9341. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting the boundary' as the full range, dealt with immediately above in 9340; from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a place where no one lives and nothing is grown, so that when it applies to the spiritual matters of faith and the celestial aspects of love 'the wilderness' is a place where no good nor any truth resides, as is the situation with the level of the senses (that this is what the sensory level of the human mind is like, see end of 9331), for no celestial good nor any spiritual truth exists on the sensory level, only delight and pleasure having a bodily and worldly origin exist there, which being so 'the wilderness' means this outermost level of mind in a member of the Church; and from the meaning of the Euphrates, to which 'the River' refers here, as good and truth belonging to the rational level. The reason why the Euphrates has this meaning is that Assyria lay there, and Assyria or Asshur means the rational level of the mind, 119, 1186.

[2] This rational level is meant by 'the Euphrates' where the words 'from the wilderness to the Euphrates' occur, and also 'from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates', as in Joshua,

From the wilderness and Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea, the going down of the sun, will be your boundary. Joshua 1:4.

And in Moses,

To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the River Euphrates. Genesis 15:18.

Similarly in David,

You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You sent out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the River. Psalms 80:8, 11.

'A vine out of Egypt' stands for the spiritual Church represented by the children of Israel; 'to the sea' and 'to the River' stand for interior truths and forms of good. The like occurs in Micah,

They will come to you from Asshur and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, ¹ from mountain to mountain. Micah 7:12.

[3] But something different is meant by 'the Euphrates' when, from the middle of the land of Canaan as the standpoint, it is seen to be the furthest limit of the land on one side or that which encloses it on one side. In this case that river means the last and lowest level of the Lord's kingdom, that is, the last and lowest level of heaven and the Church in respect of rational goodness and truth. The fact that the boundaries of the land of Canaan, which were seas and rivers, meant the lowest things in the Lord's kingdom, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516. 'The Euphrates' therefore meant the kinds of truths and forms of good on the sensory level that were in agreement with truths and forms of good on the rational level. But since the sensory level of the human mind lies next to earth and the world and receives its impressions from them, 9331 (end), it does not acknowledge anything as good except that which delights the body, nor anything as truth except that which lends support to that delight. In this sense therefore 'the River Euphrates' means pleasure which is attributable to self-love and love of the world, and falsity that supports it with reasonings based on the illusions of the senses.

[4] These things are meant by 'the River Euphrates' in John,

A voice said to the sixth angel, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were released, and they killed a third part of mankind. Revelation 9:14-15.

'The angels bound at the Euphrates' stands for falsities which arise through reasonings based on the illusions of the senses, and which lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world. In the same book,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the rising of the sun. ² Revelation 16:12.

Here 'the Euphrates' stands for falsities from a similar origin. 'Dried up water' stands for those falsities after they had been removed by the Lord; and 'the way of the kings from the rising of the sun' stands for the fact that at that time the truths of faith were seen by and revealed to those governed by love to the Lord.

'Waters' are truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323.

'The way' is truth that has been seen and revealed, 627, 2333, 3477.

'The kings' are those with whom truths exist, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

'The rising' or 'the east' is the Lord, also love from Him and to Him, 101, 1250, 3708.

'The sun' has the same meaning, 1529, 1530, 2440, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812.

[5] In Jeremiah,

You have forsaken Jehovah your God at a time when He led you in the way. For this reason what have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor, or what [have you to do] with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:17-18.

'Leading in the way' stands for teaching truth. 'What have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities arising through a perverse use of factual knowledge? 'What have you to do with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities that arise on account of reasonings - reasonings which are based on the illusions of the senses and lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world?

[6] In the same prophet,

Jehovah [said] to the prophet, Take the girdle which you have bought, which is over your loins, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. He went away and hid it by the Euphrates. Afterwards it happened at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go away to the Euphrates, take from there the girdle. Therefore he went away to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it. But behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:3-7.

'The girdle of the loins' is the outward bond that holds within itself all things of love and consequently of faith. 'Being hidden in the cleft of a rock beside the Euphrates' means in a place where faith dwells in obscurity and is rendered no faith at all by falsities that are the product of reasonings. 'The girdle that had been spoiled, so that it was profitable for nothing' stands for the fact that then all the things of love and faith had been broken apart and scattered.

[7] When Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him and to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, Jeremiah 51:63, the meaning was that the prophetical part of the Word would be destroyed by like falsities. In the same prophet,

The swift will not flee away, nor the strong man escape. Northwards on the bank of the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth takes revenge on His adversaries, for the Lord Jehovah Zebaoth holds a sacrifice in the land of the north beside the River Euphrates. Jeremiah 46:6, 10.

Here also 'the River Euphrates' stands for truths that have been falsified and forms of good that have been adulterated by reasonings based on illusions, and therefore stands for factual knowledge which lends support to self-love and love of the world.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

4552. 'And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem' means an eternal casting away. This is clear from the meaning of 'hiding' as casting away and burying as dead, and from the meaning of 'under the oak' as for ever, for being a tree that lives to a very great age, 'the oak' meant, when anything was hidden under it, that which is everlasting. It also had the meaning of that which is tangled up, and above all that which is deceptive and false, because compared with everything above it the lowest part of the natural is tangled up and deceptive, inasmuch as it relies on the physical senses, and so on deceptive ideas, for its knowledge and delight. Specifically 'the oak' means the lowest part of the natural, and therefore in the good sense means the truths and goods there, and in the contrary sense the evils and falsities there.

[2] Furthermore, when falsities are being removed in the case of a regenerate person they are cast away to the lowest part of the natural. For this reason when anyone has become mature in judgement and clear-sighted, and especially when he has become intelligent and wise, those things in the natural seem to be far removed from the interior sight he has. For with one who is regenerate truths are present within the inmost part of his natural alongside the good there, which is like a small sun. Other kinds of truths which are dependent on these are distanced from them by, so to speak, their relationships by blood or through marriage to good. Deceptive truths exist in the more outlying parts, and falsities are cast away to the outermost parts. These remain with a person for ever, arranged - when he allows himself to be led by the Lord - into the kind of order that has just been described. For that ordering is a heavenly one since heaven itself is ordered in a similar way. But when a person does not allow himself to be led by the Lord but by evil, a contrary ordering exists. In his case evil together with falsities is at the centre; truths have then been cast away to the surrounding parts, and actual Divine truths to the ultimate parts. This ordering is a hellish one since hell itself is ordered in a similar way. The most outlying parts constitute the lowest of the natural.

[3] The reason why 'the oak' means falsities which are the lowest parts of the natural is that in the Ancient Church, when external worship representative of the Lord's kingdom existed, all trees of every kind had some spiritual or else celestial meaning. The olive, for example, and consequently olive oil, meant those things which belonged to celestial love; the vine and consequently wine those things that belonged to charity and from this to faith; and so on with every other kind of tree, such as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, which too had their own individual meanings, as shown in various places in explanatory sections. It is because of the meaning these trees had in the Ancient Church that they are mentioned so many times in the Word, as also in general are gardens, groves, and forests, and that people held their worship in these, under particular trees. But because that worship became idolatrous, and the descendants of Jacob, among whom a representative of the Church was to be established, were inclined to idolatrous practices and therefore set up so many idols in such places, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, under the trees there. Even so, these trees retained their spiritual or celestial meanings. Consequently not only the more noble trees, such as olives, vines, and cedars, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, when mentioned in the Word, have the same meanings as they had in the Ancient Church.

[4] 'Oaks' in the good sense means the truths and forms of good that make up the lowest parts of the natural, and in the contrary sense the falsities and evils which do so, as is clear from places where they are mentioned in the Word and understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,

Those forsaking Jehovah will be consumed, for they will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired. And you will be like an oak, casting down its leaves and like a garden that has no water. Isaiah 1:28-30.

In the same prophet,

The day of Jehovah Zebaoth upon everyone uplifted or lowly, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. Isaiah 2:12-13.

Anyone may recognize that 'the day of Jehovah' is not going to be a visitation upon cedars and oaks but upon people meant by those trees. In the same prophet,

He who fashions a god cuts down cedars for himself, and takes a beech and an oak and strengthens himself among the trees of the forest. Isaiah 44:10, 14.

[5] In Ezekiel,

You will acknowledge that I am Jehovah, when their slain lie in the midst of the idols around their altars, upon every high hill, on all the mountain-tops, and under every green tree, and under every entangled oak, in the place where they offered an odour of rest to all their idols. Ezekiel 6:13.

The ancients also worshipped on hills and mountains because 'hills and mountains' means heavenly love - though when idolaters do the same, self-love and love of the world are meant, 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210 - and also under trees because, as stated above, each had a meaning of its own depending on what kind of tree it was. 'Under an entangled oak' here means worship based on falsities constituting the lowest parts of the natural, for they exist there in an entangled condition, 2831. In Hosea,

They offer sacrifice on mountain-tops and burn incense on hills, under oak, poplar, and hard oak, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Hosea 4:13.

'Committing whoredom' means falsifying truths, and 'committing adultery' perverting forms of good - see 2466, 2729, 3399. In Zechariah,

Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars, for the cedar is fallen, for the magnificent ones are ruined. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazir has come down. Zechariah 11:1-2.