Arcana Coelestia#2686
2686. That a “bow” here denotes the doctrine of truth, is evident from its signification. Wherever wars are treated of in the Word, and wherever they are mentioned, no other wars are signified than spiritual ones (n. 1664). There were books also in the Ancient Word that were entitled “The Wars of Jehovah;” as is evident in Moses (Numbers 21:14-16); which, being written in the prophetic style, had an internal sense, and treated of the combats and temptations of the Lord, and also of those of the church, and of the men of the church. This is manifest from the fact that some things were taken from these books by Moses; and also from other books of that church called “The Books of the Prophetic Enunciators” (respecting whichsee Numbers 21:27-30), in which almost the same words are found as in Jeremiah (compare Numbers 21:28, and Jeremiah 48:45). From this it may also be concluded that the Ancient Church had writings both historic and prophetic that were Divine and inspired, and that in their internal sense treated of the Lord and His kingdom; and that these were the Word to them, as are to us those historic and prophetic books which in the sense of the letter treat of the Jews and Israelites, but in their internal sense of the Lord, and of the things which are His.
[2] As in the Word, and also in the books of the Ancient Church, “war” signified spiritual war, so all arms, such as sword, spear, buckler, shield, darts, bow, and arrows, signified special things belonging to war as understood in the spiritual sense. What the several kinds of arms specifically signify, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere. Here it will now be shown what a “bow” signifies, namely, the doctrine of truth; and this from the darts, arrows, or other missiles, which denote the doctrinal things from which and with which those in especial fight who are spiritual, and who were thence formerly called “shooters with the bow.”
[3] That a “bow” signifies the doctrine of truth is evident from the following passages.
In Isaiah:
Jehovah’s arrows are sharp, and all His bows are bent, the hoofs of His horses are counted as rock, and His wheels as the whirlwind (Isaiah 5:28).
Here the truths of doctrine are treated of; “arrows” are spiritual truths; “bows” are doctrine; the “horses’ hoofs” are natural truths; the “wheels” are their doctrine; and as these things have such a signification they are attributed to Jehovah, to whom they cannot be attributed except in a spiritual sense; for otherwise they would be empty words and unbecoming.
In Jeremiah:
The Lord hath bent His bow like an enemy, He hath stood with His right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye in the tent of the daughter of Zion, He hath poured out His fury like fire (Lam. 2:4).
Here “bow” denotes the doctrine of truth, which appears to those who are in falsities as an enemy and as hostile; no other bow can be predicated of the Lord.
In Habakkuk:
O Jehovah, Thou ridest upon Thy horses, Thy chariots of salvation, Thy bow will be made quite bare (Hab. 3:8-9).
Here also the “bow” is the doctrine of good and truth.
In Moses:
They grieved him, and shot at him, the archers hated him, his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (Genesis 49:23-24); where Joseph is spoken of. His “bow” denotes the doctrine of good and truth.
[4] In John:
I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat thereon had a bow, and there was given unto him a crown (Revelation 6:2).
The “white horse” denotes wisdom; “he that sat thereon,” the Word, as is said plainly in Revelation 19:13, where the white horse is again treated of; and as he that sat thereon was the Word, it is evident that the “bow” is the doctrine of truth.
In Isaiah:
Who hath raised up righteousness from the east, and called him to his footsteps? He hath given nations before him, and made him to rule over kings; he gave them as dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow (Isaiah 41:2); where the Lord is treated of; the “sword” denotes truth; the “bow,” doctrine from Him. In the same:
I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan (Isaiah 66:19).
They that “draw the bow” denote those who teach doctrine. The signification of “Tarshish” may be seen above (n. 1156); that of “Lud” (n. 1195, 1231), that of “Tubal” (n. 1151), and that of “Javan” (1152-1153, 1155).
[5] In Jeremiah:
For the voice of the horseman and of him that shooteth the bow, the whole city fleeth; they have entered into clouds, and climbed up upon the rocks, the whole city is forsaken (Jeremiah 4:29).
The “horseman” denotes those who declare truth; the “bow,” the doctrine of truth, which they who are in falsities flee from or fear. In the same:
Set yourselves in array against Babel round about; all ye that bend the bow shoot at her, spare not with the arrow, for she hath sinned against Jehovah (Jeremiah 50:14, 29; 51:2-3); where “they that shoot, and bend the bow” denote those who declare and teach the doctrine of truth.
[6] In Zechariah:
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace unto the nations (Zech. 9:10).
“Ephraim” denotes the understanding of truth in the church; the “bow,” doctrine.
In Samuel:
David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son, and he said it to teach the sons of Judah the bow (2 Samuel 1:17-18).
where the “bow” is not the subject, but the doctrinal things of faith.
In Ezekiel:
Said the Lord Jehovih, This is the day whereof I have spoken; and they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn up the weapons, the shield and the buckler, the bow and the arrows, and the hand staff and the spear, and they shall kindle fire in them seven years (Ezekiel 39:8-9).
The arms here named are all arms of spiritual war; the “bow with the arrows” denote doctrine and its truths. In the other life truths themselves, when separated from good and represented to the sight, appear like arrows.
[7] As a “bow” signifies the doctrine of truth, in the opposite sense it signifies the doctrine of falsity. The same things in the Word have usually an opposite sense, as has been said and shown in several places; thus in Jeremiah:
Behold a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred up from the sides of the earth; they lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and shall not have compassion; their voice shall roar like the sea, they shall ride upon horses set in array as a man for battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion (Jeremiah 6:22-23); where “bow” denotes the doctrine of falsity. In the same:
Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the sides of the earth, they lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel, and have no compassion (Jeremiah 50:41-42); where the meaning is similar. In the same:
They bend their tongue; their bow is a lie, and not for truth, they are grown strong in the land; for they have gone forth from evil to evil, and have not known Me (Jeremiah 9:3).
[8] That the “bow” is the doctrine of falsity is plainly manifest, for it is said, “they bend their tongue; their bow is a lie, and not for truth.” In the same:
Jehovah Zebaoth said, Behold I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of his might (Jeremiah 49:35).
In David:
Come, behold the works of Jehovah, who hath made desolations in the earth; He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth, He breaketh the bow, He cutteth the spear in sunder, He burneth the chariots in the fire (Psalms 46:9).
In Judah is God known, His name is great in Israel; in Salem also shall be His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion; there brake He the fiery shafts of the bow, the shield and the sword, and the war (Psalms 76:1-3).
In the same:
Lo the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrows upon the string, to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart (Psalms 11:2).
Here the “bow and arrows” plainly denote doctrinal things of falsity.
Jeremiah第51章
1
Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2
I will send to Babylon strangers, who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.
3
Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.
4
They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5
For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Yahweh of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; don't be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.
7
Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10
Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11
Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
12
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14
Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you.
15
He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:
16
when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
17
Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18
They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19
The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and [Israel] is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
20
You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
21
and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
22
and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
23
and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke [of oxen]; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
24
I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Yahweh.
25
Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.
26
They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says Yahweh.
27
Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.
28
Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.
29
The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
31
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
32
and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.
33
For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
34
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.
35
The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36
Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37
Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38
They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' cubs.
39
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Yahweh.
40
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
42
The sea is come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43
Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.
44
I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45
My people, go away from the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh.
46
Don't let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year [shall come] news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47
Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Yahweh.
49
As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.
50
You who have escaped the sword, go, don't stand still; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh's house.
52
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53
Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.
54
The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55
For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
56
for the destroyer is come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
57
I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
58
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
59
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
60
Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62
and say, Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.
63
It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:
64
and you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
