Arcana Coelestia # 7601
7601. 'And the flax' means the truth of the exterior natural. This is clear from the meaning of' the flax' as truth, but the truth of the exterior natural, dealt with below. The natural is exterior and interior, see 4570, 5118, 5497, 5649, and therefore the truth and good there are interior and exterior, 3293, 3294. The truth and good of the exterior natural are meant by 'the flax and the barley', and the good and truth of the interior natural by 'the wheat and the spelt'.
[2] This verse and the next deal with the truths and forms of good that were destroyed and laid waste, and the forms of good and truths that were not destroyed or laid waste. Thus they deal with the truths and forms of good that were stored away and placed in safe keeping for [future] use, and those which were not stored away and placed in safe keeping. For when those who are evil undergo vastation, that is, when they are being separated from truths and forms of good and are left with their own evils and falsities, those truths and forms of good that are present in the exterior natural - where they have become linked to falsities and evils - are what are laid waste. These truths and forms of good look downwards and cannot for that reason be safely stored away, as will be seen below in 7604, 7607. But the truths and forms of good of the interior natural are not laid waste but are taken to an even more interior position, where they are held in safe keeping for [future] use. Communication between the interior natural and the exterior is then closed to such an extent that no good or truth at all can pass from there into the exterior natural, apart from just a general kind of communication of them which enables those people to engage in reasoning and put together arguments to lend support to falsities and evils. Those forms of good and truths that are placed in safe keeping are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 661, 798, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342, 5344, 5897-5899, 6156, 7556. These then are the things which the two present verses deal with and which are meant by 'the flax and the barley were struck; for the barley was a ripening ear, and the flax a stem', and by 'the wheat and the spelt were not struck because they were hidden'.
[3] The meaning of 'flax' or 'linen' as truth has its origin in representatives in heaven. In heaven those who are guided by the truth of the natural are seen clothed in white, like the whiteness of linen. The actual truth of the natural is also represented there as fabric made from the finer kind of flaxen threads. These threads have the appearance of silken ones, and clothing made from them has a similar appearance - brilliant, wonderfully translucent, and soft - if the truth represented in that way is rooted in good. But on the other hand those threads which look flaxen do not have a translucent, brilliant, or soft appearance, but a hard and brittle appearance, though they are still white, if the truth that is represented in that way is not rooted in good.
[4] From all this one may now recognize what is meant when it says that the angels whom people saw appeared in garments of flax or linen, such as those referred to in John,
Out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in linen, white and splendid, and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. Revelation 15:6.
In Daniel,
I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz. Daniel 10:5.
In Ezekiel,
Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, each with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. But one man in the midst of them was clothed in linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. 1 Ezekiel 9:2.
More is said about this angel [clothed in linen] in verses 3 and 4 of the same chapter and in Chapter 10:2-7. The same prophet also says, in reference to the angel who measured the new temple, that he had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, Ezekiel 40:ff. Also, the angels who were seen in the Lord's tomb appeared clothed in white, splendid and flashing like lightning, Matthew 28:3; Mark 16:5; Luke 14:4; John 20:11-12.
[5] Since 'linen' or 'flax' meant the truth of the exterior natural, and the exterior natural is what clothes things more internal, that truth is what was represented by the linen garments with which angels were seen to be clothed. It is also meant by the linen garments worn by Aaron whenever he ministered in the Holy Place, spoken of in Moses as follows, When Aaron comes into the Holy Place, he shall put on the holy linen tunic, and gird himself with a linen sash, and place the linen turban on himself. These are holy garments. Leviticus 16:3-4.
Similarly in Ezekiel,
The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, when they enter the gates of the inner court they shall put on the linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them. When they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within, the linen turbans shall be on their heads, the linen under garments shall be over their loins. Ezekiel 44:17-18.
This is referring to the new temple and the New Jerusalem, which mean the Lord's kingdom. For the same reason also the priests wore linen ephods, 1 Samuel 22:18; when the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord he wore a linen ephod, 1 Samuel 1:18; and David too wore a linen ephod when the ark was brought into his city, 2 Samuel 6:14.
[6] From all this one can also see why the Lord girded Himself with a linen towel when He washed the disciples' feet, and wiped their feet with the linen towel with which He was girded, John 13:4-5. Washing of the feet was a sign of purification from sins, which is accomplished by the truths of faith, since these teach a person how he ought to live.
[7] 'Linen' means truth in the following places too: In Jeremiah,
Jehovah said to the prophet, Go, buy yourself a linen girdle, and place it over your loins; but you are not to pass it through water. Take the girdle, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it in the cleft of a rock. At the end of many days, when he took the girdle from where he had hidden it, behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:1-7.
'The linen girdle over the loins' represented truth arising from good, as it is in the beginning when the Church is established by the Lord, and as it becomes subsequently, when around the end it is has become spoiled and profitable for nothing. In Isaiah,
Those that make linen out of silk threads, and the weavers of curtains, will blush. Isaiah 19:9.
This refers to Egypt. 'Making linen out of silk threads' stands for counterfeiting truths.
[8] In Moses,
You shall not plough with an ox and an ass together. You shall not put on a mingled garment made of wool and linen together. Deuteronomy 22:10-11.
'Ox' means the good of the natural, 'ass' its truth; and much the same is meant by 'wool and linen'. Their being forbidden to plough with an ox and ass together or to put on a mingled garment made of wool and linen together meant that they were forbidden to be in two states at the same time, that is to say, in a state of good from which they looked to truth and at the same time in a state of truth from which they looked to good. These prohibitions embody much the same as those declared by the Lord in Matthew,
Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing. Matthew 24:17-18.
Regarding these prohibitions see 3652 (end). For those who look from good to truth are in the inner part of heaven, whereas those who look from truth to good are in the outer part. The latter look from the world towards heaven, the former from heaven towards the world. Consequently they are in a kind of inverse ratio to each other, and therefore if they were put together the one would destroy the other.
Фусноте:
1. literally, on his loins
John 19
1
So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him.
2
The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.
3
They kept saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they kept slapping him.
4
Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him."
5
Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the man!"
6
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him."
7
The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."
8
When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.
9
He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.
10
Pilate therefore said to him, "Aren't you speaking to me? Don't you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?"
11
Jesus answered, "You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin."
12
At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you release this man, you aren't Caesar's friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!"
13
When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called "The Pavement," but in Hebrew, "Gabbatha."
14
Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"
15
They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"
16
So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.
17
He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called "The Place of a Skull," which is called in Hebrew, "Golgotha,"
18
where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.
19
Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
20
Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
21
The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, "Don't write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'he said, I am King of the Jews.'"
22
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
23
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24
Then they said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, "They parted my garments among them. For my cloak they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.
25
But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26
Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
27
Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
28
After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I am thirsty."
29
Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.
30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished." He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
31
Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn't remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32
Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;
33
but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn't break his legs.
34
However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
35
He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.
36
For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "A bone of him will not be broken."
37
Again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they pierced."
38
After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus' body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.
39
Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.
40
So they took Jesus' body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
41
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.
42
Then because of the Jews' Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there.
