2455. And she became a pillar of salt. That this signifies that all the good of truth was laid waste, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” and from the signification of “salt.” In the original language a “pillar” is expressed by a word which signifies a standing still, not by one that means a pillar erected for worship, or for a sign, or for a witness; so that by the “pillar of salt” is here signified that it, namely, the truth signified by Lot’s wife, stood vastated (n. 2454). Truth is said to be vastated, or laid waste, when there is no longer any good in it, vastation itself being signified by “salt.”

[2] As most things in the Word have a double sense, namely, the genuine sense and its opposite, so also has “salt;” in the genuine sense it signifies the affection of truth; in the opposite sense, the vastation of the affection of truth, that is, of good in truth. That “salt” signifies the affection of truth may be seen in Exodus 30:35; Leviticus 2:13; Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:49-50; Luke 14:34-35; and that it signifies the vastation of the affection of truth is evident from the following passages.

In Moses:

The whole land shall be brimstone and salt, a burning; it shall not be sown, it shall not bear, neither shall any herb spring up therein; like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim (Deuteronomy 29:23); where “brimstone” denotes the vastation of good; and “salt” the vastation of truth: that the subject is vastation is evident from every particular.

[3] In Zephaniah:

Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah; a place that is left to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and an eternal desolation (Zeph. 2:9); where a “place that is left to the nettle” denotes vastated good, and a “pit of salt” vastated truth; for the expression “place left to the nettle” refers to Sodom, by which is signified evil or vastated good, and a “pit of salt” to Gomorrah, by which is signified falsity or vastated truth, as already shown. That the subject is vastation is manifest, for it is said an “eternal desolation.”

In Jeremiah:

He that maketh flesh his arm shall be like a bare shrub in the solitude, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited (Jeremiah 17:5-6); where “parched places” denote vastated goods, and a “salt land” vastated truths.

[4] In David:

Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into a salt one, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein (Psalms 107:33-34);

a “fruitful land made into a salt one” denotes the vastation of good in truth.

In Ezekiel:

The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezekiel 47:11);

to be “given up to salt” denotes being altogether vastated as to truth. As “salt” signified vastation, and “cities” the doctrinal things of truth (shown at (402) n. 402, 2268, 2428, 2451), in ancient times when cities were destroyed they were sown with salt, in order to prevent their being rebuilt (Judges 9:45). The words before us therefore denote the fourth state of that church which was represented by Lot, which state was that all truth was vastated as to good.

402. That by the “city that was built” is signified all the doctrinal and heretical teaching that came from that heresy, is evident from every passage of the Word in which the name of any city occurs; for in none of them does it ever mean a city, but always something doctrinal or else heretical. The angels are altogether ignorant of what a city is, and of the name of any city; since they neither have nor can have any idea of a city, in consequence of their ideas being spiritual and celestial, as was shown above. They perceive only what a city and its name signify. Thus by the “holy city” which is also called the “holy Jerusalem” nothing else is meant than the kingdom of the Lord in general, or in each individual in particular in whom is that kingdom. The “city” and “mountain of Zion” also are similarly understood; the latter denoting the celestial of faith, and the former its spiritual.

[2] The celestial and spiritual itself is also described by “cities” “palaces” “houses” “walls” “foundations of walls” “ramparts” “gates” “bars” and the “temple” in the midst; as in Ezekiel 48; in Revelation 21:15 end, where it is also called the Holy Jerusalem, verses 2, 10; and in Jeremiah 31:38.

In David it is called “the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High” (Psalms 46:4); in Ezekiel, “the city, Jehovah there” (Ezekiel 48:35), and of which it is written in Isaiah:

The sons of the stranger shall build thy walls, all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 60:10, 14).

In Zechariah:

Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth; and the mountain of Zion, the mountain of holiness (Zechariah 8:3),

where the “city of truth” or “Jerusalem” signifies the spiritual things of faith; and the “mountain of holiness” or “of Zion” the celestial things of faith.

[3] As the celestial and spiritual things of faith are represented by a city, so also are all doctrinal things signified by the cities of Judah and of Israel, each of which when named has its own specific signification of something doctrinal, but what that is no one can know except from the internal sense. As doctrinal things are signified by “cities” so also are heresies, and in this case every particular city, according to its name, signifies some particular heretical opinion. At present we shall only show from the following passages of the Word, that in general a “city” signifies something doctrinal, or else heretical.

[4] Thus we read in Isaiah:

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking with the lip of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah Zebaoth; one shall be called the city Heres (Isaiah 19:18),

where the subject treated of is the memory-knowledge [scientia] of spiritual and celestial things at the time of the Lord’s advent. So again, when treating of the valley of vision, that is, of phantasy:

Thou art full of tumults, a tumultuous city, an exulting city (Isaiah 22:2).

In Jeremiah, speaking of those who are “in the south” that is, in the light of truth, and who extinguish it:

The cities of the south have been shut up, and none shall open them (Jeremiah 13:19).

Again:

Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; therefore He maketh the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars (Lamentations 2:8-9),

where anyone may see that by a “wall” a “rampart” “gates” and “bars” doctrinal things only are meant.

[5] In like manner in Isaiah:

This song shall be sung in the land of Judah, We have a strong city; salvation will set the walls and the bulwark; open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth fidelities may enter in (Isaiah 26:1-2).

Again:

I will exalt thee, I will confess to Thy name, for Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a defensed city a ruin; a palace of strangers shall not be built of the city forever. Therefore shall the strong people honor Thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee (Isaiah 25:1-3), (Isaiah 25:3)

in which passage there is no reference to any particular city. In the prophecy of Balaam:

Edom shall be an inheritance, and out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the residue of the city (Numbers 24:18-19) where it must be plain to everyone that “city” here does not mean a city.

In Isaiah:

The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut, that the cry over wine in the streets cannot enter (Isaiah 24:10-11),

where the “city of emptiness” denotes emptinesses of doctrine; and “streets” signify here as elsewhere the things which belong to the city, whether falsities or truths.

In John:

When the seventh angel poured out his vial, the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell (Revelation 16:17, 19).

That the “great city” denotes something heretical, and that the “cities of the nations” do so too, must be evident to everyone. It is also explained that the great city was the woman that John saw (Revelation 17:18); and that the woman denotes a church of that character has been shown before.