962. And there came a great and noxious sore. That this signifies evil works there, and consequent falsifications of truth, is evident from the signification of a sore, as denoting works that are done from man, thus from his proprium, and are evil; of these we shall treat presently. And that great is said of good, and, in the opposite sense, of evil, and noxious of what is falsified; therefore, by a great and noxious sore are signified evil works, and consequent falsifications of truth.
The reason why by sores are signified works from the proprium, and thence evils is, that from man's proprium nothing but evil can be produced. For a man's proprium is that into which he is born, and which he afterwards acquires by his own life. And because his proprium is thus, from its very birth, formed of mere evils, therefore a man must be, as it were, created anew, or regenerated, in order that he may be in good, and thus be received into heaven. When he is regenerated, then the evils from the proprium are removed, and in their place goods are implanted, and this is effected by truths. That evil works, and the falsifications of truths are with those who acknowledge faith alone in doctrine, and confirm it in life, is meant by what follows - that a great and noxious sore is upon the men who have the mark of the beast, and who worship his image.
That sores signify works from the proprium, is evident from the Word, where sores and wounds and various diseases are mentioned; as leprosies, fevers, hemorrhoids, and others; all of which correspond to lusts arising from evil loves, and thence signify them.
[2] What ulcers or wounds signify is further evident from the following passages.
In Isaiah:
"From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; the wound, and scar, and fresh bruise have not been pressed out, nor bound up, nor mollified with oil. Your whole land is a desert, your cities burned with fire" (1:6, 7).
By these words it is declared that there is no good and, consequently, no truth in the church, but evil and the falsity therefrom. From the sole of the foot even to the head no soundness, signifies that both natural things and spiritual, these being the interiors of man and of his will, are destroyed. Wound and scar, and fresh bruise, signify evils of the will, and the falsities of the thought therefrom, continually abounding. Evils of the will are also evil works. Not bound up, nor mollified with oil, signifies not amended by repentance, nor tempered by good. Your land is a desert, your cities burned with fire, signifies the church devastated as to all truth, and the doctrinals thereof destroyed by a life according to lusts arising from an evil love.
[3] In Hosea:
"Ephraim saw his disease, and Judah his wound; and Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb, and he could not heal you; and he shall not cure you of your wound" (5:13).
By Ephraim is signified the church as to the understanding of truth; in this case, as to the understanding of falsity. And by Judah is signified the will of good, here, the will of evil. By Assyria and king Jareb is signified the Rational perverted, as to good and as to truth. The signification of those words in a series is evident, that is, that a man from his own intelligence cannot amend the falsities arising from evils of the will; evil of the will, which also is evil of the life, being meant by wound.
[4] In David:
"Mine iniquities have passed over my head, my wounds stink and are corrupt, by reason of my foolishness" (Psalms 38:4, 5).
Here also wounds signify evils of the will, which are evil works; these are said to stink and to be corrupt by reason of foolishness, when the delight of the will and of thought therefrom is to do them.
[5] In Isaiah:
"In the day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the wound of their plague" (30:26).
By the breach of the people is signified falsity of doctrine; and by the wound of their plague, evil of life. The reformation of doctrine by means of truths is signified by Jehovah binding up the breach of His people; and reformation of the life by truths, is signified by healing the wound of their plague.
[6] "The Samaritan bound up the wounds of him who was wounded by robbers, and poured therein oil and wine" (Luke 10:33, 34).
This signified that those who are in the good of charity are desirous to amend the evils arising from falsities by means of truths from good. Thieves are those who infuse falsities, whence evils come; the Jews in particular. Wounds are those evils; oil is the good of love, and wine is the truth of the Word and of doctrine.
[7] But these things may be seen explained above (n. 376, 444). By
Lazarus who lay at the threshold of the rich man, full of sores (Luke 16:21),
are meant the nations, who were in falsities from ignorance of truth, and thence were not in goods. These are those who are thence called full of sores. By the rich man, at whose threshold he lay, is meant the Jewish nation, which might have been in truths from the Word which they possessed.
[8] That a sore breaking forth was one of the plagues in Egypt, is evident in Moses:
"Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you your hands full of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh, and it shall become dust upon all the land of Egypt. And they took the ashes of the furnace, and Moses sprinkled it towards heaven, and it became a sore breaking forth with boils in man and in beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses on account of the sore, because the sore was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians" (Exodus 9:8-11).
By Pharaoh and the Egyptians is signified the natural man obsessed by evils and falsities of every kind; and the love of dominion of the natural man over the spiritual, the spiritual man being there signified by the sons of Israel. By the miracles performed there, which were so many plagues, and also are called diseases, are signified so many evils and falsities infesting, devastating, and destroying the church with spiritual men. By the ashes of the furnace which Moses sprinkled toward heaven, are signified the falsities of lusts that are excited. By the dust in the land of Egypt, is signified damnation. By the sore breaking forth in boils, are signified the filthy things of the will together with blasphemies. But these things may be seen explained in detail in Arcana Coelestia 7516-7532).
[9] Similar things are also signified by these words in Moses:
"Jehovah will smite thee with the sore of Egypt, and with hemorrhoids, and with the scab and the itch, that thou canst not be healed, with which thou shalt become insane from the beholding of the eyes. Jehovah shall smite thee with an evil sore upon the knees and upon the thighs, of which thou canst not be healed" (Deuteronomy 28:27, 34-36).
By the plagues named there are signified evils and falsities of various kinds arising from the filthy loves of the natural man, for they correspond thereto. For sores and wounds exist from injury to the flesh and blood, and evils and falsities from the injury to Divine Good and Divine truth; and flesh corresponds to good, and therefore in the Word signifies it; and blood, to truth, and hence signifies it.
[10] Because leprosy signifies the profanation of truth; and the profanation of truth is various, and is, consequently, light and grievous, exterior and interior, and according to the quality of the truth profaned, therefore also its effects are various, these being signified by the appearances in leprosy; which were tumours, sores of tumours, white pustules, reddenings, abscesses, burnings, cutaneous eruption, scurf, etc. (Leviticus 13:1 to the end). Such things happened to the Jewish nation from correspondence, not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses, and vessels, on account of their profanations of the Word.
Continuation concerning the Second Precept:-
[11] Because by the name of God is meant the Divine truth, or the Word; and by its profanation denial of its sanctity, and thence contempt, rejection, and blasphemy, it follows that the name of God is interiorly profaned by a life contrary to the precepts of the Decalogue. For there is profanation interior and not exterior; and there is a profanation interior, and at the same time exterior. And there may be also somewhat of profanation which is exterior and not at the same time interior. Interior profanation is effected by the life, exterior by the speech. The interior profanation, by the life, becomes also exterior or by speech, after death. For then every one thinks and wills, and, as far as it is permitted, speaks and acts, according to his life; thus, not as he used in the world. In the world a man is accustomed to speak and act differently from his own life; he thinks and wills for the sake of the world, and to get fame. This is why, as was said, there is a profanation which is interior, and not at the same time exterior.
That there may be also somewhat of profanation which is exterior, and not at the same time interior, may result from the style of the Word, which is not at all the style of the world; and may consequently be to some extent despised from ignorance of its interior sanctity.
