There are two stories of Christmas. We usually blend them into one chronological account, but they are very distinct. One appears in the Gospel of Matthew, 1:18-25, 2:1-23, and the other in Luke 2: 6-20.

Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view. The angel appears to him, telling him not to fear to take Mary as his wife, even though she is expecting a Child. He names the child. The wise men appear, and then Joseph is warned to flee to Egypt, and told to return when Herod died.

Luke is Mary’s story - in fact, she alone could have recounted these things to Luke. The story of Zacharias and Elisabeth; Mary’s visit to Elisabeth; the birth of John; the angel appearing to Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the tale of the shepherds all speak of Mary’s part in this event.

There are remarkably consistent differences in the accounts. In the Matthew story the angel always appears in a dream, and he gives commands. “Do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary your wife.” “Call His name Jesus.” “Do not return to Herod” was the command to the wise men. “Arise, take the young child and Mary his mother, and flee into Egypt.” “Return, for they are dead who sought the young Child’s life.” Specific commands, which Joseph and the wise men obeyed.

In the Luke story the angel is actually seen, and carries on conversations with both Zacharias and Mary. An angel choir appears to the shepherds. What is surprising is that no actual commands are given. Zacharias is told that his prayer will be answered, and he will have a son. Mary is told she will be with child of the Holy Spirit, and she willingly accepts it. The shepherds are told the tidings of great joy, but it is they who say, one to another, “Let us now go, even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Another amazing difference is the presence of Herod and his people in Matthew. He is shown in his wickedness and deceit, pretending to wish to worship Jesus while plotting to kill Him. He uses his counselors, none of whom are interested in the actual birth of the Christ, though they now know that a star has heralded His birth. Then there is the terrible story of Herod’s murder of the little ones around Bethlehem.

None of this appears in Luke. There is just a glancing reference: “There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea......” What a different tone, therefore, appears in Luke. It is one of peace and rejoicing, of wonder and gratitude, spoken from the heart by Zacharias, by Mary, and by Simeon. By contrast, Matthew tells of Joseph’s sadness and thought of putting Mary away privately, of Herod’s treachery and the sin of infanticide. And Matthew tells also how futile were Herod’s efforts, for the angel of the Lord provided that Joseph brought the infant Lord safely out of his reach.

So what are these two stories telling us about our lives, here, today? They speak of how the Lord is born in our minds and hearts. Let us leave Zacharias and Elisabeth and John out of this sermon. John represents repentance, and his birth precedes the birth of Jesus. But after we have repented of our sins, then the Lord Himself comes to be born in us. That birth is the implanting within us of charity - the ability to love others unselfishly. It is this birth which makes us into angels, which puts the stamp of eternal love in our hearts, which causes us to be “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

When charity begins to become felt in us we respond in two distinct ways. Matthew tells how our understanding reacts to His coming. Luke speaks of how His birth receives a response in the new will which the Lord is creating in us.

Joseph seems to represent the good of truth. He was a carpenter, working with tools of iron on wood to shape it, and his very act pictures the efforts of the human understanding, taking the truths of revelation and working to apply them to a life of goodness.

Joseph at first feared that Mary had been unfaithful to him, and that the child was conceived of a man. When we have done the deeds of repentance, and the Lord begins to create this wonderful, heavenly love inside of us, we too will doubt. How can I, a person who has been selfish up to date, how can I feel these tender, loving thoughts towards others? How can I be moved to do kind deeds with no thought of reward? I must be deceiving myself. This is just human-born selfishness under another guise.

But an angel of the Lord told Joseph that this birth was unique in all of history. The angel represents an insight from within, the presence of the Lord within the truths that we have learned, which gives us assurance that indeed unselfish love can be ours. The Word has promised that it will be so. Don’t doubt it. You can be a truly loving, unselfish, caring person. And when you feel this love inside of you, call it by its proper name. Call it “Jesus,” which means, “Jehovah is the Savior.” Realize that this is salvation come into your heart.

Joseph obeyed the angel. We need to believe that charity can be ours, and unite ourselves to the innocent love for the truth (which is what Mary represents).

Then, when this beautiful charity blossoms in our hearts, new truths come to herald that birth. The wise men had studied the Word, knew that a star would appear when the Christ was born, and took a long journey to find Him. The truths they represent, learned because we are moved to study and reflect on His Word, are the ones that tell us how to live the life of love. They are conscious truths, and they spur us to action.

The wise men gave three gifts to Jesus, and for two thousand years they were the last people on earth to know why these gifts, and no others, were suitable. For there are only three things we can give to the Lord, only three things we can withhold. Myrrh represents obedience; frankincense, love to others; and gold, love to the Lord Himself. We can withhold these from the Lord and He cannot make us give them to Him. When moved by charity, we plan to offer Him the only gifts which we can possibly give - the offerings of a grateful heart to obey, to love His children, and to love Him.

But the Matthew story contains Herod also. Within each of us there is a powerful love of self, and all sorts of false and horrible thoughts are tied to it. Through this love the hells seek to kill our unselfish instincts. They use deceit, they even use the truths of the Word (as Herod did when seeking to know where Christ should be born). For much of our lives we have given a fairly free rein to our selfish impulses. They don’t relinquish their kingship over us without a struggle. The story of Herod speaks of the plots of the hells to destroy our love for others, and of how the Lord protects us. When we obey the commands of His Word our love grows, quietly and secretly, in a safe place where Herod cannot find it.

So we come to the gospel of Luke. Why is Herod not mentioned there? It is in the Lord’s amazing mercy that there are times when selfishness seems to be a distant memory. We know it’s there - “In the days of Herod the King,” Luke says. We know that battles lie ahead, but there are moments when we see the joy of life, and these feelings give us an inner reason to fight for heaven. When you first fall in love, you feel only unselfish love for that person. At times you read the Word, and feel in its pages the certainty of the Lord’s love, and its promise of a heaven, a life of charity, just for you!

Selfishness seems far off. You know it will come back, but right now you know that there is a life beyond selfishness. There truly is a greater love that leaves self behind, and at times, at oh-so-precious times, you are allowed to feel it. The Lord touches our hearts, and the best image of that is Christmas night in the stable in Bethlehem.

In our peaceful states there is Mary, the innocent affection for truth. We often call it idealism. It is a deep-seated conviction about the highest ideals in life. We see deeply into the Word, see the values it teaches, we want a value system that will last for all time. We want the Lord to be our God, the God of our hearts and minds. In our innocent times we just don’t question these things, we long for them. Mary, betrothed, and longing for marriage, represents this innocent love, longing to experience the full heavenly marriage of good and truth, to make ideals work.

Mary went to Bethlehem, for that little town represents new truth, the truth of the internal sense of the Word. To go from Galilee to Bethlehem is to go upward, into the deeper regions of our minds, and experience that love which is the birth of the Lord in us. It is to feel, in the living waters of the Word, that we do love others, and this love is “God with us.”

Yet the inn at Bethlehem had no room for the infant Jesus. Many spiritual truths in our minds have languished, and lost their meaning. Other needs have crowded them out, even falsified them. There are many places in our minds where we know the truth, but that knowledge is full of earthly concerns which take the joy, the wonder out of it.

In His mercy the Lord prepares other places in our minds. The spiritual manger stands for lower truths, simple ideals long held precious. For example, you have truths in your minds about how to care for infants and how to teach little children about the Word and how to care for the needs of the elderly or those who are hurting. You understand these truths. A manger, where horses feed, represents such an understanding.

And you have simple, innocent ideas in your minds also which are, as it were, wrapped around charity. These truths tell you that certain things hurt others, that certain things, said with gentleness, touch their hearts. These truths tell you when to deal gently with others, and when to be firm but loving at the same time. They are simple ideas from the Word, first truths, which keep charity warm in your heart. “....and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.”

How beautiful is the story of the shepherds. They too represent interior truths, long held, which through the night of our selfish lives have kept us turning towards good values. They kept watch over our spiritual flock, our valuable feelings, even though we have often been selfish and uncaring. These values are called forth, and respond with joy when love is born in our hearts.

The story of Luke is one of a free response to the Lord and His creation of heaven in our minds. It is full of joy. Zacharias prophesied, with a heart full of gratitude. Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. Simeon gave thanks because he had seen the Lord’s salvation, prepared for all people. The shepherds returned, praising God for all that they had seen.

When you feel heartfelt gratitude in your lives because of a special love the Lord has granted you, - why then, stop, stand still, lift up your heart and rejoice in that moment. And know this: that if you persist in following Him, that special love will become your heaven. It will be a love born of no human father. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, and that holy love growing in you is indeed born of God.

Two stories of Christmas. Both so beautiful. The Lord gave each to us that we may see with our understandings, and feel in our hearts the wonder of this holy birth. They are secret stories, scarce felt because of the noisy pressures of worldly life, but revealed in all their wonder for the New Church. The spiritual Joseph and wise men are conscious, understood truths which are obeyed, and bring deep joy to the human mind. The spiritual Mary and Bethlehem and the manger and the swaddling cloths and the shepherds represent affections for deep ideals, and for practical ideas. These find inner happiness and peace when He comes to us.

For the greatest event in human history was the birth on earth of God Himself. And the greatest event in anyone’s life is when there is born to you the love from God that will never die. This is truly the spirit of Christmas.

(Ссылки: Apocalypse Explained 706; Matthew 2)

2588. 'Abraham's wife' means, in order that spiritual truth might be joined to celestial good. This is clear from the representation of 'Sarah when a wife' as spiritual truth joined to celestial good, dealt with in 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, and from the representation of 'Abraham' as celestial good joined to spiritual truth, dealt with in 2010, 2172, 2198, 2501. Whether you say spiritual truth and celestial good, or whether you say the Lord, it amounts to the same, for the Lord is truth itself and good itself, and also the marriage itself of truth and good and of good and truth. These matters may indeed be seen from the explanation given, yet as they belong among those things that are obscure at the present day, let them be illustrated so far as possible. The subject here is the doctrine of faith, about which doctrine the Lord thought when He was a boy; that is to say, He gave thought to whether it was permissible to enter into that doctrine by means of rational conceptions and in that way form ideas for Himself regarding it. This way of thinking was a product of His love and concern for the human race, who are such that they do not believe anything which is not grasped in a rational manner by them. But He perceived from the Divine that one ought not to enter into doctrine that way, and therefore He revealed such doctrine to Himself from the Divine and at the same time also all things in the universe that are subordinate to it, that is, all things of a rational kind, and all those of a natural kind.

[2] People's attitudes to matters of doctrine regarding faith have been spoken of above in 2568. There it was stated that there are two basic attitudes of mind from which people think, the negative and the affirmative; also that they think from a negative attitude who believe nothing unless they are convinced by rational considerations and by facts, and indeed by sensory evidence, whereas those people think from an affirmative attitude who believe that things are true because the Lord has said so in the Word and who thus have faith in the Lord. People who adopt the negative attitude towards the truth of anything in the Word say in their hearts that they are willing to believe when persuaded on rational grounds and by facts. But these are such as never believe, not even indeed if they were convinced by means of the evidence of their own physical senses of seeing, hearing, and touch; for they would always be producing new reasonings against such things, and in so doing they would at length completely destroy all faith and at the same time would turn the light of the rational into darkness, because they would turn it into falsities. People however who adopt the affirmative attitude, that is, who believe that things are true because the Lord has said so, are being confirmed all the time by rational considerations and by facts, and even by sensory evidence, and their ideas are being enlightened and are strengthened by these; for light comes to man through no other channel than the rational ideas and the factual knowledge which he possesses. This is so with everyone. With those who have the affirmative attitude of mind doctrine is certainly living, and of them it is said that they are healed and give birth. But with those who have the negative attitude doctrine certainly dies, and of them it is said that the womb is completely closed. All this shows what it is to enter the doctrine of faith by means of rational ideas, and what it is to enter into rational ideas from the doctrine of faith.

[3] Let these differences be illustrated by examples: The Word teaches that the first and foremost matter of doctrine is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. People with the affirmative attitude towards this are able to enter into whatever things of a rational, factual, and indeed sensory kind they please, each according to his ability, knowledge, and experience. Indeed the more they do so the more they are confirmed, for the whole natural order is full of what is confirmatory. But people who deny this first and foremost teaching, and who wish first of all to be convinced by means of factual and rational considerations that a thing is true, never allow themselves to be convinced because they deny in their hearts and are all the time taking their stand on some other basic idea which they believe to be essential. In the end through confirmations of that idea these people so blind themselves that they cannot even know what love to the Lord is and what love towards the neighbour is. And because they confirm themselves in notions contrary to such love they at length also confirm themselves in the idea that no other kind of love can exist that has any delight in it except self-love and love of the world. And this they do to such an extent - if not in doctrine yet in the lives they lead - that they embrace hellish love in place of heavenly love.

[4] But with those who as yet have adopted neither a negative attitude nor an affirmative one but are in a state of doubt that precedes either of these, the position has been stated above in 2568. There it was shown that those who incline towards a life of evil fall into the negative attitude, whereas those who incline towards a life good are brought into the affirmative one. Take a different example: One of the leading ideas of the doctrine of faith is that all good comes from the Lord and all evil from man or self. People with the affirmative attitude that this is so are able to confirm themselves by many rational ideas, and by facts, such as that no good can possibly flow in except from Good itself, that is, from the fountain of good, and so from the Lord, and that good cannot have its first beginnings anywhere else. Such people find these ideas enlightened for them by all things which are truly good within themselves, within others, within society in general, and indeed within the whole of creation. But people with the negative attitude confirm themselves by everything they can possibly think of in ideas to the contrary, so much so that at length they do not know what good is. And disputing among themselves as to what the highest good is, they are profoundly ignorant of the fact that it is by means of celestial and spiritual good from the Lord that every type of good beneath it is made living, and that the delight flowing from it is truly delight. Some also imagine that if good does not come from themselves it cannot possibly come from any other source.

[5] Take another example: Those who are governed by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are able to receive the truths of doctrine and to have faith in the Word, but not so those leading a life of self-love and love of the world. Or what amounts to the same, those governed by good are able to believe but not those governed by evil. People with the affirmative attitude of mind are able to confirm this in countless ways - with rational ideas and factual knowledge. With rational ideas they are able to confirm that truth is compatible with good but not with evil, and that as all falsity resides in evil it is also the product of evil, and that if any people governed by evil nevertheless possess any truth, this is on their lips, not in their heart. And with factual knowledge they are able to confirm from many points of view that truths put evils to flight and that evils detest truths. But people with the negative attitude confirm themselves in the idea that everyone, irrespective of what he is like in character - even if he leads a life for ever hating, taking delight in revenge, and practicing deceit - is able to believe as others are able to do so. Yet while holding to this idea they themselves totally reject goodness of life from doctrine, and having rejected it believe nothing whatever.

[6] To make the matter plainer still, take yet another example: Those who adopt the affirmative attitude that the Word has been written in such a way as to have an internal sense that is not apparent in the letter are also able in many ways to confirm themselves through rational considerations, such as the following,

By means of the Word man has a link with heaven.

Correspondences exist of natural things with spiritual, though the spiritual are not very apparent.

The ideas which belong to interior thought are completely different from the material ideas which fall into the words of spoken language. While man is in the world he is able to be in heaven (for he has been born for life in both places) through the Word which is intended for both places.

With some people a certain Divine light flows into the things of the understanding and into the affections when the Word is being read.

It is necessary that something be written which has come down from heaven and thus that the nature of its existence in its origins cannot be the same as its existence in the letter.

It cannot be holy except from a certain holiness which it has within it.

A person with the affirmative attitude is also able to confirm himself by means of certain facts, such as the following,

In former times people were living in an age of representatives. The writings of the Ancient Church contained such representatives, and those of many authors among the gentiles were composed of them, so that in the Churches that style of writing was regarded as being holy, and among the gentiles as being learned (books by many of those authors could also be mentioned).

But people who adopt the negative attitude, though they do not deny all these considerations and facts, nevertheless do not believe them. They persuade themselves that the Word is such as it exists in the letter, where indeed it presents a worldly appearance, but is nevertheless spiritual. They do not have any interest however in where that spiritual element lies, but for a multitude of reasons still want it. And that of which they are persuaded they are able to confirm in many ways.

[7] To present this matter in a way that can be grasped by ordinary people, let the following known fact serve as an example: Those with the affirmative attitude that sight does not belong to the eye but to the spirit which sees objects in the world by means of the eye as an organ of its own body can find confirmation of this fact in many ways. For instance, those people may find confirmation of it in their hearing of words spoken by another, in that these spoken words ally themselves to a certain interior sight, into which those words are converted - something that could not possibly occur but for the existence of that interior sight. These people may also find confirmation of the same in the consideration that whatever they think about is seen with an interior sight, by some more clearly and by others more obscurely, as well as in the consideration that the things produced by their imagination are not unlike actual objects of sight. They may find a further confirmation in the consideration that unless it were the spirit within the body that saw the things taken in by the eye as the organ of sight, the spirit would be unable to see anything in the next life, when in fact it is destined to behold countless and astonishing sights which the eye of the body cannot possibly see. In addition confirmation may be found by these people by reflecting on how in dreams, especially those of the prophets, many things have likewise been seen, yet not with the eyes. Finally, if trained in philosophy, a person may find confirmation in the consideration that things which are more exterior cannot enter into those that are more interior, just as that which is compound cannot enter into that which is simple, so that things of the body cannot enter into those of the spirit; only the reverse is possible. Besides these many other confirmations might be introduced, till at length a person is persuaded that sight belongs to the spirit, and not to the eye except from the spirit. But people with the negative attitude either speak of everything of this kind as that which is natural and physical, or else they speak of it as that which is imaginary. And when they are told that a spirit possesses and enjoys far more perfect sight than man does in the body, they laugh at the idea and dismiss it as nonsense, for they believe that they will be living in darkness when they are deprived of the sight of the eye. But in fact quite the reverse is the case in that they then dwell in the light.

[8] These examples show what it is to enter into things of a rational and factual nature from truths, and what it is to enter into truths from things of a factual and rational nature. The first method of approach is according to order, but the second is contrary to it; and when a person acts according to order he is enlightened, but when he acts contrary to order he is made blind. This makes plain how important it is for people to know and believe truths, for truths enlighten man, but falsities make him blind. Truths open up to the rational a vast and practically unlimited field, whereas falsities provide scarcely any such opening up at all, though this is not very evident. The reason why angels have so much wisdom is that they are enveloped in truths, truth being the light itself of heaven.

[9] Those who have made themselves blind through refusing to believe anything which they do not perceive with the physical senses, till at length they have no belief at all, were in former times called 'serpents belonging to the tree of knowledge'. For they reasoned much from things as perceived by the senses and from the resulting illusions which man accepts and believes all too easily, and by such reasoning they led very many astray, see 195, 196. In the next life they are easily distinguished from other spirits by the fact that in everything which is a matter of faith they reason whether it is so. And if it is demonstrated to them a thousand times, and then another thousand, that it is so they still advance doubts of a negative kind against every confirmation that is offered, and this they would go on doing for ever. They are so blinded therefore that they are lacking in common sense, that is, they are unable to grasp what good and truth are. Yet every one of them imagines that he is wiser than anyone else in the whole universe, making wisdom consist in being able to dispose of what is Divine and to derive the origin of things from what is natural. Many who have been considered wise men in the world are pre-eminently such as these; for the more anyone with the negative attitude of mind possesses talent and knowledge, the more insane he is, more so than all others. But the more anyone with the affirmative attitude possesses talent and knowledge the wiser he is able to become. One is not by any means forbidden to develop the rational by means of factual knowledge, but one is not allowed to use it to harden oneself against the truths of faith which belong to the Word.

[10] Much concerning these matters occurs in the internal sense of the Word, especially in prophetical sections, where the subject is Asshur and Egypt, for 'Asshur' means reasoning, 119, 1186, and 'Egypt' knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462.

People who wish to enter into matters of doctrine regarding faith and into Divine things by means of things of a factual and of a rational nature, and who are consequently of unsound mind, are referred to in Isaiah as follows,

I will confound Egypt within Egypt, and they will fight every one against his brother, and every one against his companion, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt will be emptied out in the midst of it, and I will swallow up his plans. The waters from the sea will fail, and the river will be parched and dry; and the streams will depart, and the rivers of Egypt will diminish and become parched. Reed and rush will wither away. Every seed of the river will be dry. Jehovah has mingled in the midst of her a spirit of perversity, and they have made Egypt err in all its work, as a drunken man errs in his vomit. Isaiah 19:2-3, 5-7, 14.

In the same prophet,

Woe to the rebellious children, who depart to go down into Egypt but have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. And the strength of Pharaoh will be shame for you, and trust in the shadow of Egypt ignominy. Isaiah 30:1-3.

In the same prophet,

Woe to those who go down into Egypt for help and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel and do not seek Jehovah. And Jehovah will stretch out His hand; he who gives help will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all be destroyed together. And Asshur will fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, will devour him. Isaiah 31:1, 3, 8.

In Jeremiah,

My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hollow out pits for themselves, broken pits which do not hold water. Is not Israel a slave? If he is a home-born [servant], why has he become a prey? Are you not bringing this on yourself by forsaking Jehovah your God at a time when He is leading you in the way? And now, what have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor, or what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River? O generation, see the Word of Jehovah! Have I been a wilderness for Israel? or a land of darkness? For what reason have My people said, We will be our own masters, we will not come to You any more? Why do you go off so forcefully to change your way? You will also be put to shame by Egypt, as you were put to shame by Asshur. Jeremiah 2:13-14, 17-18, 31, 36.

In the same prophet,

Hear the word of Jehovah, O remnants of Judah, Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, If you surely set your faces to come into Egypt, and you enter to sojourn there, then it will be, that the sword of which you are afraid will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are terrified will cleave to you there in Egypt, so that you die there. And all the men (vir) who have set their faces to come into Egypt to sojourn there will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and none of them will survive or escape from before the evil which I am bringing over you. Jeremiah 42:15-17, and following verses.

In Ezekiel,

And let all the inhabitants of Egypt know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they grasp you with the hand, you will be broken, and you will tear for them every shoulder; and when they lean on you you will be broken, and you will make all their loins to be at a stand. Therefore thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am bringing a sword over you, and I will cause man and beast to be cut off from you; and the land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste, and they will know that I am Jehovah, for [Egypt] has said, The river is mine, and I made it. Ezekiel 29:6-9, and following verses.

In Hosea,

Ephraim was like a silly dove. They called on Egypt, they went away to Asshur. When they go I will stretch My net over them. Woe to them, for they have strayed away from Me! Hosea 7:11-13.

In the same prophet,

Ephraim feeds the wind, and pursues the east wind. All the day long he multiplies lies and devastation and they make a covenant with Asshur, and oil is carried down into Egypt. Hosea 12:1.

In the same prophet,

Israel has committed whoredom beneath its God. You have taken delight in hiring yourself out on every threshing-floor. Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Asshur they will eat what is unclean. For behold, they have gone away on account of the devastation, Egypt will gather them, Moph ¹ will bury them; the nettle will possess their precious things of silver, the thorn will be in their tents. Ephraim has been stricken, their root has dried up, they will bear no fruit. Even when they bring forth I will slay the beloved fruits of their womb. My God will cast them away because they have not hearkened to Him, and they will be wanderers among the nations. Hosea 9:1, 3, 6, 16-17.

In Isaiah,

Woe to Asshur, the rod of My anger, and he is the staff, in their hand, of My indignation! He does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right, for it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few, for he says, Are not my princes at the same time kings? I will visit upon the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Asshur, for he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have intelligence, and I will remove the boundaries of peoples and will plunder their treasures, and as a powerful man will cast down the inhabitants. Therefore the Lord, the Lord Zebaoth, will send leanness among his fat ones, and instead of his glory a burning of fire will be kindled. Isaiah 10:5, 7-8, 12-13, 16.

[11] In all these places 'Asshur' means reasoning, as has been shown, 'Egypt' and 'pharaoh' mean knowledge, and 'Ephraim' the understanding part of the mind. These and many other places elsewhere describe what man's rational comes to be like when he reasons about the truths of faith from the negative attitude of mind. Similar teaching is embodied in the incidents recorded in Isaiah 36, 37, when the Rabshakeh was sent from the king of Asshur and spoke out against Jerusalem and king Hezekiah, and the angel of Jehovah at that time struck down in the camp of the king of Asshur one hundred and eighty-five thousands. Those descriptions mean the disarray into which all that constitutes man's rationality is thrown when he reasons against Divine things, however much he may seem to himself at that time to be wise.

[12] Such reasoning is also referred to in various places as 'whoredom committed with the sons of Egypt and with the sons of Asshur', as in Ezekiel,

You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom. And you committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and were still not satisfied. Ezekiel 16:26, 28; 23:3, 5-21.

See 2466.

[13] People however who enter into things of a rational and factual kind from the doctrine of faith and by so doing are made wise are referred to in Isaiah as follows,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border; and it will be for a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt, for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He will send a saviour and prince to them, and He will deliver them. And Jehovah will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah on that day and will offer sacrifice and minchah, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it. Isaiah 19:18-21.

In the same chapter,

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur. ² On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isaiah 19:23-25.

This is referring to the spiritual Church, of which Israel is the spiritual element, Asshur the rational, and Egypt the factual. These three constitute all the intellectual powers of that Church, which come in that order one after another. This explains why it is said, 'On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur', and 'blessed be Egypt My people, Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage'.

[14] In the same prophet,

It will be on that day, that a great trumpet will be blown, and they will come - those who are perishing in the land of Asshur, and those who are outcasts in the land of Egypt - and they will bow themselves down to Jehovah on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem. Isaiah 27:13.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, The labour of Egypt, and the wares of Cush and of the Sabaeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours. They will follow after you and bow down to you. To you they will make the supplication, God is with you only; and there is no other besides God. Isaiah 45:14.

'Cush and the Sabaeans' are cognitions, 117, 1171. In Zechariah,

Egypt will go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah Zebaoth. Zechariah 14:17-18.

In Micah,

As for me, I look to Jehovah, I wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. The day for building your walls, this is the day; and they will come even to you from Asshur and the cities of Egypt even to the River. Micah 7:7, 11-12.

[15] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples among whom they were scattered, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt. Ezekiel 29:13-14.

In the same prophet,

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in its branches, and a shady forest, and lofty in height, and its trunk among entangled boughs. The waters caused it to grow, with its streams going around the place of its planting, and he sent out his lines of water to all the trees of the field. Therefore its height was made higher than all the trees of the field, and its branches were multiplied, and its branches were made long by many waters. In its branches all the birds of the air made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. And it became beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was in many waters. The cedars did not hide it in the garden of God, the fir trees were not equal to its branches. No tree in the garden of God was equal to it in its beauty. I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it. Ezekiel 31:3-9.

Here the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, is described as to the nature of its rational and so of its wisdom and intelligence, for that Church used to look at things below from those which were Divine. Thus it looked at truths from goods themselves, and then from truths at what was subsidiary to these. By 'Asshur' and 'a cedar' are meant the rational, by 'entangled boughs among which were its branches' is meant factual knowledge, by 'streams' and 'waters' are meant spiritual goods, among which was its 'root', by 'the height and the length of the branches' the extent of it, by 'the garden of God' the spiritual Church, and by 'the trees of Eden' perceptions. This and the other places quoted above show what man's rational is like and what his factual knowledge is like when they are subordinate to Divine truths and serve these by confirming them.

[16] The fact that things of a rational and factual kind serve people who have the affirmative attitude of mind as a means for making them wise was represented and meant by the command to the children of Israel to seek from the Egyptians the loan of vessels of gold and vessels of silver, and clothing, Exodus 3:22; 11:2; 12:35-36. Something similar is meant by what is said in various places in the Word about their possessing the goods, houses, vineyards, and olive-groves, and many other things, of the nations, and also by references to the very gold and silver itself seized from the nations becoming holy, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot, and will commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the ground. And its merchandise and its harlot's hire will become holy to Jehovah; it will not be stored or hoarded, for its merchandise will be for them that dwell before Jehovah to eat to satisfaction and for ancient clothing. Isaiah 23:17-18.

'The merchandise of Tyre' stands for cognitions, 1201, which to those with the negative attitude of mind are like 'a harlot's hire' but to those with the affirmative attitude are like that which is holy. Something similar is also meant by the Lord's words,

Make friends for yourselves out of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when you fail they may receive you into eternal habitations. If then you have not appeared faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true? Luke 16:9, 11.

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