2831. Behind, caught in a thicket. That this signifies entangled in natural knowledge, is evident from the signification of being “caught,” as here being entangled; and from the signification of a “thicket” or “tangle” as being memory-knowledge-explained in what follows. That the spiritual are held entangled in natural knowledge in regard to the truths of faith, is as follows. The spiritual have not perception of good and truth, as the celestial have, but instead of it conscience formed from the goods and truths of faith which they have imbibed from infancy from their parents and masters, and afterwards from the doctrine of faith into which they were born. They who have no perception of good and truth have to be confirmed by knowledges. Everyone forms for himself some idea respecting the things he has learned, and also respecting the goods and truths of faith; for without an idea, nothing remains in the memory otherwise than as an empty thing. Confirmatory things are added thereto, and fill up the idea of the thing, from other knowledges, even from memory-knowledges. The confirmation of the idea itself by many things causes not only that it sticks in the memory, so that it can be called forth into the thought, but also that faith can be insinuated into it.

[2] As regards perception in general, since few know what perception is, this must be declared. There is perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things; there is perception of what is just and equitable in civil life; and there is perception of what is honorable in moral life. As regards the perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things, the interior angels have this perception from the Lord, the men of the Most Ancient Church had it, and the celestial, who are in love to the Lord, have it. These know at once, from a kind of internal observation, whether a thing is good and whether it is true; for this is insinuated by the Lord, because they are conjoined with Him by love. Spiritual men, however, have no such perception of good and truth in celestial and spiritual things, but instead of it have conscience which dictates; but as before said, this conscience is formed from the knowledges of good and truth which they have imbibed from their parents and masters, and afterwards from their own study in doctrine and in the Word; and in these, even though not entirely good and true, they put their faith. Hence it is that men can have conscience from any doctrine whatever; even the Gentiles have something not unlike conscience from their religion.

[3] That the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, but say and believe that to be true which they have learned and apprehended, is sufficiently evident from the fact that everyone says that his own dogma is true, heretics more than others; and that they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it. Let everyone explore himself and see if he is able to perceive from any other source whether a thing is true; and if when a thing most true is made manifest to him he still does not fail to acknowledge it. As for example, one who makes faith the essential of salvation, and not love: even if all should be read before him which the Lord spoke concerning love and charity (see n. 2373), and if he should know from the Word that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, he will nevertheless remain in the idea of faith, and will say that this alone saves. It is otherwise with those who are in celestial and spiritual perception.

[4] As regards the perception of what is just and equitable in civil life, however, those in the world who are rational have this, and also the perception of what is honorable in moral life. These two perceptions distinguish one man from another, but by no means do such men for this reason have the perception of the good and truth of faith, because this perception is higher or more internal, and flows in from the Lord through the inmost of the rational.

[5] The reason also why the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, is that good and truth are not implanted in their will part, as with celestial men, but in their intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256). Hence it is that the spiritual cannot arrive at the first degree of the light in which the celestial are (n. 2718), but have what is obscure in comparison (n. 1043, 2708 at the beginning, 2715). That the spiritual are entangled in natural memory-knowledge in respect to the truths of faith, follows from this.

[6] That a “thicket” or “tangle” in the internal sense signifies natural memory-knowledge, that is, that knowledge which sticks fast in the exterior memory, may also be seen from other passages in the Word.

In Ezekiel:

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful foliage, and a shady grove, and lofty in height, and his branch was among the tangled boughs (Ezekiel 31:3); where Egypt, which is memory-knowledge, is treated of (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); “Asshur” denotes the rational (n. 119, 1186); which is also the “cedar,” and also “Lebanon,” in the Word; “among the tangled boughs” means among memory-knowledges, for the human rational is founded on its memory-knowledges.

[7] In the same:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Because thou art exalted in stature, and he hath set his branch among the tangled boughs, and his heart is lifted up in its height, strangers, the violent of the nations, shall cut him down, and cast him out (Ezekiel 31:10, 12); concerning Egypt; to “set the branch among the tangled boughs” denotes sticking fast in memory-knowledges, and regarding spiritual, celestial, and Divine things from them. In the same:

To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their branch among the tangled boughs, nor that all that drink waters stand over them in their height, for they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of man, to them that go down to the pit (Ezekiel 31:14);

here those are treated of who by reasonings from memory-knowledges desire to enter into the mysteries of faith (that they are made altogether blind, may be seen above, n. 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1911, 2196, 2203, 2568, 2588). To reason from memory-knowledges is to “set the branch among the tangled boughs.” In the same:

She had plants of strength for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her height was exalted among the tangled boughs (Ezekiel 19:11);

this has a similar meaning.

[8] In the same:

The slain of Israel shall be among their idols, round about their altars, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak (Ezekiel 6:13);

this treats of the worship which those form to themselves who have faith in themselves, and thus in the things which they hatch out from their memory-knowledges; the “tangled oak” denotes the memory-knowledges in such a state. (That “oaks” are apperceptions from memory-knowledges may be seen above, n. 1442, 1443, 2144) The like is found elsewhere in the same Prophet:

They saw every high hill, and every tangled tree, and there they sacrificed their sacrifices (Ezekiel 20:28);

a “tangled tree” denotes the things which are dictated not by the Word, but by one’s own memory-knowledge. (That worship was performed in groves, and was significative according to the qualities of the trees, may be seen above, n. 2722.)

[9] In Isaiah:

Wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest (Isaiah 9:18).

The “briars and thorns” denote falsity and cupidity; the “thickets of the forest,” memory-knowledges. In the same:

Jehovah Zebaoth shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isaiah 10:34).

The “thickets of the forest” denote memory-knowledges and “Lebanon,” things rational.

In Jeremiah:

Set up a standard toward Zion, for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction; a lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land a waste; thy cities shall be destroyed, without inhabitant (Jeremiah 4:6-7);

“from his thicket” denotes from memory-knowledge; and that which ascends into Divine arcana from this makes the “land a waste,” that is, lays waste the church.

[10] The reason why in the Word memory-knowledges are called “thickets,” is that they are comparatively of such a character, especially when the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the principles of falsity, seek for them. Celestial and spiritual love is that which disposes into order the knowledges which are of the exterior memory; and the love of self and of the world is that which perverts the order, and disturbs all things in it. These things the man does not take notice of, because he places order in perverted order, good in evil, and truth in falsity. On this account these things are in entanglement; and also on this, that the things of the exterior memory, where these knowledges are, compared with those in the interior memory, where rational things are, are as in a thicket, or as in a dark forest. How shady, opaque, and dark it is there in comparison, a man cannot know so long as he is living in the body; for he then supposes that all wisdom and intelligence are from this source; but he will know in the other life, when he comes into the things of his interior memory. That in the exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, nothing is less to be found than the light of intelligence and wisdom; but that all is relatively dark, disorderly, and entangled there, may be seen above (n. 2469-2494).

2468. These things, again, need no confirmation; for that such things are signified is evident from the explication itself, and from what precedes and what follows. But what is the nature and quality of the religion signified by “Moab” and the “sons of Ammon,” can be seen from their origin, as here described; as well as from many passages in the Word, both historic and prophetic, where these nations are mentioned. To speak generally they denote those who are in an external worship which appears in a manner holy, but who are not in internal worship; and who readily learn as being goods and truths the things that belong to external worship, but reject and despise those of internal worship.

[2] Such worship and such religion fall to the lot of those who are in natural good, but despise others in comparison with themselves. They are not unlike fruits which in the external form are not unbeautiful, but which are moldy or rotten within; and they are not unlike marble vases, within which are things impure and even foul; or not unlike women seemly enough in face, form, and manners, but diseased within, and full of impurities. For there is a general good appertaining to such which appears not ill-favored; but the particulars that enter into it are filthy. In the beginning indeed it is not so, but it gradually becomes so; for such men easily suffer themselves to be imbued with whatever things are called good, and with any falsities whatsoever that are derived from these, and which, because they confirm them, they suppose to be truths; and this because they despise the interior things of worship, for the reason that they are in the love of self. Such persons have their existence and derivation from those who are in external worship alone (represented in this chapter by Lot); and this when the good of truth has been desolated. They are described in the Word, both such as they are in the beginning, when their good has not yet become so defiled; and afterwards when it is becoming defiled; and also after this, when it has become utterly defiled; and it is shown that they reject the interior things of worship and of doctrine.

[3] The character of such in the beginning when their good has not yet become so defiled, is described in Daniel:

In the time of the end shall the king of the south be at variance with him; and the king of the north shall rush upon him like a storm, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and shall come into the lands, and shall overflow, and shall pass through; and he shall come into the land of beauty, and many lands shall go to ruin: these shall be rescued out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the firstlings of the sons of Ammon (Daniel 11:40-41).

The “king of the south,” denotes those who are in goods and truths; the “king of the north,” those who are in evils and falsities; the “king of the north with chariot, horsemen, and ships, coming upon the lands, overflowing, and passing through,” signifies that the evils and falsities denoted by “chariots,” “horsemen,” and “ships,” will prevail; “Edom, Moab, and the firstlings of the sons of Ammon who are to be rescued out of his hand,” denote those who are in such good that is not as yet so defiled by falsities; on which account they are called the “firstlings of the sons of Ammon.”

[4] In Moses:

We passed through by the way of the wilderness, and Jehovah said unto Moses, Distress not Moab, neither mingle thyself with them in war, for I will not give thee of his land for an inheritance, because I have given Ar unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance (Deuteronomy 2:8-9).

And concerning the sons of Ammon:

Jehovah spoke unto Moses, saying, Thou art to pass this day over Ar the border of Moab, and thou wilt come near over against the sons of Ammon; distress them not, nor mingle thyself with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the sons of Ammon for an inheritance, because I have given it unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance (Deuteronomy 2:17-19);

“Ar” denotes such good; “Moab” and the “sons of Ammon” denote those who are in such good, but in the beginning; on which account it is ordered that they be not distressed.

[5] Hence it is that Moab drove out the Emim, and the Rephaim who were like the Anakim; and that the sons of Ammon also drove out the Rephaim whom they called the Zamzumim (Deuteronomy 2:9-11, 18-21). By the Emim, Rephaim, Anakim, and Zamzumim, are signified those who are imbued with persuasions of what is evil and false (see n. 581, 1673); by Moab and the sons of Ammon are here meant those who were not yet so imbued. These nations however when they too had become so imbued, that is, when their good was defiled by falsities, were likewise driven out (Numbers 21:21-31; Ezekiel 25:8-11).

[6] Their character when their good is becoming defiled is described in Jeremiah:

Unto Moab thus saith Jehovah, Woe unto Nebo, for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, is taken; Misgab is put to shame and is dismayed; the praise of Moab is no more; give wing to Moab, for flying she must fly away, and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab; and be like the dove, she maketh her nest in the passages of the mouth of the pit. I know his anger, saith Jehovah, but it is not firm; his falsities, they have not done right. Therefore will I howl over Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab. From the weeping of Jazer will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah; thy shoots have passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer; upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the spoiler is fallen. Therefore my heart is moved over Moab, like fruits. Woe unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh is destroyed; for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days (Jeremiah 48:1, 9, 28, 30-32, 36, 46-47).

[7] In this whole chapter the subject treated of is Moab; but through him those are treated of who are in such good, in that they suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities; on which account it is said that they should “give wing to Moab, that it may fly away, and that its cities shall become a desolation;” but that they should “leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and make nests like the dove in the passages of the mouth of the pit,” and so on, by which expressions it is signified that they are persuaded to remain in their general goods and truths; and that if they should then be seduced by the falsities of ignorance, they will be brought back from captivity in the latter days; but concerning those with whom this was not done it is said, “I will howl over Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab, and my heart is moved over Moab.” The falsities with which they are imbued are signified by Nebo, Kiriathaim, Misgab, Sibmah, Jazer, Chemosh, and other names in this chapter.

