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:

707. 16:16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. This symbolizes a state of combat, of falsities against truths, and, arising from a love of dominion and preeminence, a mind to destroy the New Church.

To gather together to the place, in this case for battle, means, symbolically, to incite people to use falsities to fight against truths. It is a state of combat, because a place symbolizes the state of something. It springs from a mind to destroy the New Church, because the combat meant is between the former church and a new one, and the intent of the combat is to destroy. What Armageddon symbolizes we will say below.

We were told previously that the dragon went off to make war with the rest of the woman's offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17). Also that it was granted the beast from the sea to make war with the saints (Revelation 13:7). Then in this chapter we are told that spirits of demons coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, went away to the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Revelation 16:13-14). And here now the subject is the battle itself, whose outcome is not described, but only its state, which is symbolized by Armageddon.

[2] Armageddon symbolizes in heaven a love of acclaim, dominion and preeminence, and in Hebrew, too, Aram or Arom symbolizes loftiness, and Megiddo in ancient Hebrew a love in consequence of loftiness, as is apparent from its meaning in Arabic. ¹ Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo has the same symbolic meaning in Zechariah 12:11. The subject of that chapter is also the Lord's advent, the end of the Jewish Church then and the beginning of a new one to be established by the Lord, and a conflict, too, between those churches. That is why we find so many times in that chapter the phrase "in that day," and that day symbolizes the Lord's advent, as in no. 704 above. For this to be seen, I will quote the passages:

...in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples... In that day... I will strike every horse with stupor, and its rider with madness... In that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a fiery furnace in the woodpile... In that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that there may be a force among them... ...in that day... I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:3-4, 6, 8-9)

And finally:

In that day there shall be... mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo. (Zechariah 12:11)

And in the following chapter:

In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem... It shall be in that day that the prophets will be ashamed... and... not put on a robe of coarse hair, so as to deceive. (Zechariah 13:1, 4)

[3] That day symbolizes the Lord's advent and the end of the former church and the beginning of a new one, as said above. But what the valley of Megiddo in that chapter symbolizes cannot be seen unless the series of symbolic meanings there and in the two following chapters in that prophetic book are revealed by disclosure of the spiritual sense; and because this series of meanings has been revealed to me, I will say what it is, but in brief summation. In the spiritual sense Zechariah 12 describes the following:

The Lord will form a new church (verse 1).

The former church will have no doctrine then left in it, and therefore the people will run from it (verses 2, 3).

There will no longer be any understanding of truth, except in people who hold to the Word and will belong to the new church (verse 4).

They will learn the goodness of doctrine from the Lord (verse 5).

By means of the Word's truths the Lord will destroy all falsities then, lest the doctrine of the new church teach anything other than truth (verses 6, 7).

The church will have then a doctrine regarding the Lord (verse 8). He will destroy everyone and everything that stands in opposition to that doctrine (verse 9), and a new church will exist then from the Lord (verse 10).

Each and every part of the church will be in a state of mourning then (verses 10 to 14).

[4] These are the contents of Chapter 12 in the spiritual sense. The contents of the next chapter, Zechariah 13, are as follows:

For the new church there will be a Word, and it will lie open to them (verse 1).

Falsities in their doctrine and worship will be entirely destroyed (verses 2, 3).

The former prophetic or doctrinal teaching will cease, and there will no longer be any falsities in their doctrine (verses 4, 5).

People in the former church will kill the Lord, with the intention of dispersing those who believe in Him (verses 6, 7).

Those of the devastated church will perish, while those of the new church will be purified and taught by the Lord (verses 8, 9).

[5] These are the contents of chapter 13 in the spiritual sense. The contents of chapter 14 are as follows:

The combats of the Lord against evil people and their dispersion (verses 1 to 5).

The absence of any truth then other than Divine truth from the Lord (verses 6, 7).

Divine truth will emanate from the Lord (verses 8, 9).

Truth in the new church will increase, and there will be in it no falsity that accompanies evil (verses 10, 11).

People who fight against those truths will surrender themselves to falsities of every kind (verse 12).

The destruction then of every facet of the church (verses 13 to 15).

People will then turn to worship of the Lord, even from nations that are external and merely natural (verses 16 to 19).

And their intelligence then, springing from the goodness of charity that produces their worship (verses 20, 21).

These are the contents of the three chapters, Zechariah 12 to Zechariah 14, in the spiritual sense, disclosed because they also have as their subject the last state of a former church and the first state of a new church. Moreover, because [in the present verse] we are told that people were to be gathered together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon, it follows that what is said in Zechariah applies equally to the last state of today's church and to the first state of the New Church.

Armageddon symbolizes, as we said, a love of acclaim, dominion and preeminence, for it is because of that love that a conflict arises, and it is because of that love and on its account that there is the mourning described in Zechariah 12:11-14.

Megiddo also has the same symbolic meaning in 2 Kings 23:29-30 and 2 Chronicles 35:20-24, but in the spiritual sense.

Footnotes: