THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 47

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation.)

1. COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shalt no longer be called the tender and the delicate.

VERSES 1, 5, 8. The subject here treated of is concerning the profanation of Good and of Truth; for by the "daughter of Babylon" is signified the profanation of Good, and by the "daughter of the Chaldeans" the profanation of Truth. The reason why such things are signified by them is, because they employ the divine Goods and Truths which are in the Word and from the Word as means of bearing rule, whence the Babylonians and Chaldeans regard themselves, or their own dominion, as ends, and the holy things of the church from the Word as means; thus they do not regard the Lord and His dominion as an end, nor their neighbour, and love towards him.

To "come down and sit in the dust, and on the ground", signifies to be in evils and thence in damnation; to "sit in silence" and to "enter into darkness" signifies to be in falsities 'and thence in damnation.

To "sit or dwell in security", denotes to be in confidence that their rule or dominion will remain, and that they shall not perish; "not to sit a widow" and "not to know bereaving or loss of children", signifies not to be in want of attendants, clients, and worshippers.

"There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms", signifies that they shall bear rule no longer, because of their subversion and damnation in the day of the Last Judgment, which is treated of in this chapter. Arcana Coelestia 687.

Verses 1, 2. That by those who "grind meal", when mentioned in the Word, are signified those who within the church are in Truth from the affection of Good, and, in the opposite sense, those who within the church are in Truth from the affection of evil, is evident from Isaiah 47:1, 2:

"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon", etc.

The "daughter of Babylon" stands for those, with whom the externals appear holy and good, but the interiors profane and evil. (See above, Isaiah 13 and 14, the Exposition.)

The "daughter of the Chaldeans" means those with whom the externals appear holy and true, but the interiors are profane and false.

To "take a millstone" and to "grind meal" signifies to conclude doctrines from Truths which they pervert; for "meal", which is either from wheat or from barley, signifies Truths from Good, and, in the opposite sense, Truths which they pervert for the purpose of seducing others. Arcana Coelestia 4335.

[The correspondence of "grinding meal" may be readily seen, when it is considered that the act of grinding meal is to prepare food for the nourishment of the body; which corresponds to the act of preparing food for the nourishment of the soul, which is done by instructing the mind in the Truths of the Word, and by deriving doctrine therefrom for its spiritual nourishment.]

Verses 1-3. The "daughter of Babylon" is the church, or what professes to be a church, where what is holy is in externals, but what is profane is in the internals. This profanity in the internals consists in this, that they regard themselves and the world as an end, thus dominion and abundance of riches, and the holy things [of the Word and of the church] as means to that end. To "take millstones and grind meal", is to concoct doctrine from such things as can serve, as means, to that end; to "uncover the hair, make bare the leg [or feet], and to "uncover the thigh", is, without shame and fear, to prostitute holy externals and internals; thus" your nakedness shall be revealed", is to cause what is filthy and infernal, which are the ends, to appear. Arcana Coelestia 9960.

2. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks; make bare the leg; uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers.

Verse 2. Uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers. - These things are said of "Babylon" and of "Chaldea." By "taking the millstones and grinding meal" is signified to produce falsities from evil, and to confirm them by the Word; and by "uncovering the thigh" and by "passing through the rivers" is signified to adulterate Goods by reasonings. Apocalypse Explained 1182.

That the "rivers of Chaldea" signify, in a bad sense, reasonings from fallacies and from false doctrines, also from negative principles respecting the Truths of the Word and of the church, see above, Chapter 8:7, 8, the Exposition.

3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered; even your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance; and I will not suffer man to intercede.

Verse 3. To be "naked", in a bad sense, signifies to be deprived of the knowledges of Truth and of Good, and to "walk naked" denotes a life without such knowledges as the means [of living], thus a life not spiritual, but merely natural; hence to be "naked" signifies a life without the understanding of Truth, because without the will of Good. Thus when it is said, "Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he, walk naked, and they see his shame" (Revelation 16:15), "not to walk naked" signifies not to be without Truths, and hence without Goods; for they who are without Truths are also without Goods, since all Good is acquired by Truths.

Besides, Good without Truth is not Good, nor is Truth without Good, Truth; in order that it be Truth, it must be conjoined with Good, and in order that Good may be Good, it must be conjoined with Truth. There is indeed a Truth without Good, and a Good without Truth; but Truth without Good is dead, and also Good without Truth, for Truth has its esse from Good, and Good has its existere by Truth.

