2. In the prophetical parts of the Word a horse is mentioned very often, ¹ but until now no one has known 'horse' means understanding, and 'horseman' one who understands, perhaps because it seems extraordinary and astonishing that that is what is meant by 'horse' in a spiritual sense, and consequently in the Word. But that it constantly means this can be agreed from very many instances in the Word, from which I should like to refer to only a few at this point.

In Israel's prophetic utterance ² about Dan we find:

Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting snake ³ on the path, that will bite the horse's heels, and the horseman will fall backwards. Genesis 49:17-18.

What this prophetic statement about one of the tribes of Israel means no one is going to understand unless he knows what 'serpent' signifies, and also 'horse' and 'horseman." Yet is there anyone who does not see that it holds something spiritual within it? This being so, what the individual details signify may be seen in Arcana Caelestia 6398-6401, where this prophetical utterance is explained.

In Habakkuk we find:

O Lord [...] You ride on Your horses and Your chariots are salvation [...] You caused Your horses to tread in the sea. Habakkuk 3:8, 15.

It is obvious that 'horses' here signify something spiritual, because these things are being said about God. What else would it be, 'God rode on [his] horses, and caused [his] horses to tread in the sea?'

In Zechariah we find, with a similar significance:

'On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be on the horse-bells', Zechariah 14:20. ⁴

In the same authority:

On that day I will strike every horse with bewilderment and the horseman with madness, declares the Lord, I will open my gaze on the house of Judah, and I will strike with blindness every horse of the peoples. Zechariah 12:4-5.

What is being talked about here is the Church when it has been laid waste, which happens when there is no longer an understanding of anything true. This is what is being indicated by 'horse' and 'horseman;' what else would it be, [...] every horse about to be struck with bewilderment [...] and the horse of the peoples with blindness?' What, otherwise, would this have to do with the Church?

In Job we find:

'Because God has made her ⁵ forget wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding; having raised herself on high, she mocks the horse and its rider' Job 39:17-19.

That understanding is signified here by 'horse' is manifestly obvious; similarly in David, where the expression 'to ride upon the word of truth' is used, Psalms 45:5; and besides in very many other places.

Moreover, who is likely to know why it is that Elijah and Elisha were called 'the chariots of Israel and its horsemen;' and why there appeared to Elisha's servant a mountain full of horses and fiery chariots, unless it is known what 'chariots' and horsemen' signify, and what Elijah and Elisha represented? For Elisha said to Elijah, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 2:11-12; and King Joash said to Elisha, 'My father, my father [...] the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 13:14.

Concerning the servant of Elisha we read:

'The Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, and he looked and saw the mountain full of horses and fiery chariots all around Elisha' 2 Kings 6:17.

Elijah and Elisha were called the chariots of Israel and its horsemen because each represented the Lord in his capacity as the Word. 'Chariots' represent doctrine derived from the Word, and 'horsemen' represent understanding. That Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord in this capacity may be seen in Arcana Caelestia: 5247, 7643, 8029, 9327, and that 'chariots' signify doctrine derived from the Word: 5321, 8215.

Footnotes:

7834. 'And if the household is too small for a member of the flock' means if the individual type of good is insufficient for innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the household' as an individual type of good, dealt with immediately above in 7833; from the meaning of 'being too small' as being insufficient; and from the meaning of 'a member of the flock' as innocence, also dealt with just above, in 7832.

9055. 'Burning for burning' means if anything of love and affection present in the inward part of the will [is injured]. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning' as injuring or wiping out the good of love. The reason for saying 'in the will' is that the good of love belongs to the will, whereas the truth of faith belongs to the understanding, 9050, 9051. And the reason for saying 'the inward part' of the will is that 'wound', dealt with below, means an injuring or the wiping out of an aspect of love present in the outward part of the will. Here, as in the previous paragraphs, injuries done both in the internal man and in the external man are dealt with. For injuring the inner part of the understanding is meant by 'eye' and injuring the outer part by 'tooth', and injuring the power of truth in the internal man is meant by 'hand' and injuring the power in the external man by 'foot', as has been shown; thus injuring the will in the internal man is meant by 'burning' and injuring the will in the external man by 'wound'.

[2] A person has inward and outward parts of his will, just as he has inward and outward parts of his understanding, which are dealt with in 9050, 9051. The inward part of his will resides where the inward part of his understanding resides, and the outward part of his will resides where the outward part of his understanding resides. They must be joined together; for where truth resides, so does good, and where good resides, so does truth. Truth without good is not truth, and good without truth is not good. For good is the essential being (esse) of truth, and truth is the manifestation (existere) of good; and the situation with a person's understanding and his will is the same, in that the understanding is dedicated to receiving truth and the will to receiving good. From this it is evident that when a person is being regenerated the Lord gives him a new understanding through the truths of faith, and a new will through the good of charity, and that both must be present and also joined together if the person is to be regenerate.

[3] The reason why 'burning' means injuring the good of love is that love is meant by 'fire', 934, 2446, 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324 (end), 7575, 7852; and what injures the good of love is evil desire blazing up from self-love. For this desire is called 'burning', 1297, 5215. Evil desire is also meant by 'branding' in Isaiah,

Instead of fragrance there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth, branding instead of beauty. Isaiah 3:24.

This refers to 'the daughter of Zion', by which the celestial Church, that is, the Church governed by love to the Lord, is meant, 2362, 6729. 'Branding' here is evil desire stemming from self-love.

[4] Anyone who does not know that there is an internal sense in the Word thinks that the proud adornments worn by the daughters of Zion as described in verses 16-24 of that chapter mean such adornments, and that because of such things among the daughters of Zion the Jewish and Israelite people were to be punished and - as said in verses 25, 26 - to fall by the sword. But the reality is altogether different from this. The spiritual and celestial beauties of the Church are what are meant by those adornments. It becomes clear to anyone who reads the Word that 'the daughter of Zion' is not used in the Word to mean the daughter of Zion, provided that he turns to and considers those places in the Prophets where Zion and the daughter of Zion are mentioned. From these he will see that the daughter of Zion is the Church.