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).

31. (Verse 6) And hath made us kings and priests. That this signifies, that from Him we are in His spiritual and celestial kingdom, is evident from the signification of kings as being those who are in truths from good, and, because these constitute the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, as being those who are in His spiritual kingdom - that such are signified by kings in the Word, will be evident from what follows; and from the signification of priests, as denoting those who are in the good of love, and, because these constitute the celestial kingdom of the Lord, as denoting those who are in His celestial kingdom. (That there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are in general distinguished, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 20-28; and that the spiritual kingdom is called the regal kingdom of the Lord, and the celestial kingdom His priestly kingdom, may be seen in the same work, n. 24.) Mention is made of kings in many places in the prophetic Word, and those who are ignorant of the internal sense, believe that kings are there meant; kings, however, are not meant, but all those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity, from the Lord; the reason is, that the Lord is the only King, and those who, from the Lord, are in truths from good, are called His sons. This is why, by princes, sons of the kingdom, sons of kings, and also by kings such are meant; and that abstractedly from persons, as is the case in heaven, truths from good are meant, or, what is the same thing, faith from charity; because truth pertains to faith, and good to charity.

[2] That kings are not meant, may be evident from the expression alone here used, namely, that Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests; and afterwards,

"Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth" (Apoc. 5:10);

And in Matthew:

"The [good] seed are the sons of the kingdom" (13:38)

the seed sown in the field denotes truths from good, which man has from the Lord (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3373, 10248, 10249). Every one also may perceive that the Lord will not make all those who are there treated of kings, that He calls them kings from the power and the glory belonging to those who are in truths from good from the Lord.

From these considerations it may now be seen, that by king, in the prophetic Word, is meant the Lord as to Divine truth, and by kings and princes, those who are in truths from good from the Lord; and, as most terms used in the Word have also an opposite sense, in that sense kings signify those who are in falsities from evil.

[3] That by king in the Word is meant the Lord as to Divine truth, is evident from the words of the Lord Himself to Pilate:

"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is in the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?" (John 18:37, 38).

From the question of Pilate, What is truth? it is evident that he understood that the Lord called truth a king; but because he was a Gentile, and knew nothing from the Word, he could not be instructed that Divine truth was from the Lord, and that He was Divine truth; therefore, immediately after his question, "He went out to the Jews, saying, I find no fault in him"; and afterwards put upon the cross,

"This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. And when the chief priests said unto him, Write not, The king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews, Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written" (John 19:19-22).

[4] These things being understood, it may be known what is meant by kings in the following passages in the Apocalypse:

"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared" (16:12).

With the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, "the kings of the earth have committed fornication" (17:1, 2).

"The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings; five are fallen, the other is not yet come. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords and King of kings" (17:9, 10, 12, 14).

"And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (17:18).

"All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of the fornication" of Babylon, "and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her" (18:3).

"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse, and with his army" (19:19).

"And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into it" (21:24).

In these passages by kings are not meant kings, but all who are either in truths from good, or in falsities from evil, as said above.

In like manner in Daniel, by "the king of the south," and "the king of the north," who made war against each other (11:1to the end). By the king of the south are there meant those who are in the light of truth from good, and by the king of the north those who are in darkness from evil. (That the south in the Word signifies those who are in the light of truth from good, may be seen,Arcana Coelestia 1458, 3708, 3195, 5672, 9642, and the north those who are in the darkness of falsity from evil, n. 3708, and in general in the work, Heaven and Hell 141-153; where the four quarters in heaven are treated of.)

[5] Kings are also frequently mentioned by the prophets in the Old Testament, where also are likewise meant those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and, in an opposite sense, those who are in falsities from evil; as in Isaiah:

"He shall disperse many nations; kings shall shut their mouths upon him; because what was [not] told them they have seen, and what they have not heard they have understood" (52:15).

And in the same:

"Zion of the Holy One of Israel, thou shalt suck the milk of the nations, and shalt suck the breasts of kings" (60:16).

Also, in the same:

"Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and princesses thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face to the earth" (49:23).

And moreover in Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 60:10; Jerem. 2:26; 4:9; 49:38; Lament. 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26, 27; Hosea, 3:4; Zeph. 1:8; Psalm 2:10; 110:5. Falsities, Genesis 49:20.

[6] Because kings signify those who are in truths from good from the Lord, therefore it became a custom from ancient times, that kings, when they were crowned, should be distinguished by certain insignia which signify truths from good; as, for example, that the king should be anointed with oil, that he should wear a crown of gold, that he should hold a sceptre in the right hand, that he should be clothed with a crimson robe, that he should sit upon a throne of silver, and that he should ride with his insignia upon a white horse. (For oil signifies good from which is truth, as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 886, 4683, 9780, 9954, 10011, 10261, 10268; a crown of gold upon the head has a similar signification, n. 9930; a sceptre, which is a staff, signifies the power of truth from good, n. 4581, 4876, 4966; a robe and cloak signifies Divine truth in the spiritual kingdom, n. 9825, 10005; and crimson, the spiritual love of good, n. 9467; a throne, the kingdom of truth from good, n. 5313, 6397, 8625; and silver, that truth itself, n. 1551, 1552, 2954, 5658.) A white horse signifies the understanding enlightened from truths (as may be seen in the little work, The White Horse 1-5. That rituals observed at the coronation of kings involve such things, but that the knowledge thereof is at this day lost, see also n. 4581, 4966).

[7] Since it is evident from these things what is signified by king in the Word, I will add to the above, why the Lord, when He entered Jerusalem, sat upon the foal of an ass, and why the people then proclaimed Him king, and also strewed their garments in the way (Matthew 21:1-8; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:14-16); which is predicted in Zechariah:

"Exult, O daughter of Zion! shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee, just and having salvation; riding upon an ass, and upon the foal of an ass" (9:9; Matthew 21:5; John 12:15).

The reason of this was, that to sit upon an ass, and upon the foal of an ass, was the mark of distinction belonging to a chief, judge and also to a king. This is evident from the following passages:

"My heart is toward the lawgivers of Israel, ye who ride upon white asses" (Judges 5:9, 10).

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; who shall bind his ass's foal to the vine, and the son of his she-ass to the noble vine" (Genesis 49:10, 11).

Because to sit upon an ass and the foal of an ass was a sign of such rank, therefore the judges rode upon white asses (Judges 5:9, 10), and their sons upon asses' colts (Judges 10:4, and 12:14); and a king himself, when he was crowned, upon a she-mule (1 Kings 1:33), and his sons upon mules (2 Sam. 13:29). He who does not know what is signified in a representative sense by a horse, a mule, and the foal of an ass, supposes that the Lord's riding upon the foal of an ass, signified affliction and humiliation; whereas it signified regal magnificence; therefore also the people then proclaimed the Lord king, and strewed their garments upon the way. (The reason why this was done when He went into Jerusalem was because by Jerusalem is signified the church, as may be seen in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Doctrine, n. 6; that garments signify truths clothing good, and ministering to it, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, n. 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 177-182.)

[8] From these things it is now evident what is signified by king and by kings in the Word, so also, what by the Anointed, Messiah, and Christ; for Anointed, Messiah, and Christ, just as King, signify the Lord as to Divine truth going forth from His Divine good; for a king is called the anointed, and the term signifying anointed is Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek. (But that the Lord, as to His Divine Human was alone "the Anointed of Jehovah," because in Him alone was the Divine good of the Divine love from conception, because He was conceived of Jehovah; but all the anointed only represented Him, as may be seen, n. 9954, 10011, 10269. But that priests signified the good that exists in the celestial kingdom may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, where it is shown that priests represented the Lord as to Divine good, n.2015, 6148; that the priesthood was representative of the Lord as to the work of salvation, because this was from the Divine good of His Divine love, see n. 9809; that the priesthood of Aaron, of his sons, and of the Levites was representative of the work of salvation in successive order, see n. 10017; that hence by the priesthood, and by priesthoods in the Word, is signified the good of love which is from the Lord, see n. 9806, 9809. That by the two names, Jesus and Christ, is signified both His priestly and His regal function, that is, by Jesus is signified the Divine good, and by Christ the Divine truth, n.3004, 3005, 3009. That priests who do not acknowledge the Lord, and also kings, represent the contrary of the above, or evil and the falsity from evil, n. 3670.)