From this it is evident that by "walking naked" is signified to be without Truths, and hence without Goods.

That to "walk" signifies to be and to live, may be seen in Apocalypse Explained 787. By the "shame of nakedness", (Revelation 16:15) are signified filthy loves. But, in a good sense; to be "naked " signifies to be in innocence and in celestial love, [as was the case with Adam and Eve before the fall, Genesis 2:25.]

To "cover" or to "clothe the naked" signifies to remove, the evils of the will and the falsities of the uuderstanding, thus to instruct those who are in ignorance of Truths, and nevertheless desire them. (See the Exposition of Isaiah Chapter 58:7.) Apocalypse Explained 187, 224, 238, 1008. See also Chapter 20:2-4, the Exposition.

4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name! the Holy One of Israel!

Verse 4. Jehovah of Hosts. - See Chapter 1:9, 24, the Exposition.

5. Sit you in silence, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms,

Verse 5. By the "daughter of the Chaldeans" is signified the falsification of Truth; and hence by "darkness" are meant the falsities of evil, inasmuch as evil falsifies Truth. Apocalypse Explained 526.

6. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them up in to your hand: you didst not show mercy unto them; even upon the aged didst you lay very heavily your yoke.

7. And you said, I shall be a mistress for ever: so that you didst not lay these things to your heart, neither didst you remember the end thereof.

Verse 6. As to "anger", when said of the Lord, see Chapter 1:24, 9:12, 17, 21, the Exposition.

8. But hear now this, O you voluptuary, that dwells in security; that says in your heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children:

Verses 8, 9. These things also are said concerning " Babylon", and thereby are signIfied the same things as by these words in the Apocalypse:

"I am not a widow, and shall not see mourning; wherefore in one day shall her plagues come to you, death, and mourning, and famine." By "widows", in other parts of the Word, are also signified such of both sexes as are in Good but not in Truth, and yet desire Truth, thus such as are without defence against the false and evil whom however, the Lord defends. They are also understood in the opposite sense, as may be evident from Isaiah 9:17, 10:1, 2; (Jeremiah 15:7-9, 22:3. Apocalypse Explained 1121.

Verses 8-14. I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children, etc. - That "sorcerers" [or witches] are those who conjoin the false of .the evil of self-love to the Truths of faith, and thereby perish, is evident from every particular in the above passage, viewed in the internal sense, for they are there described. The extinction of their spiritual life is described by "widowhood " and by "bereavement" [or loss of children]. "Widowhood" is the deprivation of Truth, and thence of Good; "bereavement" is the deprivation of Truth and of Good. The origin of the false, as derived from the evil of self-love is described by these words:

"Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in thine heart, I am, and there is none beside me"; and the evil itself of self-love is described by these words:

"Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame;"fire" and "flame" denote self-love. That the all of spiritual life is extinct, is described by these words:

"Therefore shall evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate." They are called "observers of the heavens, and gazers on the stars, and who know the new moons", [or "prognosticate concerning the months, see note] from being in external things, without an internal principle; for such see from the external man, and nothing from the internal, thus from natural lumen; and nothing from spiritual light; for "heaven", the "stars", and "new moons", in the internal sense are knowledges and scientifics, - in this case, such as are viewed from the world, and not from heaven. Arcana Coelestia 9188.

9. Yet shall these two things come upon you in a moment, in one day; loss of children and widowhood: in their perfection shall they, come upon you; because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments.

Verses 9, 12. Because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments, etc. - In the Revelation 18:23: "By your sorceries were all nations deceived." By "your sorceries" [veneficium, poisoning] are meant the abominable arts and schemes by which they have deluded and persuaded the people to worship and adore themselves instead of the Lord, therefore as the Lord; and inasmuch as the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew 28:18, consequently as gods. That they have transferred the Lord's divine power to themselves, may be seen above, [Chapter 14, the Exposition], and since this is signified by these words, they also signify that by their abominable arts and contrivances they have turned the minds of men from the holy worship of the Lord, to the profane worship of living and dead men and of idols. That nevertheless there will be an end of these things, and that there is already an end of them in the spiritual world, has been shown in the work on the Last Judgment. This is described in the following words of Isaiah:

"Persist in thine enchantments, O Babylon, and in the multitude of your sorceries", etc. (Isaiah 47:9, 12, 14, 15.) Apocalypse Revealed 800.

By "sorcery", when mentioned in the Word, a similar thing is signified as by incantation [or enchantment], and by "incantation" is understood such a persuasion that a man does not perceive otherwise than that it is so. Such a kind of persuasion exists amongst certain spirits as closes up, as it were, the understanding of another, and suffocates the faculty of perception; and as well-disposed men among the Babylonish nation [Roman Catholics] are induced and persuaded to believe and to do what the monks say, therefore it is here said that they are seduced by "sorcery." Apocalypse Explained 1191.

10. For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have Reduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I run, and there is none beside me.

11. Therefore shall, evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate; and destruction shall come upon you suddenly, which you shalt not know.

Verses 10, 11. Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none beside me, etc. - Here also they are described who believe themselves to know all things, and to be intelligent above all others, when yet they know and understand nothing of Truth; wherefore it follows that the understanding of Truth is taken away from them. Their belief that they are more intelligent than all others is understood by these words:

"Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none beside me; and the loss of all understanding of Truth is understood by these words:

"Calamity shall fall upon you, and destruction shall come upon you." Apocalypse Explained 237.

12. Persist now in thine enchantments; and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth; if peradventure you mayest be profited; if you mayest become terrible.

13. You art wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let them stand up now, and let them save you, - the observers of the heavens, the gazers on the stars, they that prognosticate concerning the months, - from the things that shall come upon you.

Verse 12. As to "enchantments" or "incantations", and the modes in which they were practised in ancient times, see Chapter 3:2, the Exposition.

14. Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; not a coal to warm at, not a fire to sit before it.

Verses 14, 15. By "merchandising" and "trading", in the Word, is signified to procure for one's self spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of Truth and of Goodness; and, in the opposite, the knowledges of what is false and evil, and by these to gain the world, and by the former to gain heaven; wherefore the Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to "a merchantman seeking goodly pearls." (Matthew 13:45, 46)

By the "merchants of Babylon" no others can be meant than those of the superior and inferior orders in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, because, in Revelation 18:23, it is said that they are "the great men of the earth"; and by the means of her delicacies, through which they have become rich, no other things can be meant than dogmatic tenets, through which, as means, they procure for themselves dominion over the souls of men, and thereby also over their possessions and wealth; that they collect these without any proposed end, and fill their treasuries with them, is a known fact; also that they make a traffic with the holy things of the church, as that by means of offerings and gifts presented to monasteries and to their saints and images, and by means of masses, indulgences, and various dispensations they sell salvation, that is, heaven. Who cannot see that if the Popish dominion had not received a check at the time of the Reformation, they would have amassed together the possessions and riches of all the kingdoms of Europe, and in this case would have been sole lords, and all the rest servants? Have they not derived from former ages, when they had power over emperors and kings, whom they could excommunicate and dethrone if they did not obey them, their principal opulence and annual revenues, which are still immense, together with treasuries full of gold, silver, and jewels? The like barbarous dominion many or them have still at heart, and it is kept within bounds solely by the fear of losing what power they have, if they were to attempt to extend it beyond certain limits. But what use do they make of these vast revenues, treasures, and possessions, except to pamper themselves and gratify their pride, and to confirm their power and dominion to all eternity? From these considerations it may appear what is here signified by the "merchants of the earth", who have become rich through the means of the delicacies of Babylon. Apocalypse Revealed 759.

Verse 14. The fire shall burn them up, etc. - That "fire", in a bad sense, signifies lusts of evil which consume everything Good and True in the mind and in the church, see Chapter 9:17-19, and Chapter 50:11, the Exposition.

Not a coal to warm at, etc. [implies that their lusts of evil will remain ungratified; hence their torment.]

15. Thus shall they be unto you, with whom you have laboured; your merchants, [with whom you have dealt] from your youth: they shall wander everyone to his own quarter; none shall save you.

Verse 15. Every one to his own quarter [or his own way] , denotes that everyone, at the time of judgment, will be reduced to his final state. See the Exposition of Isaiah Chapter 13:14.

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Isaiah Chapter 47

1. COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shalt no longer be called the tender and the delicate.

2. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks; make bare the leg; uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers.

3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered; even your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance; and I will not suffer man to intercede.

4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name! the Holy One of Israel!

5. Sit you in silence, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms,

6. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them up in to your hand: you didst not show mercy unto them; even upon the aged didst you lay very heavily your yoke.

7. And you said, I shall be a mistress for ever: so that you didst not lay these things to your heart, neither didst you remember the end thereof.

8. But hear now this, O you voluptuary, that dwells in security; that sayest in your heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children:

9. Yet shall these two things come upon you in a moment, in one day; loss of children and widowhood: in their perfection shall they, come upon you; because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments.

10. For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have Reduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I run, and there is none beside me.

11. Therefore shall, evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate; and destruction shall come upon you suddenly, which you shalt not know.

12. Persist now in thine enchantments; and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth; if peradventure you mayest be profited; if you mayest become terrible.

13. You art wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let them stand up now, and let them save you, - the observers of the heavens, the gazers on the stars, they that prognosticate concerning the months, - from the things that shall come upon you.

14. Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; not a coal to warm at, not a fire to sit before it.

15. Thus shall they be unto you, with whom you have laboured; your merchants, [with whom you have dealt] from your youth: they shall wander everyone to his own quarter; none shall save you.

237. And knowest not that thou are wretched, signifies that they do not know that their falsities have no coherence with truths. This is evident from the signification of "wretchedness," as meaning the breaking up of truth by means of falsities, and also no coherence; this shows what is meant by "the wretched." They are so because their doctrine is founded on two false principles, which are faith alone and justification by faith; consequently falsities flow in from these in constant succession, and the truths which they adduce from the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm these are weakened and falsified, and truths when falsified are in themselves falsities. This is described in many passages in the Word, and is meant by the "vanities" that the prophets see, and the "lies" that they speak. It is described also by the "breaches" in the walls and houses so that they fall; likewise by "idols" and "graven images" that the artificer makes and connects by chains that they may cohere; for "idols" and "graven images" signify the falsities of doctrine; the like is signified by "breaches of the walls" and "of the houses," and by "the prophets who see vanities and speak lies;" for "prophets" mean doctrines, "vanities" such things as are of no account, and "lies" falsities. But as these things are mentioned in many passages in the Word they cannot be cited here on account of their abundance; they will therefore be omitted, and a few only quoted here in which "wretchedness" and "wall" are mentioned, that it may be known that these signify the weakening of truth by falsities, and thus no coherence.

[2] In Isaiah:

Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath misled thee, when thou hast said in thine heart, I, and none like me besides. Therefore shall wretchedness fall upon thee, and devastation shall come upon thee (Isaiah 47:10-11).

Here also those are described who believe that they know all things and that they are more intelligent than all others, when yet they know and understand nothing of truth; and that therefore the understanding of truth is taken away from them. Their belief that they are more intelligent than all others is meant by "Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath misled thee, when thou hast said in thine heart, I, and none like me besides;" and the loss of all understanding of truth is meant by "wretchedness shall fall upon thee, devastation shall come upon thee."

[3] In Ezekiel:

Wretchedness shall come upon wretchedness; therefore they shall seek a vision from the prophets; but the law hath perished from the priest, and counsel from the elders. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with astonishment (Ezekiel 7:26-27).

Here the vastation of the church is treated of, which takes place when there is no truth that is not falsified. Falsity from falsity is meant by "wretchedness upon wretchedness;" "a vision from the prophet" is doctrine, here the doctrine of falsity; "the law hath perished from the priest" means that the Word is not understood, for "law" signifies the Word, and the "priest" one who teaches; "counsel hath perished from the elders" means that right has perished from the intelligent, "counsel" signifying right, and "elders" the intelligent; "the king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with astonishment," means that there is no longer any truth, "king" signifying truth, and "prince" truths that are primarily of service.

[4] In David:

Right is not in their mouth, wretchedness is in their inward part (Psalms 5:9);

where "wretchedness" likewise stands for falsities not cohering with any truth. So too in Jeremiah:

Lament, and wander among the walls; for their king is gone into exile, and his priests and his princes together (Jeremiah 49:3).

"Wandering among the walls" is among truths destroyed by falsities; "the king gone into exile" signifies truth; and "his priests and princes together" signify the goods and truths of life and doctrine (See above).

[5] In Ezekiel:

When they build a wall [maceriem], behold they daub it with untempered mortar. Say to them which daub it with untempered mortar, that the wall [paries] shall fall. Is it not said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? (Ezekiel 13:10-12).

"The wall which they daub with untempered mortar" signifies falsity assumed as a principle, and by application of the Word from the sense of the letter made to appear as truth; "daubing" is application and seeming confirmation thereby; "untempered mortar" is what has been falsified; and because the truth of the Word is thus destroyed, and the truths used to confirm become truths falsified, which in themselves are falsities, and these with the false principle perish together, it is said, "Behold, the wall shall fall. Is it not said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?"

[6] In Hosea:

Behold, I obstruct thy way with thorns, and I will encompass wall with wall, that she shall not find thy ¹ paths (Hosea 2:6).

"To obstruct the way with thorns" is to obstruct all thoughts by falsities of evil, that truths be not seen; falsities of evil are "thorns;" "to encompass wall with wall" is to heap falsities upon falsities; "that she shall not find thy paths" means that nothing of truth can be seen; this comes to pass because truths and falsities of evil cannot be together, as heaven cannot be with hell; for truths are from heaven, and falsities of evil are from hell; therefore when falsities from evil reign communication with heaven is taken away, and when that is taken away truths cannot be seen, and if presented by others they are rejected. For this reason, those who are in false principles, as those who are in the principles of faith alone and justification by faith, cannot be in any truths (as may be seen above, n. 235, 236).

[7] But let examples illustrate this. Those who have adopted faith alone and justification by faith as a principle of religion, when they read the Word and see that the Lord says that man shall be recompensed according to his deeds and works, and that he who has done good, shall come into heaven, and he who has done evils into hell, call the good things that they do fruits of faith, not knowing or not wanting to know, that the good things called fruits are all from charity, and none of them from faith separate, which is called faith alone; every good also is of charity, and truth is of the faith therefrom. From this it is clear that they pervert the Word; and they do this because they cannot otherwise apply truth to their principle, believing still that the two may thus cohere; but the result is that truth perishes and becomes falsity, and not only falsity but also evil.

[8] From this falsities evidently follow in constant succession, for they teach that the good works that man does are meritorious, not being willing to see that as faith with its truths are from the Lord, and thus not meritorious, so are charity with its goods. They teach also that as soon as a man receives faith he is reconciled to God the Father through the Son, and that the evils thenceforth done, as well as those done before, are not imputed; for they say that all are saved however they have lived, if only they receive faith, even though it be in the hours before death. But these, and many other things which are deductions from the falsity of the principle, do not cohere with the truths from the Word, but destroy them, and truths destroyed are falsities, even such falsities as emit a bad odor. From these a grievous smell is perceived in the other life, which is such that it cannot be endured by any good spirit; it is like the stench of purulent matter from the lungs. Many other examples might be adduced; there is an abundance of them; for whatever is deduced from a false principle becomes thereby a falsity, since in the deduction the principle only is regarded to which it clings because from this it flows and to this it is applied.

[9] What the religion of faith alone and of justification by faith is can be inferred from the simple fact that all who have confirmed these tenets in themselves by doctrine and life, send out from themselves in the other life a sphere of abominable adultery like that of a mother or stepmother with a son; this abominable adultery corresponds to such, and is also perceived from them wherever they go; from that sphere I have a thousand times recognized their presence. Such a sphere flows out from them because they adulterate the goods of charity and of the Word, and adulteries correspond to adulterations of good, while whoredoms correspond to the falsifications of truth (See Arcana Coelestia 2466, 2729, 3399, 4865, 6348, 8904, 10648).

[10] There is a like meaning in:

Reuben's lying with Bilhah, of whom his father begat Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 35:22);

And therefore he was also accursed (Genesis 49:4);

And because he defiled his father's couch the primogeniture was taken away from him and given to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1). For by "Reuben" in the Word faith is meant here faith alone (See Arcana Coelestia 3325, 3861, 3866, 3870, 4601, 4605, 4731, 4734, 4761, 6342, 6350); and by "Joseph," the good of faith (See 3969, 3971, 4669, 6417).

[11] That such things are to take place at the end of the church is predicted in Daniel, where the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream is described in these words:

Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man; but they shall not cleave one to the other, even as iron doth not mingle with clay (Daniel 2:43).

By "iron" truth without good is meant; by "miry clay" the falsity that is from self-intelligence; by "the seed of man" the Word of the Lord (Matthew 13:24, 37). That these do not cohere is meant by "they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay."

Footnotes: