Arcana Coelestia # 9144
9144. 'And catches hold of thorns' means which spreads into falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'catching hold of', when said of anger that arises from an affection for evil, as spreading into and thus setting alight; and from the meaning of 'thorns' as falsities, dealt with below. But something must be stated first about what is implied in all this. The loves present with a person are the fires of his life, 9055. Evil loves - self-love and love of the world - are consuming fires; they consume the forms of good and the truths which true life comprises. Those fires compose the life of a person's will, and the light from those fires composes the life of his understanding. As long as the evil fires are kept shut up in the will, the understanding dwells in light and consequently discerns what is good and true. But when those fires spill out their light into the understanding the light previously there is dispelled and the person's discernment of what is good and true is dimmed. The situation grows worse, as self-love and love of the world, which those fires are, take hold more and more, so that eventually they smother and snuff out all truth, and good along with it.
[2] When those loves are attacked fire breaks out of the will into the understanding and produces a flame there. This flame is what is called anger. This is why a person is said to flare up, blaze up, and be inflamed, when he is angry. This flame assails the truths and forms of good present in the understanding and not only hides them but also consumes them. Furthermore, and this is an arcanum, when that evil fire bursts out of the will into the understanding part of the mind, this part is closed above and opened below, that is, closed where it looks towards heaven and opened where it looks towards hell.
[3] So it is that whenever an evil person blazes up in anger evils and falsities that produce the flame are entering in. It is like a fibre in the body. If it is pricked with the point of a needle it instantly pulls itself in and closes up, and in so doing prevents the wound from going any deeper and harming life where it exists essentially. Also, when presented in a visual shape falsity appears as something pointed. An evil person's state when he is angry is also similar to smoke which on a touch of fire bursts into flame; for falsity arising from evil and present in the understanding is like smoke, and anger is like smoke that has been set alight. They also correspond to one another. So it is that in the Word 'smoke' means falsity and 'its flame' means anger, as in David,
Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from Him. Psalms 18:8.
And in Isaiah,
Wickedness burns like a fire, it devours brier and thorn, and kindles the entangled boughs of the wood; and they rise in a column of smoke, 1 through the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth. Isaiah 9:18-19.
'Smoke' here is falsity which, when set alight, gives rise to anger. For the meaning of 'smoke' as falsity, see 1861.
[4] From all this one may now see what is meant in the internal sense by 'When fire breaks out and catches hold of thorns, and a stack of grain is consumed, or standing grain ... ', namely, If an affection for evil bursts out into anger and spreads into falsities belonging to evil cravings, and consumes the truths and forms of the good of faith ... Anyone who stops to think can see that there is some reason for this law that lies hidden on a more internal level and is not apparent. For nowhere else is a law laid down regarding fire catching hold of thorns and then consuming a stack of grain or standing grain; such an occurrence is extremely rare. But it is an everyday occurrence for the fire of wickedness and of anger to seize on and set alight the falsities of cravings and thereby to consume the Church's truths and forms of good.
[5] The fact that 'thorns' are the falsities of cravings is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Over the land of My people the thorn, and the prickle, is coming up. Isaiah 32:13.
'The land' is the Church, 'the thorn or the prickle' falsities and the evils stemming from them. In the same prophet,
[As to] your spirit, a fire will devour you. Thus will the people be burnt into lime; [they will be like] thorns cut down which are burned in the fire. Isaiah 33:11-12.
'Thorns which are burned in the fire' stands for falsities which catch fire and consume truths and forms of good.
[6] In Ezekiel,
No more will there be for the house of Israel a pricking brier and a painful thorn. Ezekiel 28:24.
'A pricking brier' stands for falsity belonging to the cravings of self-love, 'thorn' for falsity belonging to the cravings of love of the world. In Hosea,
Their 2 mother has committed whoredom. Therefore I am hedging up your way with thorns, and she will not find her paths. Hosea 2:5-6.
'Ways' and 'paths' stand for truths, and 'thorns' for falsities instead of them.
[7] In the same prophet,
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thistle and thorn will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.
'Thistle and thorn' stands for evil and falsity laying waste the forms of good and the truths of worship. In David,
They have surrounded me like bees, they quench as it were a fire of thorns. 3 Psalms 118:12.
'A fire of thorns' stands for a craving for evil. In Matthew,
By their fruits you will know them. Do people gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16.
'Gathering grapes from thorns' stands for obtaining forms of the good of faith and of charity from the falsities of cravings, 'grapes' being those forms of good, see 1071, 5117, 6378.
[8] In Mark,
Some seed fell among thorns; but the thorns grew up and choked it, so that it did not bear fruit. Those who are sown among the thorns are the ones who hear the word; but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the cravings entering in that are centred on other things, choke the word, so that it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:7, 18-19.
Here an explanation is given of what is meant by 'being sown among thorns', and so of what is meant by 'thorns'. The same things are meant by 'sowing among thorns' and 'reaping thorns' in Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah to the man of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Jeremiah 4:3.
They have sown wheat and reaped thorns. Jeremiah 12:12-13.
[9] The falsities of cravings, meant by 'thorns', are falsities that support worldly concerns and worldly desires; for these falsities more than others catch fire and flare up because they are the product of bodily cravings that a person feels. For this reason they also close the internal man, leaving the person wholly devoid of wisdom so far as salvation of the soul and eternal life are concerned.
[10] The crown woven from thorns which was placed on the Lord's head when He was crucified, and when He was hailed as King of the Jews and He said, 'Behold the Man!', 4 John 19:2-3, 5, represented God's truth as it was at that time in the Jewish Church, namely truth smothered by the falsities of cravings. 'The King of the Jews', as they hailed Him then, meant God's truth. 'King' in the Word means the truth from God, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148; and 'the Anointed', who is the Messiah in Hebrew and the Christ in Greek, has a similar meaning, 3004, 3008, 3009, 3732(end). In the highest sense 'Judah' is used to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Good, in the internal sense the Lord in respect of the Word, and so in respect of teachings drawn from the Word, 3881. And when, after such a crown had been placed on His head, the Lord said, 'Behold the Man!', He meant, 'Behold Divine Truth as it is in the Church at the present day!' For 'Man' is Divine Truth going forth from the Lord in heaven. So it is that heaven is the Grand Man, owing both to influx and to correspondence, as has been shown at the ends of a number of chapters, see 1276, 1871, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3750, 7396, 8547, 8988. So it is also that the Lord's celestial Church was called Man, 478, 479, this Church being the one that the Jews represented, 6363, 6364, 8770. All this shows what was meant by 'the crown of thorns', and by being hailed 'King of the Jews', also what was meant by 'Behold the Man' as well as by the inscription over the cross, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews', John 19:19-20. It meant the way in which Divine Truth or the Word was regarded and was treated by the Jews, among whom the Church existed. All the things that the Jews did to the Lord when He was about to be crucified were signs of the states of those belonging to the Church so far as God's truth or the Word was concerned, see 9093(end). That the Lord was the Word is clear in John,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. John 1:1, 14.
'The Word' is Divine Truth.
Сноски:
1. literally, they raise themselves with a raising of smoke
2. The Latin means Your but the Hebrew means Their, which Swedenborg Has in another place where he quotes this verse.
3. i.e. a fire consuming thorns
4. The words Behold the Man (Ecce Homo) are generally thought to have been spoken by Pilate. The Greek at John 19:5 states simply And he said, Behold the Man.
Mark 5
1
They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2
When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.
3
He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,
4
because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.
5
Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
6
When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him,
7
and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me."
8
For he said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"
9
He asked him, "What is your name?" He said to him, "My name is Legion, for we are many."
10
He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11
Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.
12
All the demons begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them."
13
At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.
14
Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
15
They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.
16
Those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
17
They began to beg him to depart from their region.
18
As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
19
He didn't allow him, but said to him, "Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you."
20
He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
21
When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.
22
Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,
23
and begged him much, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live."
24
He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
25
A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years,
26
and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,
27
having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes.
28
For she said, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well."
29
Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
30
Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31
His disciples said to him, "You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, 'Who touched me?'"
32
He looked around to see her who had done this thing.
33
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease."
35
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler's house saying, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?"
36
But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Don't be afraid, only believe."
37
He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
38
He came to the synagogue ruler's house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
39
When he had entered in, he said to them, "Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep."
40
They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying.
41
Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha cumi!" which means, being interpreted, "Girl, I tell you, get up!"
42
Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.
43
He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.
