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ויאמר הנחש אל־האשה לא־מות תמתון׃
Apocalypse Revealed #538
538. Having seven heads. This symbolizes irrationality owing to their falsifying and profaning the Word's truths.
A head symbolizes wisdom and intelligence, and in an opposite sense, irrationality. However, the seven heads here, being the heads of the dragon, symbolize more specifically irrationality owing to a falsification and profanation of the Word's truths. For the number seven is predicated of things that are holy, and in an opposite sense, of things that are profane (no. 10). Consequently we are told next that on its heads were seen seven jewels, 1 and jewels symbolize the Word's truths, there truths falsified and profaned.
That a head symbolizes wisdom and intelligence is apparent from the following passages:
I will give you wise and intelligent men..., and I will make them your heads. (Deuteronomy 1:13)
...Jehovah... has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. (Isaiah 29:10)
In Daniel 2:32 the head of Nebuchadnezzar's image of fine gold symbolizes the wisdom of the first age, which existed in people of the Most Ancient Church.
That in an opposite sense a head symbolizes irrationality and foolishness is apparent in the book of Psalms:
God will smite the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of the one who walks in his guilty ways. (Psalms 68:21)
In Genesis 3:15 the head of the serpent that would be trampled has the same symbolism, and so does "striking the head over much land" in Psalms 110:6-7; Lamentations 2:10; 2 Samuel 13:19).
Moreover, seven heads later in the book of Revelation, namely, in Revelation 13:1, 3; 17:3, 7, 9, also symbolize irrationality owing to a falsification and profanation of truths.
Footnotes:
1. The word translated as "jewels" here means diadems or crowns in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer's definition of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean jewels or gems.
Isaiah 29
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Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around;
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then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.
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I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you.
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You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
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But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
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She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.
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The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
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It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn't satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.
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Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
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For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.
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All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't, for it is sealed:"
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and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't read."
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The Lord said, "Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
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therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden."
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Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us?" and "Who knows us?"
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You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, "He didn't make me;" or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding?"
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Isn't it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?
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In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
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The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
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For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off--
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who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
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Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale.
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But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
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They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction."
