6110. [numbered by Tr.] Various points regarding marriage and adultery

1.) How the female is born innocence, and how the male.

How the female develops an affection for what is good, and the male an understanding of what is true.

How the female develops affection for what is true, which happens when she desires to marry, and how the male develops understanding of what is true, which happens likewise when he wants to love the female sex.

How this then grows with them both to the point that it becomes marriage, and how understanding of what is true then subordinates itself to affection for what is true, and they are united.

2.) What the feminine and what the masculine are inwardly.

The feminine inwardly is to love her husband tenderly, but they do not want their husband to know this, consequently he is dominant; and the husbands who do not have this authority become impotent. The wives of angels said that I should not reveal this, but I said that I will reveal it because they think that this is their weakness, but it is the goodness itself of truth and the truth of good.

3.) How two partners become a single form of love through marriage love.

The form of their bodies results from the union of their minds.

About the forms of human beings depending on the affections [they have for things] and consequently the understanding, that is to say, on what comes from (the [things] of) their love and consequently from their wisdom.

This is the image and likeness of God, Gen. [1:26].

Potency increases to the point that it becomes perpetual.

4.) There are many reasons why the man wants his woman to show reluctance:

with certain men there is pleasure in being forceful; with some it is the result of adultery; with some it arouses sexual potency;

it stems from various causes, chiefly of a mental nature.

in the end they become like cats that tear at another cat, stand still, stare at each other, howl miserably, and secretly desire [to mate].

The women are furious that this is disclosed. They declare, as if from inward will, that they do not wish [to make love].

The reason is because potency vanishes if they do otherwise.

5.) The mental conclusion alone that adultery is not a sin makes a person an adulterer.

From the things about this in the Doctrine of Life ¹ .

Every conclusion in the mind produces an effort in body, which is the act itself.

I asked about cats, why they have such a nature. They said that in the female cat, first it is the pleasure of fighting that is aroused, and that the male cat observes this, and when it comes to an end they copulate.

6.) I told the adulterers that in heaven one always has the ability to make love, and they said that so that they could get into heaven if they had known this in the world, they never would have lived promiscuously.

But I said that in heaven it is not allowable to love anyone except one's partner, while in hell you can commit whoredom with anyone at all. I asked, "Do you want to be in hell or heaven?" and I could not wring an answer out of them.

7.) If a man focuses his love on his wife by fleeing adultery as a sin, then his love and its sexual ability grow daily; but if he takes [the pleasure] from this love and wastes it on whoredom, marriage love becomes like chaff and dies.

8.) Speaking of a woman, one said that is impossible to keep on making love to one's wife, because it becomes ordinary. But angels said he was mistaken. Instead, when there is true marriage love, what is ordinary is a [garden] bed in which delights take form from what is inward, like roses in a [garden] bed, and every rose becomes a [new] bed in which inward delights are formed and varied, and this goes on to eternity.

9.) Something like fury seizes hellish spirits when they feel the aura of marriage love؉ know from much experience.

10.) Married partners, that is to say, marriage love, is the image and likeness itself of God. Adultery destroys it.

11.) Hell is infuriated when [those there] perceive the aura of marriage love, [this was an] experience as it were from heaven.

12.) Adultery is in the whole body as an effort when it is regarded as acceptable.

13.) Every person is a particular affection given form. If it is charity, this form is angelic. What [forms] do their affections then take? They are sheep or doves.

14.) Marriage is like the marriage of the will and understanding, or rather of affection and thought, in all things down to the very least details, because it is a marriage of good and truth.

Let the conjunction, or rather marriage, of these be compared with the marriage of sound and speech, in which this clearly can be seen:

- as for example, that speech is the form of sound, so the husband can be described as the form of his wife,

- that they are one flesh,

- that the husband must cleave to his wife,

- that the wife is the soul and life of the husband,

- or rather that she is the heart of the husband,

- but that neither knows other than that she is his, or he is hers, and that they belong to each other reciprocally and mutually,

15.) that with women nerves are softer, that the veins are somewhat wider, that with men the arteries are stronger, that [with women] the thighs are wider, because the thighs stand for marriage love. These things may be seen in "Secrets of Heaven".

16.) Unless there is the thought of what is eternal, that is to say, of an eternal union, she is not a wife but a concubine, and the result of thought of what is not eternal is that marriage love perishes.

17.) The bond must be a back-and-forth one, or forward and backward, the bond back-and-forth is the wife's affection in the husband's understanding, and the husband's understanding in the wife, if it is not there, it is not marriage love, and under these circumstances it does not become eternal.

If angelic spirits in the world of spirits speak about these two things, [marriage love and eternity], the hells are stirred up, and those who are linked with the hells become as it were insane.

18.) The wife in heaven is spiritual heat, and the husband spiritual light.

19.) A beautiful heavenly and spiritual woman is beauty itself, that is to say, a form of beauty and goodness.

As regards all the works in the universe created by the Lord, clearly there is nothing more beautiful than a virgin.

20.) How the life of the husband enters a wife through [her] hips, and by love.

How truth then becomes good, that is to say, how [the husband's] understanding becomes the wife's will, and at last how the husband's understanding becomes a form of the wife's affection.

Thus how it must be understood that the wife was formed from the rib of Adam, and that Adam said, she is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, and they became one flesh, and the man must cleave to his wife [Gen. 2:23-24].

21.) The pleasure of rape. The hell [of those who rape] is like a cadaver, why --

The pleasure of defloration, the nature of whoredom.

The pleasure of having a variety [of partners], the nature of that pleasure: they become like nasal mucus.

The pleasure of committing adultery with someone else's wife, its nature and kind.

The pleasure of a married man's whoring, its nature.

The pleasure of having a mistress before marriage, its nature. It is permitted, in what circumstances and with whom.

22.) Marriage love is innocence itself, from [the description of] Adam.

—It is chastity itself, - from its origin, and from its correspondence, from its childlike playfulness

; it is purity itself.

There is a representation of it in caterpillars, when they become butterflies.

23.) The reasons for divorce:

1.) illicit sexual behavior,

2.) desertion,

3.) disease, etc.

Why it is not allowable to take a woman who has been divorced, in other words, clearly left [by her husband].

24.) The beauty of a wife and virgin comes from chaste marriage love.

Wisdom comes from the man.

25.) There is no lust in marriage love, because that is not chaste.

This is keenly felt by those who have marriage love.

Therefore there is nothing unclean in it; it is pure.

It may appear as if it is impure, but yet it is not.

The reason is that within the love of marriage lies heaven, down to its lowest aspects, and within the love of adultery lies hell; both appear alike, but yet they are not. They are not felt except by marriage love.

26.) The apparently similar delights, it was said by the ancients, were symbolized by Cerberus, ² who stands at the entrance and guards lest the delight of heavenly love descends into hell.

27.) Marriage love looks unceasingly to two being one, that is to say, one flesh.

If the love in marriage does not look to this, it is the love of adultery.

They can become more a one to eternity.

28.) A male child is truth from good in the natural person.

This truth is born from the spiritual good of a person in the natural person, and from the marriage of good and truth in the spiritual person, thus daughters and sons in the natural person are goods and truths, as may be seen in Apocalypse Revealed 543 ³ .

Things about the firstborn may also be seen.

[29] 29) The nature of the love of the innermost friendship between them: the innermost [bond] of friendship never ceases, and it makes the pleasure of their conversation heavenly.

The distinction between this love and the love of conjunction.

The nature of the difference.

This difference is unknown to adulterers. They immediately believe that the wife wants conjunction when she says she loves her husband.

30.) I have been told from heaven that most ancient people, who were of the heavenly nature, made marriage love the chief of all their loves, calling it the very delight of their life; and also that love for children is directly derived from it.

31.) The nature of the love for children, which [the Greeks call] storge, in the case of those who are evil. It is that they see themselves in them, because the soul of father is in them.

This love joins partners, but how and with what difference.

32.) A female becomes a female after death, and a male becomes a male, and the love remains mutual and reciprocal, wherefore this [marriage] cannot otherwise than continue in existence.

33.) Before the engagement there is sometimes an exploration by the angels as to whether the love is reciprocal, otherwise this is known from the [partners] themselves, and this is from the Lord.

There are festivities when there are marriages in heaven, but with a difference in the different societies.

34.) Control is exercised in marriage either by the husband or by the wife.

What the submissiveness is that results from excessive righteousness.

What excessive simplicity is with him or her.

What the conviction or belief is that whoredom is not a sin.

35.) About infernal marriage, in the case of those who have a love of exercising control and are atheists.

On the part of the man there is a murderous hatred.

But still he is clearly the servant or slave of the wife so that he does not dare mutter against her will.

But [this happens] at the time when she obtains control through various things.

The reason is that the man's faculty of understanding is subject [to the wife].

36.) They have no inward manliness or honesty; consequently they are not [truly] human.

An adulterer is unjust, unfaithful, insincere, unkind, a vow breaker, liar, immodest.

He has no inward righteousness or inward faithfulness, no inward sincerity, inward truth, inward shame, and so no inward sense of honesty and inward manliness.

What he is like inwardly, and what he is like outwardly; this then is what kind of a person he is.

37.) It is the truth from good through which the Church has its being, and good is from the Lord; and because the Lord flows in through good into truth, it follows from this that angels, and people with whom the Church is, receive good from the Lord in truths, consequently there is a marriage of good and truth in an angel and a person.

38.) If a person concludes that adultery is not a sin, he or she is an adulterer, because the conclusion comes from the will and at the same time from the understanding, in which there is also intention,

thus from the inward will, which is endeavor. It reigns in the whole person — the nature of the endeavor.

39.) A conjunction of good and of truth takes place because the Lord looks on a person in the forehead, and the person looks on the Lord through the eyes. The forehead is the will's love, that is to say, good [intent], and the eyes are the understanding, and so truth.

From this it is said that a person is a recipient of love and wisdom, or of good in truth.

All angels turn the face to the Lord.

The ruling love turns all things to itself, and they follow it.

40.) A person's spirit co-operates in acts of intercourse because what belongs to the spirit is sown at the point of the act's origin.

Nonetheless the person's spirit flows into what is earthly.

In the innermost of the person's spirit there is a conjunction of good and truth, that is to say, of pleasure that simulates good and a sense of rightness that simulates truth.

Therefore when angels and spirits are joined together — which happens in a similar way, they do not conceive or bring forth other things than those of love and wisdom, because without what is earthly there is no reproduction.

41.) All evil lusts stem from adultery, because it is their essential form.

An adulterer, convinced that it is allowable and that he may commit it, cannot acknowledge God in his heart, nor can he be conjoined with the Lord and consequently not with heaven because his delight is entirely opposed to spiritual delight.

Finally he becomes in the highest degree sensual, carnal, and material, and he thinks and speaks from what the eye can see and the ear can hear, which is merely stored away in the memory.

42.) Affection is the all of thought, just as sound is the all of speech, which can be known from the fact that a person's nature is the nature of his or her affection.

From this one principle can be known what thought is in its essence and life

and what chaste thought is, and unchaste thought, and what its origin is.

43.) What is contained in sound, there are yearning desires, what comes from sound.

A person in the world has little awareness of what is in sounds, but the angels have a thorough awareness.

44.) Love for one's partner that does not come from intercourse, as is the case with others, but intercourse comes from love for one's partner, so that the love for one's partner does [not] depend on the fire of that member, but the other way around.

Love for one's partner is full of delights beyond inter course, and is the sweetness of married life together.

Between that love apart from intercourse and intercourse itself lies a decision — just as between what a person thinks from their will, which is an intention, and the action or words, between these comes a decision, which is like the opening of the mind to action, as it were an opening of the door.

45.) Why is not permissible to contract marriage between certain blood relatives; what harm it does, from Lev. [18:1-18].

46.) Then, what dissolves a marriage, the reasons; fornications, why it is not allowable to marry a divorced woman.

47.) The Popes exalt celibacy and virginity over matrimony, but for the purpose of having monks and virgins in the monasteries.

But the opposite [should be exalted].

48.) A detailed description must be given of the state of marriage love prior to the state in which it comes to fulfillment.

The earlier state ought in all respects to precede marriage, and love [ought to develop] from that, without thought of the state following.

Then, marriage is happy and lasting, but so far as it partakes of the latter state alone, so far is

it lacking.

I heard certain ones saying that they knew nothing at all about the latter state nor thought about it when they desired a wife and saw her.

Such is the state of virgins and girls.

Such a state is chaste.

49.) The delights of the prior state are limitless, [observed] from experience.

They come nearer and nearer to the latter state, but still do not enter it. It appears as if they open it, but yet they do not.

Between the prior the latter state there is something that may be termed a decision almost like that between thinking and willing.

The latter state contains in itself all of the prior state and all of its delights, and its delights too are limitless.

The prior state is a state of a marriage friendship which surpasses all friendship.

50.) Those with whom the prior state [of marriage friendship] exists separate from the latter, and those with whom there are both.

Those with whom it does not exist.

51.) What general power it has with those who are in the prior state, together and apart, and what general [power] it has with those who are only in the latter state.

52.) Virgins who have been steeped in a piety almost to the point of a kind of melancholy become sad wives and cannot be among the happy in heaven, [I know] from experience. As a consequence those who have lived in convents [cannot].

53.) The nature of the body of the wife and the nature of the body of the husband compared to the bodies of those in the first state, that is to say, the state before the desire for the marriage.

Compared to adulterers and adulteresses.

Compared to the bodies of young people, of adults, of elderly people.

Of what nature the same are as to their minds, that is to say, their spirits.

54.) The pleasures and pleasantnesses of a mere touch of the hands, [or] of the lips, whenever they are thinking from love about such things from the Word as can be applied [to their relationship], from objects, from various agreeable pleasures.

They have exquisite sensations of the individual and general [states].

These arise from the delights of affection and thought and the conjunction of them, and the more exquisite the sensation, the more inward the conjunction.

There is pleasure of this kind in the conjunction of what is feminine and what is masculine because there is pleasure like this [from the conjunction] of goodness and truth.

There are yet more pleasures from the conjunction of the outer senses such as sight, hearing, smell, especially of breathing, in which countless things lie hidden, they lie hidden especially in the tone of voice itself.

55.) Various fears on account of the wife, as for example:

1.) that she be faulted with infertility,

2.) that she be [faulted with] insanity and or stupidity out of disdain,

3.) that she be a cause of disturbance,

4.) because of arguments,

5.) because of various reasons having to do with himself, and for various reasons having to do with his wife, such as that she may have a purse to manage as in Holland, that she may fare well in the home, so that she may eat and drink well, so that [she may be cared for] when she is sick; this appears as if he loves his wife, but it is not fear for the wife, but fear on account of the wife.

The fear belonging to marriage love, however, is fear that the wife be harmed by anything disgracefully evil. In short, he fears to do evil to it, because he loves her. This fear is the fear for the wife, and not fear on account of the wife.

56.) Various forms of disdain for a wife. ⁴

Various enmities and hatreds for a wife, for various reasons. ⁵

Various forms of antipathy for a wife. ⁶

57.) Appendix — It may be confirmed that Light becomes darkness and darkness becomes light from the fact that if man had eyes like an owl [it would become so to him].

It may be confirmed that the confirmation of falsity corresponds to that light.

58.) The confirmation that adultery is lawful may be compared to the confirmation that light is darkness and darkness light.

59.) Marriage in the Divine sense is the marriage of love and wisdom in God, which together make one, because love belongs to wisdom and wisdom belongs to love.

From this love comes the [marriage] of the Lord and the Church, which love is reciprocal according to the words of the Lord [John 14:20-21].

The marriage of good and truth comes from this, how; marriage is reciprocal, but it arises from good; and

there is an image and likeness of this marriage in the marriage of the two who are joined together by genuine marriage love.

60.) The man is born so that he may be truth and the wife so that she may be good.

He turns himself, concerning which turning.

About the man, his nature at birth, and about the woman, her nature at birth.

You may see what boys' natures are, and see what girls' natures are.

61.) In the beginning genuine marriage love is like a person being reformed and then regenerated: it inverts itself, and when it has been inverted, the love of the man goes forth from the love of the wife, and such as is hers, such is his.

The conjunction of good and truth is similar in its beginning, progression and end.

And this is what is meant by, "a man shall cleave to his wife" [Gen. 2:24].

Then affection of good plays the leading role.

In the earlier state there is also lasciviousness.

— The nature of the later state.

62.) The reason why all want to boast that they are powerful is so that they may be esteemed, and also believed to be strong, etc.

In sveria ⁷ — soldiers.

63.) How the seed is scattered through the body in every direction, is received by the soul which is in the whole body, thus in the fibers and vessels in every direction, and then it gives delight, it gives pleasure to the wife, and fills with delight.

And thus she is formed into the form of her husband; this is bone and flesh from my bone and flesh [Gen. 2:23]; how it produces intelligence in him, and how it produces impregnation.

64.) Making love to a pregnant wife is permissible. There are many reasons why; the arguments against it are produced by the feeble; and during both impotence and adulteries.

65.) Christian spirits cannot bear the spiritual aura of masculinity and femininity.

They cannot bear the spiritual aura of marriage love; the hells then go into a frenzy.

They cannot bear the aura of nakedness between married partners, they then also flee.

They cannot bear anything of the aura of the love from a married partner.

They turn away from the aura of what is ordinary, that is, when it becomes ordinary, or rather, when it becomes freely accessible to have intercourse with one's wife; it makes them nauseous.

66.) Adultery with the wife of another destroys all the delight of life between husband and wife and leads to aversion for the other, and also destroys care, as mother and father, of the children, and at the same time leads to separation.

What pertains to marriage perishes.

An adulterer does not see this unless he thinks about his own wife if some adulterer were to defile her.

67.) Evil spirits are utterly unable to bear the mental image and consequently the spiritual aura of femininity. They cry out just like those who are being tortured and flee away, experience.

But they can bear it when it is disguised by the aura or

mental image of adultery.

68.) The finest touch produces an arousal of the inward things that are seed.

It goes into the innermost elements in the flesh as well as into the liquid components, into the animate spirits, that is, into the spiritual elements themselves. This is the origin of reproduction.

There is also at that time communication of innermost things with outermost ones, thus from first through last things.

69.) The arousal of adulterers is an outward one, stemming from the pleasure of the touch of bodies, especially of the reproductive organs.

It is external, like one who touches in the neck and tickles.

It is called external because there is no feeling in a feather.

But with those who have a love for marriage, the delights of this love, which are the wife's when they are the man's, are communicated, the wife's [delights] flow into the feeling of the husband,

so that the very sensations and delights are mutually and alternately communicated, thus lascivious love is entirely different from marriage love.

70.) Marriage love does not exist other than with human beings, the reasons ---

The nature of the love emulates that with animals —

71.) About the English Lords who lure the beautiful wives of others to themselves with money, and live with them for several months and afterwards send them back.

They do the same [in the other life], and those who have lured the wives of others to themselves are immediately exposed and grievously punished.

72.) They are punished with the punishment of laceration, which is among the most grievous. They said that after the punishments they do not know whether they are disjointed; and they lie in bed for a long time.

And if they do not desist, they are thrown into hell.

Those who desisted in the world because it is a sin desist in the other life, but those who desisted for other reasons, do not desist in the other life.

73.) 29 Apr. 1765. I have seen, separated from societies, English Lords who in the world had enticed the beautiful wives of others and lived with them until they were no longer able. There was a multitude. They were separated and sent down into lower regions where they were examined as to whether they had afterwards ever repented and believed it to be against Divine laws.

74.) About circumcision. It was an act symbolizing that sensual corporeal love, which is self-love, was taken away.

Why it was done with a stone knife. Because truths remove. Why it was abrogated.

For this reason when the sons of Israel entered the land of Canaan, by which is meant the spiritual Church, they were circumcised again.

75.) Most say that when the delight of marriage becomes ordinary, it becomes worthless and as it were vanishes.

It is otherwise with those who have marriage love. With them the ordinary becomes a plane of inward delights, comparatively like a flowerbed, because it is an outward delight.

In the case of those who have lascivious love the inward elements which are lascivious leave, and virility with them, and as a result love becomes a cold from which the plane they have in common as it were dies.

76.) With those who have a lascivious marriage, and with adulterers with whom the woman's love is not shared with the man, the man's characteristic affection then does this.

The man has a characteristic affection that does not make a one with the woman's affection, on which account both withdraw.

77.) It is this affection that is acting, but it is quickly consumed and burned out. It is otherwise when the affection of the woman flows into the man's intellect as happens with angels of heaven. From this they have understanding in their life.

78.) Concerning whoredom in Paul: 1 Cor. 6:15-19, 7:4; read Eph. 5:28-33, where marriage is compared to [the marriage of] Christ and the Church. 1 Thess. 4:3, 4.

79.) Marriages are the seminary of mankind and thus the seminary of heaven.

80.) The marriage of evil and falsity draws its origin from the marriage of good and truth through the inflow of good and truth from heaven, and then through their inversion, about which experiences are to be related.

But what its nature is, that it exists with adulterers.

An evil man feels evil as good and falsity as truth.

Consequently also they are among serpents, basilisks, mice, horned owls, screech-owls, tigers.

81.) All things may be reduced to a marriage.

Therefore good and evil do not exist together, nor do the truth that comes from good and the falsity that comes from evil, falsity that does not come from evil can be turned through imagery to something good.

82.) If it is only beauty that unites, and not goodness, it is adultery, and this not human except in so far as beauty is believed to stem from goodness, which is the very being of beauty.

Also, good appears in the face, [as is known] from earthly knowledge alone.

The nature of horror in genuine marriage love and in the love that is not genuine.

The nature of fear in these two.

[6110] [Lars Benzelstierna] ⁸

[L]B) ⁹ Opwigla Nordencrantz, bewist med bref ur Landtmolen Carl. til hans afnamare, om solt.

— Opwiglas Brita Behm ¹⁰ , tilstadt af henne och erkendt.

— Wistes huru med drab. Stierncrona skulle talat, som ei sa skolat bifalla om at doda mig.

— Nogot tilforene med Reutercrona, hwars sphaera af mig kiendes, som de som wille doda mig, hel starck.

— Ofwertygad med nagra prof at han dehlt i sterbhus, och giordt orett efter wenskap och mutor, utan conscience.

— Med nagra om den mo som han forgior, den han sokt, tagit for sig, tendt upp.

— Forre tiden wille lata kora ned mig pa isen, anstalt.

— Omgadz med dodande tankar, sa lenge han hollit uti, at jag haft 1/2 Starbo.

— Ofwertygad at wille ophissa Brit. Behm at om Axmars dehl begynna process.

— Hatet som han haft wistes med en Vipersoppa, som gafs mig i somnen, derest helt swart war. Sedan med en uiddwass knif wid dess sida.

[1.)] Talat med froken af Falckfors at fora mig pa andra sidan sion at giora af med mig, men forgefwes.

2.) Med Daniel om sadant, men forgefwes.

3.) Med til en annan i Starbo by at hefwa mig i skogen.

4.) Sokt efter mig deri men for folckets syn intet tohlas.

5.) Haft i anslag och wilja at sticka knifwen i brostet,

6.) Kladt sig ut in drangklader sokt efter mig sielf ute.

7.) Taladt med den och hedt den hemma hos sig som blifwit subordinerade at taga lifwet af mig.

8.) Hon lagt spinlar i kott, hwaraf jag gaf op galla.

Footnotes:

340. And blessing. That this signifies acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord on account of those things, and thanksgiving that from Him are all good and truth, and thence heaven and eternal happiness to those who receive them, is clear from the signification of blessing when it is said concerning the Lord, as denoting acknowledgment, here the acknowledgment that to Him belong Omnipotence, Omniscience, Providence, Divine good, and Divine truth, these being signified by His being worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, honour, and glory, and also glorification on that account. Moreover, blessing, when said of the Lord, signifies thanksgiving that from Him is all the good of love and the truth of faith, and thence heaven and eternal happiness to those who receive them. Because acknowledgment and glorification on account of those things, and also thanksgiving, are here signified by blessing, therefore, it is said, in the last place or as a fitting end, by those angels who glorified the Lord. Those things are signified by blessing when said of the Lord, because nothing is a blessing but what is given by the Lord, for that alone is blessed, because it is Divine and eternal, and contains in itself heaven and eternal happiness; all other things, which have not in themselves what is Divine and eternal, are not a blessing, although they may be so called (see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 269, 270).

[2] That blessing, when it is mentioned in the Word, signifies such things, is evident from the passages there understood in the internal sense. But first some passages shall be adduced, in which blessed and blessing are spoken of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, and where it is said, blessed be God, in order that it may be seen that these signify acknowledgment, glorification, and thanksgiving, that from Him are all good and truth, and thence heaven and eternal happiness to those who receive them. In Luke:

"The mouth" of Zacharias "was opened and he spake, blessing God." And he said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and made redemption for his people" (1:64, 67, 68).

Zacharias said this when, filled with the Spirit, he prophesied concerning the Lord; and by blessing God, and by, "blessed be the Lord God of Israel," are signified glorification and thanksgiving that He delivers and frees from hell those who receive Him. It is, therefore, also said, "for he hath visited and made redemption for his people Israel." By redemption is signified liberation from hell, and by His people are signified those who are in truths from good, thus those who receive Him. That by redemption is signified liberation and deliverance from hell, may be seen above, n. 328; and that by people are signified those who are in truths from good, may be seen above, n. 331.

[3] In the same:

Simeon took the infant Jesus in his arms, "and blessed God; and said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples" (2:28-31).

Here, to bless God manifestly means, to glorify and give thanks that the Lord came into the world to save all who receive Him; therefore he calls the Lord the salvation which his eyes saw, which is prepared for all people. They are called His people who are in truths from good, thus who thereby receive Him, as was said above.

[4] In David:

"They have seen thy goings, O God. The singers went before, the players on instruments after, in the midst of the virgins playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the congregations, the Lord from the fountain of salvation" (Psalms 68:24-26).

To bless God in the congregations, the Lord from the fountain of salvation, signifies to glorify the Lord from spiritual truths, which are truths from good. By congregations in the Word are signified the same as by people, namely, those who are in spiritual truths, and, abstractedly, those truths themselves; and by the fountain of salvation is signified spiritual good, because thereby is salvation. Spiritual good is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and spiritual truth is the truth of faith from that good. (That congregations in the Word are predicated of spiritual truths, may be seen, n. 6355, 7843.) Because by blessing in the congregations is signified glorification from spiritual truths, and by blessing from the fountain of salvation is signified [glorification] from spiritual good, therefore God is said of the former, and Lord of the latter; for God is mentioned in the Word, where truths are treated of, and Jehovah and Lord, where good is treated of. That glorification is meant by blessing, is clear from what immediately follows after these words, "The singers went before, the players on instruments after, in the midst of the virgins playing with timbrels," by which glorification is signified from spiritual truths and goods (as may be seen above, n. 323, 326).

[5] In the same:

"O sing unto Jehovah a new song; sing unto Jehovah, all the earth. Bless his name; proclaim his salvation from day to day. Recount his glory among the nations" (Psalms 96:1-3).

That to bless Jehovah here denotes to glorify Him, and to give thanks unto Him, is plain; and because all glorification of Him is from spiritual truths and from spiritual good, therefore, it is said, "bless his name, proclaim his salvation from day to day"; name also is said of truths, and salvation of good. To sing a song signifies to glorify from those truths and from that good, as may be seen above, n. 323, 326.

[6] In Moses:

Jehovah chose the sons of Levi, "to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 10:8; 21:5).

Because the sons of Levi were appointed for Divine worship, and all Divine worship takes place from spiritual good and the truths thence, therefore, it is said that Jehovah chose them "to minister unto him, and to bless in his name"; and by ministering is signified worship from spiritual good, and by blessing is signified worship from spiritual truths. That to minister is said of worship from good, may be seen above, n. 155.

[7] In David:

"O Jehovah, thou hast prevented the King with the blessings of good; thou hast set a crown of pure gold on his head. Thou layest glory and honour upon him. For thou placest upon him blessings for ever" (Psalms 21:1, 3, 5, 6).

By the King here is not meant David, but the Lord, who is called King from the Divine Spiritual which proceeds from His Divine Human. And because blessing signifies acknowledgment, glorification, and thanksgiving, that all good and truth, and thence heaven and eternal happiness, are from Him, it is hence plain what is signified by, "Thou hast prevented the King with the blessings of good," and by, "thou placest upon him blessings for ever." Blessings of good signify truths from good; a crown of pure gold signifies the good from which these are; honour and glory signify the Divine good and the Divine truth. (That by David in the Word is meant the Lord, may be seen above, n. 205, similarly by king, in the Psalms, n. 31; that by the crown of kings is signified the Divine good, n. 272, similarly by gold, n. 242; and that by honour and glory are signified the Divine good and the Divine truth, n. 288.)

[8] From these considerations it is evident what blessed signifies when said of the Lord, as in the following passages:

The disciples cried with a great voice, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Luke 19:37, 38).

The multitude cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:9, 10; John 12:12, 13).

Jesus said, "Ye shall not see me henceforth, until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:38, 39; Luke 13:35).

"The High Priest asked Jesus, Art thou then the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" (Mark 14:61).

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, signifies glorified, because from Him are all Divine truth and Divine good. The name of the Lord signifies everything by which He is worshipped; and because all that has reference to the good of love and to the truth of faith, therefore, these things are signified by the name of the Lord. (That the Lord's name signifies everything by which He is worshipped, may be seen above (n. 102, 135, 148, 224); and that the Lord is called Lord from the Divine Good, in the Arcana Coelestia 4973, 9167, 9194).)

[9] In Moses:

Melchizedek blessed Abram, and said, "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the most high God, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand" (Genesis 14:18-20).

Here it is said, "Blessed be the most high God, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand," and it signifies that glorification and thanksgiving are His on that account. Those, therefore, who receive Divine good and Divine truth from the Lord, are called

"Blessed" (Psalms 37:22; 115:15; Matthew 25:34).

[10] That by blessing when said of man, is meant nothing else but the reception of Divine truth and Divine good, because in them are heaven and eternal happiness, is evident from the following passages:

In David:

"The clean in hands and the pure in heart shall bear the blessing from before Jehovah, and justice from the God of our salvation" (Psalms 24:4, 5).

He that is clean in hands signifies those who are in truths from faith, and the pure in heart those who are in good from love; concerning such it is said that they shall bear the blessing from before Jehovah, and justice from the God of salvation, and by bearing the blessing is signified the reception of Divine truth and by bearing justice the reception of Divine good. That justice is predicated of good, may be seen above, n. 204; and in the Arcana Coelestia 2235, 9857.

[11] In Moses:

"Thus shall ye bless the sons of Israel, Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee; Jehovah make his faces to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; Jehovah lift up his faces upon thee, and give thee peace. Thus shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel; and I will bless them" (Num. 6:23-27).

From these words unfolded by the internal sense it is evident what blessing involves in summary; namely, that Jehovah, that is, the Lord from the Divine love, flows in with Divine truth and with Divine good with those who receive Him. The Divine love, from which the Lord flows in, is meant by the faces of Jehovah; the Divine truth, with which the Lord flows in, is meant by, "Jehovah make his faces to shine upon thee"; and the Divine good, with which He flows in, is meant by, "Jehovah lift up his faces upon thee"; protection from evils and falsities, which otherwise would take away the influx, is meant by, "keep thee and be gracious unto thee"; heaven and eternal happiness, which the Lord gives by His Divine truth and His Divine good, are meant by, give thee peace; communication and conjunction with those who receive Him, are meant by, "Thus shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel," the name of Jehovah signifying the Divine proceeding which, in general, is called Divine truth and Divine good, and the sons of Israel signifying those who are of the church, thus who receive [the Lord], concerning whom it is therefore said, and "I will bless them." That this is the internal or spiritual sense of these words is evident from this fact, that by the faces of Jehovah is signified the Divine love, by making them to shine is signified the influx of Divine truth, and by lifting them up the influx of Divine good; that these things may be better understood it shall be explained whence these significations arise. The Lord appears to the angels in heaven as a sun, for it is His Divine love which thus appears; this, therefore, is meant by the face of Jehovah; the light which thence proceeds is the Divine truth, this therefore is what is meant by making His faces to shine; the heat also which thence proceeds is the Divine good, this therefore is what is meant by lifting up His faces, for by lifting up is signified to reveal Himself, which is effected from the Divine good by means of the Divine truth. (That the Lord appears to the angels in heaven as a sun, and that such appearance is that of His Divine love, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 116-125; and that the light thence is the Divine truth, also that the heat thence is the Divine good, n. 126-140. That peace signifies the celestial delight which inmostly affects every good with blessedness, and that it thence signifies heaven and eternal happiness, may be seen in the same work, n. 284-290; and that the sons of Israel signify those who belong to the church, consequently, the church, in the Arcana Coelestia 6426, 8805, 9340.)

[12] In Ezekiel:

"I will give them the circuits of my hill [as] a blessing, and I will send down the rain in its time, there shall be rams of blessing; then the tree shall give its fruit, the earth shall give its produce" (34:26, 27).

He who sees the Word merely in its natural sense, believes that such things only as are mentioned in that sense are meant by blessing, namely, that rain shall be given to make fruitful the gardens and fields, and so that the tree shall give its fruit, and the earth its produce; but it is a spiritual blessing which is meant, for by rain is signified everything Divine which flows in with man from the Lord out of heaven; that truths shall produce good, and that good shall produce truths, is signified by, the tree shall give its fruit, and the earth its produce. The earth denotes the church, as does also a garden in which there are trees; by these, and by the circuits of My hill which I shall give as a blessing, are signified the internal and external with the men of the church; a circuit signifies what is outside or below, and hill signifies what is within or above, specifically, where there is charity, for this is within. (That a hill signifies where charity is, may be seen, n. 6435, 10438.)

[13] In David:

"Blessed is every one that feareth Jehovah, that walketh in his ways. Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy sons like olive plants around thy tables. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Jehovah. Jehovah shall bless thee out of Zion; that thou mayest see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel" (Psalms 128).

Here also by, to be blessed, is not meant to be blessed naturally, as that [a man] should eat the labour of his hands, that his wife should be fruitful, that many sons should be about his tables, and that this should be in Zion and in Jerusalem; but to be blessed spiritually is meant. For by them that fear Jehovah, are meant those who love to do His precepts; therefore it is said, blessed is he that feareth Jehovah, and walketh in His ways; to walk in His ways signifying to do His precepts. By the labour of his hands which he shall eat, is signified the study of the life according to them. By the wife by the sides of his house, is signified the affection of spiritual truth in all things that he thinks and does; therefore it is also said, "as a fruitful vine," for by a vine is signified the spiritual church from the affection of truth. By the sons around his tables are signified the truths of good thence; tables denoting instructions; therefore it is also said, "like olive-plants," the plants signifying truths, and the olives goods. By Zion is signified heaven whence those things are, and by Jerusalem doctrine. Hence it is evident what is signified by Jehovah shall bless thee out of Zion, that thou mayest see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. By peace upon Israel is signified all spiritual good in general and in particular, Israel denoting the church.

[14] In the same:

"As the dew of Hermon that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion; for there hath Jehovah commanded a blessing, life even for evermore" (Psalms 133:3).

The marriage of good and truth is here treated of, and their fructification and multiplication. The latter and the former are signified by, the dew of Hermon that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion, the mountains of Zion signifying where the goods of celestial love are; therefore it is also said, "there hath Jehovah commanded a blessing, life even for evermore."

[15] In Moses:

"If ye hearken to these judgments, to keep and do them, Jehovah thy God shall keep the covenant and the mercy; and he will love thee, and bless thee, and will bless the fruit of thy belly, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil, the young of thy oxen, and of the rams of thy flock. Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And Jehovah will take away from you every disease, and all the evil sicknesses of Egypt, which thou hast known, he shall not lay upon thee; but will put them upon all that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the peoples whom Jehovah thy God shall deliver to thee; thine eye shall not spare them" (Deuteronomy 7:12-16).

By all these words spiritual things are meant, thus spiritual blessings; the sense of the letter which is natural, and for those who are in the natural world, and thence in a natural idea, involving and signifying those things; therefore, from the spiritual sense of the Word it is evident what is meant by being blessed in general and in particular. By the fruit of the belly and by the fruit of the earth, by the corn, the new wine, and the oil, by the young of the oxen, and of the rams of the flock, are meant the multiplications of truth and the fructifications of good, thus spiritual blessings. (What is signified specifically by each may be seen in various places in the Arcana Coelestia, and in the explanations of this prophetic book.) There shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle, signifies the multiplication of truth and the fructification of good in the internal and the external man; and by Jehovah taking away from them every disease, and all the evil sicknesses of Egypt, is signified the removal of all evils and falsities; the evil sicknesses of Egypt denoting the falsities arising from evils in the natural man. The haters, upon whom Jehovah will put them, denote those who are against the goods and truths of the church. The dispersion of the evils and falsities that are opposed to the truths and goods of the church, is signified by, thou shalt consume all the peoples whom Jehovah thy God shall deliver to thee; and the continual shunning of them by, thine eye shall not spare them. That by these things those who do the Lord's precepts are blessed is meant by, "If ye hearken to these judgments, to keep and do them, Jehovah thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy; He will love thee, and bless thee." Covenant and mercy denote a conjunction from love by them; conjunction by good is meant by the covenant, and by, He will love thee; and conjunction by truth thence is meant by mercy, and by, He will bless thee.

[16] In the same:

"He shall bless thee with blessings of heaven from above, with blessings of the deep that lieth under, with blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (Genesis 49:25).

These things are said of Joseph, by whom is here signified the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and by the blessings of heaven from above are meant the multiplications of truth from good in the internal or spiritual man; by the blessings of the deep that lieth under, are meant the multiplications of truth from good in the external or natural man; and by blessings of the breasts and of the womb, are signified spiritual and celestial goods.

[17] In Joel:

"Who knoweth? Let him return, and it will repent" Jehovah God "and he will leave behind him a blessing, a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah our God" (2:14).

Because by blessing is signified spiritual blessing, which in general has reference to good and truth proceeding from the Lord, and given to man, it is therefore said, he shall leave behind him a blessing, a meat-offering, and a drink-offering from our God. The meat-offering, which was bread, signifies good, and the drink-offering, which was wine, signifies truth, both from the Lord, for it is said, from our God.

[18] In Isaiah:

"In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria, that the Assyrian may come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, that the Egyptians may serve with the Assyrian. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom Jehovah shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance" (19:23-25).

By Israel, Assyria, and Egypt, are signified the three things that are with the men of the church, namely, the Spiritual, the Rational, and the Scientific; by Israel the Spiritual, by Assyria the Rational, and by Egypt the scientific. Inasmuch as the whole Rational of man is formed by scientifics, and both are from the spiritual part which is from heaven from the Lord (for all understanding of truth and all application of knowledges to truths are thence), it is therefore said that there shall be a highway from Egypt into Assyria, that Assyria may come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria; and that the Egyptians may serve with the Assyrian; and afterwards, that Israel shall be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land. The midst signifies the inmost from which the rest, or from which the whole is derived (as may be seen above, n. [313] ¹ ); and the land, the church where these things are; and because it is the Spiritual from which the Rational and the Scientific are applied to genuine truths, therefore Israel is called the inheritance, or the heir of the house who possesses all things; and Assyria, the work of My hands, because the Rational is thence formed; and Egypt is called a blessed people, because, in the Scientific, as in their ultimate, all things are together; from these considerations also it is evident that by a blessing in the Word is meant a spiritual blessing.

[19] In Zechariah:

"As ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I liberate you that ye may be a blessing" (8:13).

These things are said concerning the devastated church, and concerning the church to be established by the Lord. The house of Judah and the house of Israel signify the church, here in both senses. The church devastated is called a curse, because therein are evil and falsity; but the church to be established is called a blessing, because therein are good and truth.

[20] In David:

"Salvation unto Jehovah, thy blessing upon thy people" (Psalms 3:3).

The blessing of Jehovah upon His people signifies the influx and reception of good and truth; those are called the people of Jehovah who are in spiritual good (see above, n. 331).

[21] In Moses:

"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, that thou mayest become a blessing. I will also bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:2, 3).

In the same:

"All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Genesis 18:18).

These things are said concerning Abraham, and by him, in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and, in a respective sense, the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the celestial church. Hence it is evident what is signified by I will make thee into a great nation, and I will bless thee, that thou mayest become a blessing, namely, that therein shall be Divine good and Divine truth; a great nation being said of Divine good (see above, n. 331), and a blessing of Divine truth. I will bless them that bless thee, signifies that Divine truth shall be with those who receive it, and the falsity of evil with those who do not receive it. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, signifies that from the reception of Divine truth and Divine good they have heaven and eternal happiness. The families of the earth signify those who are in truths from good, families denoting truths, nations denoting goods. Blessing signifies that hence they have heaven and eternal happiness.

[22] The same is signified by the blessing of Israel and Jacob. In the same:

"Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee" (Num. 24:9).

And in the same:

"And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and shall spread itself towards the west, and towards the east, and towards the north, and towards the south; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 28:14).

By Israel and Jacob also, in the highest sense, the Lord is meant, and, in the respective sense, the Lord's spiritual kingdom and the spiritual church; by Israel that church internal, by Jacob [that church] external. By the seed that shall be as the dust of the earth, and which shall spread itself towards the west, the east, the north, and the south, is signified the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and received by those who belong to that church; the fructification of good thence is signified by its spreading itself towards the west and the east, and the multiplication of truth thence is signified by its spreading itself towards the north and the south. (That those quarters have such significations, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 141-153.)

[23] That the Lord blessed the bread, the wine, the fishes which He gave to the disciples and to the people (Matthew 14:15, 21, 22; 15:32; 26:26, 27; Mark 6:41; 8:6, 7; 14:22, 23; Luke 9:16; 22:19; 24:30), signified the communication of His Divine, and thus conjunction with them by means of goods and truths, which are signified by bread and wine, and also by fishes; bread and wine signify goods and truths in the spiritual man, and fishes signify goods and truths in the natural.

[24] In Isaiah:

"He shall call his servants by another name; he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of truth; because the former distresses shall be delivered to forgetfulness " (65:15, 16).

By blessing himself is signified self-instruction in Divine truths, and the application of them to life. The reason why this is signified by swearing, is, because an oath, in the internal sense, signifies confirmation in oneself, and conviction that it is so, and this is effected from good by means of truths; truths are confirmed and proved with man only from good. A new church is here treated of; and by calling by another name is signified its quality as to truth and good.

[25] In Jeremiah:

"Swear by the living Jehovah, in truth, in judgment, and in justice; the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory" (4:2).

The same is here signified by swearing and blessing themselves; the nations which shall bless themselves in Jehovah signify those who are in good.

[26] By blessing, in the opposite sense, is signified to love evil and falsity, and to imbibe the same. As in Isaiah:

"He who slayeth an ox smiteth a man, he who offers frankincense blesseth vanity; they have also chosen these things in their own ways" (66:3).

To slay or sacrifice an ox, and to smite a man, signify to worship God in externals, and yet to reject all truth. By sacrificing an ox is signified worship from those things which represented natural good, for an ox denotes natural good; and by smiting a man is signified to reject and deny the truth, man in the Word denoting truth. To offer incense and to bless vanity, signify to worship God from such things as represented spiritual good, and yet to love evil and falsity, and to imbibe them; an offering of incense denoting worship from spiritual good, and vanity denoting evil and the falsity of evil.

Footnotes: