122. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison. That this signifies that those who are in falsities from evil will attempt to deprive them of all truths from the Word, is evident from the signification of casting into prison, when said of those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, as being to attempt to deprive them of truths from the Word (concerning which we shall speak presently), and from the signification of the devil, as being the hells which are in evil and thence in falsities (concerning which see above, n. 120). The reason why to cast into prison, when said of those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, denotes to attempt to deprive them of truths from the Word is, because truths are in prison, as it were, when falsities break in; and so long as the latter are under the mind's view, truths cannot be seen, still less can they be set at liberty. Those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, those who love truths because they are truths, are detained in such a prison as often as they do not understand the Word, and yet wish to understand it; the falsities which imprison them, rise up out of hell into the natural man, when the delights of the love of self and of the world rule there; for these delights are the origin of all evils and falsities therefrom (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 65-83).

[2] This is what is meant in the spiritual sense by being cast by the devil into prison; for by the devil is meant hell, and from hell proceeds all evil; and it's influx is into the natural man, and not into the spiritual; therefore it thus affects all those who are in the delights of those loves, and subjects them to itself, and makes them its crew; for all who are in the hells are in evils and thence in falsities from the loves of self and of the world (see the work, Heaven and Hell 551-565); but that the delights of those loves are changed into corresponding things (the nature of which may be seen also in the same work, n. 485-490). This casting into prison by the devil is described in the Word, where it is said that the Jews and the wicked would persecute the disciples of the Lord, evil entreat, and kill them. For by the Lord's disciples are meant all who are in truths from good, thus who are in truths from the Lord; and when these are meant by the Lord's disciples, in a sense apart from persons (which sense is the very spiritual sense of the Word), truths and goods themselves, which are from the Lord by means of His Word, are also meant. (That by the Lord's twelve disciples are meant all things of faith and love in the aggregate, thus all the truths and goods of the church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397; that the Word in heaven is understood apart from persons, may be seen above, n. 99, 100.)

[3] He who knows that by the Lord's disciples are meant all those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and in an abstract sense, the truths themselves from good, and that by their being cast into prison by the devil is meant the endeavour of those who are in falsities from evil to deprive them of truths, and, in the abstract, detention or imprisonment of truths by falsities, as said above, will be able to understand what is signified in each of these senses in the following passages:

"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and into prisons, for my name's sake" (Luke 21:12).

(That for the Lord's name's sake signifies on account of the goods of love and the truths of faith, from Him, may be seen above, n. 102.)

"Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated for my name's sake" (Matthew 24:9, 11).

"They will deliver you up to councils, to synagogues, and they will scourge you, for my sake" (Matthew 10:17, 18; Mark 13:9).

"Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city" (Matthew 23:34).

"There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen. And when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, and they did unto them likewise: last of all, he sent unto them his son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him" (Matthew 21:33-44).

"The wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute" (Luke 11:49).

(That by prophets in the Word are meant those who teach truths, and, in an abstract sense, the doctrine of truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2534, 7269; and that apostles have a similar signification, see above, n. 100.)

"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in the heavens; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:11, 12).

"Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake; for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets" (Luke 6:22, 23).

[4] Similar to this is the signification of the words of the Lord to His disciples, in which He exhorts them to take up their cross and follow Him; as in the following passages:

"Jesus said unto his disciples, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34);

to deny one's-self, is to reject the evils which are from the proprium.

"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27).

Jesus said to the young man who was rich:

"One thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and come, take up the cross and follow me" (Mark 10:21).

By this is meant, in the spiritual sense, that he should reject the falsities of Jewish doctrine, should receive the doctrine of truth from the Lord, and undergo assaults and temptations from falsities. They therefore are deceived who believe that those who desire to follow the Lord should sell their goods, and suffer the cross. Because the Lord is Divine truth itself, which (in John 1:1, 2, 3, 14) is called the Word, therefore by the Lord's suffering Himself to be scourged and crucified is signified, that Divine truth which is in the Word was so treated by the Jews (that all things related concerning the passion of the Lord in the Evangelists, involve and signify that the Jews so treated Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 83); therefore the Lord says,

"Remember my word: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20).

[5] That the Jews in particular are meant by the devil who should cast the disciples of the Lord into prison, and that, in general, all who call themselves Jews, and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan, are meant, according to what was adduced above, n. 119, 120, is evident from the words of the Lord in John,

"Ye do not understand my speech because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it" (8:43, 44).

By their father being a murderer from the beginning, and by the truth not being in him, but a lie, is signified that, from the beginning, they had been opposed to truths, and in falsities from evil; for by a murderer is meant a destroyer of the truth of the church, and a father denotes those that were before. (Concerning the quality of the Jewish nation, what it was formerly, and also what it is at this day, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248; that by the bound in prison are signified those who are in falsities from evil, see Arcana Coelestia 4958, 5096: that to be bound in prison signifies to be held back and separated from truths, n. 5037, 5038, 5086, 5096; and also to be tempted, n. 5037, 5038.)

[6] The reason why the Jews were of such a character was, that they were influenced by the love of self and of the world more than any other nation; and such persons, when they read the Word, apply everything to their own loves, and especially the Jews because they are so often named. The case is similar with others who are in those loves, for the love which rules turns the mind of him who reads to those things only which favour it. For love is like a fire, which gives light to such things, whilst all other things are either passed by as if unseen, or they are considered from the point of view of a sinister explanation, and are thus falsified. Both the latter and the former infest those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and are what is meant by the devil, who casts into prison those who belong to the Lord's church; for from these all falsities from the spiritual world flow into those who desire truths, and hold them as if they were bound in prison. The same are also meant by those concerning whom the Lord says,

"I was in prison, and ye visited me not" (Matthew 25:43).

5037. The reason why 'being committed to the prison-house' and 'being kept bound there' mean being subjected to temptations involving false-speaking against good is that the expression 'the prison house' is used for the entire place just beneath and round about the soles of the feet where those undergoing vastation are kept. Those undergoing vastation there are people who, in spite of their false assumptions and of their evil life arising from falsity, have nevertheless had good intentions. Such people cannot be received into heaven until they have divested themselves of their false assumptions and also of a living delight in them which sprang from these assumptions. People in that place are subjected to temptations, for the false assumptions and the living delights springing from these cannot be ousted except by means of temptations. The place where those people are, or rather the state which they are passing through, is meant in general by 'the prison-house' and those actual places by 'pits'. Regarding vastations in the next life, see 698, 699, 1106-1113, 2699, 2701, 2704. Those undergoing vastations are called 'the bound'; not that they are literally bound in any way but that they lack freedom so far as their previous thoughts and resulting affections are concerned.

[2] Such is the condition of those meant in the Word by 'the bound' and by 'those who are in prison', as is evident from other places in the Word:

In Isaiah,

I will give You to be a covenant of the people, a light of the nations, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and His Coming. Here 'opening the blind eyes and bringing the bound out of prison, and out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness' stands for those who have no knowledge of goodness and truth but who nevertheless have the desire to know and be taught about these. But in this instance a different word is used in the original language to describe a prison.

[3] In the same prophet,

All the young men are hidden in prison houses; they have become a prey, and none delivers and none says, Bring out. Isaiah 42:22.

'The young men' in the internal sense are the truths of faith, which are said 'to be hidden in prison-houses and to become a prey' when they are not acknowledged any longer. In the same prophet,

It will be on that day, that Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high, and the kings of the ground on the ground, and the bound will be gathered together over the pit, and they will be shut in ¹ the dungeon; after a multitude of days they will be visited. Isaiah 24:21-22.

'The bound over the pit' stands for those undergoing experiences of vastation, that is, temptation.

[4] In the same prophet,

What will you do on the day of visitation and vastation? It will come from afar. To whom will you flee for help? [Anyone] who has not bowed himself down will fall beneath the bound and beneath the slain. Isaiah 10:3-4.

'Beneath the bound' stands for the hell which lies below the places of vastation.' The slain' stands for those who through the false assumptions adopted by them have destroyed the truths of faith to a smaller extent than those pierced [by the sword] have done, dealt with in 4503.

[5] In Zechariah,

He will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Also as for You, through the blood of Your covenant I will let out the bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Return to the stronghold, O bound ones of hope. Zechariah 9:10-12.

'Letting out the bound ones from the pit' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptation; for the places where such undergo vastation are called 'pits', see 4728, 4744. In David,

Jehovah hears the needy and does not despise His bound ones. Psalms 69:33.

In the same author,

Let the groaning of him who is bound come before You. Psalms 79:11.

In the same author,

Jehovah looked from the heavens towards the earth to hear the groaning of him who was bound, to open to the sons of death. Psalms 102:19-20.

'Those who are bound' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptations. In Isaiah,

In a time of good pleasure I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped ² You; I have also guarded You, and I have given You for a covenant of the people to restore the land, to apportion the inheritances that have been laid waste, to say to those that are bound, Go out; and to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed ³ along the roads, and on all slopes will their pasture ⁴ be. And they will neither hunger nor thirst. Isaiah 49:8-10.

[6] In the same prophet,

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon Me, Jehovah has anointed Me; to bring good tidings to the poor He has sent Me, and to bind up the broken in heart; to preach liberty to captives, and to those who are bound, to him who is blind; to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure.

In David,

Jehovah who executes judgement for the oppressed, who gives bread to the hungry; Jehovah who sets the bound free; Jehovah who opens the blind [eyes]; Jehovah who lifts up the bowed down; Jehovah who loves the righteous; Jehovah who guards strangers, upholds the orphan and the widow. Psalms 146:7-9.

'The bound' stands for those who are undergoing vastation and temptations because of falsities.

From all these places it is also evident who are meant in Matthew by those who are bound or 'in prison' and likewise who are meant by 'the hungry, the thirsty, and strangers',

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me around, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Matthew 25:34-36

Regarding these verses, see the preliminary section of the present chapter, 4954-4958.

Footnotes: