9372. And He said unto Moses. That this signifies that which concerns the Word in general, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Word (of which below); and from the signification of “He said,” as involving those things which follow in this chapter, thus those which concern the Word (see n. 9370). (That Moses represents the Word, can be seen from what has been often shown before about Moses, as from the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 4859, 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 8601, 8760, 8787, 8805.) Here Moses represents the Word in general, because it is said of him in what follows, that he alone should come near unto Jehovah (verse 2); and also that, being called unto out of the midst of the cloud, he entered into it, and went up the mount (verses 16-18).

[2] In the Word there are many who represent the Lord in respect to truth Divine, or in respect to the Word; but chief among them are Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist. That Moses does so, can be seen in the explications just cited above; that so do Elijah and Elisha, can be seen in the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 2762, 5247; and that John the Baptist does so is evident from the fact that he was “Elias who was to come.” He who does not know that John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, cannot know what all those things infold and signify which are said about him in the New Testament; and therefore in order that this secret may stand open, and that at the same time it may appear that Elias, and also Moses, who were seen when the Lord was transfigured, signified the Word, some things may here be quoted which are spoken about John the Baptist; as in Matthew:

After the messengers of John had departed, Jesus began to speak concerning John, saying, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft things are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, even more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send Mine angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to believe, he is Elias who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:7-15; and also Luke 7:24-28).

No one can know how these things are to be understood, unless he knows that this John represented the Lord as to the Word, and unless he also knows from the internal sense what is signified by “the wilderness” in which he was, also what by “a reed shaken by the wind,” and likewise by “soft raiment in kings’ houses;” and further what is signified by his being “more than a prophet,” and by “none among those who are born of women being greater than he, and nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he,” and lastly by his being “Elias.” For without a deeper sense, all these words are uttered merely from some comparison, and not from anything of weight.

[3] But it is very different when by John is understood the Lord as to the Word, or the Word representatively. Then by “the wilderness of Judea in which John was” is signified the state in which the Word was at the time when the Lord came into the world, namely, that it was “in the wilderness,” that is, it was in obscurity so great that the Lord was not at all acknowledged, neither was anything known about His heavenly kingdom; when yet all the prophets prophesied about Him, and about His kingdom, that it was to endure forever. (That “a wilderness” denotes such obscurity, see n. 2708, 4736, 7313.) For this reason the Word is compared to “a reed shaken by the wind” when it is explained at pleasure; for in the internal sense “a reed” denotes truth in the ultimate, such as is the Word in the letter.

[4] That the Word in the ultimate, or in the letter, is crude and obscure in the sight of men; but that in the internal sense it is soft and shining, is signified by their “not seeing a man clothed in soft raiment, for behold those who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.” That such things are signified by these words, is plain from the signification of “raiment,” or “garments,” as being truths (n. 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 6914, 6918, 9093); and for this reason the angels appear clothed in garments soft and shining according to the truths from good with them (n. 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216). The same is evident from the signification of “kings’ houses,” as being the abodes of the angels, and in the universal sense, the heavens; for “houses” are so called from good (n. 2233, 2234, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4622, 4982, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); and “kings,” from truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). Therefore by virtue of their reception of truth from the Lord, the angels are called “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the king,” and also “kings.”

[5] That the Word is more than any doctrine in the world, and more than any truth in the world, is signified by “what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet;” and by, “there hath not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist;” for in the internal sense “a prophet” denotes doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); and “those who are born,” or are the sons, “of women” denote truths (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3704, 4257).

[6] That in the internal sense, or such as it is in heaven, the Word is in a degree above the Word in the external sense, or such as it is in the world, and such as John the Baptist taught, is signified by, “he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he;” for as perceived in heaven the Word is of wisdom so great that it transcends all human apprehension. That the prophecies about the Lord and His coming, and that the representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, ceased when the Lord came into the world, is signified by, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That the Word was represented by John, as by Elijah, is signified by his being “Elias who is to come.”

[7] The same is signified by these words in Matthew:

The disciples asked Jesus, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? He answered and said, Elias must needs first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias hath come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. And they understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

That “Elias hath come, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished” signifies that the Word has indeed taught them that the Lord is to come, but that still they did not wish to comprehend, interpreting it in favor of the rule of self, and thus extinguishing what is Divine in it. That they would do the same with the truth Divine itself, is signified by “even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” (That “the Son of man” denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, see n. 2803, 2813, 3704)

[8] From all this it is now evident what is meant by the prophecy about John in Malachi:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Malachi 4:5).

Moreover, the Word in the ultimate, or such as it is in the external form in which it appears before man in the world, is described by the “clothing” and “food” of John the Baptist, in Matthew:

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, had His clothing of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:1, 4).

In like manner it is described by Elijah in the second book of Kings:

He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins (2 Kings 1:8).

By “clothing,” or a “garment,” when said of the Word, is signified truth Divine there in the ultimate form; by “camel’s hair” are signified memory-truths such as appear there before a man in the world; by the “leathern girdle” is signified the external bond connecting and keeping in order all the interior things; by “food” is signified spiritual nourishment from the knowledges of truth and of good out of the Word; by “locusts” are signified ultimate or most general truths; and by “wild honey” their pleasantness.

[9] That such things are signified by “clothing” and “food” has its origin in the representatives of the other life, where all appear clothed according to truths from good, and where food also is represented according to the desires of acquiring knowledge and growing wise. From this it is that “clothing,” or a “garment,” denotes truth (as may be seen from the citations above; and that “food” or “meat” denotes spiritual nourishment, n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003; that “a girdle” denotes a bond which gathers up and holds together interior things, n. 9341; that “leather” denotes what is external, n. 3540; and thus “a leathern girdle” denotes an external bond; that “hairs” denote ultimate or most general truths, n. 3301, 5569-5573; that “a camel” denotes memory-knowledge in general, n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145, 4156; that “a locust” denotes nourishing truth in the extremes, n. 7643; and that “honey” denotes the pleasantness thereof, n. 5620, 6857, 8056). It is called “wild honey,” or “honey of the field,” because by “a field” is signified the church (n. 2971, 3317, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9295). He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot possibly know why Elijah and John were so clothed. And yet that these things signified something peculiar to these prophets, can be thought by everyone who thinks well about the Word.

[10] Because John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore also when he spoke of the Lord, who was the Word itself, he said of himself that he was “not Elias, nor the prophet,” and that he was “not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord’s shoe,” as in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Jews from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, asked John who he was. And he confessed, and denied not, I am not the Christ. Therefore they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? He answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. They said therefore, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? He answered, I baptize with water; in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not; He it is who is to come after me, who was before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. When he saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me; for he was before me (John 1:1, 14, 19-30).

From these words it is plain that when John spoke about the Lord Himself, who was Truth Divine itself, or the Word, he said that he himself was not anything, because the shadow disappears when the light itself appears, that is, the representative disappears when the original itself makes its appearance. (That the representatives had in view holy things, and the Lord Himself, and not at all the person that represented, see n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.) One who does not know that representatives vanish like shadows at the presence of light, cannot know why John denied that he was Elias and the prophet.

[11] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by Moses and Elias, who were seen in glory, and who spoke with the Lord when transfigured, of His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:29-31); namely, that they signified the Word (“Moses” the historic Word, and “Elias” the prophetic Word), which in the internal sense throughout treats of the Lord, of His coming into the world, and of His departure out of the world; and therefore it is said that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory,” for “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word, and the “cloud” its external sense (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 5922, 8427).

618. And it shall make bitter thy belly, signifies that inwardly it was undelightful, because outwardly it was adulterated. This is evident from the signification of "to be bitter" or "bitterness," as meaning undelightful because of adulterated truth (of which presently); and from the signification of the "belly," as meaning what is interior. The "belly" means what is interior, because after this it is said that "in the mouth it was as honey, sweet," and the "mouth" means what is exterior, for what is taken in by the mouth is chewed and passed down into the belly, thus going from the exterior to the interior and entering into the viscera of man; but as to the signification of "belly" it shall be told presently. "Bitter" (or bitterness) signifies what is undelightful because of adulterated truth, and therefore "to make bitter" signifies to render undelightful, because what is sweet becomes bitter and thus undelightful by a mixture with something offensive; from this comes the bitterness of wormwood, gall, and myrrh. Now as "sweet" signifies what is delightful from the good of truth and the truth of good, so "bitter" signifies what is undelightful because of adulterated truth. What is undelightful thence is not perceived and felt as bitter by anyone in the natural world, but by the spirit and angel in the spiritual world; for every adulterated good of truth, when it is changed with them into taste, is clearly perceived as bitter. For spirits and angels equally with men have taste, but the taste of spirits and angels flows forth from a spiritual source, but that of men from a natural source; the taste of bitterness with spirits is from the adulterated truth of good, but with men it is from a mixture of what is sweet with what is offensive. John's sensation of bitterness was also from a spiritual origin, for he was in the spirit, otherwise he could not have eaten the little book. Adulterated truth means the truth of good applied to evil and mixed with its falsity, and this is done when the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are applied to filthy loves, and are thus mixed with evils. This undelightfulness is what is here signified by the bitterness of the belly.

[2] It shall also be told briefly what is meant by what is interior in the Word, that is, the interiors of the Word. The interiors of the Word are the things contained in its internal or spiritual sense; these truths are genuine truths; to these the exterior truths of the Word correspond, which are the truths in the external or natural sense, called the sense of the letter and the literal sense. When the exterior things of the Word, or the truths in the sense of the letter or the literal sense of the Word, are falsified and adulterated, then the interior truths of the Word are falsified and adulterated; for this reason, when a man applies the Word in the sense of the letter to the evils of earthly loves, it becomes undelightful to angels, who are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, and this undelightfulness is like that of bitterness. From this it can be seen that "the little book would make bitter, and did make bitter, the belly," signifies that the Word was inwardly undelightful. This undelightfulness thus far spoken of is spiritual undelightfulness; but there is also a spiritual-natural undelightfulness that is also meant by this "bitterness," which is that the truth of doctrine inwardly gathered from the sense of the letter of the Word and called its literal sense, is undelightful to those who are in falsities of evil; for this relates to the understanding of the Word by the men of the church at its end, when they are for the most part in falsities from evil; and to such the falsities of evil, confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, are delightful, ¹ but truths confirmed from the literal sense of the Word are undelightful. This, too, is signified by "the little book made bitter the belly, but in the mouth was like honey, sweet."

[3] That "bitter" signifies the truth of good adulterated can also be seen from the Word where "bitter" is mentioned, as in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe unto the mighty to drink wine, and to the men of strength to mingle strong drink (Isaiah 5:20, 22).

Evidently good and truth adulterated are here signified by "bitter," for it is said, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness," which signifies the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth; for good is adulterated when "good is called evil and when evil is called good," and truth is falsified when "darkness is put for light and light for darkness," "darkness" meaning falsities, and "light" truths. This makes clear that like things are signified by "putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter," also by "Woe unto the mighty to drink wine, and to the men of strength to mingle strong drink;" "the mighty to drink wine" signify those who adulterate the truth of the Word, and "the men of strength to mingle strong drink" signify those who falsify it, "wine" and "strong drink" meaning the truths of the Word, and "the mighty" and "men of strength" those who excel in ingenuity and skill in adulterating these.

[4] In the same:

The new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish, all the glad in heart shall sigh. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it (Isaiah 24:7, 9).

"The new wine that shall mourn," and "the vine that shall languish," signify the truth of the Word and of the church which has been lost, "new wine" signifying the truth of the Word, and the "vine" the truth of the doctrine of the church; "all the glad in heart shall sigh, and they shall not drink wine with a song," signifies that internal blessedness of mind and felicity of heart will perish because of the loss of the truth of spiritual good; "strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it," signifies the truth of good made undelightful by its falsification and adulteration.

[5] In Moses:

The waters in Marah, that they were unable to drink because of the bitterness, were healed by the wood that was cast into them (Exodus 15:23-25).

"The waters in Marah, that they were unable to drink because of their bitterness," represented truths adulterated, "waters" signifying truths, and "bitterness" adulteration. "Healing them by wood cast into them" represented the good of love and of life dispelling falsity and opening truth, and thus restoring it; for all truth is adulterated by the evil of life and of love, consequently it is opened and restored by the good of love and of life, because all truth is of good, and the good of love is like a fire, from which truth appears in light.

[6] The like is signified by:

The pottage into which the sons of the prophets cast the wild gourds or the bitter wild grapes, and which Elisha healed by casting in meal (2 Kings 4:38-41).

"The pottage into which they cast the bitter gourds" signifies the Word falsified; and the "meal" that was cast in, by which it was healed, signifies truth from good; for the truth that is from good dissipates the falsities from which is falsification.

[7] Because the sons of Jacob perverted all the truths of the Word, and by applying them to themselves and to earthly loves falsified and adulterated them, it is said of them in the song of Moses:

That their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, and their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are of bitternesses (Deuteronomy 32:32).

A "vine" signifies the church in respect to truth, consequently also the truth of the church; and "the grapes" signify the goods therefrom, which are the goods of charity, and "clusters", the goods of faith; from which it is evident that "clusters of bitternesses" signify the goods of faith adulterated.

[8] In the same:

That the waters of the curse should be given to the wife accused by her husband of adultery, and if she was ² guilty the waters would become bitternesses in her, and the belly would swell and the thigh fall away (Numbers 5:12-29).

The marriage of man and wife signifies the marriage of truth and good, for love truly conjugial descends from that spiritual marriage; therefore "adultery" signifies the conjunction of falsity and evil, and this was why "if she was guilty the waters became bitternesses," which signifies the adulteration of good; and as the "belly" signified conjugial love, in like manner as the womb, and also the thigh, so "the belly swelled and the thigh fell away," which signifies in the spiritual sense that the conjugial or conjugial love itself, spiritual and natural, had perished; "the womb" or "belly" signifying spiritual conjugial love, and the "thigh" natural conjugial love. From this it can be seen that "bitter" and "bitterness" signify in general the falsification and adulteration of truth and good, and that the various kinds of these are signified by "gall," "wormwood," "myrrh," "wild grapes," "wild gourds," and many others.

Footnotes: