"You Mighty Man of Valour"

This is part 1 of a 3-part series of sermons that follow the story of Gideon, one of the judges of Israel.

To understand the story of Gideon, it’s important to have some context. The book of Judges describes the period in Israel’s history after the children of Israel had been led out of slavery under the leadership of Moses, and had settled the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. For the next several centuries after Joshua’s death, the twelve tribes of Israel were led by judges whom the Lord appointed, who would liberate Israel from their enemies, settle disputes, and ensure that justice was done - but who did not rule over the people as kings.

If the children of Israel had kept Jehovah’s law, this would have been a period of peace and stability. But they did not consistently obey the Lord; instead, a pattern emerged, a cycle that repeated itself over and over again. First, the people would disobey God. As a result, they would be defeated by an enemy. They would cry out for help, and the Lord would raise a judge to save them. After learning their lesson, for a time, they would obey; but after the judge’s death, inevitably they would backslide, and the cycle would start again.

It is after this had already occurred several times that the story of Gideon begins, as recounted in the sixth chapter of the book of Judges. The chapter begins as so many in the book of Judges do:

“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah” (Judges 6:1). The consequence of their evil, as always, was that they were conquered by an enemy; in this case, by the people of Midian, who would come down in raiding parties every time the children of Israel grew crops or bred livestock and take everything, leaving the Israelites hungry and poor. As a result, the children of Israel lived in a constant state of fear, hiding themselves in dens and caves of the mountains. When we first hear of Gideon, we find him threshing wheat in a winepress, trying to hide what little he has from the Midianites.

Let’s pause here and take a step back and ask a big question: what does all of this have to do with life here and now? In the New Church, we are taught that every part of the Lord’s Word describes an eternal spiritual reality. Everything in this story of Gideon represents something in our own spiritual lives.

According to the teachings of the New Church, the specific enemies that defeated Israel reflected the specific evils they had fallen into; so if we understand what Midian represents, we can understand what kind of spiritual state this story is all about. According to the book, Secrets of Heaven, the Midianites represented “truth which was not truth, because there was no good of life [attached to it]” (Secrets of Heaven 5955) - that is, a knowledge of truth divorced from any application to life. In particular, the Midianites are said represent a state where “the delight of pleasures,” rather than goodness of life, is regarded as the goal (Secrets of Heaven 7602). We're attacked and defeated by the Midianites, then, when we might know the truth, but we don’t particularly care about learning or applying it because we’re more concerned about just doing what feels good.

There’s an exercise you can do that may help you identify the Midianites in yourself. Listen to this statement, and pay attention to your response to it. Here’s the statement:

“I will set aside a significant amount of time every day to read the Lord’s Word and seriously reflect on how I can practically live by what it teaches me.”

Now, pay attention, and see if there is a part of yourself where your reaction to that statement is, “Ugh,” where that feels tedious and boring. That’s Midian.

Maybe for some of you, that response isn’t there at all. Maybe for others, you recognise it as being there, but also recognise part of yourself where you long for that time set aside. And maybe for some of you your reaction is, “What do you mean, the part of myself where my reaction is ‘ugh.’ That’s all of me!” If that’s you - you may have a Midianite problem.

And here’s the problem with the Midianites, which most of us have probably experienced. When we’re living exclusively for the sake of worldly things - food, pleasure, fun, entertainment, video games, TV, recreation, socialising, parties, etc. - even though we enjoy ourselves, after a while we realise there’s part of us that wishes there were something more, that even feels like it’s starving. Life starts to feel meaningless and flat. Those Midianites - that living for the sake of pleasure - are plundering the part of you that yearns for a life of depth and meaning.

But there is hope, because there is something in us that is represented by Gideon, too. As the story begins, Gideon is doing what he can with the little bit he has, threshing wheat in the winepress. That’s a picture of the part of us, that even when we’ve become obsessed with worldly things, is still trying to do a little bit to live by God’s Word. There’s power there - but it might not feel like it, and Gideon doesn’t know it yet.

While Gideon was there threshing wheat, suddenly the angel of Jehovah appeared to him. This angel was a manifestation of God Himself. And his first words to Gideon were shocking: “Jehovah is with you, you mighty man of valour!” Both parts of that statement were shocking: Gideon - hiding out in a winepress - certainly didn’t feel like a mighty man of valour. And it certainly didn’t feel like Jehovah was with him. If Jehovah was with him, why were things so bad? He said to the angel, “If Jehovah is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt?’

When we’re in states where we’ve gotten totally wrapped up in worldly things, we might have similar feelings. When we hear the Lord say in His Word, “I am with you always,” our response might be pretty similar to Gideon’s. Really? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it. In these states, it’s difficult to believe that there’s anything beyond the physical world, let alone the kind of powerful, loving, personal God that we’ve heard people talk about and maybe even have a dim memory of experiencing ourselves. If the Lord is with us, why does it feel like He is so completely absent as to be non-existent?

We might expect here a note of reassurance from the angel, some comforting explanation of why God feels absent. But that’s not what Gideon was given. Instead, Jehovah said something even more startling: “Go in this power of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” Not, “Don’t worry, I will save you.” No. “You, Gideon - you’re going to save Israel, because I’ve told you to. Go, do it.”

Gideon protests, as we all probably would: “Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my thousand are the poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” As we might say, “Really Lord? I’m nobody! I think you’ve got the wrong guy.” There’s truth in Gideon’s confession, and it’s important. Any of us who have tried and failed to make a change in our lives know how weak we are of ourselves. Acknowledging that weakness is the first step toward asking for the Lord’s power in place of our own. And as Jehovah reveals, it is because of His power that Gideon will be able to succeed; he said to Gideon, “Surely I will be with you.”

But even having said this, He continued to focus on Gideon’s part; he said, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” It’s still Gideon doing it. And this “you” here in Hebrew is singular - not “you, the Israelites” shall defeat the Midianites. No, “you, Gideon.” You personally. Because of My presence with you, yes - but you’re still the one who is going to do it.

Gideon cannot believe it, and he challenges the angel to prove he is who he says he is. And we’ll see several more times that Gideon is faltering and uncertain, in constant need of reassurance that he can do this. And it seems that maybe his responses, although they contain a healthy humility, also contain an unhealthy element of fear and avoidance. In some ways, it seems like Gideon’s doing everything he can to get out of the job he’s been called to do. He’d asked where the God was who’d performed miracles in Egypt, and quite possibly he was expecting a miraculous, instantaneous salvation from the Midianites. Instead, it turns out that he himself is going to have to work hard for it. It might not be exactly the rescue he’d had in mind.

The same thing can be true for us in our path of regeneration or rebirth. It really is true that the Lord does everything for us, that all power comes from Him. But that’s not how we experience it, especially not at first. Even if intellectually we’ve been taught that everything good we do is from God, we’re not really going to get what that means until we’ve done a fair amount of fighting that feels like work we’re doing from our own power. Gideon wants a miracle, and he does get several of them, but only with his own participation - miracles that still require him to act.

The first miracle - the confirmation that he has been speaking with God - occurs when he brings food to his guest. He brings out a young goat as an offering, along with unleavened bread and broth. He puts them down on a rock. According to the teachings of the New Church, these things represent the ingredients we need to recognise that God really is present, even when He feels absent. That rock represents God’s Word, the truth. The young goat represents innocence, a willingness to simply do what God says. And the unleavened bread represents a desire for goodness.

So what does this all mean in the context of oppression by Midian? Well, think of those states of mind, where it seems like God is absent. The first thing we’re called to do is to make a humble, innocent decision - I’m going to start following God even if I don’t feel like He’s real. I’ll try to build my life on the rock - laying down that sacrifice before the Lord. And in making that decision, we might notice a shift in ourselves. This is something different from the life of pleasure that we’ve been living. Maybe there is a different kind of life, where we experience power beyond our own. That’s represented by the angel reaching out that staff. And maybe there is a deeper kind of love than the surface-level interactions we’ve been having. That love is represented by the fire from heaven consuming the offering.

Now here’s the thing - even though it was blindingly obvious in the story as it happened, it might not be so obvious to us that we really have caught a glimpse of God. We’ll think maybe we saw something, and maybe we didn’t. Even Gideon, who did see this miracle, asked again later for another confirmation. The state of mind represented by the Midianite oppression is murky and unclear - that’s why we see so many images of caves and darkness and night throughout the story. We're not going to be sure of ourselves until those Midianites are gone. Until then, we’re going to be wavering and in the dark.

But even in the dark, Gideon did go through with what he was called to do. The first thing he was called to do was to tear down the idols of his father’s household, effectively declaring war on the false god that had led to their enslavement by Midian. And this is the first step in taking up arms against the spiritual Midianites that beset us now - to make a commitment to shape our lives around what the Lord calls us to in His Word, to make a commitment to living for more than our own pleasure, to look at concrete steps we can take to bring our lives more into alignment with what the Lord wants us to do. It’s a commitment to do that daily work, to say, “I will set aside time every day to read the Lord’s Word and seriously reflect on how I can practically live by what it teaches me.” It is a commitment to reject behaviour that is forbidden in the Word. If we’ve never done this, it can be a scary thing, since we don’t really know what we’re doing. Do I have to become one of those religious people? Do I have to go to church every Sunday? Do I have to be serious all the time? And yet, despite the fact that we can’t see clearly, we know we have to do something.

Above all, here’s what we can’t do: we can’t sit idly by and hope for inspiration, to hope that a sudden bolt of divine intervention will shake us out of our pleasure-seeking sedation. That’s not the way it works: we have to do the hard work of compelling ourselves before we start to experience the presence of the Lord. It was only after Gideon - at night, confusedly, fumblingly, of his own power - knocked down his father’s idol that the spirit of God came over him. Self-compulsion doesn’t feel like it brings freedom, and it doesn’t feel like it brings the presence of God - but after we’ve done it, in hindsight, we recognise that this is exactly what it does. Listen to this passage from Secrets of Heaven:

They who have compelled themselves to resist what is evil and false - although at first they supposed that this was from themselves or from their own power, but were afterwards enlightened to see that their effort was from the Lord, even to the least of all the particulars of the effort - these in the other life cannot be led by evil spirits, but are among the happy. Thus we may see that a person ought to compel himself to do what is good and to speak what is true. (Secrets of Heaven 1937)

This dynamic is summed up in the Lord’s own words: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The abiding in the Word, the discipleship comes first; the sight of truth, the sense of freedom, only comes afterward.

This is only the beginning of the story, though. Gideon has a success. When we make that commitment to topple the false God of pleasure, to live for something more, we can feel a sense of accomplishment, a new clear-sightedness - we know who the enemy is, and we are ready to go into battle against it. Gideon blows the trumpet and rallies the tribes around him. And yet - things are still not entirely clear. Gideon still asks for another sign, which the Lord graciously grants, the sign of the fleece. Even after that initial sense of progress, we will start to feel unsure of ourselves again, and the Lord understands that - and He asks us to trust that if we keep following, He’ll keep giving us signs that He’s there. Making that commitment to a spiritually-focused life does not mean the battle is won; but it does mean that there is a battle, that we recognise two sides within us now, that there is more than Midian. We will strive against Baal, and Baal against us. We’ll do that by compelling ourselves away from evil and toward goodness.

But that is starting to get ahead of ourselves - that is the battle, the story for next week. For this week, if nothing else, take away this: you have great power when the Lord is with you, and the Lord is with you. Act from your power which He gives you. Don’t wait for Him to flow in and take over your life - start doing what He says, and give Him a good vessel to work with. Compel yourself to set aside time to focus on spiritual things. Commit yourself to entering that spiritual battlefield, to toppling the false gods you’ve set up. Know that you will stumble, and things will not always be clear. But know this: you are a mighty man or woman of valour, because the Lord is with you. Go now, in this your power, and overcome the enemy.

410. Hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. That this signifies those things destroyed by evils of life and by the falsities thence, is plain from the signification of hiding themselves as denoting their being destroyed, namely, internal and external goods and truths, or those that are in the natural and spiritual man, these being signified by the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and by every bondservant and every freeman, as has been shown above. Hence it follows that by they hid themselves is signified that those things were destroyed, the things which are destroyed being also in concealment. From the signification of caves, as denoting evils of life, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of the rocks of the mountains, as denoting the falsities thence; for rocks signify the truths of faith, and in an opposite sense the falsities of faith; here the falsities from evils, for mountains signify evils flowing from the loves of self and of the world (as was shown just above, n. 405); but the signification of rocks will be seen in the article immediately following; here, [however, the signification] of caves.

[2] It was stated above, that in the spiritual world there are mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, and lands, as in our world, and that angels and spirits dwell on them; but in the spiritual world they have everywhere another appearance; on the mountains there those who are in the greatest light dwell; below them, on the same mountain, dwell those who are in less light; and beneath these, those who are in still less; and in the lowest parts dwell those who are in darkness and thick darkness respectively to the light which those possess who are above. The heavens, consequently, are in the higher part of the mountains, and the hells are in the lowest parts, thus the expanses of the mountain succeed each other as strata. The reason is, that the lower parts may be governed by the higher from the Lord; for the Lord flows in immediately from Himself into all things of the spiritual world, and mediately through the higher heavens into the lower, and through these into the hells. The reason for this arrangement is, that all may be kept in connection by influx; such a co-ordinate and sub-ordinate arrangement exists through the whole spiritual world.

Into the hells which are under the mountains and in the rocks, entrances open either in the lowest part of their sides, or through caverns from the valleys; and the entrances in the lower parts of the sides appear like entrances into caves where there are wild beasts, altogether dark, which are opened when evil spirits are let in, but are closed when they have been let in. These entrances are called in the Word the gates of hell. In the rocks, however, these entrances appear as clefts in the rock, and in some places as openings of differing magnitude. The darkness in those gates or doors appears as darkness to good spirits and angels, but as full of light to evil spirits; the reason is, that there is no light of heaven there, but a fatuous light, which is natural light without spiritual. Their light, however, is not like the light of the world in the day-time, but like the nocturnal light, which is for horned owls, moles, night owls, and bats, which see nothing in the light of day, and hence the light of day is darkness to them, whilst the darkness of the night is their light. Their sight is of such a nature, because it is formed of falsities and evils, which in themselves are darkness and thick darkness; wherefore also by darkness in the Word are signified falsities of every kind, and by thick darkness the falsities of evil. From these things it is evident what is signified by their hiding themselves in caves, namely, that [they were] in evils of life, goods with them having been destroyed. Evils of life are signified by caves, for the same reason that mountains signify goods of life, namely, because such is the quality of those who are there; for the spiritual sense regards only evils or goods apart from places and persons, such as they are in themselves and in those [persons], as has also been frequently shown above.

[3] From these things it is evident what is signified in the Word by caves, caverns, hollows, openings, clefts, and chinks of rocks and mountains, in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of Jehovah, and for the glory of his majesty. For the day of Jehovah of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the images of desire. And the pride of man (hominis) shall be bowed down, and the loftiness of men (virorum) shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols shall go away into smoke. And they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the clefts of the dust, for fear of Jehovah, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to terrify the earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves, to bow down to the moles and to the bats; to go into the rents of the rocks, and into the clefts of the rocks" (2:10-21).

No one can understand all these things except from the internal sense, and except he knows the nature of the appearance of things in the spiritual world. For without the internal sense, who would know what is denoted by, the day of Jehovah shall be upon the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, upon the mountains and hills, upon the tower and the fenced wall, upon the ships of Tarshish and the images of desire; and what is denoted by bowing down to moles and bats? And except from the appearance of things being known in the spiritual world, who would know what entering into the rock denotes, and hiding themselves in the dust, entering into the caves of the rocks, and into the clefts of the dust, likewise into the rents of the rocks, and the clefts of the rocks? But, from the internal sense, it is known that by all these things is described the state of those who are in the love of self and of the world, and thence in evils and falsities at the time of the Last Judgment. It is, therefore, said that the day of Jehovah shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up and brought low; the day of Jehovah denoting the Last Judgment; every proud and lofty one denoting those who are in the love of self and the world; and every one that is lifted up and brought low denoting those who are in the love of their own intelligence. This is further described by, "the day of Jehovah shall be upon all the cedars that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains and the hills that are lifted up, upon every high tower and fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish and the images of desire." By the cedars of Lebanon and by the oaks of Bashan is signified the pride of man's own intelligence; interior pride, by the cedars of Lebanon, and exterior, by the oaks of Bashan. By the mountains and hills are signified the loves of self and of the world, and the evils and falsities originating thence (as was shown above, n. 403). By the tower and the wall are signified falsities of doctrine confirmed. By the ships of Tarshish and the images of desire are signified knowledges and perceptions of falsity from evil; their worship from evils and falsities is signified by the idols which they made each one for himself to bow down to the moles and the bats. Worship from such things as are from one's own intelligence is signified by the idols which they made for themselves to bow down unto; the evils and falsities from which such worship springs are signified by the moles and the bats, because their sight is in the darkness, and they shun the light. The judgment upon them is described by, they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the clefts of the dust, likewise into the rents of the rocks, and into the clefts of the rocks; also by entering into the caves of the rocks and into the clefts of the dust, is signified the damnation of those who are in evils and falsities from the love of self and of the world, and in the pride of one's own intelligence; for the hells of such appear as caves in rocks, and the entrances into them as the rents of rocks and clefts of rocks; rocks (petroe et rupes) also signify the falsities of faith and doctrine, and dust signifies what is cursed.

[4] In Jeremiah:

"Thy dread hath deceived thee, the pride of thine heart, thou that dwellest in the openings of the rocks, that holdest the height of the hill; if thou shouldst exalt thy nest as the eagle, thence will I cast thee down" (49:16).

These things are said concerning Esau and Edom; and by Esau are here signified the love of self and the evil thence destroying the church, and by Edom the pride of man's own intelligence and the falsity thence destroying the church. That the love of self and such pride are meant, is evident from its being said, "the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee; if thou shouldst exalt thy nest as the eagle, thence will I cast thee down." Those who are in falsities from one's own intelligence, dwell in rocks below, and entrances to them appear as openings therein, which have also been seen by me; within, however, there are cells and chambers hollowed out, where they sit in their fantasies; but before they are cast in thither they appear above the mountains and hills, for they raise themselves into heights by fantasies, and not being in truths they suppose that they are there as to the body, when nevertheless they are as to the body in the caverns of the rocks; this, therefore, is what is meant by dwelling in the openings of the rocks, and holding the height of the hill. Hence it is plain what the quality of the Word is, namely, that in many places [it is written] according to aspects and appearances in the spiritual world, which are unknown to man, but known to spirits and angels; whence it is evident that the Word is written for them also.

[5] In Obadiah:

"The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, in the height of thy seat; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? If thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and if thou set thy nest amongst the stars, thence will I bring thee down" (verses 3, 4).

These words also are said concerning Edom, by whom is here signified the pride of erudition which is from man's own intelligence, and the falsity thence destroying the church. Nearly similar things being here mentioned as just above, like things also are signified; by the clefts of the rock are signified the falsities of faith and of doctrine, because those dwell there who are in them [i.e. in falsities]; they are compared to an eagle, because by an eagle from its flight into the heights, is signified the pride of man's own intelligence; because also it is said a nest for habitation. To place it among the stars, signifies on the heights where they dwell who are in the knowledges of truth, for the knowledges of truth are signified by stars. In Job:

"To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, in the openings of the earth, and in the rocks" (30:6).

Here also by the clefts of the valleys, the openings of the earth, and the rocks, are signified the falsities of evil, for the falsities of evil are here treated of.

[6] In Isaiah:

"It shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria; which shall come, and shall rest all of them in the rivers of desolations, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the shoots, and in all the conduits" (7:18, 19).

Thus is described the church, vastated by scientifics falsely applied, and by the reasonings thence, by which the very knowledges of truth from the Word are perverted. The fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, signifies falsity in the extremes of the natural man; the extremes of the natural man are what are called sensual things, for the natural man is interior, middle, and exterior; the interior communicates with the spiritual man by the Rational, but the exterior with the world by the senses of the body, and the middle conjoins both. The exterior is what is called the Sensual, because it depends upon the senses of the body, and thence draws all that belongs to it. The falsities there and thence, are signified by the flies that are in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt. By the bee, however, in the land of Assyria are signified false reasonings thence; for by Assyria is signified the Rational, and by Egypt the scientific of the natural man; and because the Rational derives all that it has from the scientifics of the natural man, hence its reasonings are signified by bees, because bees suck out and derive their store from the flowers, so does the Rational from the scientifics of the natural man. Here, however, by bees are signified false reasonings, because the Rational collects what belongs to it from scientifics falsely applied. That these things are likened to flies and bees is also from correspondence; for in the spiritual world there appear flying things of various kinds, but they are appearances from the ideas of the thoughts of spirits, and the noxious flying things among them are flies and bees of such a kind. The flies in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt derive their correspondence from their birth out of the filth of rivers. It is said that they shall come and rest in the rivers of desolations, and in the clefts of the rocks, which signifies that the falsities of scientifics and the reasonings thence shall reside where there are no truths, and where there is a faith of falsity; the rivers of desolations denoting where there are no truths, and the clefts of the rocks where there is a faith of falsity. That [they shall rest] on all shoots and in all conduits, signifies that the knowledges and perceptions of truth are falsified by them; the shoots denoting the knowledges of truth, and conduits denoting the perceptions which become falsified by the falsities above mentioned, when they flow in. No one can see and know that these arcana are contained in these words, except from the internal sense, and at the same time from the spiritual world.

[7] In the same:

"The palace shall be a wilderness; the multitude of the city shall be forsaken; a summit and a beacon tower shall be upon the caves even for ever, a joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks" (32:14).

By these words is described the total vastation of the church where there is no longer any good of life and truth of doctrine. No one, however, can know what those things involve, but him who knows the state of things in the spiritual world, and at the same time the internal sense. The devastation of the whole church is meant by, "The palace shall be a wilderness, and the multitude of the city forsaken." A palace signifies the whole church as to truths from good, and a wilderness signifies [where there is] no good because no truth; hence by, the palace shall be a wilderness, is signified the church devastated. The multitude of the city signifies all the truths of doctrine, for a city denotes doctrine, and multitude is said of truths, which are called forsaken when they do not exist. That a summit and a beacon tower shall be upon the caves for ever, signifies that the church shall no longer exist with them, because there is nothing but evil of life and falsity of doctrine. Caves signify such things, because such persons dwell in caves, as said above; and because such persons dwell in deep places in the spiritual world, and are covered above by summits and beacon towers, thus hidden from those who dwell upon lands there, therefore it is not only said that "a summit and a beacon tower shall be upon the caves," but also that [they shall be] "a joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks." In that world also there are many hells in deep places altogether hidden by the earths, rocks, and hills above, or by summits and beacon towers, where there is grass, like a pasture for flocks; whence it is that they are unknown to those who dwell there upon the land. A joy of wild asses also signifies the affection or love of falsities, and a pasture of flocks, the nourishment of evils from falsities; and both the devastation of truth by falsities. From these things it may be seen what all arcanum lies hid in these words.

[8] In Jeremiah:

"Is this house, upon which my name is named, become a den of robbers?" (7:11).

By a den of robbers is signified evil of life from falsities of doctrine; and by the house "upon which my name is named," is signified the church where there is worship from goods of life by truths of doctrine; the house denotes the church; the name of Jehovah denotes all that by which He is worshipped, consequently, good and truth, the latter of doctrine, the former of life. The reason why the church, where there is evil of life from falsities of doctrine, is called a den of robbers, is, that a cave signifies that [evil], and those are called robbers who steal truths from the Word, and pervert and apply them to falsities and evils, and so extinguish them. From these things it is clear what is meant by the Lord's words in the Evangelists:

"It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayers; but ye have made it a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13 Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).

By house in a universal sense is here signified the church; and because worship was performed in the temple at Jerusalem, it is, therefore, called the house of prayers. (That the temple signifies the church may be seen, n. 3720; that prayers signify worship, above, n. 325; that to be called signifies the same as above; [by] to name my name upon them, in the Arcana Coelestia. n. 3421.)

[9] In Isaiah:

"The sucking child shall play on the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the basilisk" (11:8).

These words cannot be understood, unless it is known, from those things that appear in the spiritual world, what is meant by the hole of the adder, and the den of the basilisk. It was observed above, that the entrances to the hells appear as openings in the rocks, and as gaps opening to caves, such as belong to wild beasts in the forests; those who dwell therein, when they are viewed in the light of heaven, appear as monsters of various kinds, and also as wild beasts. Those who are in the hells where there are such as act craftily against innocence, appear like adders; and those who [act craftily] against the good of love, appear like basilisks; and as a suckling or sucking child signifies the good of innocence, therefore, it is said, the sucking child shall play on the hole of the adder; and as a weaned child, or an infant ceasing to have milk, signifies the good of love, therefore, it is said, "and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the basilisk." Hence there is signified thereby that those who are in the good of innocence, and in the good of love to the Lord, have no fear whatever of evils and falsities from hell, because they are protected by the Lord. (That by infants in the Word is signified the good of innocence and also by sucklings, may be seen, n. 430, 3183; and what adders and other poisonous serpents signify, n. 9013.)

[10] In Jeremiah:

"Take the girdle that thou hast bought thee, which is upon thy loins, and arise and go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock."

That he also did this:

And afterwards at the end of many days, he went there, and took it again, "and lo the girdle was marred, and was profitable for nothing" (Jeremiah 13:4-17).

By this was represented the quality of the Jewish Church, that it was without all good of life and truth of doctrine. For the girdle upon the loins of the prophet signified the conjunction of the Lord with the church by means of the Word; by Euphrates is signified the all of the church as to good, here, as to evil; and by the rock, the all of the church as to truth, here, as to falsity, for it is said, a hole of the rock. That the girdle was marred, so as to be profitable for nothing, signified that there was not any conjunction whatever of the church with the Lord, consequently, that there was no church.

[11] The same is signified by a cave in the prophetical parts of the Word as in the historical parts; for the historical parts of the Word equally with the prophetical parts of the Word contain an internal sense. Thus it is recorded of Lot, that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire,

He dwelt in a cave of the mountain, with his two daughters, who made him drunk, and lay with him; whence were born Moab and Ammon (Genesis 19:30-33 at the end).

By this was represented and signified the same as by Moab and Ammon in the Word, for by Moab is signified the adulteration of the good of the church, and by Ammon the falsification of the truth of the church (as may be seen, n. 2468, 8315); for by adulteries and whoredoms are signified, in general, the adulterations of good and the falsifications of truth (as may be seen above, n. 141, 161); and by the various kinds of adulteries and whoredoms which are related in Leviticus (18:6-30), are signified various kinds of adulterations and falsifications of good and truth. And hence it is, that Lot is then called a dweller in a cave; such abominable [wickedness] also is signified here by a cave of the mountain. In the book of Judges it is said:

The sons of Israel did evil in the eyes of Jehovah: and therefore they were delivered into the hand of Midian. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of Midian they made for themselves dens in the mountains, and caverns, and stronghold (6:1, 2).

By the evil which the children of Israel did, is meant the perversion of good and truth, as is evident from the following verses there, and also from the signification of Midian (see n. 3242); on account of whom they made for themselves dens in the mountains, and caverns; for the sons of Israel were possessed by the evil which is signified by Midian; for, because of Midian, signifies, on account of that evil. Similar was the case when the sons of Israel fled on account of the Philistines (1 Sam. 13:6).