[8] In Isaiah:

A nest sent away shall the daughters of Moab be. Bring forth counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow like the night ¹ in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts, betray not the wanderer, let mine outcasts dwell with thee, O Moab; be thou a covert to them from the spoiler. We have heard the arrogance of Moab, he is very arrogant, his pride, and his arrogance, and his anger; his lies are not so; therefore Moab shall howl, for Moab all shall howl. Therefore my bowels shall be stirred like a harp over Moab, and mine inward part for the city of Heres. And it shall come to pass when Moab shall be seen, when he is wearied upon the high place, and shall come to his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail. In three years, as if years of hire, and the praise of Moab shall become vile, in all the great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small, and not strong (Isaiah 16:2-4, 6, 11-12, 14).

Moab is further treated of in this whole chapter, and through him those who are in such good; and they are described there in words similar to those in Jeremiah (chapter 48) and are in like manner persuaded to remain in their general goods and truths, and not to suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities. These general goods and truths are signified by their “giving counsel,” “executing judgment,” “hiding the outcasts,” “not betraying the wanderer,” and being “a covert to the outcasts from the spoiler;” all of which things signify the externals of worship. But as they suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities, it is said, “in three years, as years of hire, shall the praise of Moab become vile in all the great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small, and not strong.”

[9] As such persons are easily led away, Moab is called “the sending forth of the hand of the Philistines,” and the sons of Ammon their “obedience,” in Isaiah:

The root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto Him shall the nations seek, and His rest shall be glory; the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not distress Ephraim; and they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the sea; together shall they spoil the sons of the east, Edom, Moab the sending forth of their hand, and the sons of Ammon their obedience (Isaiah 11:10, 13-14)

the “root of Jesse” denotes the Lord; “Judah” those who are in celestial good; “Ephraim” those who are in spiritual truth; the “Philistines” those who are in the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of truth, and not in charity, the “sons of the east,” those who are in the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of good, and also not in charity; and Moab is called the “sending forth of their hand,” and the sons of Ammon their “obedience,” because they are imbued with falsities by them.

[10] But of what character become those who are called Moab and the sons of Ammon when their good has been altogether defied by falsities, is described in David:

God hath spoken in His holiness, Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine, Ephraim also is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver, Moab is My washpot (Psalms 60:7-9, and also Psalms 108:8-10)

the “washpot” denotes good defiled by falsities.

[11] In Jeremiah:

The praise of Moab is no more: in Heshbon they have devised evil against him: come, let us cut him off from being a nation. Moab hath been at peace from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and hath not gone into exile; therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his odor is not changed. On all the housetops of Moab there shall be lamentation everywhere, because I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure (Jeremiah 48:2, 11, 38)

The falsities with which the good denoted by Moab is defiled, are here called “lees, in which the taste and the odor remain,” if he is not reformed, which is here denoted by being “emptied from vessel to vessel.” This good itself is called the “vessel in which there is no pleasure,” just as in David it is called a “washpot,” in which washing is done.

In Isaiah:

In this mountain the hand of Jehovah resteth, and Moab shall be trodden down under it, as chaff is trodden down in the dunghill (Isaiah 25:10).

[12] That they who are in such good care for external things only, and despise, reject, and indeed spew out the internal things of worship and of doctrine, and that consequently they have falsities instead of truths—in Ezekiel:

Son of man, set thy face toward the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them, and say unto the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou saidst, Aha, against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, I will make Rabbah a habitation for camels, and the sons of Ammon a couching-place for the flock. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast clapped the hand, and hast stamped with the foot, and hast been glad with all the contempt of thy soul against the ground of Israel, therefore behold I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and give thee for a spoil to the nations, and I will cut thee off from the peoples, and destroy thee from the lands (Ezekiel 25:2-11).

These words: “Aha, against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity,” “thou hast clapped the hand, and hast stamped with the foot, and hast been glad with all the contempt of thy soul against the land of Israel,” are expressions of contempt, derision, and rejection of the interior things of worship and of doctrine; and when these are rejected, external things are of no avail; but such persons are “given for a spoil to the nations,” that is, they are taken possession of by evils, and are “cut off from the peoples,” that is by falsities, and are “destroyed from the earth,” that is they become of no church.

[13] In Zephaniah:

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, who have reproached My people; they enlarged against their border: therefore, as I live, Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a perpetual desolation. This they have for their pride, because they reproached and enlarged against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth (Zeph. 2:8-10).

To “reproach the people,” and to “enlarge against their boundary, and against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth,” is to hold as vile and to reject interior truths, which are the “people of Jehovah Zebaoth.” The consequence of this is that goods become evils of falsity, which are “Sodom” and a “place abandoned to the nettle;” and truths become falsities, which are “Gomorrah” and a “pit of salt.” For it is from internal things that external are capable of being good and true.

[14] In David:

Thine enemies craftily meditate a secret thing against thy people, they consult together against thy hidden ones: Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be no more in remembrance; for they consult together with one heart; against thee do they cut out a covenant, the tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre Asshur also is joined with them, they are an arm to the sons of Lot (Psalms 83:2-8).

To “consult together against the hidden ones,” to “cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel should be no more in remembrance,” denotes to utterly reject interior things; the “tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Noah, the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon,” denote those who are in the external things of worship and of doctrine; “Philistia with Tyre” denote the things they say concerning internal things while not being in them; “Asshur, who is an arm to the sons of Lot,” denotes the reasoning by which they contend in favor of external things and against internal things.

[15] In Moses:

A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not violate his father’s skirt. He that is bruised with a bruising, or is bruised in the testicle, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; a Moabite and an Ammonite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation, they shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah forever (Deuteronomy 22:30; 23:1-3).

These words show what is the character of Moab and Ammon in the “end of days,” or when they have become altogether imbued with falsities (that is, those with whom good is being adulterated and truth falsified), in that they despise, reject, and at length utterly cast out all interior things. On this account they are here mentioned after mention has been made of foul adulteries, such as taking a father’s wife, and violating a father’s skirt; nearly as is related of Lot’s daughters, from whom came Moab and Ammon; and also after the mention of those who are bruised with a bruising, and bruised in the testicle, by whom are signified those who utterly reject whatever is of love and charity. The “congregation of Jehovah” is heaven, into which they cannot come, because they have no remains, which are solely from interior goods and interior truths, and are signified by the “tenth generation” (n. 576, 1738, 2280).

[16] These were also among the nations who sacrificed their sons and daughters to Molech, by which is signified in the internal sense that they extinguished truths and goods; for the god of Moab was Chemosh, and the god of the sons of Ammon was Molech and Milchom (1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13), to which they sacrificed (2 Kings 3:27). That by “sons and daughters” are signified truths and goods, may be seen above (n. 489-491, 533, 1147).

[17] Such then is the signification of Moab and Ammon; but as regards the various kinds of falsity by which they adulterate goods and extinguish truths, these are numerous, being thus recounted in Jeremiah, but merely by names:

Judgment is come upon the land of the plain, upon Holon, upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath; and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim; and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon; and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken. Make him drunken, because he magnified himself against Jehovah; and let Moab exult in his vomit (Jeremiah 48:21-26).

These are the kinds of falsity that assemble together in those who are called Moab and Ammon; but what is the nature and quality of these various kinds of falsity can be seen from the signification of these several names in the internal sense. That in the Word names signify nothing else than actual things, has often been shown already.

Footnotes: