"the feller not coming upon them" meaning no more infestation. "Hell beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it has stirred up Rephaim for thee, all the mighty of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations," signifies the delight of revenge of those who are in hell. "All shall answer and say, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy magnificence is brought down into hell, the noise of thy psalteries," signifies such delight on this account that the church has become like them, and is likewise in the falsities of evil. "How hast thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, thou hast been cut down to the earth, thou hast been brought down beneath the nations," signifies derision because of its having become such, although in the beginning it was in heaven, because in good of love and in truths of faith; this was said by those who are in hell, because to those in hell nothing is more delightful than to be able to draw one down from heaven and destroy him by falsities of evil. "And thou hast said in thine heart, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, on the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will become like the Most High," are also words of derision respecting their pride of dominion, that they spread out even to heaven, and arrogate to themselves Divine power, and thus subject all things of heaven and all things of the church to their will, to the end that they may be worshipped and adored as gods, "the mount of assembly on the sides of the north" meaning where there is ascent into the heavens, "over the stars and over the heights of the cloud" meaning over Divine truth, "stars" meaning knowledges of good and truth, aud "heights of the cloud" interior truths of the Word. "Yet in truth thou hast been brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit; they that look upon thee consider thee. Is this the man that moveth the earth, that maketh kingdoms to tremble, that hath made the world a desert, and destroyed the cities thereof?" is a continuation of the derision of those who are in hell, and also of their glorying that the church has been cast down from heaven, "the sides of the pit" meaning places in hell where there are mere falsities of evil, "the earth, the kingdoms, and the world," signifying the church, and "cities" doctrinals. "Thou hast been cast out of thy sepulchre like an abominable shoot, a garment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, like a carcase trodden under foot," signifies the state of their damnation, "a garment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, and a carcase trodden under foot," signifying the damnation of profanation of truth. "Thou shalt not be joined with them in the sepulchre, for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever," signifies more grievous damnation than that of the rest, because all things of the church have been extinguished. "Prepare slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up and possess the land, and the faces of the land be filled with cities," signifies their eternal destruction. "I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son," signifies total destruction, because they have no longer anything of good or of truth. "I will make thee a heritage for the bittern, and pools of waters, and I will sweep her with the besom of destruction," signifies infernal falsity through destruction of truth. "I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains will I tread him under foot," signifies that in the new church there shall spring up no reasonings from falsities against truths and goods. Furthermore, the things in this chapter may be seen more particularly explained in other parts of this work (as n. 208[6], 223[b], 304[d]. 331[6], 386[6]. 405[e], 539[6], 589, 594[d], 608[a], 659[e], 687[b], 697[c], 724[e], 727[6], 730[b], 741[d], 768[e], 811[d]). [e.] [14.] In the same, "So shall Babylon, the ornament of kingdoms and the glory of the magnificence of the Chaldeans, be as God's overthrow, Sodom and Gomorrah; it shall not be inhabited for ever; it shall not be dwelt in even from generation to generation; that the Arabian may not abide there, nor shepherds make their flocks to lie down there; but the ziim shall lie down there, and their houses shall be full of ochim, and the daughters of the owl shall dwell there, and the satyrs shall dance there. And the ijim shall answer in her palaces, and dragons in her palaces of delights. Her time is near to come, and her day shall not be prolonged" (xiii. 19-22). This entire chapter treats of the total devastation of all things of good and all things of truth of the church, with those who are of Babylon. "So shall Babylon be" means in the sense of the letter the great city called Babylon; but in the spiritual sense it means a church that has become Babylon. Babylon is called "the ornament of kingdoms and the glory of the magnificence of the Chaldeans," because of the wisdom of that church in its beginning, as has been said before; but in general "Babel (or Babylon)" means a church in which all goods of love have been destroyed and finally profaned, and "Chaldea" a church in which all truths of faith are destroyed and finally profaned; and this is why it is said "as God's overthrow, Sodom and Gomorrah," "Sodom" also signifying destruction of all good by love of self, and "Gomorrah" destruction of all truth therefrom. "It shall not be inhabited for ever, it shall not be dwelt in even from generation to generation," signifies its eternal destruction, "not to be inhabited for ever" relating to destruction of good, and "not to be dwelt in from generation to generation" relating to destruction of truth; for those who destroy good and truth and afterwards embrace in place of these evil and falsity cannot be reformed. It is otherwise with those who are in evils and falsities but have not destroyed good and truth, which is the condition of the nations that have no knowledge of good and truth. "The Arabian shall not abide there, and the shepherds shall not make their flocks to lie down there," signifies that the church will become such a desert, "the Arabian" meaning one who lives in a desert, but does not abide there, because there is no corn or fruit; and it is the same with the flocks of shepherds, when there is no pasture. "The ijim shall lie down there, and the houses shall be full of ochim," signifies the infernal falsities and evils pertaining to such, "ijim" meaning infernal falsities, and "ochim" infernal evils, and "house" the mind of those who are such. "The daughters of the owl shall lie down there, and the satyrs shall dance there," signifies that falsified truths and adulterated goods shall be there, "daughters of the owl" meaning falsified truths, and "satyrs" adulterated goods, and "to dance" meaning the joy from filthy love which has adulterated the good of love. "The ijim shall answer in her palaces, and dragons in her palaces of delights," signifies these adulterations and falsifications in their doctrines. [15.] Babylon is likewise described in other in the prophets. As in Jeremiah: passages O sword against Babylon, "a sword against her treasures, that they may be spoiled; a drought upon her waters, that they may be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they glory in horrible things; therefore the ziim with the ijim shall dwell there, and the daughters of the owl shall dwell therein; she shall not sit any more for ever, nor shall she be inhabited even from generation to generation; according to God's overthrow, Sodom and Gomorrah, and its neighboring cities,...not a man shall dwell there, neither shall a son of man tarry therein " (l. 35, 37-40). In the same, "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver a man his soul, lest ye be cut off for her iniquity..... Babylon hath been a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah, making the whole earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken in pieces. Behold I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, destroying the whole earth. And I will stretch out My hand against thee, to roll thee down from the rocks, and to make thee a mountain of burning. And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner. .... Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without inhabitant" (li. 6-8, 25, 26, 37). In Isaiah: "Hear now," O Babylon, "sitting securely, saying in thy heart, I and none like me besides; I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know bereavement. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, bereavement and widowhood. In their full measure they shall come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries and the full abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, saying, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath misled thee, when thou hast said in thy heart, I and none like me besides. Therefore evil shall come upon thee which thou knowest not how to ward off, and calamity shall fall upon thee which thou shalt not be able to expiate; and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly which thou knewest not" (xlvii. 8-11). Thus the destruction of Babylon is described not only here, but also In the whole of chapter xlvii. of Isaiah; also in the whole of chapter 1. and li. of Jeremiah; also in Isaiah xxi. 8, 9; and in David (Psalm cxxxvii. 1, 8, 9). Again, the adulteration of good and falsification of truth by the Jews is depicted by their whoredoms in Egypt, and afterwards with the daughters of Assyria, and finally with the daughters of Babylon and with the Chaldeans (Ezek. xvi. I to the end; xxiii. I to the end). Whoredoms in Egypt mean falsification of truth by the natural man, which is effected by fallacies, appearances, and knowledges. Their whoredom with the daughters of Assyria signify falsification of truth by the rational man, which is effected by reasonings and sophistries from fallacies, appearances, and knowledges. Their whoredom with the daughters of Babylon and with the Chaldeans signifies adulteration of good and profanation of truth. [16.] When, therefore, the sons of Israel wholly departed from the statutes which were representative of the spiritual things of the church, through which they had communication with heaven, they were all given into the hands of the king of Assyria; for there was no longer with them any representative church and consequently no communication with heaven. Respecting their transgressions and their being carried away by the king of Assyria into his cities, and also into Babylon, see 2 Kings xvii. I to the end. The same thing happened to the Jews. When they had adulterated and profaned all the statutes, judgments, and laws that represented good and truth of faith, to the extent that there was no longer any thing of good and truth left, and when their church thus became Babylon, then not only their kings and princes and the whole people, but also all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and afterwards all its golden vessels, were given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and moreover the temple itself was burned (Respecting this see 2 Kings xxiv. 1-20; xxv. 1-26; also Isa. xx. 17, 18; Xxxix. 6, 7; Jer. xx. 4, 5; xxi. 4-10; XXV. I-12; xxvii. 6-22; xxviii. 1-16; xxix. 1-21; xxxii. 1-5; xxxiv. 1-7, 18-22; XXXV. II; xxxviii. 17-23; xxxix. 2-18; xli. 1-12; lii. I to the end). Their transgressions were That they filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings xxiv. 4); other gods, set abominations in the house of Jehovah, built high All these signify the profanation of the holy things of the church. Such profanation is signified also by "Babylon." That the land, therefore, which signified the church might no longer be profaned by them, and also that Babylon might thus fully put on its representation, it was said to them by Jeremiah that they should surrender themselves voluntarily into the hands of the king of Babylon, and if they did not so surrender themselves, but remained in the land, they should die by the sword, famine, and pestilence (Jer. xxv. 1-11). [17.] But since the Lord was to be born in that nation and make Himself manifest where the church then was and where His Word was, so that nation after a captivity of seventy years was brought back from Babylon, and the temple was rebuilt. And yet no other church remained with them except a church like that called Babylon, as can be seen from many things which the Lord Himself said about that nation, and from the way they received Him; and for this reason Jerusalem was again destroyed, and the temple burnt with fire. [18.] It is to be noted in general that every church in its beginning is like a virgin, but in process of time it becomes a harlot. For it enters gradually into a life of evil and thus embraces a doctrine of falsity, as gradually it begins to love self and the world; and then from being a church it becomes either Babylon or Philistia, Babylon with those who love self above all things, and Philistia with those who love the world above all things. For as these two loves increase, the men of the church adulterate and falsify the goods and truths of the Word, which is from being a virgin to become a harlot. [19.] The first church after the flood would have become Babylon, if the Lord by the dispersion of their religion had not prevented the attempt represented and signified by the tower that was to reach even to heaven, which the posterity of Noah began to build (see respecting this in Genesis xi. 1–9, and an ex |