1038. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. That this signifies the dominion of that religious persuasion over the holy things of the Word, is evident from the signification of a woman, as denoting the church (concerning which see n. 555, 707, 721, 730); in this case Babylon, which is not a church but a religious persuasion, devastated of all the truth and good of the church - that it is Babylon which is understood by this woman is manifestly evident from the fifth verse of this chapter - and from the signification of sitting, as denoting to rule; see just above (n. 1033); and from the signification of the scarlet beast, as denoting the Word as to the holy things thereof, which the woman, which is Babylon, profaned by dominion over them.

That by the scarlet beast is signified the Word as to the holy things thereof, which are profaned by Babylon, is evident from the following parts of this chapter, where it is said:

It was, and is not, and is about to ascend out of the abyss, and to go into destruction (vers. 8, 11).

And afterwards:

That the ten horns of the beast were ten kings, who had hatred against the whore, and would make her devastated and naked, and devour her flesh, and burn her with fire, and would give the kingdom to the beast (vers. 16, 17).

From these words, in the spiritual sense, it is evident, that by the scarlet beast is signified the Word as to the holy things thereof.

[2] The reason why the Divine Word can be signified by a beast is, that many of the holy things of the church are signified by beasts in the Word:

As the cherubs, seen as four beasts, in Ezekiel (1; 10).

And the four beasts, or the four animals, which also were cherubs, were seen by John, sitting and standing before the throne, in the Apocalypse (4:6-10; 5:6-12; 7:11; 14:3).

And by these, as cherubs, is signified Providence and defence that the Lord may not be approached except by the good of love; and thence also they signify the Word in the letter, because this is for a defence (concerning which see above, n. 277, 278, 717). And, moreover, all the beasts which were sacrificed, as oxen, heifers, goats, she-goats, kids, rams, sheep, and lambs, signified holy things of the church, as is evident from the things shown above (n. 277, 283, 362, 552, 650, 781, 817). Hence it is, that men from charity are called sheep; indeed, the Lord Himself, from Divine innocence, is called a Lamb, and from Divine power a Lion.

These things are mentioned in order that it may not appear wonderful, that by the beast is here signified the Word; but the Word in the letter, wherein it is natural. Beast also, in a general sense, in the Word, signifies the natural as to affection. The reason why the beast was seen of a scarlet colour is, that scarlet signifies truth from a heavenly origin, such as is the truth of the Word in the sense of the letter or natural sense, which is meant by what is holy in it. Something nearly similar is signified

By the whore seen sitting upon many waters (ver. 1 of this chapter);

Also:

Upon many treasures (inJeremiah 51:13).

For by many waters and many treasures are there signified the truths of the Word, and thence the holy things of the church, which are adulterated (see above, n. 1033). The signification of scarlet will be seen in the explanation of the verse following.

9865. 'A ruby, a topaz, a carbuncle' means the celestial love of good. This is clear from the meaning of these stones as the good of celestial love, celestial love being love to the Lord, received from the Lord. Those stones mean that love on account of their red and flaming colour; for 'red' means love, 3300, and so does 'flaming', 3222, 6832, 7620-7622, 9570. But here celestial love is meant because those stones are in the first row; and those in the first row correspond to the realities that exist in the inmost heaven, where celestial love, which is love to the Lord, reigns. Since the twelve stones in the breastplate represented all the truths that spring from good they also represented the whole of heaven; for heaven is heaven by virtue of the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, the angels there who constitute heaven being recipients of that Truth. So it is that the three stones which are in the first row represent the inmost heaven, consequently the love that reigns there, which is called the celestial love of good and celestial love of truth. The stones in the first row represent the celestial love of good, those in the second row the celestial love of truth. These stones represent that love, as has been stated, on account of their colour; for what precious stones represent is determined by their colours.

[2] In heaven colours of indescribable beauty appear; for they are modifications of heavenly light, and heavenly light is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. From this it is evident that colours present themselves there in accord with variations of goodness and truth; thus they are modifications of the light emanating from the Lord, through the angels. The light emanating from the Lord appears in the inmost heaven as a flame; therefore the colours resulting from it are red and flashing. But the same light appears in the middle heaven as a brilliantly white light; therefore the colours resulting from it are brilliant, and to the extent that they have good within them they are gleaming. This explains why there are two basic colours to which all others are related, namely the colour red and the colour white; and the colour red is representative of good, while the colour white is representative of truth, see 9467.

[3] From all this it is now clear why it was that stones of so many colours were set in rows in the breastplate, namely in order that they might represent all the forms of good and the truths that exist in heaven in their proper order, and consequently represent the whole of heaven. The reason why the stones in the first row - a ruby, a topaz, and a carbuncle - represented the celestial love of good is that they are different hues of red. Furthermore the noun used in the original language for 'a ruby', the first in the row, is derived from a word that means 'redness'; and that for 'a carbuncle', the third in the row, is derived from a word meaning 'flashing', as if from fire. But as for the derivation of 'a topaz', the middle one in the row, this is unknown, though it very probably comes from something describing a red and flaming colour. This may be why in Job something similar is said of a topaz as is said of gold,

With wisdom the topaz of Ethiopia will not compete, it cannot be valued in pure gold. Job 28:19.

'Gold' too means the good of love, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, 9490, 9510.