6539. And they wailed there a very great and grievous wailing. That this signifies grief, is evident from the signification of a “wailing,” as being grief. The grief here signified is the grief of initiation (see n. 6537); for before the knowledges of good and truth, which are the initiaments, can be planted in good, and thus become the good of the church, there is grief; because another state must be induced on the natural, and the memory-knowledges there must be set in a different order; thus those which the man had previously loved must be destroyed; and therefore he must undergo temptations. Hence comes the grief which is represented by the grievous wailing which they wailed.

6537. And they came to the threshing-floor Atad. That this signifies the first state, is evident from the signification of “threshing-floor,” as being where the good of truth is, for in a threshing-floor there is grain, and by “grain” is signified the good that is from truth (see n. 5295, 5410), and also the truth of good (n. 5959); and from the signification of “Atad,” as being the quality of this state, according to the signification of names of places elsewhere. That by the “threshing-floor Atad” is signified a state, namely as to the good and truth of the church, is because it was at the passage of the Jordan, and by this passage is signified initiation into the knowledges of good and truth (of which presently). For the Jordan was the first boundary in respect to the land of Canaan; and as by the “land of Canaan” is signified the church, therefore by the “Jordan” is signified those things which are the first of the church, or by means of which entrance to the church is opened.

[2] Hence it is that by the “threshing-floor Atad” is signified the first state; and as the first state was signified, mourning was made near the threshing-floor, because it was on their side of the Jordan, and the land of Canaan, by which is signified the church, was there in sight. That a “threshing-floor” signifies where are the good of truth and the truth of good, thus where are the things of the church, is evident in Joel:

Rejoice ye sons of Zion, and be glad in Jehovah your God; the threshing-floors are full of grain, and the presses overflow with new wine and oil (Joel 2:23-24); where the “sons of Zion” denote truths from good; the “threshing-floors full of grain,” the abundance of truths and goods.

[3] In Hosea:

Be not glad O Israel because thou hast committed whoredom from under thy God, thou hast loved harlot hire upon all the grain-floors; the threshing-floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall cheat her (Hos. 9:1-2); where “committing whoredom and loving harlot hire” denotes falsifying truths and loving what is falsified; “grain-floors” denote the truths of good falsified.

[4] As a “threshing-floor” signified good and also truth, therefore at the time when they gathered from the floor, they celebrated the feast of tabernacles, of which in Moses:

Thou shalt make to thee the feast of tabernacles seven days, when thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor, and from thy wine-press (Deuteronomy 16:13).

The “feast of tabernacles” signified holy worship, thus worship from good and truth (n. 3312, 4391).