9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, ¹ and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. ² Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice ³ to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished ⁴ by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign ⁵ fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

脚注:

4287. 'For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means repeated victories in conflicts over truths and goods. This is clear from the meaning of 'contending as a prince' as overcoming in conflicts, in this case conflicts that accompany temptations since these are the subject at present; and from the meaning of 'with God and with men' as conflicts over truths and goods, to be dealt with below.

[2] The subject in the highest sense being the Lord, it is He who is meant in that sense by 'one contending as a prince with God and with men', for by His own power He suffered all temptations and through them overcame the hells. Indeed He allowed into Himself all the hells in their order, and even the angels, as will be explained later on. In so doing he brought into order everything in the heavens and in the hells, and at length glorified Himself, that is, made the Human within Him Divine.

[3] From this it is evident that in the highest sense the Lord is meant by Jacob and Israel, as shown immediately above in 4286. Not only has He Himself 'contended as a prince', that is, has suffered all the conflicts brought about by temptations and has overcome in them, but also He suffers them in every individual human being. But see what has been stated many times already on these matters in the following references,

The Lord suffered the severest temptations, greater than anybody else has done, 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816.

Unlike any others the Lord fought out of Divine love, 1690, 1691 (end), 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820.

The Lord fought against hereditary evil from the mother, so that at length He was not her son; even so, no evil of His own doing was attached to Him, 1444, 1573, 2025, 2574, 2649, 3318 (end).

Through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through repeated victories the Lord arranged all things into the form which heaven possesses, 1928.

And through repeated victories in conflicts brought about by temptations He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, 1616, 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2500, 2523, 2632, 2776.

The Lord suffers the temptations that take place in man, subduing evil and the hells, 987, 1661, 1692 (end).

[4] The arcanum that 'contending with God and with men' means being tempted over truths and over goods is one that is not open to view in the letter. It is clear to anyone, and will also be evident from the explanation given below, that it was not God with whom Jacob contended, for it cannot be said of anyone that he contends with God and prevails. But the internal sense teaches what 'God' and 'men' mean here - that 'God' means truth, and 'men' good. The reason for this is that 'God' in the internal sense means truth, and therefore whenever truth is dealt with the name God is used, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, whereas the term 'man' is used to mean good. And 'man' means good because the Lord is the only Man and anyone else is called such by virtue of Him, 49, 288, 565, 1894. A further reason is that by virtue of Him heaven is man and is called the Grand Man, 684, 1276, 3624-3649, 3741-3750. And this also was why the Most Ancient Church which was governed by celestial good was referred to as Man, 478.

[5] Therefore whenever good is dealt with in the Word, 'man' (homo) means good, as in Isaiah,

I will make the male person (vir homo) more rare than gold, and man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Isaiah 13:12.

In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and few male persons (vir homo) left. Isaiah 24:6.

'Male persons' stands for spiritual good or the good of truth. 'Man' stands for good. In the same prophet, The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he has no regard for the male person (vir homo). Isaiah 33:8.

In Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, that which is void and empty, and towards the heavens, and they had no light I looked, and behold, there was no man; and all the birds of the air had flown away. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.

In the same prophet, behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jeremiah 31:27.

In Ezekiel,

Your merchants [traded] in the souls of men and vessels of bronze, giving these for your merchandise. Ezekiel 27:13.

In the same prophet, You, O my flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men; I am your God. Ezekiel 34:31.

In the same prophet, They will be cities laid waste, filled with the flock of mankind. Ezekiel 36:38.

In these places 'man' (homo) stands for people who are governed by good, and so stands for good, since good is what causes anyone to be 'man'. Truth however which is grounded in good is referred to in the Word as 'a male person' (vir homo) and also as 'the son of man'.