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).

248. The Jewish church and Jews. ¹ The statutes, judgments, and laws that were commanded in the Jewish church were somewhat like those of the ancient church: 4449, 4834. How the symbolic rites of the Jewish church differed from the symbolic rites of the ancient church: 4288, 10149. A symbolic church was established for the people of that nation, but there was no real church among them: 4899, 4912, 6304. So they had something that symbolized a church but not an actual church: 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 6304, 7048, 9320, 10396, 10526, 10531, 10698. Because of the stubborn insistence of their ancestors and Moses, the Israelite and Jewish people were accepted as a church, not because they actually were a chosen people but rather so that they would symbolize a church: 4290, 4293, 7051, 7439, 10430, 10535, 10632. Their worship was solely external, without any inner worship: 1200, 3147, 3479, 8871. They knew absolutely nothing about inner worship and did not want to know: 301, 302, 303, 3479, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10694, 10701, 10707. What they thought of the inner aspects of worship, the church, and the Word: 4865. Their inner natures were foul, full of their love for themselves and the world and of avarice: 3480, 9962, 10454-10457, 10462-10466, 10575. Therefore the inner teachings of the church were not disclosed to them, because otherwise they would have defiled them: 2520, 3398, 3480, 4289. The Word was completely closed to them: 3769. They saw the Word from the outside and not from the inside (10549, 10550, 10551), so their inner self was closed when they were engaged in worship (8788, 8806, 9320, 9377, 9380, 9962, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10492, 10498, 10500, 10575, 10629, 10692). All the same, this people was more capable than any other of being outwardly holy despite the fact that their inner self was closed: 4293, 4311, 4903, 9373, 9377, 9380. Their state at such times: 4311. That is also why they have been preserved to this day: 3479. Their holy outward behavior was miraculously raised up and exhibited to heaven by the Lord, and as a result deeper levels of worship, the church, and the Word were perceived there: 3480, 4307, 4311, 6304, 8588, 10499, 10500, 10602. So that this could happen, they were driven by external pressures to a strict observance of their rituals in outward form: 3147, 4281, 8006. Because they could be outwardly holy without inner holiness, they were able to represent what is truly holy in the church and heaven: 3479, 3881, 4208, 6304, 8588, 9377, 10430, 10500, 10570. Nevertheless, they were not interested in what is truly holy: 3479. It does not matter what a person who symbolizes something is like, because symbolism focuses on the issue and not on the person: 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.

[2] Those people were worse than other peoples; a description of what they were like, including material from the Word of both Testaments: 4314, 4316, 4317, 4444, 4503, 4750, 4751, 4815, 4820, 4832, 5057, 5998, 7248, 8819, 9320, 10454-10457, 10462-10466. The tribe of Judah strayed more than the other tribes: 4815. How they took pleasure in cruelly treating other peoples: 5057, 7248, 9320. That people was idolatrous at heart and worshiped other gods more than other peoples did: 3732, 4208, 4281, 4825, 5998, 6877, 7401, 8301, 8871, 8882. Even their worship, seen in the context of that people, was idolatrous, since it was superficial, with no inner substance: 4281, 4825, 8871, 8882. They worshiped Jehovah in name only (6877, 10559, 10560, 10561, 10566), and only because of the miracles he did (4299). It is incorrect to think that the Jews are going to be converted at the end of the church ² and brought back into the land of Canaan: 4847, 7051, 8301. A copious selection of passages from the Word on this subject-passages that are, however, to be understood in their inner meaning and therefore not taken literally: 7051. The Word was changed in its outer meaning because of that people, but not in its inner meaning: 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604. The way Jehovah appeared to them on Mount Sinai was shaped by their own nature, so he appeared in devouring fire, thick cloud, and smoke like that of a furnace: 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434. The way the Lord appears to each of us depends on what we ourselves are really like-as a life-giving and creative fire if we are devoted to doing good, but as a devouring fire if we are bent on doing evil: 934, 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551. One lineage of that people was of Canaanite ancestry and two others were the result of fornication with a daughter-in-law: 1167, 4818, 4820, 4874, 4899, 4913. Those stories represent the nature of their relationship with the inner truth of the church, namely, that it was like that of union with a Canaanite or fornication with a daughter-in-law: 4868, 4874, 4899, 4913. Their state in the other life: 939, 940, 5057.

[3] Because despite all this that people symbolized the church, and because the Word was composed among and about them, their names-for example, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ephraim, Joseph, and the rest-have divine and heavenly meanings. In its inner meaning, "Judah" means the Lord in respect to his heavenly love and his heavenly kingdom: 3654, 3881, 5583, 5603, 5782, 6363. An explanation of Israel's prophecy concerning Judah in Genesis 49:8-12, which is about the Lord: 6362-6381. Both the tribe of Judah and Judea mean the heavenly church: 3654, 6364. The twelve tribes represented and meant all the aspects of love and faith taken together (3858, 3926, 4060, 6335), and therefore heaven and the church as well (6337, 6637, 7836, 7891). Their meanings depend on the order in which they are named: 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603 and following, 6337, 6640. The twelve tribes were divided into two kingdoms so that the Judeans could represent the heavenly kingdom and the Israelites could represent the spiritual kingdom: 3654, 8770. The seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob means the goodness and truth that belong to the church: 3373, 10445.

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