Explanation of Isaiah 48
By Rev. John H. Smithson
THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 48
(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation.)
1. HEAR you this, O house of Jacob; you, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah, and who make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice:
VERSE 1. The "house of Jacob and Israel" is the church; to "come forth out of the waters of Judah" is from doctrine out of the Word, for the church is from thence. That "waters" denote Truths of doctrine from the Word, may be seen above, Chapter 12:3, the Exposition. Apocalypse Explained 119.
The "waters of Judah" signify the Truths which are from the Good of love to the Lord; the Truths thence derived are the essential Goods of charity, which are called spiritual Goods, and which make the spiritual church, the internal of which is "Israel", and the external of which is the "house of Jacob." Hence it is evident what is meant by the "house of Jacob, called by the name of Israel, and come forth out of the Waters of Judah." Arcana Coelestia 3654.
Verses 1, 2. Who are called by the name of Israel, etc. - To "call by a name" signifies quality, · (see Chapter 4:1, the Exposition.) and to "call", without mentioning a name, signifies, in the internal sense, to be of such a quality, as in Isaiah:
"For they are called of the holy city"; (Isaiah 48:2) where, to be " called of [or from] the holy city", is to be of such a quality [as is signified by the holy city].
And in Luke:
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; (Luke 1:32) to be, "called the Son of the Highest", is to be [the Son of the Highest]. Arcana Coelestia 3421.
Who swear by the name of Jehovah. - As to "swearing", see above, Chapter 45:23, the Exposition.
2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; Jehovah of Hosts is His name.
Verse 2. Jerusalem was called the "holy city", because it signified the church as to the doctrine of Truth, and the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord is what is called "Holy." That that "city", without such a representation, and consequent signification, was by no means holy, but rather profane, may be manifest from this consideration, that they rejected and crucified the Lord there; wherefore it is also called "Sodom and Egypt." (Revelation 11:8)
But whereas it signified the church as to the doctrine of Truth, it was called not only the "holy city", but also the "city of God", and the "city of the great King", Apocalypse Explained 223.
See above, Chapter 1:1, the Exposition, why "Jerusalem" signified the church as to doctrinals.
Jehovah of Hosts. - See Chapter 1:9, 24, the Exposition.
3. The former things from the beginning I declared: and from My mouth they went forth, and I made them known: suddenly I effected them, and they came to pass.
Verse 3. [The "former things" which the Lord declared, and which "came to pass", relate to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and which were fulfilled according to the divine predictions. These things or events are appealed to, in order to show to the Jews captive in Babylon, that their deliverance would also be effected, and that they should trust in the Lord for this purpose; but their unbelieving spirit is denoted by "their neck being a sinew of iron", and who would not believe these divine declarations, until at length. "suddenly", unexpectedly, the judgment would come. For although, in the literal sense, the judgment coming upon Babylon, through the attack of Cyrus, is understood, yet, in the primary idea, or in the spiritual sense, the judgment upon the church denoted by "Babylon" is meant.]
4. Because I knew that you wast obstinate, and that your neck was a sinew of iron, and that your forehead was brass;
Verse 4. In this and in the following passages, the "forehead" signifies that which is opposite to the Good of love, that is, the evil of the love [of self], and thence what is hard, obstinate, impudent, and infernal; - "hard" or "obstinate" in the above passage, also in Ezekiel:
"The house of Israel will not obey Me; for the whole house of Israel are obstinate in the forehead, and hard in the heart." (Ezekiel 3:7, 8)
"Impudent" in Jeremiah:
"The forehead of a woman that is a harlot remains with you; you have refused to be ashamed." (Jeremiah 3:3)
And "infernal" in the Apocalypse, 13:16; 14:9-11, 16:2. For as the Good of love is celestial, and thence mild, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that Good is infernal, hard, obstinate, and impudent. Apocalypse Explained 427.
5. Therefore I declared it unto you from the beginning; before it came to pass, I made you to hear it: lest you should say, Mine idol has done them; and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.
6. You didst hear it [beforehand]; behold, the whole [is accomplished]: and will you not declare it? From this time I make you to hear new things, and hidden things which you have not known.
7. They are created now, and not from the beginning; and before the day when you heardest them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them!
Verse 5. That by "idols" and "graven and molten images" are signified doctrines from man's own intelligence, and not from the Word, see above, Chapter 40:18-20; 44:9-18; Exposition.
Since falsities and evils of doctrine, which are signified by "graven and molten images", are formed from man's own intelligence, when under the guidance of his self-love, therefore they are called in the Word "the work of man's hands", "the work of the hands of an artificer", and "the work of the hands of the workman or smith", as may be seen from Hosea 13:2; Deuteronomy 27:15; Psalm 115:4; 135:15. Arcana Coelestia 10406.
8. Yea, you have not heard; yea, you have not known; yea, from the first thine ear was not opened: for I knew that you wouldst deal very treacherously, and that you wast called a transgressor from the womb.
Verse 8. That to "see" signifies faith in science and in understanding, and to "hear", faith in obedience or in the will, is from correspondences in the other life, and hence from significatives. Those who are intellectual and in faith hence, belong to the province of the eye, and those who are obedient and in faith hence, belong to the province of the ear. This may be seen from the following passages in this Prophet, namely, Isaiah 1:19; 50:4, 5; 55:2, 3. Arcana Coelestia 3869 Arcana Coelestia 3869[1-14].
I knew that you wouldst deal very treacherously, and that you wast called a transgressor from the womb. - These things are said of the "house of Jacob", by which is signified the church perverted. To "deal treacherously" signifies against the revealed Truths; and to be "called by the name of a transgressor from the womb" signifies recession from Truths from the first time in which reformation could be effected. By being "called by a name" is signified quality as to such things; see above, verse 2. Apocalypse Explained 710.
9. For the sake of My name I will defer Mine anger; and for the sake of My praise I will restrain it from you, that I may not cut you off.
Verse 9. I will defer Mine anger, etc. - In respect to "anger", when ascribed to the Lord, see Chapter 9:12, 17, 21, the Exposition.
10. Behold, I have purified you, but not for silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11. For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should [My name] be blasphemed? and My glory I will not give to another.
Verse 10. "Affliction" means temptations, for in the Lord's Word nothing else is signified by "afflictions." (Arcana Coelestia 1846)
What "temptations" are, see Chapter 43:2, the Exposition.
Verse 11. What is signified by "profaning and blaspheming the Lord's name", see Chapter 37:6, 17, 23, 24, the Exposition.
My glory I will not give to another. - "Glory", in the supreme sense, is the Divine Human, thus also the Divine Truth, because this is from the Divine Human, "Not to give glory to another" is only to the Divine Human, which is One with Himself. Arcana Coelestia 5922.
The reason why" glory" signifies the Divine Truth in its fulness, is, because everything magnificent in heaven is from the light which proceeds from the Lord, and the light proceeding from Him as the
Sun of heaven is in its essence Divine Truth. True Christian Religion 780.
12. Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the First, and I am the Last:
13. Yea, My hand has founded the earth; and My right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
Verses 12, 13. By the "foundation of the world", (Revelation 17:8) in the sense of the letter, or in the natural sense, is understood the creation of the world, but in the internal spiritual sense is understood the establishment of the church; for the spiritual sense treats of spiritual things, and the natural sense of natural things, which are of the world. Hence it is that by the "creation of heaven and earth", in the first chapter of Genesis, is described, in the spiritual sense, the new creation, or the establishment of the first or most ancient church on this earth, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia. Moreover by "to create", in the Word, is signified to reform, and by "Creator", the Lord as the Reformer and Saviour. The establishment of the church is understood by the "foundation of the world", in Matthew 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24. That the establishment of the church is understood by the "foundation of the earth", is further evident from the passages in the Word where "founding the earth" and the "foundation of the earth" are mentioned, by which the foundation or the creation of the earth is not meant, but the establishment or the creation of the church upon the earth, as in Zechariah:
"Jehovah stretches forth the heavens, and founds the earth and forms the spirit of man within him"; (Zechariah 12:1) where by "stretching forth the heavens" and by "founding the earth", is not understood to stretch forth the visible heaven, and to found the habitable earth, but the church, as to its internals, which are called spiritual things, and as to its externals, which are called natural things; to "found" the one, and to "extend" the other, is to establish [the church], wherefore it is also said that "He forms the spirit of man within him", by which his reformation and regeneration are signified. And in Isaiah 48:12, 13, where by "My hand has founded the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens", etc., are signified similar things. Apocalypse Explained 1057.
I am the First, and I am the Last: yea, My hand has founded the earth; and My right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. - By the "hand" and the "right hand" of Jehovah, or of the Lord, is understood Omnipotence; by "the earth which He founds", is denoted the ultimate; "the heaven which He stretches out or extends", is that which is between the First and the Last; to "call them, that they may stand up together", is to hold all interior things together by the ultimate, in connection and in form, that they may regard one end. The one End which they should regard is "the First and the Last", who is the Lord, us is evident from Revelation 2:8, where He is expressly called "the First and the Last." Arcana Coelestia 10044. See also the Exposition of Isaiah 44:6.
14. Gather yourselves together, all of you, and hear: which among them has declared these things? Jehovah has loved him: and He will execute His pleasure on Babylon; and His arm on the Chaldeans.
15. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he will make his way prosperous.
Verses 14, 20. He will execute His pleasure on Babylon; - Come you forth from Babylon, etc. - 1n respect to "Babylon", and its significance in the Word, see above, Chapter 13 and 14, the Exposition.
16. Come near unto Me, and hear you this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time when it began to be, there am I. And now the Lord Jehovih has sent Me, and His Spirit.
Verse 16. The Lord Jehovih. - What is understood when the Lord is called by this name, see Chapter 3:15, note and Exposition; and what by His "Spirit", see Chapter 11:2, 3, the Exposition.
17. Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah, your God; who teaches you how to profit; who leads you in the way wherein you should go.
Verse 17. That it was JEHOVAH Himself who descended and assumed Human nature for the purpose of effecting the work of Redemption, see above, Chapter 43:11, the Exposition.
18. O that you hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had your peace been like a river, and your justice as the waves of the sea:
Verses 18, 22. For as much as " peace" can only exist with those who live according to the precepts of the Lord, and not with those who do not so live, therefore it is said, "O that you hadst hearkened to My commandments l then had your peace been like a river, and your justice as the waves of the sea. There is no peace, says Jehovah, to the wicked." "Peace like a river", signifies in abundance; "justice as the waves of the sea", signifies fructification of Good by Truths, "justice", in the Word, being predicated of Good, and the "sea" of Truths. Apocalypse Explained 365. In the Word mention is frequently made of "keeping and doing the commandments of God, and His precepts."
By "doing the precepts of God" is understood the same as by loving the Lord above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves; for whatever man inwardly, or from the heart, loves, that be wills, and what he wills, that he does; and to love God is to love His precepts, these being of God, insomuch that they are God. Hence it may appear how little the followers of Faith alone know what "love" is; they announce or affirm that faith lives from love, and that faith is dead without love, and yet they do not know that "love" and "deeds" are one; they say also that in faith there is love, and yet they are ignorant that there can be no "love" in "faith", if they do not live according to the precepts of the Lord contained in the Word; and that it is from thence, and from no other source whatever, that there can be any "love" in "faith", except what is natural only, which is not the love of the Lord and of the neighbour, but the love of self and of the world, and these loves are altogether destructive of faith, yea, they falsify the Truths which appertain to genuine Faith, which are contained in the Word. Apocalypse Explained 894.
Inasmuch as the church at this day does not know that conjunction with the Lord makes heaven, and that conjunction is effected by the acknowledgement that He is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time by a life according to His precepts, it may therefore be expedient to say something on the subject. It may be asked by him who is uninstructed in this case "What is conjunction ? How can acknowledgement and life make conjunction? What need is there of these things, when everyone may be saved by mercy alone? What necessity for any other medium of salvation but faith alone? Is not God merciful and omnipotent?" But let such an one know that in the spiritual world knowledge and acknowledgement make all presence, and that the affection which is of love makes all conjunction; for spaces in that world are nothing else but appearances according to the similitudes of minds, that is, of affections and consequent thoughts; wherefore when anyone knows another either from reputation, or from communication with him, or from conversation, or from affinity, whilst he thinks of him from the idea of that knowledge, he is presented to view, although he was a thousand miles off as to appearance; and if any one loves another whom he is acquainted with, he dwells with him in one society, and if he loves him inmostly, in one house. This is the state of all throughout the spiritual world, and it derives its origin from this circumstance, that the Lord is present with everyone according to faith, and conjoined according to love; faith and the consequent presence of the Lord is given by the knowledge of Truths from the Word, especially concerning the Lord Himself there, but love and consequent conjunction is given by a life according to His precepts, for the ·Lord says, "He that has My precepts, and does them, he it is who loves Me; and I will love him, and make abode with him", etc. (John 14:2l-24.) But in what manner this is effected, it may also be expedient to say. The Lord loves everyone, and is willing to be conjoined to him, but He cannot be conjoined so long as man is in the delight of evil, as in the delight of hatred and revenge; in the delight of adultery and whoredom, in the delight of defrauding or stealing under any pretence whatever, in the delight of blaspheming and lying, and in the concupiscences of the love of self and of the world; for everyone who is in those evils, is in consort with devils who are in hell. The Lord, indeed, loves them even there, but He cannot be conjoined with them, unless the delights of those evils be removed; and they cannot be removed by the Lord, unless man explores himself, so as to know his own evils, acknowledging and confessing them before the Lord, and being willing to desist from them, and thus doing the act of repentance. This man ought to do as from himself, because he is not sensible that be does anything from the Lord; and this has been given to man, because conjunction, in order to be conjunction, must be reciprocal, of man with the Lord, and of the Lord with man. So far, therefore, as evils with their delights are thus removed, so far the love of the Lord enters, which, as was said, is universal towards all; and in such case man is withdrawn from hell, and brought into heaven. Apocalypse Revealed 937.
19. And your seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have been cut off, nor destroyed from before Me.
Verse 19. "Seed as the sand" signifies that if the church had obeyed the Lord's precepts, its Good would have so much increased; and "the offspring of your bowels" its Truths in like manner, for by "the issue or the offspring of your bowels" are signified those who are born of the Lord, or who are in love to the Lord and in charity to their neighbour. (See also the Exposition of Isaiah 63:15.) Arcana Coelestia 1803.
His name should not have been cut off, nor destroyed from before Me. - The "cutting off, and destroying of the name before Jehovah", denotes the quality of the state by which there is conjunction, which state is the spiritual state of those who are of the church which is signified by "Israel." Apocalypse Explained 148.
20. Go you forth from Babylon; flee you from the Chaldeans with the voice of singing: declare you this, and make it heard; utter it forth even to the end of the earth: say you, Jehovah has redeemed His servant Jacob;
Verse 20. As to "Babylon" and "Chaldea", see Chapter xiii., xiv.; also Isaiah 43:14; 47:1, the Exposition.
Verse 20, 21. Jehovah has redeemed His servant Jacob; they shall not thirst in the deserts, through which He unll make them go, yea, He will cleave the rock, etc. - That the "Rock" in Horeb, from which the waters flowed, signified the Lord, is known in the church, [1 Corinthians 10:4.] but that it signified the Lord as to Faith, and also Faith from the Lord, [was shown above, Chap, Isaiah 16:1, the Exposition.] Arcana Coelestia 8581.
21. They shall not thirst in the deserts, through which He will make them go: He will cause waters from the rock to flow for them; yea, He will cleave the rock, and the waters shall gush forth.
Verse 21. He will cause waters from the rock to flow for them, etc."Rock", in this passage, signifies the Lord as to Divine Truth, or, what is the same thing, Divine Truth from the Lord. Apocalypse Explained 411.
22. There is no peace, says Jehovah, to the wicked.
Verse 22. All restlessness arises from what is evil and false, and all peace from what is Good and True. At this day scarcely anyone knows what "Peace" denotes, when it is named in the Word, as in the benediction, "May Jehovah lift up His face upon you, and give you peace!" (Numbers 6:26, and elsewhere.) Almost everyone believes that "peace" consists in security from enemies, and in domestic and social tranquillity, nevertheless this peace is not there meant, but a "peace" which immensely transcends that peace, and which is the heavenly "peace" spoken of just above. No one can be gifted with this "peace" but he who is led of the Lord, and is in the Lord, that is, in heaven, where the Lord is all in all; for heavenly "peace" flows in when the lusts arising from the love of self and of the world are taken away, inasmuch as these lusts are what take away "peace", for they infest the interiors of man, and cause him at length to place rest in restlessness and peace in disturbance, because his delight is in evils. So long as man is in such evils he cannot in any way know what "peace" is; yea, he so long believes that the above "peace" is a thing of nought; and if anyone says that the above "peace" then comes to perception when the delights arising from the love of self and of the world are removed, he ridicules the idea, and the reason is, because he places peace in the delight of evil which is opposite to "peace." Inasmuch as "peace" is of this description, that is, the inmost of all happiness and blessedness, and thence the universal ruling principle in every particular, therefore the ancients adopted a common formula of speech, and said, "Peace be to you!" when they meant to wish anyone's welfare, and inquired whether he had "peace", when they meant to ask whether it.was well with him. Arcana Coelestia 5662.
In respect to heavenly "peace", its origin and its nature, see above, Chapter 9:6, the Exposition.
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Isaiah Chapter 48
1. HEAR you this, O house of Jacob; you, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah, and who make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice:
2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; Jehovah of Hosts is His name.
3. The former things from the beginning I declared: and from My mouth they went forth, and I made them known: suddenly I effected them, and they came to pass.
4. Because I knew that you wast obstinate, and that your neck was a sinew of iron, and that your forehead was brass;
5. Therefore I declared it unto you from the beginning; before it came to pass, I made you to hear it: lest you should say, Mine idol has done them; and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.
6. You didst hear it [beforehand]; behold, the whole [is accomplished]: and will you not declare it? From this time I make you to hear new things, and hidden things which you have not known.
7. They are created now, and not from the beginning; and before the day when you heardest them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them!
8. Yea, you have not heard; yea, you have not known; yea, from the first thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thouwouldst deal very treacherously, and that you wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9. For the sake of My name I will defer Mine anger; and for the sake of My praise I will restrain it from you, that I may not cut you off.
10. Behold, I have purified you, but not for silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11. For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should [My name] be blasphemed? and My glory I will not give to another.
12. Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the First, and I am the Last:
13. Yea, My hand has founded the earth; and My right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14. Gather yourselves together, all of you, and hear: which among them has declared these things? Jehovah has loved him: and He will execute His pleasure on Babylon; and His arm on the Chaldeans.
15. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he will make his way prosperous.
16. Come near unto Me, and hear you this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time when it began to be, there am I. And now the Lord Jehovih has sent Me, and His Spirit.
17. Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah, your God; who teacheth you how to profit; who leads you in the way wherein you should go.
18. O that you hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had your peace been like a river, and your justice as the waves of the sea:
19. And your seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have been cut off, nor destroyed from before Me.
20. Go you forth from Babylon; flee you from the Chaldeans with the voice of singing: declare you this, and make it heard; utter it forth even to the end of the earth: say you, Jehovah has redeemed His servant Jacob;
21. They shall not thirst in the deserts, through which He will make them go: He will cause waters from the rock to flow for them; yea, He will cleave the rock, and the waters shall gush forth.
22. There is no peace, says Jehovah, to the wicked.
Apocalypse Explained #427
427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads, signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated. This is evident from the signification of "to seal," as being to distinguish and separate (of which presently); also from the signification of "the servants of God," as being those who are in truths from good (of which see above, n. 6); also from the signification of "forehead," as being the good of love. It is from correspondence that "forehead" means the good of love; for all things pertaining to man in the whole body, whether within or without, correspond to heaven, for the universal heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one Man, so arranged as to correspond to each and all the things in man. The whole face, where the organs of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and the thoughts therefrom in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nose to perception, the ears to hearkening and obedience, and the taste to the desire to know and be wise; but the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these are, for it forms the highest part of the face, and directly encloses the front and primary part of the brain, which is the seat of man's intellect. This is why the Lord looks upon angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord through the eyes; this is so because the forehead corresponds to the love, from which the Lord looks upon them, and the eyes correspond to the understanding from which they look to the Lord; for the Lord grants Himself to be seen through the influx of love into their understanding. (Respecting this see in the work on Heaven and Hell 145, 151; and that The Universal Heaven in its Whole Complex answers to One Man, n. 68-86; and that There is thence a Correspondence of all Things of Heaven with all Things of Man, n 87-102.) This makes clear the signification of "being sealed on the forehead," namely, to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and thereby to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love; for the Lord looks upon such in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to the Lord by thought from affection. The rest cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, for they turn away from Him and turn themselves to the opposite love, by which they are filled and attracted. (That everyone in the spiritual world, and man as well in respect to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552)
[2] "To be sealed" means not to be sealed, but to be reduced to such a state that their quality may be recognized, and that they may thus be conjoined with those who are in a like state and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state. This is signified by "to be sealed," and by a "sign" in the following passages. In Ezekiel:
Jehovah said to the man clothed in linen, Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst thereof. And pass ye through the city after him and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near against any man upon whom is the sign (Ezekiel 9:4, 6).
This also treats of the separation of the good from the evil; and "to mark on the forehead" has a similar signification as in this passage in Revelation, namely, to be distinguished and separated from the evil and to be conjoined to the good; the casting out and damnation of the evil are treated of afterwards. Those who are in good are described by those "that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst of the city Jerusalem;" "those that sigh and groan over abominations" mean those who are not in evils and in falsities therefrom, "sighing and groaning over them" signifying aversion and grief because of them, "Jerusalem" meaning the church, and "city" the doctrine. Afterwards that they should "pass through the city after him and smite, and the eye should not spare," describes the casting out and damnation of the evil; "to smite and kill" signifying damnation, for spiritual death, which is damnation, is signified in the Word by natural death.
[3] In Isaiah:
He shall come for bringing together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory. And I will set a sign upon them (Isaiah 66:18, 19).
This is said of the Lord, and of a new church to be established by Him, and thus of a new heaven and a new earth (as is evident from verse 22 that chapter). "Bringing together all nations and tongues" has a similar signification, as:
Gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31);
"to gather together" signifies to receive to Himself those who are His own; "nations" signify those who are in good, and "tongues" those who are in a life according to doctrine; "to come and see the glory of the Lord" signifies to be illustrated by Divine truth, and thus to enjoy heavenly joy; for "the glory of the Lord" signifies Divine truth, and illustration and joy from it; "to set a sign upon them" signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil and conjoin them to the good.
[4] It is written of Cain:
That Jehovah set a sign upon him that no one might slay him (Genesis 4:15).
He who does not know this arcanum of the Word that the persons named in its histories mean in the spiritual sense things, or that every person there mentioned represents and thence signifies something of the church and of heaven, can know nothing beyond the historical things of the letter, in which nothing more of the Divine appears than in other histories; and yet there is in the Word, both prophetical and historical, and in each and all things of it, something Divine that does not appear in the letter except to those who are in the spiritual sense and who know it. The spiritual arcanum in the history of Cain and Abel is this: "Abel" represents the good of charity, and "Cain" the truth of faith, and that good and that truth are called in the Word "brethren;" and the truth of faith is called "the firstborn" because the truths that are afterwards to become truths of faith are first acquired and stored up in the memory, that from it, as from a storehouse, good may draw what it may conjoin to itself and make the truths to be truths of faith. For truth does not become of faith until man wills it and does it; but so far as man does this the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and through good into the truths that the man has acquired from childhood, and conjoins them to good and makes them to be truths of faith; before this they are nothing but the cognitions and knowledges, in which as yet man has no other faith than such as he has in things heard from another, from which he can withdraw if he afterwards thinks differently; therefore this faith is not his own but that of another in him; and yet if a man's faith is to remain with him after death it must be his own faith; and it becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for it then enters into the man and forms his spirit, and comes to be of his affection and thought; for man's spirit in its essence is nothing but his affection and thought.
[5] That which is of the affection is called good, and that which is of the thought therefrom is called truth; and man believes nothing to be true except what is of his affection, but of the interior affection that pertains to his spirit; consequently that which a man thinks from interior affection is his faith, and whatever other things he holds in his memory, whether he has drawn them from the Word or from the doctrine of the church, by reading or from preachings, or from his own understanding, are not faith, however much he thinks that they are, and it is at present said and believed that they are. This first-begotten and primary thing is what "Cain" represents and signifies in this history, for Cain was the first-begotten. When this, and not willing and doing the truth, that is, living according to it, is believed to be the faith that saves man, then there springs up a pernicious heresy that faith alone saves, whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith apart from the life; and yet this is not faith, but mere knowledge residing outside of man in his memory, and not within him in the life. If this is called faith it is historical faith, which is having in oneself another's faith, and such a faith does not receive life until the man sees that what he has thus imbibed is true, and this he first sees when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, charity, which is the good of life, is destroyed, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity, or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called in the Word "brethren," as was said above.
[6] That "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain lest he should be slain" signifies that He distinguished him from others and preserved him, because saving faith cannot be given unless historical faith precedes, and this is knowing from others the things of the church and heaven; in a word, it is a knowledge of such things as faith afterwards consists of; for unless man from infancy imbibed truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of the church, or from preachings, he would be empty, and into an empty man no operation could fall, and no influx out of heaven from the Lord could come, for the Lord operates and flows in through good into truths with man, and conjoins these, and thus makes charity and faith to be one. From this can be seen the signification of "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain that no one might slay him, and that whosoever should slay him vengeance should be taken on him sevenfold." Moreover, those who are in mere historical faith, that is, in a knowledge of such things as constitute faith, who are the persons or which is the faith meant by "Cain," these are preserved also because they can teach truths from the Word to others, which they do from memory.
[7] Because the "forehead" corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from Divine love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as was said above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was written "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the miter of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:
Thou shalt make a plate, pure gold, and grave upon it with the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of blue; over against the faces of the miter it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and may be constantly on his forehead, that they may have acceptance before Jehovah (Exodus 28:36-38).
For Aaron as high priest represented the Lord in relation to the good of Divine love, therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love; the miter represented intelligence and wisdom; and the front part of it love, from which are intelligence and wisdom; therefore the plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," was placed upon a thread of blue; "pure gold" of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the "blue" of which the thread was made, on which was the plate, signifies the good of spiritual love (spiritual love is the love of truth); "the engraving of a signet" signifies endurance to eternity; "Holiness to Jehovah" signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human from which proceeds all the holiness of heaven and the church; these were upon the front of the miter which was upon Aaron's head, because the "miter" signifies the like as the head, namely Divine wisdom, and the "forehead" the Divine good of love. (That Aaron represented the Lord in relation to the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia, 9806, 9946, 10017; that "blue" signifies the love of truth, n. 9466, 9687, 9833; and the "miter" signifies intelligence and wisdom, n. 9827)
[8] Because the "forehead" signifies the good of love, the sons of Israel were commanded to bind the commandment respecting love to Jehovah upon their foreheads, as is taught in Moses:
Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes (Deuteronomy 6:5 (Deuteronomy 6:6, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).
It is said "they shall be for frontlets before the eyes," as a representation that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine love, and grants to angels and men to look at Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the "eyes" signify the understanding, and all man's understanding is from the good of his love and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they bound these words upon the hand also represented ultimate things, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore "upon the forehead and upon the hand" signifies in things first and last, and "first and last" signifies all things (as may be seen above, n. 417. This commandment was so bound because "on it hang the law and the prophets," that is, the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and the church:
That on this commandment hang the law and the prophets the Lord teaches (Matthew 22:35-38, 40).
This also makes clear why kings, in former times and also at present, when crowned, were anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand, and what this signifies; for kings formerly represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and because this is received in the good of love that flows in from the Lord, therefore they were anointed upon the forehead and upon the hand, the "oil" also with which they were anointed signifying the good of love. This is why kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good (See above, n. 31). From this it can be seen what "a seal upon the forehead" means, as also elsewhere in Revelation (Revelation 9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).
[9] But on the contrary, the "forehead" signifies that which is opposite to the good of love, namely, the evil of love, and thus what is hard, obstinate, shameless, and infernal. It signifies what is hard in Isaiah:
Thou art hard, for thy neck is a sinew of iron, and thy forehead brass (Isaiah 48:4).
It signifies what is stubborn in Ezekiel:
The house of Israel will not hearken unto Me; for the whole house of Israel are stubborn in forehead and hard in heart (Ezekiel 3:7, 8).
It signifies what is shameless in Jeremiah:
The forehead of a harlot remained to thee, thou didst refuse to be ashamed (Jeremiah 3:3).
It signifies what is infernal in Revelation (Revelation 13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4); for as the good of love is heavenly, and thence mild, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, stubborn, and shameless.
