1203. The fact that Heth symbolizes a superficial knowledge of heavenly attributes follows logically. The prophets customarily link spiritual and heavenly ideas; where they speak of spiritual properties, they also speak of heavenly ones. The one set comes from the other, so a certain perfection is missing unless they are joined. A further purpose is to bring an image of the heavenly marriage into each and every part of the Word. ¹ These considerations (not to mention other illustrative passages in the Word) show that Sidon symbolizes a shallow knowledge of spiritual qualities while Heth symbolizes a shallow knowledge of heavenly ones. They symbolize this knowledge in both senses — both with and without deeper knowledge. In addition they stand simply for superficial knowledge.

Spiritual entities, as noted many times before, are aspects of faith, and heavenly entities are aspects of love. Again, spiritual traits belong to the intellect, heavenly ones to the will. ²

[2] The symbolism of Heth as shallow knowledge devoid of deeper knowledge can be seen in Ezekiel:

This is what the Lord Jehovih has said to Jerusalem: "Your trading and your birth origins belong to the land of Canaan. Your father is an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ³ You are the daughter of your mother, who showed disgust for her man and her children; and the sister of your sisters, who showed disgust for their husbands and their children. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite." (Ezekiel 16:3, 45)

In this passage, outward worship without inward is Canaan. Showing disgust for their husbands and children is spurning things that are good and true, which is why their mother is called a Hittite.

Heth in the Word is also taken to stand for a relatively superficial knowledge of heavenly attributes in a good sense. Almost all the names of lands, cities, nations, and individuals do have a good sense, for the reason given earlier [§1151:1]. This symbolism of Heth will be dealt with later [§§2913, 2933, 2986:1, 6461], by the Lord's divine mercy.

Spiritual concepts are those that relate to faith and so to doctrine, but heavenly concepts relate to love and so to life.

Footnotes:

996. The symbolism of a plant as the humblest kinds of pleasure is established by the statements above.

Those kinds of pleasure are called green plants because they are nothing more than worldly and physical kinds — superficial kinds. As I said, the pleasure we feel in our bodies, or on the surface of existence, traces its source back to increasingly deeper levels of enjoyment. The pleasures felt on the surface, or in one's body, are relatively inferior. All agreeable sensation is such that the shallower it grows, the poorer it is, while the deeper it grows, the more blissful it is. So to repeat, as the external layers are unwrapped or peeled off, the elation grows sweeter and more blissful. This is sufficiently apparent from the fact that our enjoyment of the lower pleasures during our physical lives is quite paltry compared to the sensations we enjoy afterward, when we enter the world of spirits. It is so inferior, in fact, that good spirits absolutely spurn the creature comforts of the body and would refuse to return to them even if given all the pleasure in the whole world.

[2] The pleasure these spirits enjoy in turn loses its luster when the Lord lifts them into the heaven of angelic spirits, because they then shed those deeper delights and don ones still deeper. The exhilaration that angelic spirits felt in their heaven likewise pales when the Lord raises them into the angelic or third heaven. In this heaven, where inner qualities are alive and mutual love reigns supreme, the happiness is indescribable. (For more on inner pleasure or happiness, see the account from experience in §545.)

This shows the meaning of I have given it all to you as I gave you the green plants.

Since creeping things symbolize both personal pleasures and the pleasures of the senses, and these are being described as green plants, the original language has an expression that means both "plants" and "greenery." ¹ "Plants" refers to earthly pleasures stemming from matters of will, or from heavenly kinds of feelings, while "greenery" refers to those stemming from matters of understanding, or from spiritual feelings.

[3] The symbolism of green plants or grass as something lowly can be seen in the Word, as for instance in Isaiah:

The waters of Nimrim will be wastelands, because the grain has dried out, the grass has been consumed, there is no greenery. (Isaiah 15:6)

In the same author:

Their residents, their hand shortened, have felt panic and shame. They have become field grass and grain plants, hay on the roofs. ² (Isaiah 37:27)

Grain plants stand for what is humblest. In Moses:

The land that you enter, to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, which you came out from, where you would sow your seed and irrigate it by foot like a vegetable garden. (Deuteronomy 11:10)

The vegetable garden stands for something humble. In David:

The evil are suddenly cut down like grain and are consumed like green plants. (Psalms 37:2)

The grain and the green plants stand for what is humblest.

Footnotes: