2761. That 'a white horse' means an understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents, or what amounts to the same, as regards the internal sense of the Word is clear from the meaning of 'a horse' as the understanding part of the mind. In prophetical parts of the Word 'a horse' and 'a rider' are referred to many times, but up to now nobody has known that 'a horse' means the understanding part of the mind, and 'a rider' one who has intelligence, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel, concerning Dan,

Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path, biting the horse's heels; and its rider will fall backwards. I am awaiting Your salvation, O Jehovah. Genesis 49:17-18.

'A serpent' means one who reasons about Divine arcana on the basis of sensory evidence and factual knowledge, see 195. 'Road' and 'path' mean truth, 627, 2333, 'heel' means the lowest part of the natural, 259, 'horse' an understanding of the Word, and 'rider' one who teaches. From this it is evident what these prophetical words mean, namely that one who reasons about the truths of faith on the basis of sensory evidence and factual knowledge is interested solely in the lowest things belonging to the natural world and so believes nothing, which is 'falling backwards'. And this is why the words 'I am awaiting Your salvation, O Jehovah' are added.

[2] In Habakkuk,

O God, You ride on Your horses, Your chariots are salvation. You made Your horses to tread in the sea. Habakkuk 3:8, 15.

Here 'horses' stands for Divine Truths that are in the Word, 'chariots' for doctrine drawn from them, 'the sea' for cognitions, 28, 2120. And since these belong to an understanding of the Word from God, it is said, 'You made Your horses to tread in the sea'. Here, as in the quotation above from the Book of Revelation, horses are attributed to God, but this attribution would not be possible if they did not have such a meaning.

[3] In David,

Sing to God, sing praises to His name; exalt Him who rides on the clouds by His name lain. Psalms 68:4.

'Riding on the clouds' stands for an understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents or internal sense; for 'clouds' means the Word in the letter which has the internal sense within it - see the Preface to Genesis 18, where the meaning of 'the Lord's coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory' is explained.

[4] In the same author,

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet, and He rode on a cherub. Psalms 18:9-10.

'Thick darkness' here stands for clouds, 'riding on a cherub' for the Lord's providence preventing man's entering of himself into the mysteries of faith that are in the Word, 308. In Zechariah,

On that day there will be on the horse-bells, Holiness to Jehovah. Zechariah 14:20. 'The horse-bells' stands for an understanding of the spiritual things of the Word, which are holy.

[5] In Jeremiah,

There will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes seated on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited for ever. Jeremiah 17:25-26; 22:4.

'The city of Jerusalem' stands for the Lord's spiritual kingdom and Church. 'Kings' stands for truths, 1672, 2015, 2069, 'princes' for the first and foremost commandments of truth, 1482, 2089, 'David' for the Lord, 1888, 'men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem' for those in whom there exists good that flows from love, charity, and faith, 2268, 2451, 2712. Thus 'riding in chariots and on horses' stands for being furnished with the doctrine of truth received from an internal understanding of the Word.

[6] In Isaiah, Then will you take delight in Jehovah and I will cause you to ride over the high places of the earth and cause you to eat the heritage of Jacob. Isaiah 58:14.

'Riding over the high places of the earth' stands for intelligence. In David,

A love song. Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, [gird on] your glory and majesty. And in your majesty go on, ride on the word of truth, and of the meekness of righteousness. And your right hand will teach you marvellous things. Psalms 45:1, 3-4.

'Riding on the word of truth' stands plainly for intelligence based on truth, 'on the word of the meekness of righteousness' for wisdom based on good.

[7] In Zechariah,

On that day, said Jehovah, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. And on the house of Judah I will open My eyes, and every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zechariah 12:4.

Here also 'horse' plainly stands for the understanding which was to be 'stricken with panic and blindness', and 'rider' for him with intelligence who was to be 'stricken with madness'. In Hosea,

Take away all iniquity and accept that which is good, and we will render the praises ¹ of our lips. Asshur will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no more say Our God' to the work of our hands. Hosea 14:2-3.

'Asshur' stands for reasoning, 119, 1186, 'horse' for self-intelligence. 'Horse' and 'rider' are referred to in very many other places besides these.

Footnotes:

6400. 'Biting the horse's heels' means false notions received from the lowest natural level. This is clear from the meaning of 'biting' as clinging to and thereby causing harm, and from the meaning of 'the horse's heels' as false notions received from the lowest natural level; for 'the heel' is the lowest and bodily part of the natural, 259, 4938-4952. While 'horse' is the understanding part of the mind, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6125. 'Horse' here means false notions because the lowest natural level of the understanding, which is that of the senses, is meant. People who are guided by truth but not as yet by good are subject to false notions received from that lowest natural level. This may be recognized from the consideration that truth is not in any light unless good resides with it or exists within it. For good is like a flame radiating light, and when that good meets some truth it not only throws light on it but also draws it into that radiating light, towards itself. People therefore who are guided by truth but not as yet by good are in a kind of gloom and darkness, because truth possesses no light at all of its own, and the light which those people receive from good is as feeble as light which fades away. When such people therefore think and engage in reasoning about truth, and from truth about good, they are like those who see apparitions in the darkness and believe them to be real bodies. Or they are like people who in the gloom see streaks on a wall and whose imagination leads them to make some shape out of them, either of a human being or of some other living creature. But when daylight comes it is seen that they are merely streaks without any such shape. It is much the same with the truths residing with them; for they see as truths what are not truths, which ought rather to be likened to apparitions or streaks on the wall. What is more, people of this kind - those who have been guided by some truth from the Word but not by any good - have been the source of all the heresies that have arisen within the Church; for heretical belief has been seen by them to be altogether the truth. So too with falsities within the Church. Those who have disseminated them have not been guided by good, as may be recognized from the consideration that they cast the good of charity far behind the truth of faith and as a consequence have for the most part invented ideas which are in no way compatible with the good of charity.

[2] Since it is said that those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good use false notions received from the lowest natural level to reason about truth and about good, let something also be said about what false notions are. Take for example a person's life after death. People subject to false notions received from lowest nature, such as those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good, do not believe that any part of a person except his body has life, or that a person can possibly rise again when he dies unless he gets back his body. If these people are told that the interior man is the one who has life within the body and who is raised up by the Lord when the body dies, and that this interior man has a body like those that spirits or angels have, and that like a person in the world he can see, hear, talk, mix with others, and seem to himself to be altogether a person, they cannot grasp any of it. False notions received from the lowest natural level cause them to believe that such things cannot be true.

[3] The chief reason why they do not believe them to be true is that they cannot see those things with their physical eyes. When such people think about the spirit or soul, the only idea they can have of it is that it is like things the eye cannot see in the natural world. Consequently they consider it to be either something breath-like, or else something air-like, ether-like, or flame-like, or - according to some - something purely thought-like, which possesses scarcely any vitality until it is joined again to the body. These people think the way they do because to them everything of an interior nature is gloom and darkness and only those of an external nature are in light. This shows how easily such people can fall into error; for if they limit their thought to the body and how it will be reassembled, to the destruction of the world and the fact that it has been awaited in vain for so many centuries, to animals and the fact that they have life not unlike man's life, or to the fact that no dead persons reappear and declare their state of life, they easily recede - when they think of these and other such things - from belief in resurrection, as they do from many other matters of belief. The reason they recede from that belief is that they are not guided by good and do not through good see in the light. Such being their condition it also says, 'And its rider will fall backwards; I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah', meaning a receding from [the truth] unless the Lord comes to their aid.