated in the same book,

Hezekiah king of Judah removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the grove, and broke to pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made. 2 Kings 18:4.

[4] The bronze serpent, it is clear, was holy in the time of Moses, but when that which was external came to be worshipped, that bronze serpent became profane and was therefore smashed to pieces, for the same reason that worship on mountains and in groves was forbidden. These matters are made clearer still in the Prophets: In Isaiah,

You who inflame yourselves among the gods under every leafy tree, who slay the children in the rivers, under projections of the rocks. Even in the rivers you have poured out a drink offering. you have brought a gift. On a high and lofty mountain you have set your habitation and presented yourself there to offer sacrifice. Isaiah 57:5-7.

In the same prophet,

On that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel. And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and will not see what his fingers have made, both the groves and the solar pillars. Isaiah 17:7-8.

In Micah,

I will cut down your carved images and your pillars from the midst of you, and you will bow down no more to the work of your hands. And I will root out your groves from the midst of you and destroy your cities. Micah 5:13-14.

In Ezekiel,

That the slain may be in the midst of their idols, around their altars at every lofty hill, on all the mountain tops, and under every leafy tree, and under every entangled oak, the place where they offered an odour of rest to all their idols. Ezekiel 6:13.

[5] From all this it is now evident where idolatrous worship originated, namely in the worship of the objects themselves that were representative and carried a spiritual meaning. The most ancient people, who lived before the Flood, saw in every single thing - in mountains, hills, plains, and valleys, in gardens, groves, forests, rivers, and waters, in fields and crops, in trees of every kind, also in living creatures of every kind, and in the heavenly bodies giving light - something that was a representative and a meaningful sign of the Lord's kingdom. But they never let their eyes, still less their minds, linger over such objects; for them these objects served instead as the means for thinking about the celestial and spiritual things that exist in the Lord's kingdom. Indeed so much was this the case with those objects that there was nothing at all in the whole natural world that failed to serve those people as means. It is indeed true that in itself every single thing in the natural order is representative; but at the present day this is an arcanum and scarcely believed by anyone. But after that which is celestial, which is essentially love to the Lord, had perished with man, the human race existed no longer in that state, that is, in the state of seeing from worldly objects the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom.

[6] Nevertheless the Ancients after the Flood knew from traditions, and from collections made by certain people, that worldly objects had such meanings; and because these had such meanings they also regarded them as holy. From this arose the representative worship of the Ancient Church, which Church, being spiritual, did not enjoy any perception, only the knowledge, that a thing was so; for that Church, compared with the Most Ancient Church, dwelt in obscurity, 2715. It did not however worship external things but by means of external things people called to mind those which were internal. Consequently when they turned to those representatives and meaningful signs they entered the holiness of worship. They were able to turn to them because they were moved by spiritual love, that is, by charity, which they made the essential of worship, and as a consequence holiness from the Lord was able to flow into their worship. But when the state of the human race had become so changed and perverted that people departed from the good of charity, and thus did not believe any longer in the existence of a heavenly kingdom or in life after death, but supposed - as is also supposed at the present day - that their condition was no different from that of animals (apart from the fact that they as human beings could think), holy representative worship was turned into idolatrous worship and external things came to be worshipped. This was why worship among many gentiles at that time, and even among Jews and Israelites, was not representative, but a worship of the representatives and meaningful signs, that is, of external things devoid of internal.

[7] As regards 'groves' in particular, these had, among the ancients, varying meanings, such meanings depending in fact on the kinds of trees that the groves had in them. Groves where there were olives meant the celestial things of worship, groves where there were vines the spiritual things of worship, but groves where there were figs, cedars, firs, poplars, oaks, meant various things that were of a celestial and spiritual kind. Here however simply 'a grove' or plantation of trees is mentioned and by it was meant ideas belonging to the rational that were allied to doctrine and its cognitions; for trees in general mean perceptions, 103, 2163, but when they have reference to the spiritual Church they mean cognitions, the reason being that the member of the spiritual Church has no other perceptions than those acquired through cognitions drawn from doctrine or from the Word. For such cognitions become part of his faith, and so of his conscience, from which he has perception.

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