THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 64

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation.)

1. O THAT You wouldst rend the heavens, that You wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down before You!

2. As the fire kindles the stubble; as the fire causes the waters to boil: so make Your name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble before You!

3. When You didst terrible things which we did not expect; You didst come down, and the mountains flowed down before You!

4. For from eternity [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what He has done for such as hope in Him,

VERSE 1. To "rend the heavens", is to descend with power and strength: in this way "the mountains flow down", namely, those are dispersed who think that they have the victory. (Swedenborg's Notes on Isaiah, p. 154.)

That You wouldst come down. - To "come down" is predicated of Jehovah, because He is called "the Most High", or because He is said to be "on high"; but this is spoken according to appearance, since He is not in the highest parts, but in the inmost; wherefore " highest" and "inmost" have the same signification in the Word. Jehovah, or the Lord, is everywhere present, and knows all things from eternity; wherefore it cannot be said of Him that "He comes down to see", except in the literal sense only, the language of which is framed according to appearances with man; but in the internal sense it is not so, for in that sense things are exhibited, not as they are according to appearances, but as they are in themselves: wherefore, in the present case, to "come down" signifies judgment. Judgment is spoken of as taking place when evil is brought to its height; or, as it is expressed in the Word, when "it is come to its consummation", or when "iniquity is consummated." The case herein is this. All evil has its boundaries or limits as far as which it is permitted to go; but, when it is carried beyond these limits, the guilty party runs into the punishment of evil, and this both in general and in particular cases. The punishment of evil is what is then called "judgment"; and as it appears at first as if the Lord did not see or notice the existence of evil (for when man does evil with impunity, he supposes that the Lord does not regard it, but when he comes to suffer punishment, he then first thinks that the Lord sees him, yea, that the Lord punishes him), therefore it is said, according to such appearances, that "Jehovah came down to see."

Judgment, or the punishment of evil, is exhibited as taking place in the lower and lowest parts, and therefore Jehovah is said to "come down", as in David:

"Bow the heavens, O Jehovah, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke; cast forth Your lightning, and scatter them"; (Psalm 144:5, 6),

where also is described the punishment of evil, or judgment.

So in Isaiah:

"Jehovah of Hosts shall come down to fight upon Mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof." (Isaiah 31:4)

Again, in the same Prophet:

"O that You wouldst rend the heavens, that You wouldst come down that the mountains might flow down before You"; (Isaiah 64:1),

where to "come down", in like manner, denotes punishment or judgment upon evil. Arcana Coelestia 1311.

Verses 1, 3. That the mountains might flow down before You, etc. In Nahum we read similar words:

"The mountains tremble before Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned up at His presence yea, the world and all that dwell therein." (Nahum 1:5)

"Mountains", in a good sense, signify the church where love to the Lord is, and "hills" the church in which love towards the neighbour is. The reason is, because the angels who are in love to the Lord dwell upon mountains and those who are in love to the neighbour upon hills.

When, in the place of love to the Lord, there prevails the love of self and in the place of love to the neighbour, there prevails the love of the world then these mountains are said to "tremble", and the hills to "melt"; for thus it happens in the spiritual world; not, however, with the angels who are in heaven, but with the spirits who had made to themselves [in the world of spirits] a semblance of heaven upon mountains and hills before the Last Judgment.

Since the love of self and of the world is here understood, therefore it is said that "they melt", and also that "the earth is burned up before Him, and the world and all that dwell therein", and that "His wrath is poured out like fire"; for "fire" signifies those loves, and to "melt" and to be "burned up" signifies to perish by them. Apocalypse Explained 400.

As to "mountains" and "hills", in a bad sense, and their destruction at the time of Judgment in the world of spirits, see Chapter 2:12-17, the Exposition; and what they signify, in a good sense, see in the same Chapter, verses 1-5, the Exposition.

5. You meet him that rejoices and works justice; [even those] who remember You in Your ways: behold, You art wroth, for we have sinned; the world is in sins; but we shall be saved.

Verse 5. [It does not appear that Swedenborg has quoted this verse, but from the internal sense in the margin the meaning may appear to be this - that at the period of Judgment "those who rejoice in doing justice, and who remember the Lord in His ways, will, as the "remnants", or those who escape or as the "sheep on the right hand", be saved; whereas those who notwithstanding the semblance of holiness in the external, are discovered, when the Internals are opened, to be in evils and sins will be condemned.]

6. But, we are all of us as an unclean thing, and all our, deeds of righteousness are as a menstruous cloth; and we are all withered away like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Verse 6. [This verse is quoted by Swedenborg only in the Adversaria, or Notes; and it evidently involves, in the spiritual sense, the confession of those who at the period of Judgment in the world of spirits, can be saved, and who acknowledge that, in themselves, they are nothing but uncleanness and iniquity.]

A "menstruous cloth" signifies things unclean; specifically scientifics which do not as yet correspond to interior Truths. Arcana Coelestia 4161. See also Chapter 30:22, the Exposition.

These words, together with what is said at the end of the former verse, prove that in man [prior to regeneration] there is nothing but what is unclean and unjust, so that "all his deeds of justice [or righteousness]" are, as it were, a "menstruous cloth"; from which it is abundantly evident of what quality they are who wish to justify themselves, on which account "their sins carry them entirely away." (Swedenborg's Notes on Isaiah, p. 154.)

7. And there is none that calls upon Your name; that stirs up himself to take hold of You: wherefore You have hidden Your face from us, and You have melted us away by the hand of our iniquities.

8. But now, O Jehovah, You art our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter; and we are all the work of Thine hands.

Verse. 7. Wherefore You have hidden Your face from us, etc. - What is meant by Jehovah "hiding His face", see Chapter live 8, the Exposition.

Verse18. That "clay" signifies the Good of which is formed the mind, or man of the church, appears also from the Word, as in Isaiah:

"But now, O Jehovah, You art our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter; and we are all the work of Thine hands"; (Isaiah 64:8) where by "clay" is signified the man of the church himself, who is formed by the Lord; consequently, the Good of charity, which is the means of every man's formation, that is, reformation and regeneration."

So in Jeremiah:

"As the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel"; (Jeremiah 18:6) where the signification of "clay" is similar to what it was in the preceding passage. Whether we speak of building by "clay", or of formation thereby, it amounts to the same. Arcana Coelestia 1300.

The ground and reason why the "vessel of a potter" or an "earthen vessel", signifies [in a bad sense] the false, is, because a potter is one who forms, and a vessel is what is formed; when man forms it, it is falsity; but when the Lord forms it with man, it is Truth. Hence it is that the "potter's vessel", in the Word, signifies either the false or the True, and a "potter" the former. The Lord Himself is, in the Word, called a "Potter", from the formation of man by Truths, as in the above words. Apocalypse Explained 177.

9. Be not, O Jehovah, so grievously angry, and remember not our iniquity for ever: behold! look, we beseech You; we are all of us Your people.

Verse 9. As to "anger", when it is predicated of Jehovah, see Chapter 9:12, 17, 21, the Exposition.

In the Word it is said of Jehovah that "He remembers", and that "He doth not remember", as in Isaiah 64:9, and by it is signified that in such case it is done from Mercy, whether it be preservation or deliverance; in like manner as that "He sees", "hears", "knows", that "He doth not see", ", doth not hear", and "doth not know", by which expressions also are signified compassions and non-compassions. The reason why it is so expressed is grounded in what passes in a similar way with man, and in appearance; for when man averts himself from the Lord from the Lord, as is the case when he does evil, then, because the Lord is to his back, it appears to him as if the Lord does not see him, does not hear and know him, neither remembers him, when yet this is what appertains to the man, and hence from appearance it is so expressed in the Word. But the case is changed when man turns himself to the Lord, as he does when he acts well; see the passages cited, Arcana Coelestia 9306. Everyone may know that "recollection " or "remembrance" cannot be predicated of the Lord, inasmuch as things past and future in Him are eternal, that is, are present from eternity to eternity. That to "remember", when predicated concerning the Lord, denotes to have compassion, and thus to preserve or deliver from a principle of Mercy, is manifest from the following passages:

"He has remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel." (Psalm 98:3) "Who remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy endures for ever. (Psalm 136:23) Arcana Coelestia 9849.

10. The cities of Your holiness are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation.

Verse 10. These words imply that the doctrines of the church are reduced to a state in which there is no Truth, because there is no Good. What is meant by a "wilderness", see above, Chapter 35:6; 40:3, 4; 41:19 Exposition.

11. The house of our holiness and of our beauty, in which our fathers praised You, is become a burning of fire; and all our desirable things are a devastation.

12. For these things, O Jehovah, will You restrain Yourself? will You be silent? and will You so grievously afflict us?

Verse 11. The "house of holiness and of beauty", signifies the celestial and the spiritual church, - the "house of holiness" the celestial church, and of "beauty" the spiritual church; "in which our fathers praised You", signifies the worship of the ancient church; to "praise" denoting to worship, and "fathers" those who are of the ancient church. To become the "burning of fire", signifies that all the Goods of that church were turned into evil, by which the Goods were consumed, and perished; and "all our desirable things are a devastation", signifies all Truths being consumed in like manner, "desirable things", in the Word, denoting the Truths of the church. Apocalypse Explained 504.

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Isaiah Chapter 64

1. O THAT You wouldst rend the heavens, that You wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down before You!

2. As the fire kindles the stubble; as the fire causes the waters to boil: so make Your name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble before You!

3. When You didst terrible things which we did not expect; You didst come down, and the mountains flowed down before You!

4. For from eternity [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what He has done for such as hope in Him,

5. You meet him that rejoices and works justice; [even those] who remember You in Your ways: behold, You art wroth, for we have sinned; the world is in sins; but we shall be saved.

6. But, we are all of us as an unclean thing, and all our, deeds of righteousness are as a menstruous cloth; and we are all withered away like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

7. And there is none that calls upon Your name; that stirs up himself to take hold of You: wherefore You have hidden Your face from us, and You have melted us away by the hand of our iniquities.

8. But now, O Jehovah, You art our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter; and we are all the work of Thine hands.

9. Be not, O Jehovah, so grievously angry, and remember not our iniquity for ever: behold! look, we beseech You; we are all of us Your people.

10. The cities of Your holiness are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation.

11. The house of our holiness and of our beauty, in which our fathers praised You, is become a burning of fire; and all our desirable things are a devastation.

12. For these things, O Jehovah, will You restrain Yourself? will You be silent? and will You so grievously afflict us?

6832. 'In a flame of fire from the middle of a bramble bush' means God's love present in true factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'a flame of fire' as God's love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a bramble bush' as true factual knowledge. The reason why 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge is that all shrubs of every kind mean factual knowledge, whereas actual plantations of trees, being larger, mean cognitions and perceptions. Because it produces flower and berries 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge. True factual knowledge that the Church possesses consists in nothing else than the Word as it exists in the sense of the letter and also every one of the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs that existed among the descendants of Jacob. These in the external form they take are called true factual knowledge; but in their internal form they are spiritual truths. But truths in their internal or spiritual form could not be made visible to those descended from Jacob, for the reason that they were interested solely in things of an external nature and had no wish whatever to know about anything internal. Therefore the Lord appeared in a bramble bush (when the Lord appears to people He does so in a way suited to the kind of people they are, for a person cannot receive the Divine in any way other than that which is a way suited to the kind of person he is); and therefore also, when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai He appeared to the people' as a fire burning even to the heart of heaven, and as darkness, cloud, and pitch darkness', Deuteronomy 4:11; 5:22-25; also Exodus 19:18. He would have appeared in an altogether different way if the people below the mountain who beheld Him had not been the kind of people they were. And because those people were interested solely in things of an external nature, when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he went into the cloud, Exodus 20:21; 24:2, 18; 34:2-5, 'the cloud' being the external aspect of the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), and also consequently representatives in the Church which are seen in outward form.

[2] The truth that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is may be recognized from the consideration that the Lord appears to those in the inmost or third heaven as the Sun from which light beyond description radiates, the reason being that those there are governed by the good of love to the Lord. He appears to those in the middle or second heaven as the Moon, the reason being that there they are governed by love to the Lord in a more remote and obscure way; for they are governed by love towards the neighbour. But the Lord does not appear to those in the lowest or first heaven either as the Sun or the Moon, only as Light, a light far more brilliant than light in the world. And since the Lord appears to each in a way suited to the kind of person he is, He cannot appear to those in hell as anything other than dark cloud and pitch darkness. For as soon as the light of heaven which comes from the Lord shines into any hell, darkness and thick darkness are produced there. From all this one may now recognize that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is, for this is suited to the way he receives the Lord. And since the descendants of Jacob were interested solely in things of an external nature, the Lord appeared to Moses in a bramble bush, and also in a cloud when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai.

[3] The reason why 'a flame' is God's love is that love in its earliest origin is nothing other than fire or flame from the Lord as the Sun. The fire or flame of this sun is what supplies each individual person with the being (esse) of his life; it is that life-giving fire which fills a person's interiors with warmth, as one may recognize from what happens with love. To the extent that love increases in a person he warms up; but to the extent that it diminishes he cools off. This explain s why, when the Lord appeared in a vision, He appeared as fire and flame, as in Ezekiel,

The appearance of the four living creatures (who were cherubs) was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps. It was moving between the living creatures as a bright fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. Above the firmament that was over their heads, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and over the likeness of a throne there was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it, above. And I saw the shape of burning coals, as the shape of fire, within it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upwards. But from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it. Ezekiel 1:13, 26-28.

[4] Nobody can deny that all the several details of this vision are signs that represent aspects of the Divine; but unless one knows what is meant by 'the cherubs', 'the burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps', 'a throne', 'the appearance of a man upon it', 'his loins from which fire emanated upwards and downwards, and the brightness radiating from the fire', one can have no knowledge of the real holiness hidden within all those several details. 'The cherubs' are the Lord's Providence, see 308; 'the throne' is heaven, or - to be exact - Divine Truth that emanates from the Lord to form heaven, 5313; 'the appearance of a man upon the throne above' is plainly the Lord's Divine Human; and 'loins' are conjugial love and all heavenly love that derives from it, 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050, 5062. This love was represented by 'the shape of burning coal, as the shape of fire, whose brightness was round about it'.

[5] In Daniel,

I saw, until thrones had been placed, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire; His wheels were burning fire. A river of five issued and came forth from before Him. Daniel 7:9-10.

The Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love was seen in this vision too as a flame of fire. In John,

He who sat on the white horse, His eyes were like aflame of fire. Revelation 19:11-12.

'He who sat on the white horse' is the Lord in respect of the Word, as is explicitly stated in verses 13, 16, of that chapter. Thus 'the flame of fire' is Divine Truth contained in the Word, which radiates from the Lord's Divine Goodness. In the same book,

In the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe. His head and hair were white, like white wool, like snow; but His eyes were like a flame of fire. Revelation 1:13-14.

Here also 'eyes like a flame of fire' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Goodness.

[6] The meaning of 'a flame of fire' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is also evident in David,

The voice of Jehovah falls like a flame of fire. Psalms 29:7.

'The voice of Jehovah' stands for Divine Truth. In order that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good might be represented, the people were commanded to make a lampstand of pure gold with seven lamps and to place it in the tent of meeting by the table where the loaves of the presence were, and to keep the lamps burning unceasingly before Jehovah, Exodus 25:31-end; 37:17-24; 40:24-25; Leviticus 24:4; Numbers 8:2; Zechariah 4:2. The lampstand with its seven lamps served to represent Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good.

[7] In order also that Divine Good itself might be represented they were commanded to have perpetual fire on the altar,

Fire shall burn on the altar and not be put out; the priest shall kindle pieces of wood on it at every dawn. Fire shall burn unceasingly on the altar and not be put out. Leviticus 6:12-13.

The fact that the ancients were very well acquainted with the use of fire to represent Divine Love may be recognized from the spread of that representative from the Ancient Church even to nations far away whose worship was idolatrous and who, as is well known, established an everlasting sacred fire and placed in charge of it virgins, who were called the vestal virgins.

[8] In the contrary sense 'fire' and 'flame' mean filthy kinds of love, such as those of vengeance, cruelty, hatred, and adultery, and in general the cravings that spring from self-love and love of the world. This too is clear from very many places in the Word, of which let just the following be quoted: In Isaiah,

Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame. ¹ There will be no coal to be warmed by [nor] fire to sit in front of. Isaiah 47:14.

In Ezekiel,

Behold, I will kindle in you a five, which will devour in you every green tree and every dry tree. The blazing flame ² will not be put out, and all faces from south to north will be scorched by it. Ezekiel 20:47.

Here 'fire' and 'flame' mean desires for what is evil and false which annihilate everything good and true in the Church, and thereby lay it waste.

[9] In Luke,

The rich man said to Abraham, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Luke 16:24.

People who do not know that a person's vital heat has a different origin from that which is the source of elemental fire cannot possibly do anything else but think that by hell fire is meant fire like that found in the world. In the Word however this latter kind of fire is not meant but the fire of love, thus the fire of a person's life, emanating from the Lord as a Sun. And when this fire comes among those engrossed in pursuits contrary to it, it is turned into the fire of evil desires which, as stated above, belong to vengeance, hatred, and cruelty, and which well up from self-love and love of the world. This is the fire that torments those who are in hell, for when the restraint placed on their evil desires is relaxed, one sets upon another and they torment one another in dreadful and indescribable ways. For each has the wish for supremacy and wants to take from the other the things he has by hidden or open devices. When one or two have such desires hatreds consequently develop within the group, and these lead to the savage deeds that are performed, especially by the use of devices involving magic and the use of figments of the imagination, devices which are countless and totally unknown in the world.

[10] People who do not believe in the existence of spiritual things, especially those who worship nature, cannot at all be led to believe that the warmth present in living persons, which constitutes the actual life within them, has a different origin from that which is the source of worldly heat. For they are not even aware, let alone able to acknowledge, that there is a heavenly fire radiating from the Lord as a Sun, and that this Fire is pure love. Consequently they are unaware of countless instances in the Word in which no other kind of fire is meant; nor are they aware of countless manifestations of it in the human being, who is an organ made to receive that fire.

Mga talababa: