163. (Verse 22) Behold, I cast her into a bed. That this signifies that such are left to their own natural man and to the doctrine of falsities therein, is evident from the signification of a bed, as being the natural man, and also the doctrine of falsities, concerning which we shall speak presently. In what now follows, those are treated of who suffer themselves to be led astray by those who are in the doctrine of falsities from the delight of the love of self and of the world, these being meant by Jezebel, as was said above. Those who suffer themselves to be led astray, are not like those who have falsified truths and adulterated goods from the delight of their selfish and worldly loves; for the latter have seen truths, and have applied them to favour their delights, and thus have perverted them. These are they who afterwards cannot turn themselves to truths, and acknowledge them, as shown in the preceding article; whereas those who have not done this, but have suffered themselves to be led astray by others, have not so closed their internal or spiritual man, for they have not themselves falsified truths, but have believed those who have done so, because their falsities sound like truths. For they think so superficially as to suppose the rulers and leaders of the church must be believed because they are intelligent and wise; thus they depend upon the lips of a master. There are many of this description at this day in Christendom, especially those who are born in the countries where the papal religion is established; these, therefore, are they who are meant by those who commit adultery with Jezebel in a bed.

[2] The reason why a bed signifies the doctrine of falsities, and, at the same time, the natural man, is that such doctrine originates only with the natural man separated from the spiritual; and the natural man separated from the spiritual sees worldly things in light, but heavenly things in darkness, therefore falsity in place of truth, and evil in place of good. If he sees truth, he falsifies it, and if good, he adulterates it; for heaven flows through the spiritual or internal man into the natural or external, and not into the natural or external immediately. Into the latter the world in such case flows immediately; and when the natural world with a man is not ruled by the spiritual world, then the bond with heaven is broken; this being broken, he makes the world his all, while heaven, in his estimation, is of little or no account. He also regards self as everything, and God as little or nothing. When the external or natural man is in such a state, it is then in falsities from evils bursting forth from the love of self and of the world. This is why a bed, as it signifies the natural man, so it also signifies the doctrine of falsities. The reason why by a bed is signified the natural man is, that the natural man underlies the spiritual, and thus the latter rests on it, and on the things which are therein, as on its bed.

[3] That a bed signifies the natural man, and also the doctrines which are therein, is evident from the passages where it is mentioned in the Word, as in Amos:

"As the shepherd snatcheth out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a small piece of an ear, so shall the sons of Israel be snatched away that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in the extremity of a couch (3:12).

Here a lion signifies the church; in this case those of the church who destroy goods and truths; the legs or small piece of an ear, denote the goods which are in the natural man, and therefore some perception therefrom of truth; the sons of Israel who dwell in Samaria are those who belong to the church; in the corner of a bed and in the extremity of a couch signify their being in a small degree in natural light from the Spiritual, and consequently in some truths.

[4] In the same:

"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountains of Samaria; that lie upon beds of ivory, and upon their own couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that invent to themselves instruments of music; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the first fruits of the oils: but they are not affected with grief over the breach of Joseph" (6:1, 4-6).

Here, by trusting in the mountain of Samaria are meant they who trust to themselves and hatch out doctrines from their own intelligence. Samaria is the spiritual church perverted; beds of ivory are the fallacies of the senses upon which doctrine is founded; to stretch themselves upon couches, denotes to confirm and multiply the fallacies thence derived; to eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, to drink wine in bowls, and to anoint themselves with the first fruits of the oils, denotes to take the goods and truths of the Word from the sense of its letter, and to apply and falsify them. Not to be affected with grief over the breach of Joseph, denotes to make it of no account that the spiritual church perishes, and that its truths are destroyed. (That Joseph, in the highest sense, signifies the Lord as to the Divine Spiritual, in the internal sense, the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, thus also the spiritual church, and, in the external sense, the fructification of good and multiplication of truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3969, 3971, 4669, 6417, 6526.)

[5] In Moses:

"May the blessings of thy father prevail above the blessings of my parents, may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the bed of his brethren" (Genesis 49:26).

Joseph, as stated, denotes the spiritual church of the Lord; the crown of the bed of his brethren, is the Spiritual which flows into all the truths and goods of that church; for the twelve sons or tribes of Israel signify all the truths and goods of the church in the aggregate (seeArcana Coelestia 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335).

[6] In Luke:

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left" (17:34-36).

The consummation of the age is here treated of, which is the last time of the church, when judgment comes. To be in one bed, is to be in one doctrine of the church; two women grinding, denote those who collect and learn those things that are serviceable to faith; two men in the field, are those in the church who apply to themselves goods and truths. (That those who grind denote those who collect and learn those things that, are serviceable to faith, see Arcana Coelestia 4335, 7780, 9995. That field denotes the reception of truth and good, see Arcana Coelestia, 368, 3310, 9141, 9295.)

[7] In John:

Jesus said to the sick man at the pool of Bethesda, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee" (5:8, 9, 14).

In Mark:

They uncovered the roof, where Jesus was, and "let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." Jesus said, "Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?" Then He said, "Arise, take up thy bed" and walk, "and go thy way into thine house. Then immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all" (2:4, 9, 11, 12).

By the Lord saying to those sick men, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk is signified doctrine and life according to it; the bed signifying doctrine, and to walk, life (that to walk signifies to live, may be seen above, n. 97); and a sick person signifies those who have transgressed and sinned; wherefore the Lord said to the sick man at the pool of Bethesda, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; and to the paralytic, let down in a bed through the roof, "Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?"

Those who do not understand the internal sense of the Word, may suppose that the words which the Lord spoke involve nothing more than appears in the sense of the letter, when, nevertheless, the whole contains in it a spiritual sense; for He spake from the Divine, and thus both at the same time before heaven and before the world (see Arcana Coelestia, 2533, 4637, 4807, 9048, 9063, 9086, 10126, 10276).

[8] The bed of Og, the king of Bashan, is thus described in Moses:

"Og, king of Bashan was left of the remnants of the Rephaim: behold, his bed was a bed of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man" (Deuteronomy 3:11).

The bed of Og is here described, because he was of the remnants of the Rephaim, and because he was king of Bashan. For by the Rephaim were signified those who more than all others were in the love of self, and therefore intensely natural, and, from the persuasion of their own importance above others, were in falsities of every kind (see Arcana Coelestia 581, 1268, 1270, 1271, 1673, 7686). By Bashan was signified the external of the church, thus the Natural. For Bashan was outside of the land of Canaan, where the church was: on this account, the bed of Og, king of Bashan, was described, which would not have been done but for the sake of the spiritual signification of Og, as mentioned above. For whatever is related in the Word, even in its historical parts, is significative as to every single expression; this is why everything in the Word, generally and particularly, is spiritual, and consequently Divine from inmosts to ultimates. It is for this reason, that the bed is said to be of iron, and that it was in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and that the length thereof was nine cubits, and the breadth thereof four cubits, after the cubit of a man; for iron signifies what is natural (as may be seen below, n. 176). Rabbah of Ammon signifies falsification of truth (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 2468); and the length being nine cubits, and the breadth four, after the cubit of a man, signifies the conjunction of evil with falsity.

[9] From these things it may be seen what is the nature of the Word in its inmost bosom. Because bed signifies doctrine, it was therefore amongst the statutes in the church with the sons of Israel, that every bed whereon a person had lain who had a flux should be unclean; and that the man who touched such bed should wash his garments and bathe himself in waters (Leviticus 15:4, 5).

By having a flux are signified those who are in natural separate from spiritual love; to wash the garments and to bathe the body in waters signifies purification by means of the truths of faith (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 202-209).

Because Jacob, in the Word, signifies the external church amongst those who are in natural light and live a moral life from the obedience of faith, although not from internal affection, therefore, when Jacob is spoken of, there is seen in the spiritual world, from above to the right, as it were a man lying in a bed; hence it is that it is said of him in the Word, when he was dying,

"When Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet upon the bed, and expired" (Genesis 49:33).

It is said he gathered up his feet upon the bed because by the feet also is signified the Natural (see Arcana Coelestia 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952).

277. Inflow. The inflow of heaven into the world and the inflow of the soul into all parts of the body: 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626 (which include evidence from personal experience). Nothing comes into being from itself, but rather from something prior, so everything comes from one primary entity: 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. Everything constantly continues to exist in the same way that it came into being, because continued existence is a perpetual coming into being: ¹ 2886, 2888, 3627, 3628, 3648, 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. Inflow happens according to the divine design: 7270. This makes it possible for us to see that everything is continuing to exist from the primary and underlying reality, because it came into being from that underlying reality: 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. Every bit of life flows in from that primary underlying reality because that is its source, so it flows in from the Lord: 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3344, 3484, 3619, 3741, 3742, 3743, 4318, 4319, 4320, 4417, 4524, 4882, 5847, 5986, 6325, 6468, 6469, 6470, 6479, 9276, 10196. Every "coming into being" comes from an underlying reality, and nothing can come into being unless it has its own underlying reality within it: 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056.

All of our thinking and all of our willing flows into us: 904, 2886, 2887, 2888, 4151, 4319, 4320, 5846, 5848, 6189, 6191, 6194, 6197, 6198, 6199, 6213, 7147, 10219 (which include evidence from personal experience). Our ability to examine things, to think, and to reach conclusions as the result of analysis comes from an inflow: 2888, 4319, 4320. If the inflow from the spiritual world were taken away from us we could not survive for a single moment, and yet we are in a state of freedom: 2887, 5849, 5854, 6321 (which include evidence from eyewitness experience). The life that flows in from the Lord varies depending on our state and on our receptivity: 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343. In evil people the goodness that flows in from the Lord is turned into evil and the truth into falsity: 3643, 4632 (which include evidence from eyewitness experience). How much we receive of the goodness and truth that is constantly flowing in from the Lord depends on the extent to which evil and falsity in us have been moved out of the way: 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828.

Everything good flows in from the Lord and everything evil flows in from hell: 904, 4151. People nowadays believe that everything is in and from themselves even though it is all flowing in; and they ought to know this from the church's teaching that everything good comes from heaven and everything evil comes from hell: 4249, 6193, 6206. If people believed the way things actually are, they would not take evil into themselves, because they would throw it out of themselves and back into hell, and they would not claim that goodness was their own and therefore would not take any credit for it: 6206, 6324, 6325. How happy our state would be then-with the Lord's help we would have an inward perspective on both goodness and evil: 6325. People who deny the existence of heaven or who know nothing about it are unaware that there is any inflow coming from it: 4322, 5649, 6193, 6479. What inflow is: 6128, 6190, 9407 (which is illustrated by comparisons).

[2] Inflow is spiritual; it is not physical. It flows from the spiritual world into the physical world and not from the physical world into the spiritual world: 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9109, 9110. Inflow flows through the inner self into the outer self and not the reverse: 1702, 1707, 1940, 1954, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322, 9380. This is because the inner self is in the spiritual world and the outer self is in the physical world: 978, 1015, 3628, 4459, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6309, 9701-9709, 10156, 10472. The appearance that there is an inflow from outward things into inward ones is an illusion: 3721. Within us, inflow flows through our rational faculty into our factual knowledge and not the reverse: 1495, 1707, 1940. The nature of the pattern of inflow: 775, 880, 1096, 1495, 7270.

Inflow comes directly from the Lord and also indirectly through the spiritual world or heaven: 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682, 9683. The Lord flows directly into the tiniest details of everything: 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728. On the Lord's indirect inflow through heaven: 4067, 6982, 6985, 6996. It happens through the spirits and angels who are associated with us: 697, 5846-5866. The Lord flows through angels into the goals from and for which we think, intend, and act as we do (1317, 1645, 5846, 5854), and also into matters of conscience within us (6207, 6213); through spirits, he flows into our thoughts and from there into the contents of our memory (4186, 5858, 5864, 6192, 6193, 6198, 6199, 6319). It is hard for people to believe this: 6214. How the Lord flows into things that are highest and things that are lowest at the same time, or into what is inmost and what is outermost at the same time: 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270. The Lord flows into what is good in us and through that goodness into what is true, but not the reverse: 5482, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153. Goodness gives us the ability to accept the inflow from the Lord; truth apart from goodness does not: 8321. Nothing that comes into our thoughts does us any harm, but what comes into our will does, because it becomes part of us: 6308. The Divine at the highest levels is quiet and peaceful, but as it comes down toward the lower levels within us it becomes unpeaceful and even tumultuous because of the disorder there: 8823. The effect of the Lord's inflow on the prophets: 6212.

There exists a kind of divine inflow that is general: 5850 (which includes some description of it). It is a constant force that causes things to act in keeping with the overall design: 6211. This is the kind of inflow that affects the lives of animals (5850), and also the members of the plant kingdom (3648). Even in us, thought descends into speech and will into behavior in accord with this general inflow: 5862, 5990, 6192, 6211.

Fusnotat: