Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in 2 Samuel 5, when King David takes the city from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In the next chapter he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and later it is where Solomon builds the temple, and his own palace. From then on Jerusalem is the center of worship of the Israelitish church. It is the place where the Lord was presented in the temple as a baby, where He tarried to talk to the priests at age twelve, where He cleansed the temple, had the last supper, was crucified and then rose. It is a central place in both the old and new Testaments. The city was built on Mount Zion, the highest point of the mountains of Judea. A city, in the Word, represents doctrine, the organized knowledge of the truths of the church. Mountains represent love of the Lord and the consequent worship. If you put those things together, Jerusalem on Mount Zion signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. This is why David was led to make Jerusalem the most important city of the land, and why all worship was conducted there. And this is also why Jeroboam was condemned for introducing idol worship in Samaria. In the Book of Revelation, John's vision of the city New Jerusalem descending from God is a prophecy of a new dispensation of doctrine coming from the Lord.

(Referencat: Arcana Coelestia 4539, 8938; The Apocalypse Explained 365 [35-38])

6362. Verses 8-12 Judah are you, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you. A lion's cub is Judah; from the plunder you have gone up, my son. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him? The sceptre will not be removed from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him will be the obedience of the peoples. He binds his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. His eyes are red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

'Judah are you' means the celestial Church, in the highest sense the Lord's Divine celestial. 'Your brothers will praise you' means that this Church is superior to all the rest. 'Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies' means that the hellish and devilish crew will flee from its presence. 'Your father's sons will bow down to you' means that truths will submit themselves of their own accord. 'A lion's cub is Judah' means innocence with innate strength. 'From the plunder you have gone up, my son' means that through the celestial the Lord accomplishes the deliverance of many from hell. 'He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion' means the good of love and the truth from that good in their power. 'Who will rouse him?' means that he is safe when among all those in the hells. 'The sceptre will not be removed from Judah' means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom. 'Or a lawgiver from between his feet' means truths from that kingdom in lower things. 'Until Shiloh comes' means the Lord's Coming, and the peaceful tranquillity at that time. 'And to him will be the obedience of the peoples' means that from His Divine Human truths would go forth that were able to be received. ¹ 'He binds his young ass to the vine' means truth in the natural for the external Church. 'And the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine' means truth from the rational for the internal Church. 'He washes his clothing in wine' means that His Natural consists in Divine Truth from His Divine Good. 'And his garment in the blood of grapes' means that His Intellect consists in Divine Good from His Divine Love. 'His eyes are red from wine' means that His Intellect or Internal Human is nothing else than good. 'And his teeth white from milk' means that the Divine Natural is nothing else than the good of truth.

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