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:

507. And all green grass was burnt up, signifies that all true knowledge [scientificum] was destroyed by the cupidities of the same loves. This is evident from the signification of "grass," as being knowledge [scientificum] (of which presently); also from the signification of "green," as being truth and living from truth, because as green grass serves as food for animals, so true knowledge serves for spiritual nourishment for man; for whatever is produced in fields, in gardens, and in plains, and serves for nourishment either for man or beast, has a correspondence with such things as serve for the nourishment of the spirit and mind, and such nourishment is called spiritual nourishment. Like things appear in the spiritual world, from the correspondence of spiritual things with natural things; and as the Word in the letter is natural, and is written by correspondences, it is here said that "the third part of the trees and all green grass were burnt up," which means in the spiritual sense that all perception and knowledge of truth and good, as well as all true knowledge [scientificum] are destroyed, by these two corporeal, terrestrial, and merely natural loves.

[2] By true knowledge [scientifica] is meant all knowledge by which spiritual truth is confirmed, and which has life from spiritual good. For by knowledges [scientifica] a man may become wise or he may become insane. A man becomes wise by knowledges when he uses them to confirm the truths and goods of the church, which are spiritual truths and goods; and he becomes insane by knowledges when he uses them to invalidate and refute the truths and goods of the church. When they are used to confirm the truths and goods of the church they are called true knowledges, as also living knowledges; but when they are used to invalidate and refute the truths and goods of the church they are called false knowledges, and also dead knowledges. Knowledges [scientiae] are only means to uses, and they are such as the uses are that spring from them. They are living knowledges when man by means of them acquires for himself intelligence and wisdom. All intelligence and wisdom is from truths that are from heaven; such intelligence and wisdom, because it is from heaven, that is, from the Lord through heaven, is living, because it is the very spiritual life of man; but from falsities there can be no intelligence and wisdom, and if it is supposed to exist in anyone, yet it is dead, because it is from hell.

[3] This has been said to make known that "green grass" signifies true knowledge [scientificum], which is living, but "grass burnt up" signifies false knowledge, which is dead. When truth and good, which come from heaven, find no receptacle in the cognitions and knowledges with man, but evils and falsities which are from hell are received, then knowledges [scientifica] are not living but dead, and correspond to grass withered and burnt up. It is similar with man himself, for a man is such a man as the cognitions and knowledges are alive in him; for from living knowledges [scientiae] he has intelligence, but from knowledges not living he has no intelligence; and if they are dead in consequence of the confirmation of falsities by them there is insanity and folly.

[4] Such a man, from correspondence, is compared in the Word to "grass," and is also called "grass" in the following passages. In Isaiah:

The inhabitants have become as the herb of the field, as the greenness of the tender herb, as the grass of the housetops and as a field scorched before it is grown up (Isaiah 37:27; 2 Kings 19:26).

In David:

The wicked are cut down in haste as the grass, and wither as the greenness of the herb (Psalms 37:2).

In the same:

As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourisheth (Psalms 103:15).

In the same:

The haters of Zion shall be as the grass of the housetops, which withereth before it is plucked up (Psalms 129:6).

In Isaiah:

The glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and they shall see. The voice said, Cry; and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its holiness is as the flower of the field; the grass hath dried up and the flower hath fallen off because the breath of Jehovah hath blown upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass hath dried up, the flower hath fallen off; but the Word of our God shall stand up forever (Isaiah 40:5-8).

This is said of the Lord's coming, and of the revelation of Divine truth from Him at that time, which is meant by "the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and they shall see." That there will then be no true knowledge [scientificum] and no spiritual truth with men, is signified by "all flesh is grass, all its holiness is as the flower of the field; the grass hath dried up, the flower hath fallen off," "grass" meaning true knowledge, and "the flower of the field" spiritual truth. That man is such is meant by "all flesh is grass," and by "surely the people is grass; the grass is dried up;" "all flesh" meaning every man, and "people" those who are in truths, here those who are in falsities.

[5] In the same:

I am He that comforteth you; who art thou, that thou fearest man that dieth, and a son of man that is given for grass? (Isaiah 51:12).

These words signify that all things are from the Lord, and nothing from self-wisdom and self-intelligence. "Man" means man in respect to wisdom, and the "son of man" the same in respect to intelligence; that this latter is mere knowledge [scientifia] is meant by "is given for grass."

[6] In the same:

I will pour out My spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up in the midst of the grass (Isaiah 44:3, 4).

The "spirit of Jehovah" signifies the Divine truth, and "blessing" signifies its multiplication and fructification; intelligence thence through true knowledges (scientifica) is signified by "springing up in the midst of the grass."

[7] In David:

Jehovah who causeth the grass to spring forth for the beast, and herb for the service of man (Psalms 104:14).

In the same:

Jehovah who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to spring forth upon the mountains, who giveth to the beast his food (Psalms 147:8, 9).

In Moses:

My doctrine shall flow down as the rain, My Word shall drop as the dew, as the mist on the grass, and as the drops on the herb (Deuteronomy 32:2).

In these passages "grass" signifies true knowledge [scientificum], and "the herb of the field" spiritual truth; for "the herb of the field" means what springs up in a field at first, that is, when it has just been plowed, therefore it is called "herb for the service of man." It is said "grass for the beast," and "as food for the beast," because "beast" signifies in the Word the affection of the natural man, and to this, true knowledge is for food and nourishment.

[8] In Job:

Behold the behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox (Job 40:15).

"Behemoth" has the same meaning as "beast" in the Word, namely, the natural affections that belong to man, therefore it is said, "behold behemoth, which I have made with thee." His spiritual pasture is true knowledge; this is meant by "he eateth grass as an ox."

[9] That "green" signifies what is living can be seen without further explanation; for any vegetable subject while it is growing, that is, while it lives as it were, is green, but when it is no longer growing, or is as it were dying, its greenness perishes; therefore "green" or "to be green" signifies living or to be living; as can be seen also from the following passages (Jeremiah 11:16; 17:8; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:47; Hosea 14:8; Psalms 37:35; 52:8; 92:10) and elsewhere.