559. Verse 10. And they had tails like scorpions, signifies sensual knowledges [scientifica] that are persuasive. This is evident from the signification of "tails," as meaning sensual knowledges [scientifica] (of which presently); and from the signification of "scorpions," as being an infatuating and suffocating persuasiveness (of which see above, n. 544; therefore "tails like scorpions" signify sensual knowledges which are persuasive. "Tails" signify sensual knowledges because the tails that protrude outwardly from animals of the earth are the continuations of the spinal cord, which is called the spinal marrow, and this is a continuation of the brain, and the "brain" in like manner as the "head," signifies intelligence and wisdom, because intelligence and wisdom in their beginnings have their seat there; and as tails are the ultimates of the brain they signify sensual knowledges, since these are the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom.

[2] Sensual knowledges are such knowledges as enter from the world through the five bodily senses, and thence viewed in themselves are more material, corporeal, and worldly than those that are interior. All who are in the love of self and have confirmed themselves against Divine and spiritual things are sensual men, and when they are left to themselves and think in their spirit, they think about Divine and spiritual things from sensual knowledges, and consequently they reject Divine and spiritual things as not to be believed, because they do not see them with their eyes or touch them with their hands; and they apply their knowledges, which they have made sensual and material, to the destruction of these. For example, men who are learned in this kind of knowledge, who are skilled in physics, anatomy, botany, and other branches of human learning, when they see the wonderful things in the animal and vegetable kingdoms say in their hearts that all these things are from nature, and not from the Divine, and this because they believe in nothing that they do not see with their eyes and touch with their hands; for they are unable to elevate their minds upward so as to see these things from the light of heaven, for that light is thick darkness to them; but they detain their minds in earthly things, much the same as the animals of the earth do, with which indeed they compare themselves. In a word, with such all knowledges [scientiae] are made sensual; for such as the man himself is, such are all things of his understanding and will; if the man is spiritual all things become spiritual; if he is merely natural all things become natural and not spiritual; if the man is sensual all things become sensual, and this however learned and erudite he may seem to the world to be. But as every man has the faculty to understand truths and perceive goods, such men are able from that faculty to talk about these things like those who are spiritual-rational, although in respect to their spirit they are sensual; for when such men speak before others they do not speak from the spirit but from the bodily memory.

[3] All this has been said to make known what sensual knowledges are. These are what especially persuade, or are especially persuasive, because they are the ultimates of the understanding; for into these as into its ultimates the understanding closes, and these captivate the common people because they are appearances drawn from such things as they see in the world with their eyes; and so long as the thought clings to these it is impossible to dispose the mind to think interiorly or above them until they are put away; for the interior things of the mind all close into ultimates and rest upon them, as a house upon its foundation; consequently these are especially persuasive, but only with those whose minds cannot be elevated above sensual things; and the mind is elevated above them with those who are in the light of heaven from the Lord, for the light of heaven dissipates them. For this reason spiritual men rarely think from things sensual, for they think from things rational and intellectual; but sensual men, who have confirmed themselves in falsities against Divine and spiritual things, when they are left to themselves think only from sensual things.

[4] That "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica] can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush. The old man and the honorable, he is the head; but the prophet, the teacher of lies, he is the tail (Isaiah 9:14, 9:16).

This means that all intelligence and wisdom and all knowledge [scientia] of truth will perish; the "head" signifies intelligence and wisdom, wherefore it is said "the old man and the honorable, he is the head," for the "old man" signifies the understanding of truth, and the "honorable" the wisdom of good; but the "tail" signifies sensual knowledge [scientificum], which is the ultimate of intelligence and wisdom; when this is not joined to spiritual intelligence it becomes false knowledge, or knowledge applied to confirm falsities, which is sensual knowledge, like that of the sensual man who sees nothing from the understanding. This is why "the prophet who teacheth lies" is called the "tail," a "prophet" signifying the doctrine of truth, and thence the knowledge of truth, but here doctrine and the knowledge of falsity, for a "lie" signifies falsity, and the "teacher of a lie" one who teaches falsity by applying knowledges from the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm falsities.

[5] In the same:

Neither shall there be for Egypt any work that may make head or tail, branch or rush (Isaiah 19:15).

"Egypt" signifies knowledge [scientia] both of spiritual and of natural things; "no work for it that may make head or tail" signifies that it has no spiritual things, neither natural things by which spiritual things are confirmed, the "head" signifies here the cognitions of spiritual things which are means of intelligence, and the "tail" natural knowledges [scientifica] which are serviceable to things spiritual for intelligence; "branch and rush" have a similar signification, "branch" being spiritual truth, and "rush" sensual knowledge, which is ultimate truth; for if what is prior and what is posterior, or what is first and what is last, do not make one in man, he has no "head and tail."

[6] In Moses:

Thus Jehovah shall make thee as the head, and not as the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of thy God (Deuteronomy 28:13).

"To make as the head" means to make spiritual and intelligent, and thus to elevate out of the light of the world into the light of heaven; and "to make as the tail" means to make sensual and foolish, so as not to look to heaven but only to the world; therefore it is said "and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath," "to be above" meaning to be elevated by the Lord so as to look to heaven, and "to be beneath" meaning not to be elevated by the Lord, but by self, and man by self looks only to the world. For man's interiors which belong to his thought and affection are elevated to heaven by the Lord when man is in the good of life and thence in the truths of doctrine; but when he is in the evil of life and thence in falsities, his lower things look downward, thus only to his body and to such things as are in the world, and thus to hell. Thus man puts off his truly human nature and puts on a beastly nature, for beasts look downward and to such things only as are met with in the world and upon the earth. Elevation into the light of heaven by the Lord is an actual elevation of man's interiors to the Lord; and a depression or casting down to such things as are below and outside the eyes is an actual depression and casting down of the interiors, and when this takes place, all the thought of the spirit is immersed in the ultimate sensual.

[7] In Moses:

The sojourner who is in the midst of thee shall ascend above thee higher and higher, but thou shalt come down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be as the head, and thou shalt be as the tail (Deuteronomy 28:43, 44).

This must have a like meaning; "to be as the head" signifying to be spiritual and intelligent, and "to be as the tail" to be sensual and stupid; therefore it is added "he shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him," which signifies that he shall teach thee truths, but thou shalt not teach him.

[8] In Isaiah:

Say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thine heart be soft because of the two tails of smoking firebrands, for the glowing anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah (Isaiah 7:4).

"Rezin and Syria" signify the perverted rational, and "the son of Remaliah," king of Israel, who is also called "Ephraim," signifies the perverted intellectual; it is the intellectual in respect to the Word that is signified by "the king of Israel" and "Ephraim;" and it is the rational in respect to the knowledges [scientiae] that confirm that is signified by "Rezin and Syria," for a man in order to have an understanding of the Word must have a rational, and when these two are perverted they look only downward to the earth, and outward to the world, as sensual men do who are in the falsities of evil; therefore they are called "tails." A "smoking firebrand" signifies the lust of falsity and consequent wrath against the truths and goods of the church.

[9] In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take hold of the tail of the serpent. And he put forth his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand (Exodus 4:4).

That here, too, "tail" means the sensual which is the ultimate of the natural may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6951-6955). Because "tails" signify the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom, which are sensual knowledges [scientifica], and because all the processes attending the sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, therefore:

It was commanded that they should take away the tail hard by the backbone, and should sacrifice it with the other parts there mentioned (Leviticus 3:9; 8:25; 9:19; Exodus 29:22).

(That the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, which are the internals of the church, of which worship consists, see Arcana Coelestia 2180, 2805, 2807, 3830, 3519, 6905, 8936.) Because "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica], and when these knowledges are separated from things interior which are spiritual, and in consequence do not with things interior look inward and upward but look outward and downward, they signify falsities confirmed by knowledges. Therefore also in what follows in Revelation, where falsities from that origin are treated of, it is said:

That the tails of the horses seen in vision were like unto serpents, and that they had heads with which they did hurt (Revelation 9:19).

And afterwards:

That the dragon with his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth (Revelation 12:3, 4);

which things may be seen explained below.

548. But that they should torment them five months, signifies that the understanding would be darkened and drawn away by the falsities of evil from seeing truth, so long as they were in that state. This is evident from the signification of "to torment," as being to have the understanding darkened and withdrawn from seeing truth (of which presently); also from the signification of "five months," as being so long as they are in that state. "To torment" here signifies to have the understanding darkened and drawn away from seeing truth, because this is said of the locusts and their power to hurt like scorpions, and "locusts" mean the ultimate of man's life, which is called the sensual, and the power to hurt like scorpions signifies a persuasiveness that can take away from the understanding the light of truth and induce infernal darkness; therefore it now follows that "their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man," for a "scorpion" signifies such persuasiveness (See above, n. 544). This is said "to torment," because it is said above that "the locusts should hurt men, but should not kill them;" and that which hurts but does not kill, torments; and the persuasiveness also, which is of the sensual man that is in the falsities of evil, hurts the understanding by darkening it and drawing it away from seeing truth, although it does not deprive it of the faculty to understand and perceive; and because it is compared with the pain from a scorpion "when it striketh a man," it is said "to torment."

[2] "Five months" signify so long as men are in that state, because a "month" signifies a state, and "five" signifies somewhat, and thus so long as "months" signify states, because all times in the Word, as "ages," "years," "weeks," "days," and "hours," signify the states of life (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 162-169), so likewise "months." That "five" signifies somewhat can be seen from the passages in the Word where that number occurs; for the numbers ten, one hundred, one thousand, signify much and all, therefore "five" signifies somewhat; for the numbers that signify much arise from the number five, which signifies somewhat, and composite and derived numbers take their signification from the simple numbers of which by multiplication they are composed, and from which they are derived (See above, n. 429, 430). "Five" also signifies so long as, because it is said "five months," and "months" here signify a state of duration. This signification of "five months" seems remote, because so long as man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from spaces and times and also from numbers and measures; for these are proper to nature, because all things in nature are determined by them; while spiritual thought is without any determinate idea of space, time, number, and measure. For this reason it seems remote and strange to a man in the world, that "five months" should signify so long as that state, that is, a state of the persuasion of falsity continues, for so long the understanding is darkened and drawn away from seeing truth; but when the persuasion of falsity is removed man comes into the faculty to see truth if he wishes to see it, for every man has this faculty.

[3] That "five" signifies in the Word somewhat and some, likewise all such, and like things, can be seen from the following passages. In Matthew:

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, five of whom were prudent, and five foolish (Matthew 25:1, 2).

The Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to ten virgins, because "the kingdom of the heavens" signifies the church, as does a "virgin;" and "ten virgins" signify all who are of the church; it is said that "five were prudent and five foolish," because "five" signifies some of them, or all who are such on the one part. That a "virgin" signifies the church can be seen from many passages in the Word where mention is made of "the virgin of Zion," "the virgin of Jerusalem," "the virgin of Israel," by whom the church is signified.

[4] "Ten" and "five" have a like signification in the Lord's parable of the nobleman who gave to his servants pounds to trade with:

And one from a pound gained ten pounds; and another from a pound gained five pounds; and they were therefore to have authority over so many cities (Luke 19:13-20).

The numbers "ten" and "five" are mentioned by the Lord, because "ten" signifies much, and "five" somewhat; while "their trading" signifies gaining or purchasing heavenly intelligence; and "authority over cities" signifies intelligence and wisdom, for "city" in the Word signifies doctrine, and "to have authority over it" signifies to be intelligent and wise; and "over ten cities" signifies much, and "over five" some.

[5] Again, some and all who are such, are signified by "five" in the Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus:

That the rich man told Abraham that he had five brethren, and asked that Lazarus might be sent to them (Luke 16:27, 28).

The rich man said that he had "five brethren" because "five" signifies all who are such. Likewise in the Lord's parable of those who were invited to the great supper:

That one excused himself because he had bought five yoke of oxen, and must go to prove them (Luke 14:19).

"Oxen" signify in the Word natural affections, and "five yoke of oxen" signify all those affections or desires that lead away from heaven; heaven and the church in regard to spiritual nourishment or instruction are signified by "the great supper" to which they were invited. Who cannot see that the number "five" in these four parables involves an arcanum, since it was employed by the Lord?

[6] Likewise in Isaiah:

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak with the lips of Canaan, and that swear to Jehovah of Hosts. In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt (Isaiah 19:18, 19).

"In that day" signifies the Lord's coming; and "five cities in the land of Egypt speaking with the lips of Canaan" signifies that then some who are natural will become spiritual, and will acknowledge the truths of genuine doctrine, and will worship the Lord from the good of charity (this may be seen particularly explained above, n. 223. So here it is said "five cities," to mean some at that time, and also some truths of doctrine.

[7] In the same:

There shall be left in it gleanings, as in the shaking of an olive-tree, two three berries in the top of the bough, four five in the branches of the fruitful one (Isaiah 17:6).

And in Luke:

Jesus said, From henceforth there shall be five in one house divided three against two, and two against three (Luke 12:52).

That in these passages "five" signifies some, and all who are such, may be seen above (n. 532), where these passages are explained. There was a law given with the sons of Israel:

That whoever had stolen an ox, and had either killed it or sold it, should pay back five oxen (Exodus 22:1).

Here an "ox" means in the spiritual sense the good of the natural man; "to pay back five oxen for an ox" signifies that one should make sufficient amends for what he had perverted and extinguished; "to steal" means to take away, "to kill" to extinguish, and "to sell" to pervert.

[8] "The fifth part" also signifies as much as is sufficient, in Leviticus 5:16; 6:5; 22:14; 27:13, 15, 19, 27, 31; Numbers 5:6-8. Likewise:

The fifth part that Pharaoh took from the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty (Genesis 41:34; 47:24).

Likewise:

At the fifth [rib] at which Abner smote Asahel with the hinder end of his spear (2 Samuel 2:23);

"at the fifth" signifying as much as was sufficient for death; for the same number that signifies somewhat, and all on the one part, signifies also as much as is sufficient, when it is predicated of quantity, and so long as, when it is predicated of time.

[9] As this number signifies somewhat, and all of one part, so it signifies also a little and a few whenever a great quantity that is also designated by numbers follows or precedes; for then all of one part is relatively a few. Thus in Isaiah:

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee (Isaiah 30:17).

And in Moses:

Among the curses it was said that five should chase an hundred, and an hundred, ten thousand (Leviticus 26:8).

And in the Gospels:

That the Lord fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes (Matthew 14:15-22; Mark 6:38-43; Luke 9:13-16; John 6:9-13).

That they then took up "twelve baskets of fragments" signifies fullness, thus full instruction and full blessing.

[10] Again, "five" signifies few in Luke:

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Fear not, therefore, ye are better than many sparrows (Luke 12:6, 7).

It is said "five sparrows" because fewness and what is of little value in comparison with men are meant, for it is afterwards said, "Ye are better than many sparrows." Anyone can see that this number would not have been mentioned so often by the Lord unless it had been significative. Because "five" signifies all of one part, it was commanded:

That over the tabernacle they should make ten curtains, and the five curtains should be coupled together one to another, and the other five curtains should be coupled one to another (Exodus 26:1, 3.

That "ten" signifies all in the whole complex, and "five" all of one and of the other part, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 9595, 9604).