Arcana Coelestia #9341
9341. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting the boundary' as the full range, dealt with immediately above in 9340; from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a place where no one lives and nothing is grown, so that when it applies to the spiritual matters of faith and the celestial aspects of love 'the wilderness' is a place where no good nor any truth resides, as is the situation with the level of the senses (that this is what the sensory level of the human mind is like, see end of 9331), for no celestial good nor any spiritual truth exists on the sensory level, only delight and pleasure having a bodily and worldly origin exist there, which being so 'the wilderness' means this outermost level of mind in a member of the Church; and from the meaning of the Euphrates, to which 'the River' refers here, as good and truth belonging to the rational level. The reason why the Euphrates has this meaning is that Assyria lay there, and Assyria or Asshur means the rational level of the mind, 119, 1186.
[2] This rational level is meant by 'the Euphrates' where the words 'from the wilderness to the Euphrates' occur, and also 'from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates', as in Joshua,
From the wilderness and Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea, the going down of the sun, will be your boundary. Joshua 1:4.
And in Moses,
To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the River Euphrates. Genesis 15:18.
Similarly in David,
You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You sent out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the River. Psalms 80:8, 11.
'A vine out of Egypt' stands for the spiritual Church represented by the children of Israel; 'to the sea' and 'to the River' stand for interior truths and forms of good. The like occurs in Micah,
They will come to you from Asshur and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, 1 from mountain to mountain. Micah 7:12.
[3] But something different is meant by 'the Euphrates' when, from the middle of the land of Canaan as the standpoint, it is seen to be the furthest limit of the land on one side or that which encloses it on one side. In this case that river means the last and lowest level of the Lord's kingdom, that is, the last and lowest level of heaven and the Church in respect of rational goodness and truth. The fact that the boundaries of the land of Canaan, which were seas and rivers, meant the lowest things in the Lord's kingdom, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516. 'The Euphrates' therefore meant the kinds of truths and forms of good on the sensory level that were in agreement with truths and forms of good on the rational level. But since the sensory level of the human mind lies next to earth and the world and receives its impressions from them, 9331 (end), it does not acknowledge anything as good except that which delights the body, nor anything as truth except that which lends support to that delight. In this sense therefore 'the River Euphrates' means pleasure which is attributable to self-love and love of the world, and falsity that supports it with reasonings based on the illusions of the senses.
[4] These things are meant by 'the River Euphrates' in John,
A voice said to the sixth angel, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were released, and they killed a third part of mankind. Revelation 9:14-15.
'The angels bound at the Euphrates' stands for falsities which arise through reasonings based on the illusions of the senses, and which lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world. In the same book,
The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the rising of the sun. 2 Revelation 16:12.
Here 'the Euphrates' stands for falsities from a similar origin. 'Dried up water' stands for those falsities after they had been removed by the Lord; and 'the way of the kings from the rising of the sun' stands for the fact that at that time the truths of faith were seen by and revealed to those governed by love to the Lord.
'Waters' are truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323.
'The way' is truth that has been seen and revealed, 627, 2333, 3477.
'The kings' are those with whom truths exist, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.
'The rising' or 'the east' is the Lord, also love from Him and to Him, 101, 1250, 3708.
'The sun' has the same meaning, 1529, 1530, 2440, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812.
[5] In Jeremiah,
You have forsaken Jehovah your God at a time when He led you in the way. For this reason what have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor, or what [have you to do] with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:17-18.
'Leading in the way' stands for teaching truth. 'What have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities arising through a perverse use of factual knowledge? 'What have you to do with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities that arise on account of reasonings - reasonings which are based on the illusions of the senses and lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world?
[6] In the same prophet,
Jehovah [said] to the prophet, Take the girdle which you have bought, which is over your loins, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. He went away and hid it by the Euphrates. Afterwards it happened at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go away to the Euphrates, take from there the girdle. Therefore he went away to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it. But behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:3-7.
'The girdle of the loins' is the outward bond that holds within itself all things of love and consequently of faith. 'Being hidden in the cleft of a rock beside the Euphrates' means in a place where faith dwells in obscurity and is rendered no faith at all by falsities that are the product of reasonings. 'The girdle that had been spoiled, so that it was profitable for nothing' stands for the fact that then all the things of love and faith had been broken apart and scattered.
[7] When Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him and to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, Jeremiah 51:63, the meaning was that the prophetical part of the Word would be destroyed by like falsities. In the same prophet,
The swift will not flee away, nor the strong man escape. Northwards on the bank of the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth takes revenge on His adversaries, for the Lord Jehovah Zebaoth holds a sacrifice in the land of the north beside the River Euphrates. Jeremiah 46:6, 10.
Here also 'the River Euphrates' stands for truths that have been falsified and forms of good that have been adulterated by reasonings based on illusions, and therefore stands for factual knowledge which lends support to self-love and love of the world.
Footnotes:
Jeremiah 7
1
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2
Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
3
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
5
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
7
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
10
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
11
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
12
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
14
Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
20
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
22
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
23
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
24
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26
Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27
Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29
Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30
For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
31
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
32
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
33
And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
34
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
