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).

14. The Lord came into the world to reduce to order everything in heaven and so on earth, and He accomplished this by combats against the hells. The hells at that time were infesting every person coming into the world and departing from the world. By combats against them the Lord became the embodiment of righteousness and saved mankind, without which people could not have been saved. This is foretold in many passages in the Prophets, only some of which will be cited.

[2] In Isaiah:

Who is this who comes from Edom, with red dyed garments from Bozrah? This one honorable in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?

“I who speak in righteousness, great to save.”

“Why is Your apparel red, and Your garment like one who treads in the winepress?”

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people not a man was with Me. Therefore I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath. Thus their conquest is sprayed upon My garments.... For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.... ...My own arm brought salvation for Me.... I have...brought down their conquest to the earth.”

...He said, “Lo, they are My people, children....”

So He became their Savior.... Owing to His love and owing to His mercy He redeemed them.... (Isaiah 63:1-9)

This describes the Lord’s combats against the hells. The apparel in which he appeared honorable and which was red means the Word, to which the Jewish people did violence. The battle itself against the hells and victory over them is described by His having trodden them in His anger and trampled them in His wrath. His battling alone and by His own power is described by His having of the people not a man with Him, by His own arm’s bringing salvation for Him, and by His bringing down their conquest to the earth. His saving and redeeming is described by His becoming the people’s Savior, and by His redeeming them owing to His love and mercy. And that this was the reason for His advent is described by the day of vengeance being in His heart, and the year of His redeemed having come.

[3] Again in Isaiah:

He saw that there was no one, and was dumbfounded that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought Him salvation, and His righteousness sustained Him. Therefore He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head, and He put on the garments of vengeance..., and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak.... Then the Redeemer came to Zion.... (Isaiah 59:16-17, 20)

This, too, describes the Lord’s combats against the hells when He was in the world. His battling alone against them by His own power is meant by His seeing that there was no one, so that His own right arm brought Him salvation. His becoming righteousness on that account is meant by His righteousness sustaining Him, so that He put on righteousness as a breastplate. And His becoming the Redeemer is meant by the statement that then the Redeemer came to Zion.

[4] In Jeremiah:

...(they are) dismayed..., their mighty ones are beaten down; they have fled..., and did not look back.... This is the day of the Lord Jehovih of Hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may take revenge on His enemies, and the sword shall devour and be satiated.... (Jeremiah 46:5, 10)

The Lord’s battle with the hells and victory over them is described by the people’s being dismayed, by their mighty ones’ being beaten down and fleeing and not looking back. Their mighty ones and the enemies are the hells, because the inhabitants there all hate the Lord. The Lord’s coming into the world is therefore meant by its being the day of the Lord Jehovih of Hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may take revenge on His enemies.

[5] Again in Jeremiah:

...(the) young men shall fall in (the) streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day.... (Jeremiah 49:26)

In Joel:

Jehovah gave voice before His army.... ...the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible. Who then will endure it? (Joel 2:11)

In Zephaniah:

...in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, I will visit judgment upon the princes and the king’s children, upon all clothed with foreign apparel.... This day is a day of...distress..., a day of the trumpet and its sounding.... (Zephaniah 1:8-9, 15-16)

In Zechariah:

Jehovah will go forth and fight against (the) nations, as in the day of His fighting on the day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem.... Then you shall flee into the valley of My mountains.... ...in that day there will be no light or illumination.... And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be “Jehovah is one, and His name one.” (Zechariah 14:3-6, 9)

In these passages, too, the subject is the Lord’s combats. That day means His advent. The Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem, was where the Lord customarily tarried (see Mark 13:3-4, 14:26, Luke 21:37, 22:39, John 8:1, and elsewhere).

[6] In Psalms:

The cords of death surrounded me..., the cords of hell surrounded me; the snares of death came to meet me. He sent out His arrows (therefore) and many bolts of lightning, and threw them into confusion. I will pursue My enemies and capture them, nor will I turn back again till I have consumed them and smitten them so that they cannot rise again.... You shall gird me with strength for the battle..., You shall put My enemies to flight.... I will crush them as fine as dust in the wind, I will spread them like dirt in the streets. (Psalms 18:4-5, 14, 37-40, 42)

The cords and snares of death that surrounded Him and came to meet Him symbolize temptations or trials, which, because they originate from hell, are also called the cords of hell.

This and everything else in this whole Psalm portray the Lord’s battles and victories. Therefore it also says, “You put Me at the head of the nations; a people I have not known shall serve Me” (Psalms 18:43-44).

[7] Again in Psalms:

Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One.... Your arrows are sharp — the peoples will fall under You — from the heart of the king’s enemies. Your throne...is forever and ever.... You love righteousness...; therefore God...has anointed You.... (Psalms 45:3, 5-7)

This, too, portrays combat with the hells and conquest of them, for the entire Psalm has the Lord as its subject, namely His battles, His glorification, and His salvation of the faithful.

Again:

A fire will go before Him, and burn His enemies round about...; the earth will see and be afraid. The mountains will melt like wax at the presence...of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens will declare His righteousness, and all peoples will see His glory. (Psalms 97:3-6)

This Psalm as well has the Lord as its subject, with similar themes.

[8] Again:

Jehovah said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I have made Your enemies Your footstool.” ...Rule in the midst of Your enemies! ...The Lord is at Your right hand; He has smitten kings in the day of His wrath.... He has filled with dead bodies, He has smitten the head over a great land. (Psalms 110:1-7)

This is something the Lord said, as is clear from the Lord’s own words in Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36, and Luke 20:42.

Sitting at the right hand symbolizes omnipotence. Enemies symbolize the hells. The kings there symbolize people caught up in the falsities attendant on evil. Making them a footstool, smiting in the day of wrath, and filling with dead bodies means, symbolically, the destruction of their power, and smiting the head over a great land means, symbolically, the destruction of the whole of it.

[9] Since the Lord overcame the hells and did so alone, without the aid of any angel, therefore in Isaiah 42:13 He is called a hero and a man of war ; in Psalms 24:8, 10 a king of glory, Jehovah the mighty, a hero in battle; in Psalms 132:2 the mighty one of Jacob; and in many other places Jehovah of Hosts, which means “Jehovah of hosts, ” that is, of armies.

His advent, moreover, is also called the day of Jehovah, described as a terrible and cruel one, one of indignation, wrath, anger, vengeance, destruction, and war, accompanied by the sounding of the trumpet, a day of tumult, as may be seen from the passages presented in no. 4 above.

[10] Since the Lord carried out a last judgment when He was in the world by battles with the hells and conquest of them, therefore many places have as their subject the judgment that He would carry out. So, for example, in Psalms:

...(Jehovah) is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples with His truth. (Psalms 96:13)

And so also in many places elsewhere.

[11] This much comes from the prophetic books of the Word. In the historical books of the Word, too, similar events are represented by the wars of the children of Israel with the various nations. For everything written in the Word, whether prophetic or historical, was written about the Lord. That is what makes the Word Divine.

The rituals of the Israelite Church — for example, its burnt offerings and sacrifices, its sabbaths and feasts, and the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites — contain many arcane secrets of the Lord’s glorification. So likewise everything else in the books of Moses called laws, judgments and statutes. This also is meant by the Lord’s saying to His disciples that He must fulfill all things which were written in the Law of Moses concerning Him (Luke 24:44), and to the Jews that Moses wrote about Him (John 5:46).

[12] It can now be seen from this that the Lord came into the world to conquer the hells and glorify His humanity, and that the suffering of the cross was the final battle by which He fully overcame the hells and fully glorified His humanity.

But more on this subject will be seen in the next short work, The Sacred Scripture, where we will bring together in one place all the passages from the prophetic Word which depict the Lord’s battles with the hells and victories over them, or in other words, which depict the last judgment carried out by Him when He was in the world, and also the suffering of the cross and glorification of His humanity — passages which are so many that, if quoted, would fill pages.