654. That "Egypt" here signifies the natural man separated from the spiritual, and thence falsities flowing forth from the evils of the love of self, consequently from the pride of self-intelligence, shall now be explained. For when the natural of man is separated from his spiritual, which is effected chiefly by the love of self, then from the evils of that love falsities flow forth, for every falsity is from an evil, for the falsity is the protector of the evil, and the evil of the will takes form in the understanding by means of the ideas of the thought, and these ideas are called falsities. And as the falsities that flow forth from the evils of the love of self have in them pride, for man then thinks from what is his own [proprium], therefore "Egypt" here signifies also the pride of self-intelligence.
[2] But as "Egypt" signifies the natural man in both senses, that is, both when it is conjoined to the spiritual man and when it is separated from it, thus both in a good sense and in a bad sense, so the various things belonging to the natural man, which have reference in general to cognitions and knowledges, are signified by "Egypt." For the truths and falsities of the natural man are called cognitions and knowledges; but when the truths themselves have acquired life, which is effected by a life of faith, which is charity, they belong to his spiritual man. These with their affections and pleasantnesses do not appear to man's manifest sense and sight, as the cognitions and knowledges of the natural man do, for the reason that so long as a man lives in the world he thinks naturally and speaks naturally, and this a man sensibly feels and perceives by a kind of sight that belongs to his understanding. But his spiritual thought, which is conjoined to the affection of truth or of falsity, is not apparent until man has put off the natural body and put on the spiritual body, which takes place after his death, or his departure from this world and his entrance into the spiritual world; then he thinks spiritually and speaks spiritually, and not naturally as before. This takes place with every man, whether he be merely natural or also spiritual; and even with the merely natural man after death thought is spiritual, but gross and without the understanding of truth or the affection of good; for it consists of correspondent ideas, which appear to be material, and yet they are not material. But the Lord willing, more shall be said elsewhere of the spiritual thought and the speech therefrom of men in the spiritual world who are merely natural.
[3] "Egypt" signifies in the Word the natural man in both senses, good and bad, consequently everything that properly belongs to the natural man, because in Egypt knowledges [scientiae] were cultivated, especially the knowledge of correspondences and representations, at the time when churches were representative. But because they made for themselves images according to correspondences, and because when from being internal they became altogether external they began to worship them with holy rites and thereby made them their idols, therefore they turned the representatives of things spiritual and celestial into things idolatrous and also into things magical, therefore in the Word "Egypt" came to signify in a bad sense, which is the contrary of the former sense, the false knowledge [scientificum] of the natural man, and also what is idolatrous and magical.
[4] That such is the signification of "Egypt" can be seen from very many passages in the Word; but before we proceed to confirm this it should be known that in every man there is both an internal that sees from the light of heaven, and that is called the internal-spiritual man or the internal-spiritual mind, and an external that sees from the light of the world, and that is called the external-natural man or the external-natural mind. With every man of the church the internal must be conjoined to the external, or the internal-spiritual man to the external-natural man; and when these are conjoined the spiritual man, because it is in the light of heaven, has dominion over the natural man which is in the light of the world, and rules it as a master rules a servant, and teaches it as a teacher teaches a pupil. It is from this conjunction that a man is a man of the church and an angel. But when the natural man is not conjoined to the spiritual and subject to it, as is especially the case when the spiritual man is closed up (and it is closed up with those who deny the Divine things of the Word and of the church, for they then see nothing from the light of heaven), then the natural man is blind in respect to spiritual things, and by his rational perverts all the truths of the church, and by his ideas of them turns them with himself into falsities. This subject, namely, the conjunction of the spiritual man with the natural, and the separation of the natural man from the spiritual, is treated of in many places in the Word, especially where it treats of Egypt, since "Egypt" signifies the natural man both when conjoined to the spiritual man and when separated from it. And when the natural man separated from the spiritual is treated of there is condemnation and rejection of Egypt.
[5] Because "Egypt" signifies in a broad sense the natural man, it also signifies true knowledge [scientificum] and false knowledge, for the truths and falsities that are in the natural man are called knowledges [scientifica]. And because true and false knowledges are signified by "Egypt," faith also is signified by it, since faith is of truth and truth is of faith; for this reason also faith conjoined to charity is signified by "Egypt" in a good sense, and faith separated from charity in an evil sense; for faith is conjoined to charity when the spiritual man is conjoined to the natural, and then "Egypt" signifies true knowledges; but faith is separated from charity when the natural man is separated from the spiritual, and then "Egypt" signifies false knowledge. For when the natural man is separated from the spiritual, man has no truths, and if he draws truths from the Word or from the doctrine of the church, yet he falsifies them by the ideas of his thought; therefore with such a man of the church every truth becomes a falsity.
[6] Thus much on the signification of "Egypt" in the Word. In the first place, it shall be shown from the Word that "Egypt" signifies the natural man conjoined to the spiritual, or knowledge made living by the influx of spiritual light, or what is similar, faith conjoined to charity, which is in itself faith. Afterwards it shall be shown that "Egypt" signifies in the contrary sense the natural man separated from the spiritual, or knowledge not made living by any influx of spiritual life, or what is similar, faith separated from charity, which in itself is not faith. That "Egypt" signifies the natural man conjoined to the spiritual, also knowledge made alive by the influx of spiritual light, which in itself is true knowledge or the truth of the natural man, and what is similar, faith conjoined to charity, which in itself is faith, can be seen from the following passages.
[7] In Isaiah:
In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak with the lip of Canaan, and that swear to Jehovah of Hosts; every one of them shall be called the city of Cheres. In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah beside the border thereof. They shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressions, and He shall send them a Savior and Prince. Then shall Jehovah become known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall offer the sacrifice and meal-offering. So Jehovah shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing; therefore they shall turn themselves to Jehovah, and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria, that Assyria may come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians may serve with Assyria; in that day Israel shall be a third to Egypt and to Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land that Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isaiah 19:18-25).
Here "Egypt" stands for the natural man conjoined to the spiritual, thus for the nations and peoples that were outside of the church; and as these were not in truths they were natural men, but when they heard the Gospel they acknowledged the Lord, and when they had been instructed thereby in the truths of doctrine they received faith. The Lord's coming is meant by "in that day," which is here five times mentioned. "In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak with the lip of Canaan" signifies that there shall be with them many doctrinals that are in accord with the truths of the doctrine of the church itself, "five" meaning many, "cities" doctrinals, "the land of Egypt" a church of such nations, and "the lip of Canaan" the truths of doctrine of the church; "every one of them shall be called the city of Cheres" signifies the doctrine of the good of charity in every one, "city" signifying doctrine, and "Cheres," which in the Hebrew means the sun and its beams, signifying the good of charity and faith therefrom.
[8] "In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at the border thereof" signifies the worship of the Lord at that time from the goods of charity and from the truths of faith therefrom in all things of the natural man; "an altar to Jehovah" signifying worship from the good of charity, "pillar" the worship from truths of faith, "in the midst of the land of Egypt" everywhere and in all things of the natural man, and "border" true knowledge.
[9] "They shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressions, and He shall send them a Savior and Prince" signifies their grief because of a lack of spiritual truth and of spiritual good therefrom, and the coming of the Lord, from whom they will receive these; "to cry" signifying grief, "oppressions" signifying the lack of spiritual truth and of spiritual good therefrom, and "Savior and Prince" the Lord, who is called "Savior" from the good of love, and "Prince" from the truths of faith; "then Jehovah shall become known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day" signifies the acknowledgment of the Lord and of His Divine; "and shall offer a sacrifice and meal offering" signifies the worship of the Lord according to His precepts from the Word, thus from the truths of doctrine and from the good of love; "so Jehovah shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing; therefore they shall turn themselves to Jehovah, and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them" signifies temptations and thus conversion, and being healed of falsities by truths.
[10] "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria, that Assyria may come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria" signifies that then the rational shall be opened to them by true knowledges, so that man may look at knowledges that belong to the natural man rationally, and thus intelligently, "Egypt" meaning the knowledge of the natural man, and "Assyria" the rational; "in that day Israel shall be a third to Egypt and to Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land" signifies influx into both from spiritual light; "Israel" meaning the spiritual man which has light from heaven, "Egypt," the natural man which has light from the world, and "Assyria," the rational man which is between, and which receives light from the spiritual and transmits it to the natural, which it enlightens; "that Jehovah shall bless" signifies influx from the Lord; "saying, Blessed be Egypt My people" signifies the natural man enlightened; "and Assyria the work of My hands" signifies the rational man that is rational not from self but from the Lord; "and Israel Mine inheritance" signifies the spiritual man, which is called "an inheritance" because everything spiritual is of the Lord, for it is His Divine proceeding, from which is heaven and the church. Without the spiritual sense who could understand these prophecies?
[11] In Micah:
This is the day in which they shall come unto thee even from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and thus from Egypt even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain (Mic. Micah 7:12).
This is said of the establishment of the church by the Lord with the Gentiles, and these words describe the extension of that church from one end to the other. One end of the land of Canaan was the river Euphrates and the other was the river of Egypt. The extension of truth from one end to the other is signified by "from sea to sea," and the extension of good from one end to the other by "from mountain to mountain. "
[12] That the land of Canaan, which signifies the church, extended from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, the river of Assyria, appears in Moses:
In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).
And in the first book of Kings:
Solomon was ruler over all kingdoms from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, and even to the lands of Egypt (1 Kings 4:21).
For the church, which in itself is spiritual, has its boundaries in the natural man, that is, in its rational and knowing faculties, for the rational is in the interior natural man, for it is its understanding; in it also is the knowing faculty; and the rational is born by means of knowledges, for in these it sees its conclusions as in a mirror, and confirms itself by them, but yet from the spiritual; without this man has no rational, nor has he any true knowing faculty, but in place of the rational he has an ability to reason, and in place of a true knowing faculty he has a false knowing faculty; so these two constitute the boundaries of the spiritual church, which is signified by "the land of Canaan. "
[13] In Ezekiel:
Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude, Whom art thou like in thy greatness? Behold Asshur, a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in branch and with shady boughs, and lofty in stature, and its top was among the interwoven boughs; the waters made it grow, the deep made it exalted, so that with its rivers it went about the plant and sent out conduits unto all the trees of the field, whence its stature became lofty, and its branches became long, because of the many waters which it sent out. In its branches all the birds of the heavens built their nests, and under its branches every beast of the field has brought forth, and in its shade dwelt all great nations; it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was by many waters. The cedars in the garden of God have not hidden it; the fir trees were not equal to its branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to it in its beauty; they have made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it (Ezekiel 31:2-9).
It is because "Pharaoh king of Egypt" signifies the understanding of the natural man, which is born and formed out of true knowledges rationally seen, that he is here called "Asshur," which signified the rational, and is described by a cedar and its height, and the length and multitude of its branches, and this is because the "cedar" signifies in the Word the rational. (But most of this passage may be seen explained above, n. 650.)
Because the rational is such in respect to the intellectual, and the natural is such in respect to true knowledges it is said that "the cedars in the garden of God did not hide it, and the fir trees were not equal to its branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to it in beauty;" "the garden of God" signifying the intelligence which the man of the church has who is in genuine truths, "the cedar," his rational which is from a spiritual origin, "the fir tree," the perceptive faculty of the natural man, "beauty," the affection of truth and the consequent intelligence; "they have made it beautiful by the multitude of branches" signifies the abundance of true knowledges rationally perceived; "all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it" signifies perceptions of truth from celestial good, whence is wisdom, "trees" where the celestial man is treated of signifying perceptions, and where the spiritual man is treated of cognitions, and "Eden in the garden of God" signifying the wisdom which is from the good of love. That Pharaoh and Egypt are here meant and described by "Asshur" and the "cedar" can be seen also from the last verse of this chapter, where it is said, "This is Pharaoh and all his multitude." As all the intelligence and wisdom of the spiritual man closes into the natural mind, and there renders itself visible, so in the passage above cited Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is compared to "a cedar in the garden of God," since "Pharaoh" signifies the intellectual which is in the natural man, born and formed out of true knowledges; consequently it is the land of Egypt that is meant by "the garden of God," like as in Moses:
Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that the whole of it was well watered like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar (Genesis 13:10).
[14] The natural man in respect to its understanding, as described above in Ezekiel, is also described by Sennacherib, the chief captain of the king of Assyria, but by his blasphemies, as follows:
By the hand of thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, where I will cut down the stature of the cedars thereof, the choice of the fir trees thereof, and I will come to the lodging place of his end, the wood of his cultivated field. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and I will dry up with the sole of my footsteps all the rivers of Egypt (2 Kings 19:23, 24).
Similar things are signified here as in the passage cited above, namely, the rational things of the men of the church formed out of true knowledges, and enlightened from the Divine spiritual, and yet the king of Assyria (signifying here a perverted rational) wished to destroy these, for he made war upon Hezekiah, king of Judah; but because he blasphemed these, and threatened to destroy all things of the church from first to last, which church is formed with man in his rational and his natural from the spiritual, therefore in that night a hundred and eighty-five thousand were smitten in his camp by the angel of Jehovah (verse 35). Here the "multitude of chariots" of the king of Assyria signifies the falsities of doctrine; "the height of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon," which he wished to ascend, signify all the goods and truths of the church, which he wished to destroy; "the stature of the cedars and the choice of the fir trees" which he wished to cut down signify rational and natural truths in respect to perception; "the wood of the cultivated field" signifies knowledges; "the rivers of Egypt which he would dry up with the sole of his footsteps" signify the knowledge of the natural man from a spiritual origin, which he would annihilate and blot out by means of his sensual, "the sole of the footsteps" of the king of Assyria meaning the sensual and reasoning therefrom, which is from mere fallacies, and "the rivers of Egypt" meaning the intelligence of the natural man from knowledges that are from a spiritual origin, when these are applied to confirm the truths of the church, which are spiritual.
[15] Every man with whom the church is to be implanted must first be instructed in knowledges, for unless the natural man is instructed by means of knowledges, which are also various experiences from worldly things and associations, a man cannot become rational; and if he does not become rational he cannot become spiritual; for the rational of man is conjoined on one side to the spiritual, that is, to heaven, and on the other side to the natural, that is, to the world. For this reason, and because a church was to be instituted with the sons of Israel therefore the natural man with them was first to be instructed, that is, in truths naturally and also scientifically understood. And in order that this might be represented and signified it came to pass that Abraham, whose posterity was to represent the church, and who was himself the head of it:
Sojourned in Egypt with his wife, and abode there for a time (Genesis 12:10, et seq.);
and afterwards:
Jacob with his sons, who were then called the sons of Israel, went down by command into Egypt, and dwelt in Goshen, which was the best of the lands of Egypt, and there remained a long time (Genesis 46, et seq.)
This was done because man must be instructed in truths scientifically and naturally before he is instructed spiritually.
[16] For every man by truths scientifically and naturally understood acquires for himself a rational into which the spiritual can flow in and operate; for through the rational which belongs to his understanding man receives the light of heaven, which is spiritual light, and through the rational enlightened by the spiritual he surveys cognitions and knowledges, selecting from them such as are in accord with the genuine truths and goods of heaven and the church, which are spiritual, and rejecting those that are not; thus it is that man lays the foundation of the church in himself. This is why it is said of Abraham and Jacob that it was because of the famine in the land of Canaan that they went down into Egypt to sojourn there; it was "because of the famine," since "famine" signifies a lack of the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, together with a desire for them, and "to sojourn" in the Word signifies to be instructed.
[17] This makes evident what is meant by these words in David:
Thou hast caused a vine to go forth out of Egypt, thou hast driven out the nations and planted it, thou hast cleared a place before it, and hast caused its roots to be inrooted so that it filled the land; thou hast sent out its shoots unto the sea and its branches to the river (Psalms 80:8, 9, 11).
"A vine out of Egypt" signifies the church, which was represented by the sons of Israel; "to drive out the nations" signifies to drive out the evils of the natural man, which are driven out by means of truths; "to plant it, to clear a place before it, and to cause its roots to be inrooted" signifies instruction according to order, that is, first to imbue with cognitions and knowledges, then to be as in the wilderness and be tempted, and afterwards to be brought into the land of Canaan, that is, into the church; these things are signified in their order by "Thou hast planted it, thou hast cleared a place before it, thou hast caused its roots to be inrooted, so that it filled the earth;" "to send out its shoots unto the sea" signifies the increase of intelligence and the extension even to the ultimates of the good and truth of the church; and "to send out branches unto the river" signifies unto the rational. (That the "river," namely, the Euphrates, signifies the rational, see above, n. 569.)
[18] In Hosea:
When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1).
"Israel" signifies in the spiritual sense the church, and in the highest sense the Lord, who as He is the all of heaven is also the all of the church. And as the sons of Israel were to represent the church, and it was according to Divine order that they should first be instructed in such things as would be serviceable to the rational and through this to the spiritual, they first sojourned in Egypt, and afterwards were led into the wilderness that they might undergo temptations, and that through these the natural man might be subdued; for man does not become rational until empty and false knowledges [scientifica] are removed, and the natural man is thus purified, which is effected mainly by temptations.
[19] Because "Israel" in the highest sense means the Lord, the Lord Himself when He was an infant was carried down into Egypt, according to these words in Matthew:
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the child and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee. And he arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called My son (Matthew 2:13-16).
This, again, signifies the first instruction of the Lord, for the Lord was instructed like another man, but by virtue of His Divine He received all things more intelligently and wisely than others. But this departure into Egypt was merely a representation of instruction; for as all the representatives of the Jewish and Israelitish church looked to Him, so He also represented them in Himself and completely observed them, thus fulfilling all things of the law. Since representatives were the ultimates of heaven and the church, and all prior things, which are things rational, spiritual, and celestial, enter into ultimates and are in them, so through these the Lord was in ultimates; and as all strength is in ultimates, so it was from firsts through ultimates that He subjugated all the hells, and reduced to order all things in the heavens. This is why the whole life of the Lord in the world was representative, even also all things related in the Gospels respecting His passion, which represented the quality of the church then in its contrariety to the Divine and to all the goods and truths of heaven and the church.
[20] This makes evident what is meant by "Egypt," where the church to be established by the Lord is treated of in the following passages. In Isaiah:
Thus said Jehovah, The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over unto Thee, and they shall be Thine; they shall go after Thee, in bonds shall they pass over; so they shall bow themselves down towards Thee, they shall pray towards Thee; only in Thee is God, and there is no God beside (Isaiah 45:14).
This is said of the Lord, of whom this whole chapter treats. "The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans" signifies the delight of natural love from the acquisition of the knowledges of truth and good; the knowledges themselves are signified by the "Sabeans," who are called "men of stature" from good, for "stature" (length) signifies good and its quality, and "breadth" truth and its quality; that such will come to the church and acknowledge and worship the Lord is signified by "they shall pass over unto Thee, they shall be Thine, they shall bow themselves down towards Thee;" that the natural man with them will serve the spiritual, and thus the Lord, is signified by "in bonds shall they pass over," for those are said "to come in bonds" in whom the cupidities pertaining to the natural man are restrained; that they will acknowledge the Lord alone to be God is meant by "they shall pray towards Him; only in Him is God, and there is no God beside."
[21] In David:
Those that are fat shall come out of Egypt, Cush shall hasten her hands unto God; sing to God, O ye kingdoms of the earth, sing psalms unto the Lord (Psalms 68:31, 32).
"Those that are fat out of Egypt" signify the Gentiles who are in the affection of knowing truths, and "Cush" signifies those who imbibe truths from the delight of the natural man; that "Cush" has this signification can be seen from other passages in the Word where Cush is mentioned (as i n Genesis 2:13; Zephaniah 3:5, 9, 10; Daniel 11:43); that the nations will receive the truths and goods of heaven and the church from the Lord is signified by "the kingdoms of the earth shall sing to God and shall sing psalms unto the Lord."
[22] In Hosea:
With honor shall they come, as a bird out of Egypt and as a dove from the land of Assyria, and I will make them to dwell upon their houses (Hosea 11:11).
This, too, is said of the Lord as about to establish a church with the Gentiles; it is said "as a bird out of Egypt," because a "bird" signifies thoughts from true knowledges; and it is said "as a dove from the land of Assyria," because a "dove" signifies rational good from spiritual good, "Assyria" signifying the rational itself; "to make them to dwell upon their houses" signifies the interiors of a mind formed by truths from good, and thus those who are safe from the infestation of the falsities of evil.
[23] In Isaiah:
It shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah shall beat out from the ear of grain of the river even unto the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be collected one to another, O sons of Israel; moreover it shall come to pass in that day that the great horn shall sound, and the perishing in the land of Assyria shall come, and the outcasts from 1
the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to Jehovah in the mountain of holiness, in Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:12, 13).
"In that day" signifies the coming of the Lord; "from the ear of grain of the river even unto the brook of Egypt, which Jehovah shall beat out," signifies all rational truth and true knowledge that will be serviceable to the spiritual; it is said the "ear of grain" because that is what contains the grain, which signifies the truth and good that is serviceable to the spiritual man for nourishment. To be called by the Lord to the church is signified by "in that day the great horn shall sound;" that those will come to the church who would otherwise have perished through reasonings from knowledges applied to confirm falsities is signified by "the perishing in the land of Assyria shall come, and the outcasts from 1
the land of Egypt;" that they will worship the Lord, and that out of them a church will arise, is signified by "they shall bow down to Jehovah in the mountain of holiness, in Jerusalem," "the mountain of holiness" signifying the church in respect to the good of life, and "Jerusalem" the church in respect to the truth of doctrine. These things are said of the sons of Israel who were made captives in Assyria and in Egypt; but "the sons of Israel" here and elsewhere mean the Gentiles who were to constitute the church, and "their captivity" in Assyria and in Egypt signifies the spiritual captivity which a man is in from the falsities of religion.
[24] In Zechariah:
I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and I will gather them together out of Assyria, and I will lead them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon. He shall pass through the sea of distress, but he shall smite the waves in the sea, and the pride of Asshur shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt depart away (Zechariah 10:10, 11).
This, too, treats of the restoration of the church by the Lord. "To bring back out of the land of Egypt, and to gather together out of Assyria" has a similar signification as above in Isaiah where the explanation is given; "the land of Gilead and Lebanon" signifies the goods and truths of the church in the natural man; "he shall pass through the sea of distress, but shall smite the waves in the sea, and the pride of Asshur shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt depart away" signifies that the evils and falsities of the natural man and the reasonings from knowledges [scientifica] that confirm them shall be dispersed; "to pass through the sea of distress" signifying temptations, the "waves" falsities and evils, "the pride of Asshur" signifies reasonings from the pride of self-intelligence, and "the staff of Egypt" knowledge confirming.
[25] In Ezekiel:
At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples whither they were scattered, and I will bring them back into the land of Pathros, upon the land of their traffic, that they may be there a lowly kingdom, that thou lift not thyself up anymore over the nations; and I will diminish them that they have not dominion among the nations (Ezekiel 29:13-16).
"Egypt" here signifies the church with those who are in a moral life from natural light, the temptations that such must endure that the natural man may not rule over the spiritual is signified by "forty years;" the knowledges by which they have confirmed falsities are signified by "Egypt" which Jehovah "will gather together from the peoples whither they were scattered;" their enlightenment by the knowledges of truth is signified by "I will bring them back upon the land of Pathros," which is called "the land of their traffic" from the knowledges that such will acquire for themselves, for "to traffic" signifies to acquire and communicate knowledges; that the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man shall not be puffed up, and in their elation do evil to the truths and goods of the church and rule over them, is signified by "they shall be a lowly kingdom, that thou lift not thyself up anymore over the nations, and I will diminish them that they may not have dominion over the nations;" the "nations" first mentioned signify the truths of the church, and the "nations" last mentioned its goods.
[26] In Zechariah:
Everyone remaining of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king, Jehovah of Hosts, and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles; whoso goeth not up, upon them there shall be no rain; and if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, neither be with them, there shall be the plague with which Jehovah will smite the nations (Zechariah 14:16-18).
This also treats of the Lord's coming, and of the establishment of a church by Him. "The king, Jehovah of Hosts," whom they shall worship, means the Lord; "the feast of tabernacles" signifies the implantation of good by means of truths; that those who do not come to His church will have no influx of truth and good from the Lord is signified by "whoso goeth not up, upon them there shall be no rain;" that such as are in natural light from mere knowledges [scientifica], and in whom good cannot be implanted by means of truths, will be in evils and falsities of every kind, is signified by "if the family of Egypt go not up there shall be the plague with which Jehovah will smite the nations."
[27] In Isaiah:
I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy one of Israel, thy Savior; I have given Egypt as thy expiation, Cush and Seba in place of thee; I will give a man in place of thee, and a people for thy soul (Isaiah 43:3, 4).
This, again, is said of the Lord and the redemption of those who acknowledge Him and from affection receive truths from Him; redemption is meant by "expiation" and "in place of thee" and "for thy soul;" the natural affection of knowing truths that is from spiritual affection is signified by "Egypt," "Cush," and "Seba;" a "man" signifies their intelligence therefrom, and a "people" a church from them.
[28] Since "Egypt" signifies the natural man, and all the intelligence of the spiritual man has its limit and foundation in the natural man and in his cognitions and knowledges, so without these man is not intelligent and wise and not even rational, for the spiritual man must act as one with the natural man, as cause with effect, and it acts as one by correspondences; this is why in ancient times, when there was a representative church also in Egypt:
The king of Egypt, or Pharaoh, was called the son of the wise, and the son of the kings of olden time (Isaiah 19:11);
also Egypt was called the cornerstone of the tribes (verse 13), for the "tribes" signify all the truths and goods of the church in the complex, and the "cornerstone" signifies their foundation.
[29] Therefore also it is said of Solomon, by whom the Lord in relation to His celestial kingdom and His spiritual kingdom was represented,
That his wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the East and all the wisdom of the Egyptians (1 Kings 4:30),
"the sons of the East" meaning all who at that time were in the knowledges [cognitiones] of truth and good, and through these were made wise, and the "Egyptians" all who were learned in knowledges [scientiae], especially in the knowledge of correspondences, and were consequently intelligent. This is why the knowledges [scientiae] of the Egyptians are called "the hidden things of gold and silver" and "desirable things" in Daniel:
The king of the north shall put forth his hands over the lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape, for he shall rule over the hidden things of gold and silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt (Daniel 11:42, 43).
[30] For this reason again the sons of Israel, when they went out of Egypt, were commanded:
To borrow of the Egyptians vessels of gold and vessels of silver, and raiment, which they took away out of Egypt (Exodus 12:35, 36).
"Vessels of gold and silver" and "raiment" signify the knowledges and cognitions of truth and good which were taken away from Egypt, because the Egyptians applied them to confirm evils and falsities, and turned them into things idolatrous and magical; consequently when the Egyptians were deprived of them and thus became merely natural they were shortly afterwards drowned in the Sea Suph. This represented the lot of those who abuse knowledges [scientiae] to confirm evils and falsities; for after death they are deprived of all knowledge [cognitio] of truth and good, and when these have been taken away they are cast down into hell, and this was represented by the drowning of the Egyptians in the Sea Suph.
[31] Because Egypt signifies knowledge [scientia], from which man has intelligence, where Tyre is treated of it is said that:
Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, which was to thee for a sign (Ezekiel 27:7).
"Tyre" signifies the knowledges of truth, and "fine linen with broidered work from Egypt" signifies knowledge [scientificum] from spiritual truth, "broidered work" meaning knowledge, and "fine linen" spiritual truth; a "sail" and a "sign" signify manifestation, for spiritual truths are made manifest by means of knowledges [scientiae], for it is through these that they appear to the sight and perception of the natural man.
[32] Because all knowledges [scientifica] that are serviceable to the spiritual man for the confirming of truths are from the Lord, that is, all application of them to confirm the truths and goods of heaven and the church so:
Joseph was carried down into Egypt, and was there made ruler over the whole land (Genesis 41).
For "Joseph" in the highest sense means the Lord in relation to the Divine spiritual, and thence also the truth of doctrine, which is based upon the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man (as has been said above, n. 448; and as the natural man, or the natural of man, must be subordinate to the spiritual, that it may be serviceable in confirming and executing the decisions of the spiritual man, therefore Joseph, that this dominion might be represented, was made ruler over Egypt, and under his direction Egypt had crops or corn in abundance, so that the neighboring countries were supplied therefrom, even the land of Canaan itself.
[33] Because Solomon represented the Lord in relation to both the celestial and the spiritual kingdoms, and as all who are of both these kingdoms are in intelligence and wisdom through the knowledges [cognitiones] of truth and good and knowledges [scientifica] that confirm these, therefore:
Solomon took the daughter of Pharaoh to wife, and brought her into the city of David (1 Kings 3:1);
And afterwards he built for the daughter of Pharaoh a house beside the porch (1 Kings 7:8);
By this also was represented that knowledge [scientia], upon which all intelligence and wisdom is based, is signified by "Egypt" in a good sense. And as every man of the church has a spiritual, a rational, and a natural, therefore Solomon built three houses, the house of God or the temple to stand for the spiritual, the house of the forest of Lebanon for the rational (for a "cedar" and thence "Lebanon" signifies the rational), and the house of the daughter of Pharaoh for the natural. These arcana are not apparent in the historical sense of the Word, but still they lie concealed in its spiritual sense.
[34] Thus far the signification of "Egypt" in a good sense has been explained; now it follows that also the signification of "Egypt" in an evil or contrary sense shall be explained. In that sense "Egypt" signifies the natural man separated from the spiritual, or true knowledge [verum scientificum] separated from spiritual good, which in itself is falsity; or what is the same, faith separated from charity, which in itself is not faith. For man is born natural, and at first acquires knowledges [scientifica] from his teacher and parent, as also from the reading of books, and at the same time from his life in the world; and unless man becomes spiritual, that is, is born anew, the knowledges [scientifica] that he has acquired he applies to justify the appetites and pleasures of the natural man, in a word, its loves, which are all contrary to Divine order; and this natural man is what is signified by "Egypt" in the contrary sense, as can be seen from the following passages.
[35] In Ezekiel:
Because Pharaoh is lofty in stature, and hath set his top among the interwoven boughs, and his heart is exalted in his loftiness, I will give him into the hand of the strong one of the nations; according to his wickedness I have driven him out, therefore strangers shall cut him off, the violent of the nations, and they shall cast him down; upon the mountains and the valleys are his branches fallen; whence all peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have deserted him; upon his ruin every bird of the heavens shall dwell, and every wild beast of the field shall be upon his branches; all shall be delivered up to death, unto the lower earth, in the midst of the sons of man, unto them that go down into the pit. In the day when he shall go down into hell I will cover the abyss for him, and I will restrain the rivers thereof, that the great waters may be held back; and I will make Lebanon black for him, and all the trees of the field shall faint for him. To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? when thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden into the lower earth, and shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh, and all his multitude (Ezekiel 31:10-18).
"Pharaoh" has a similar signification as "Egypt," namely, the natural man in respect to knowledge [scientia] and intelligence therefrom. The pride of self-intelligence from knowledge is meant by "he is lofty in stature, and hath set his top among the interwoven boughs, and his heart is exalted in his loftiness;" "the interwoven boughs" signify the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man. That knowledges were applied to justify the cupidities of evil and falsity is signified by "I will give him into the hand of the strong one of the nations," "the strong one of the nations" signifying the falsity of evil. That the falsities of evil will destroy him is signified by "strangers shall cut him off, the violent of the nations shall cast him down. "
[36] That all true knowledges and rational truths were scattered by evils and falsities is signified by "upon the mountains and the valleys are his branches fallen;" that all truths of the church were driven away is signified by "all the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have deserted him;" that the thoughts and affections of falsity have taken their place is signified by "upon his ruin every bird of the heavens shall dwell, and every wild beast of the field shall be upon his branches;" that all things have become damned and infernal is signified by "all shall be delivered up to death, unto the lower earth, in the midst of the sons of man, unto them that go down into the pit," "sons of man" meaning those who are in self-intelligence, and "pit" meaning where those are who are in the falsities of doctrine; preventing the entrance of any true knowledges or rational truths is signified by "I will cover the abyss for him, and I will restrain the rivers thereof;" also of spiritual truths is signified by "that the great waters may be held back;" that he shall have no rational is signified by "I will make Lebanon black for him."
[37] That he shall have no knowledges of truth pertaining to the church is signified by "all the trees of the field shall faint for him;" that he shall no longer have any understanding of truth or any perception of the knowledges of good, because of the pride of self-intelligence, is signified by "to whom art thou become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden?" because the knowledges of good have been wholly perverted by the application to evil is signified by "when thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden into the lower earth," the "trees of Eden" meaning the knowledges of good from the Word, which the natural man has perverted and falsified; that they shall be among those in hell who, by a faith separated from a life of charity have extinguished in themselves all truth, is signified by "when thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword," "slain by the sword" meaning in the Word those who have extinguished truths in themselves by means of falsities. That all these things are said of the natural man deprived of light from the spiritual man is signified by "this is Pharaoh and all his multitude," "Pharaoh" meaning the natural man, and "his multitude" all knowledges therein.
[38] In the same:
Son of man, prophesy and say, Howl ye! alas the day! a day of cloud, it shall be the time of the nations, in which a sword shall come into Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be overthrown; and they that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down, from the tower of Seveneh they shall fall in it by the sword; then shall they be desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are desolate; that they may know that I am Jehovah, when I have set a fire in Egypt that all her helpers may be broken. I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and his people with him, the violent of the nations, who shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw out their sword against Egypt, to fill the land with the slain. Then will I make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil ones, and I will make the land a waste and the fullness thereof, by the hand of strangers; there shall no more be a prince out of the land of Egypt. I will set a fire in Egypt, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them into the lands (Ezekiel 30 to end).
This is an abstract of this chapter; it is a lamentation over the vastation of the church by falsities that favor the evils from the natural man; for all evils and all falsities therefrom that pervert and destroy the truths and goods of the church flow forth from the natural man separated from the spiritual. Lamentation over that vastation is signified by "howl ye! alas the day! a day of cloud, it shall be the time of the nations," "a day of cloud" meaning the state of the church from truths not understood, consequently from falsities; "the time of the nations" the state of the church from evils; that falsity will destroy the entire natural man and all things therein by application to evils, is signified by "a sword shall come into Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be overthrown. "
[39] That there will be no confirmations and corroborations of truth by the knowledges of the natural man is signified by "they that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down," that falsities will destroy the understanding of truth is signified by "from the tower of Seveneh they shall fall in it by the sword;" that all things of the church and all things of the doctrine of the church will perish is signified by "then shall they be desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are desolate;" the evil cupidities from the natural man are signified by the "fire" that Jehovah will set in Egypt; that there will no longer be any confirmations of truth from the natural man is signified by "that all her helpers may be broken;" that the cupidities of the love of self and the falsities therefrom will devastate is signified by "the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and his people."
[40] That thus the church will be devastated by the falsities of evil that will do violence to the goods of charity and the truths of faith is signified by "the violent of the nations shall be brought in to destroy the land, and shall draw their sword against Egypt, to fill the land with the slain;" that thus truth is not understood is signified by "I will make the rivers dry;" since instead of good there is evil, and instead of truth falsity in the church, is signified by "I will sell the land into the hand of evil ones, and I will make the land a waste and the fullness thereof by the hand of strangers;" that there will be no truth as head, and consequently no truth of life from the Lord, is signified by "there shall no more be a prince out of the land of Egypt;" that nothing but evils from the love of self will occupy the natural man is signified by "I will set a fire in Egypt, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations;" that thus all things of the church will be dissipated is signified by "I will disperse them into the lands."
[41] In Isaiah:
The prophecy of the beasts of the south, In a land of distress and of anguish; the young lion and the old lion are before them, the viper and the fiery flying serpent; they carry their wealth upon the shoulder of asses, and their treasures upon the back of camels, unto a people that they shall not profit; and Egypt, a vanity and emptiness, shall be their help (Isaiah 30:6, 7).
"Beasts of the south" signify the cupidities that are from the natural man extinguishing the light which the man of the church should have from the Word; "a land of distress and of anguish" signifies a church where there will be no good of charity nor truth of faith; "the young lion and the old lion" that are before them signify the power of the falsity that destroys the truth and good of the church; "the viper and fiery flying serpent" signify the sensual craftily and subtly reasoning; "they carry their wealth upon the shoulder of asses, and their treasures upon the back of camels" signifies the knowledges of the sensual and natural man, from which they draw all conclusions, "wealth" and "treasures" meaning the knowledges [cognitiones] of truth and good from the Word, but here false knowledges [scientifica] because from self-intelligence; "asses" mean the things of the sensual man, and "camels" the things of the natural; "Egypt, which is a vanity and emptiness," signifies both the sensual and the natural, which regarded in themselves are without good and without truths.
[42] In the same:
Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in the chariot because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very mighty, but they have no respect unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek after Jehovah. For Egypt is man and not God, and his horses are flesh and not spirit (Isaiah 31:1, 3).
This describes the state of those who wish to be wise in the things of heaven and the church from themselves, thus from self-intelligence and not from the Lord; and as such are merely natural, and thus take everything from the fallacies of the senses, and from knowledges wrongly applied, and pervert and falsify the truths and goods of the church, therefore it is said of them, "Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help, and have no respect unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek after Jehovah;" fanciful things from the fallacies of the senses are signified by "the horses of Egypt" on which they stay; the falsities of doctrine confirmed by knowledges in great abundance are signified by "they trust in the chariot because they are many;" and reasonings therefrom with which they assault truths are signified by the "horsemen" in whom they trust because they are very mighty; that the natural man has no understanding of Divine things from himself is signified by "Egypt is man and not God;" that his intelligence is from what is his own, in which there is no life, is signified by "his horses are flesh and not spirit," "the horses of Egypt" meaning fanciful things, which in themselves are dead because they are fallacies; "flesh" means what is man's own, and "spirit" life from the Lord.
[43] In Jeremiah:
Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote. Who is this that cometh up like a stream, whose waters are tossed like the rivers? Egypt cometh up like a stream, and his waters are tossed like rivers; for he saith, I will come up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those that dwell in it. Go up ye horses, and rage ye chariots, and go forth ye mighty ones. The sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall be made drunk with their blood. Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain hast thou multiplied medicines, there is no cure for thee (Jeremiah 46:2, 7-11, and also 14-26).
It is clear from these particulars, when viewed in the spiritual sense, that "Egypt" here signifies the natural man with its knowledges [scientifica] when it is separated from the spiritual, which is effected by the pride of self-intelligence, which destroys the truths and goods of the church by reasonings from knowledges [scientifica]. For "the army of the king of Egypt which was by the river Euphrates" signifies knowledges [scientifica] falsely applied and reasonings from them; "which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote" signifies the destruction of these by the pride of self-intelligence; "Who is this that cometh up like a stream, whose waters are tossed like the rivers?" signifies self-intelligence and its falsities endeavoring to destroy the truths of the church; "Egypt cometh up like a stream, and his waters are tossed like rivers" signifies the natural man reasoning from himself, or from what is his own [proprium], against the truths of the church; "for he said, I will come up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those that dwell in it," signifies the effort and desire to destroy the church and the truths and goods of its doctrine; "go up ye horses, and rage ye chariots, and go forth ye mighty ones," signifies by fanciful things from fallacies, and by the falsities of doctrine confirmed by knowledges [scientifica] which makes them appear to themselves to be strong.
[44] "The sword shall devour and shall be satiate, and shall be made drunk with their blood," signifies the entire destruction of the natural man by falsities and falsifications of truth; "go up to Gilead, and take balm, O daughter of Egypt," signifies the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, and reasoning and protection therefrom; for "Gilead" signifies reasoning from the sense of the letter of the Word by which falsities are confirmed, since Gilead was not far from the Euphrates, and wax, balm, and myrrh were from it, and it became the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh and the half tribe of Gad (Genesis 31:21; 37:25; Numbers 32:29; Joshua 13:25). Thence "Gilead" signifies, besides other things, reasonings from the sense of the letter of the Word; "balm" signifies the application to falsity and thence the confirmation of falsity, and "the daughter of Egypt" the affection of falsity which belongs to such a church. "In vain hast thou multiplied medicines, there is no cure for thee," signifies that such things, however great their abundance, afford no help, since truths themselves are thereby falsified.
[45] In Moses:
The Egyptians pursued the sons of Israel, and came after them, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea. But Jehovah looking forth unto the camp of the Egyptians, discomfited them, and took off the wheel of their chariots; and the waters returned and covered the chariots and horsemen, with the whole army of Pharaoh (Exodus 14:23-25, 28; 15:19, 21).
"The horses of Pharaoh" signify fanciful things, since they are fallacies, which are knowledges from a perverted understanding applied to confirm falsities; "his chariots" signify the doctrinals of falsity, and "horsemen" the reasonings therefrom; "the wheel of the chariots" signifies the ability to reason. (But these things are explained in Arcana Coelestia 8208-8219, 8332-8335, 8343.)
[46] Because of this signification of "the horses of Egypt" it was commanded through Moses, that:
If the people desire a king, a king should be set over them whom Jehovah God should choose out of the midst of the sons of Israel; a man that is an alien who is not thy brother shall not be set over them. Only he shall not multiply to himself horses, nor shall he bring back the people into Egypt that he may multiply horses; for Jehovah hath said to you, You shall not return by this way anymore; neither shall he multiply to himself wives, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he multiply exceedingly to himself silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:15-17).
What these directions to a king signify no one can see who does not know what is signified in the spiritual sense by a "king," by the "sons of Israel," by "Egypt and its horses," also by "wives," and by "silver and gold." A "king" signifies truth from good; "Egypt" the natural man; "his horses" knowledges; "wives" the affections of truth and good; and "silver and gold" the truths and goods of the church, and in the contrary sense its falsities and evils; and as a "king" signifies truth from good, and the "sons of Israel" the church from those who are in truths from good, it is said that "if the people desire, a king shall be set over them whom Jehovah God shall choose out of the midst of the sons of Israel; a man that is an alien who is not thy brother shall not be set over them," "a man that is an alien who is not a brother" signifying a religious principle not agreeing, as also falsity in which there is no good.
[47] As "Egypt" signifies the natural man, and "horses" false knowledges, which are fanciful, therefore it is said "only he shall not multiply to himself horses, nor shall he bring back the people into Egypt that he may multiply horses." As "wives" signify the affections of truth and good, which become the affections of evil and falsity when one man has several wives, it is said "neither shall he multiply to himself wives that his heart turn not away." And as "silver and gold" signify the truths and goods of the church, but here falsities and evils, when they are regarded only from the natural man, it is said, "neither shall he multiply exceedingly to himself silver and gold." But to come nearer to the point, these words prescribe that truth shall not rule over good, as is done when the natural man rules over the spiritual; that this must not be done is signified by "he shall not bring back the people into Egypt that he may thereby multiply horses, nor take many wives," for "wife and husband" signify the affection of good corresponding to the affection of truth, which correspondence exists in the marriage of a man with one wife, but not with many. Other like things are prescribed in the law of the king (1 Samuel 8:10-18). Because Solomon not only procured for himself horses from Egypt, but also multiplied wives, and heaped up silver and gold, he became an idolater, and after his death the kingdom was divided.
[48] In Isaiah:
The prophecy concerning Egypt: Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud, and cometh into Egypt; therefore the idols of Egypt shall be in commotion before Him, and the heart of the Egyptian shall melt in the midst of him. I will shut up Egypt in the hand of a hard lord, and a strong king shall rule over them. Then the waters shall fail in the sea, and the river shall dry up and become dry, and the streams shall recede, and the rivers of Egypt shall be dried up, the reed and the flag shall wither. Therefore the fishers shall moan, and all they that cast the hook into the streams shall mourn, and they that spread the net upon the faces of the waters shall languish. Moreover, they that make the flax of silks, and the weavers of curtains, shall be ashamed. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of the kings of olden time? Where now are thy wise men? Let them tell; come now, and they shall know what Jehovah hath counseled respecting Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph are carried away, and they have seduced Egypt, the cornerstone of her tribes; there shall be no work for Egypt that may make head or tail, branch or rush (Isaiah 19:1-17).
From all this also regarded in its spiritual sense it can be seen that "Egypt" signifies the natural of man separated from his spiritual; and man becomes merely natural when in his life he has regard to himself and to the world and not to the Lord; thence he is in the pride of self-intelligence, which is common with the learned, and this perverts the rational in them, and closes up the spiritual mind. That it may be known that the natural man is signified by "Egypt," self-intelligence by "its river," and falsities by "the waters of the river of Egypt," I will explain in series the summary of this chapter here cited. "Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud, and cometh into Egypt," signifies the visitation of the natural man from Divine truth spiritual-natural, for visitation is examination into the quality of a man, and examination takes place by means of Divine truth; a "light cloud" signifies Divine truth spiritual-natural, from which it becomes evident what is the quality of a man in respect to his natural; "therefore the idols of Egypt shall be in commotion before Him, and the heart of the Egyptian shall melt in the midst of him," signifies a collection and crowd of falsities in the natural man from which is its worship, and its terror because of visitation.
[49] "I will shut up Egypt in the hand of a hard lord, and a strong king shall rule over them," signifies that the evil of falsity and the falsity of evil will reign therein, "a hard lord" meaning the evil of falsity, and "a strong king" the falsity of evil; "then the waters shall fail in the sea, and the river shall dry up and become dry," signifies that there will be no truths in the natural man, nor any intelligence therefrom; "and the streams shall recede and the rivers of Egypt shall be dried up" signifies that it will turn itself from truths to falsities, and as intelligence will be, in consequence, without truths from the light of the spiritual man, it will become dead; "the reed and the flag shall wither," signifies that all perception of truth and good from the sense of the letter of the Word, which the sensual man would otherwise have, will vanish; "therefore the fishers shall moan and all they that cast the hook into the stream shall mourn, and they that spread the net upon the faces of the waters shall languish," signifies that those who teach and instruct will labor in vain to reform the natural man by truths from the Word, "fishers" and "they that spread the net upon the faces of the waters" signifying those that teach and instruct natural men from the Word, in particular from the sense of its letter; "fish" signifies the cognitions therefrom, and "to mourn and to languish" signifies to labor.
[50] "They that make the flax of silks, and the weavers of curtains, shall be ashamed," signifies those who teach spiritual truths in a natural manner, "the flax of silks" meaning spiritual truth, "curtains" natural truths from a spiritual origin, and "to make" and "to weave" these meaning to teach; "how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of the kings of olden time? Where now are thy wise men?" signifies that the wisdom and intelligence of the natural man from the spiritual have perished, for the natural man is formed to receive intelligence and wisdom from the spiritual man, and this takes place when they both act as one, like cause and effect; "the princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph are carried away," signifies that the truths of wisdom and intelligence from spiritual light in the natural man are turned into the falsities of insanity; Zoan and Noph were in the land of Egypt, and signified the enlightenment of the natural man from spiritual light; "and they have seduced Egypt, the cornerstone of the tribes" signifies that the natural man has been perverted, on which, nevertheless, all the truths and the goods of the church have their foundation; "there shall be no work for Egypt that may make head and tail, branch and rush" signifies that they no longer have any intelligence or knowledge of truth, consequently no truth either spiritual or natural.
[51] In Ezekiel:
Son of man, set thy faces against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; speak and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great whale, that lieth in the midst of his rivers, that hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself; therefore I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; and I will abandon thee in the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers; upon the faces of the field thou shalt fall, thou shalt not be gathered nor brought together; I have given thee for food to the wild beast of the land and to the bird of heaven, that all the inhabitants of Egypt may know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; when they laid hold of thee by the hand thou wast broken and didst pierce every shoulder for them, and when they leaned upon thee thou wast broken, and didst make all their loins to be at a stand. Behold I will bring against thee the sword, and I will cut off from thee man and beast, that the land of Egypt may become a solitude and a waste; because he hath said, The river is mine, and I made it, therefore I am against thee and against thy rivers, and I will give the land of Egypt unto desolations, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Cush, and her cities shall be a solitude forty years (Ezekiel 29:2-12).
This, too, is a description of the natural man deprived of all truth and good by conceit from knowledge and the consequent self-intelligence. Because "Pharaoh king of Egypt" signifies the knowledge of the natural man and self-intelligence therefrom, it is said, "Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great whale that lieth in the midst of his rivers," "great whale" signifying the knowledge of the natural man in general, here false knowledge, and "river" signifying self-intelligence; "who saith, The river is mine, and I have made it myself," signifies intelligence from self and not from the Lord; thus the words involve the conceit of self-intelligence; "therefore I will put a hook in thy jaws" signifies false speaking, for which it will be chastised; "and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales" signifies the false knowledges of the lowest kind which are from the fallacies of the senses, "fish" meaning knowledges, and "scales" the fallacies of the senses, which are knowledges of the lowest kind.
[52] "And I will abandon in the wilderness thee and all the fish of thy rivers," signifies to be stripped of truths and of all knowledges from which is intelligence; "upon the faces of the field thou shalt fall, thou shalt not be gathered nor brought together," signifies a religious principle without coherence and that cannot be re-established; "I have given thee for food to the wild beast of the land and to the bird of heaven" signifies to be consumed by the affections and thoughts of falsity; "that all the inhabitants of Egypt may know that I am Jehovah" signifies that it may be known and believed that all truth and good, even in the natural man, are from the Lord; "because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel" signifies confidence in the knowledges of the sensual man, which are fallacies with men of the church (that "a staff of reed" signifies such confidence, see above, n. 627; "when they laid hold of thee by the hand thou wast broken, and didst pierce every shoulder for them" signifies that through faith in these all the power of truth is destroyed; "and when they leaned upon thee thou wast broken, and didst make all their loins to be at a stand," signifies that through confidence in these the faculty to receive the good of love is destroyed.
[53] "Behold I will bring against thee the sword, and I will cut off from thee man and beast," signifies that falsity will destroy all the understanding of truth and the affection of good in the natural man; "that the land of Egypt may become a solitude and a waste" signifies that in consequence the natural man is without any truth and good; "because he hath said, The river is mine, and I made it," signifies because of the conceit of self-intelligence; "and I will give the land of Egypt unto desolation from the tower of Seveneh unto the border of Cush" signifies the destruction of the church from first things to last in the natural man; "her cities shall be a solitude forty years" signifies doctrinals from mere falsities until there is no truth left, "forty years" signifying the entire period of vastation of the church, and also the entire duration of temptations.
[54] In the second book of Kings:
Thou hast trusted thyself upon the staff of a bruised reed, upon Egypt, upon which if a man lean it entereth into his hand and pierceth it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him (2 Kings 18:21).
"Staff of a reed" and "to lean upon it" have a similar signification as just above. Therefore Egypt is called in David:
The wild beast of the reed, the congregation of the strong, which scattereth the peoples (Psalms 68:30).
"The wild beast of the reed" signifies the affection or cupidity of falsity from the knowledges [scientifica] of the sensual man, which are fallacies; these are called "the congregation of the strong," because they strongly persuade; and because these disperse the truths of the church it is said, "which scattereth the peoples."
[55] In Hosea:
Ephraim shall be like a silly dove, without heart. They have called Egypt, they have gone away to Assyria; woe unto them, for they have wandered away from Me; devastation to them, for they have transgressed against Me; their princes shall fall by the sword, for the indignation of their tongue; this is their derision in the land of Egypt (Hosea 7:11, 13, 16).
This treats of the pride of Israel, by which is signified the conceit of self-intelligence in such things as belong to the church. That "Egypt" signifies the natural man and its knowledge, is evident from this, that "Ephraim," who is much treated of in this prophet, signifies the understanding of the church and its truth of doctrine in the natural (that this is the signification of "Ephraim" see above, n. 440; so "Ephraim shall be like a silly dove, without heart," signifies that now there will be no understanding, because there is no truth and no affection of truth and good; "they have called Egypt and have gone away to Assyria" signifies their confiding in the knowledges of the natural man and in reasonings therefrom, which deceive; "woe unto them, for they have wandered away from Me," signifies aversion from the truths which are from the Word; "devastation to them, for they have transgressed against Me," signifies the loss of all truth because of their falling away; "their princes shall fall by the sword" signifies that the leading truths will be destroyed by falsities; "for the indignation of their tongue; this is their derision in the land of Egypt," signifies the vituperation of doctrine by the natural man, and contempt for it.
[56] In the same:
Israel, thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God; they shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah, and Ephraim shall return unto Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria; lo, they are gone away because of devastation; Egypt shall gather them together, Moph shall bury them; as to the desirable things of their silver the thistle shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents (Hosea 9:1, 3, 6).
The whole of this chapter treats of the understanding of the Word destroyed, which is here signified by "Ephraim." "Israel gone a-whoring from his God" signifies the truth of the Word falsified; "they shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah" signifies that they shall have no life of good, like that in heaven; "and Ephraim shall return unto Egypt" signifies the understanding of truth destroyed, whence they become natural; "and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria" signifies the rational swarming with falsities of evil; "lo, they are gone away because of devastation," signifies a turning away from the Lord through the falsification of truth; "Egypt shall gather them together," signifies that they have become merely natural; "Moph shall bury them" signifies spiritual death through the application of the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word to the falsities of evil; "the desirable things of their silver" signify the knowledges of truth; "the thistle shall possess them" signifies that evil shall pervert them; "thorns shall be in their tents" signifies the falsity of evil in worship.
[57] In the same:
Israel shall not return to Egypt, the Assyrian he is their 2
king (Hosea 11:5).
"Israel shall not return to Egypt" signifies that when the man of the church has become spiritual he must not become natural; "the Assyrian he is their king" signifies that reasonings from falsities will then rule. The man of the church from being spiritual becomes natural when he separates faith from charity, that is, believes the Word but does not live according to its commands; so also when he claims to himself intelligence and does not attribute it to the Lord; from this is the conceit whereby man becomes natural. For man is first natural, afterwards he becomes rational, and lastly spiritual. When man is natural he is in Egypt, when he becomes rational, he is in Assyria, and when he becomes spiritual he is in the land of Canaan, thus in the church.
[58] In the same:
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; every day he multiplieth falsehood and devastation; and they make a covenant with the Assyrian, and oil is conveyed down into Egypt (Hosea 12:1).
"Ephraim" signifies the church in which the understanding of truth is destroyed; "to feed on wind" signifies to imbibe falsity; "the east wind which he followeth after" signifies the drying up and dispersion of truth; that "oil is conveyed down into Egypt" signifies that the good of love is perverted by the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man. (But see further explanation of this above, n. 419.)
[59] In Isaiah:
Woe to the refractory sons, that make counsel but not of Me, and that make a molten image but not by My spirit, that they may add sin to sin; that go to descend into Egypt, but have not asked at My mouth; and to confide in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall become to you a shame, and confidence in the shadow of Egypt a confusion (Isaiah 30:1-3).
"Woe to the refractory" signifies lamentation over the damnation of those who turn themselves away; "that make counsel but not of Me" signifies thoughts and conclusions respecting the things of heaven from self and not from the Lord; and "that make a molten image, but not by My spirit," signifies worship from infernal falsity and not from Divine truth; "that go to descend into Egypt, but have not asked at My mouth," signifies from the selfhood [proprium] of the natural man, and not from the Word; "and to confide in the shadow of Egypt" signifies confiding and having faith in such things as are suggested by the natural man, which has no heavenly light. "Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall become a shame, and confidence in the shadow of Egypt a confusion," signifies no ability to resist evils from self-intelligence, nor from the knowledge [scientia] of the natural man, "shame and confusion" signifying the state of such, when they are reputed vile because of evils.
[60] In Jeremiah:
Thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, at the time when He led thee in the way. What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor; and what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Why goest thou off actively to change thy way? Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also as thou wast ashamed of Assyria (Jeremiah 2:17, 18, 36).
This, too, treats of the man of the church who by the falsities of doctrine and the evils of life therefrom becomes external and merely natural. "Thou hast forsaken Jehovah at the time when He led thee in the way" signifies a turning away from being reformed by the Lord by means of truths that lead; "what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor?" signifies instruction solely from the natural man, from which there are mere falsities; "what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?" signifies reasonings from the natural man from which are the falsities of faith; "why goest thou off actively to change thy way?" signifies strong opposition to being so reformed as to become spiritual; "thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also as thou wast ashamed of Assyria" signifies that it is a perverse and vile state to be led by the natural man and by reasonings therefrom, because this is to be led by falsities and evils from the selfhood [proprium].
[61] In Lamentation:
Our inheritance has been turned away unto strangers, our houses unto aliens. We have drunken our waters for silver; our wood cometh for a price. We have given the hand to Egypt, to Assyria, that we may be satisfied with bread. Servants rule over us, there is no one to set us free from their hands (Lamentations 5:2, 4, 6, 8).
"Our inheritance has been turned away unto strangers" signifies the truths of the church converted into falsities; "our houses unto aliens" signifies the goods of the church turned into evils; "we have drunken our waters for silver" signifies instruction only from ourselves, which is the source of mere falsities; "our wood cometh for a price" signifies instruction only from ourselves, which is the source of mere evils. Because man is instructed and reformed freely by the Lord, that is, "without silver and without price" (Isaiah 55:1), therefore to drink "for silver" and to procure wood and gain warmth "for a price," signifies solely from ourselves; and as to be instructed solely from ourselves is to be instructed by the natural man and its knowledges [scientifica] and conclusions therefrom, therefore it is said "we have given the hand to Egypt, to Assyria, that we may be satisfied with bread," "Egypt" signifying the natural man, which is the source of falsities, and "Assyria" the natural man reasoning from falsities, whence are evils; and as the things belonging to the natural man are relatively things of service, since the natural man was created to serve the spiritual, therefore when the natural rules over the spiritual, servants have dominion, and this is what is meant by "servants rule over us, there is no one to set us free from their hands.
[62] In Jeremiah:
If ye say, We will not dwell in this land, saying, No, but we will come into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, and shall not hear the sound of the trumpet and shall not hunger for bread, and there will we dwell. But if ye set your faces to enter into Egypt, and come to sojourn there, it shall be that the sword which ye fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and there ye shall die; and it shall be with all the men who set their faces to come into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, none of them shall be a residue nor escape; and ye shall be for a curse, an astonishment, and an execration and a reproach, and ye shall see this place no more (Jeremiah 42:13-18 et seq.).
We frequently read, in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, that the Israelitish people burned with a desire to return into Egypt, and that this was forbidden them, and they were threatened with plagues and punishments if they did so; but the reason for this has heretofore been known to no one. The reason was that the sons of Israel were to represent a church from its first rise to its end; and the church is first formed with man by knowledges and cognitions in the natural man, for by these the natural man is first cultivated; for every man is born natural, therefore the natural must first be cultivated in order that it may finally serve as a basis for man's intelligence and wisdom. Afterwards by means of knowledges and cognitions which are implanted in the natural man, an intellectual is formed, that man may become rational. But in order that a man from being rational may become spiritual he must needs endure temptations, for by these the rational is so subdued, as not to call forth from the natural such things as favor the lusts, and destroy the rational. Finally when man has in this way been made rational he then is made spiritual, for the rational is the medium between the spiritual and the natural, consequently the spiritual flows into the rational, and through this into the natural.
[63] In a word, a man must first enrich the memory with knowledges [scientiae], afterwards by these his understanding must be cultivated, and finally the will. The memory belongs to the natural man, the understanding to the rational, and the will to the spiritual. This is the way of man's reformation and regeneration. This is why the sons of Israel were first led into Egypt, afterwards into the wilderness to undergo temptations, and finally into the land of Canaan, for as has been said, they were to represent the church from its first rise to its last end. Their abiding and sojourning in Egypt represented the instruction of the natural man; their wanderings forty years in the wilderness represented the temptations by which the rational man is formed; and the land of Canaan, into which they were finally brought, represented the church, which regarded in itself is spiritual.
[64] But they who are not willing to be reformed and regenerated stop at the first stage, and remain natural; and this is why the sons of Israel, who were not willing, so often desired to return to Egypt (which desire of theirs is frequently mentioned in the book of Exodus); for they were natural, and were scarcely capable of becoming spiritual, and yet they were to represent those things that belong to the spiritual church; for this reason they were led into Egypt, and afterwards into the wilderness, and finally into the land of Canaan, thus representing the rise, progress, and final establishment of the church with man. This makes clear why the sons of Israel were so strongly forbidden to return into Egypt; for by so doing they would have represented that from being spiritual men they had become natural, and when a spiritual man becomes natural he no longer sees any truths and does not perceive any goods, but falls into falsities and evils of every kind.
[65] But to return to the explanation of the above words. "If ye say, We will not dwell in this land, saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt," signifies the aversion from a spiritual state, in which they are who are of the church, and a longing for a natural state and for the things that pertain to the natural man; "where we shall see no war and shall not hear the sound of the trumpet, and shall not hunger for bread," signifies that there will then be no infestation from falsities and evils, and no temptations, "war" signifying infestation and combat by falsities and evils, and "not to hunger for bread" signifying not to desire good, which is the state of those who are in falsities and evils, and thus of those who are merely natural; such are not infested by evils and falsities because they are in them, and know nothing about truths and goods; "and there will we dwell" signifies a natural life.
[66] "But if ye set your faces to enter into Egypt, and come to sojourn there," signifies if from their love they long for a natural life; "it shall be that the sword which ye fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt" signifies falsities destroying truths, "and the famine whereof ye were afraid shall cleave to you there in Egypt" signifies a lack of the knowledges of truth and good; "and there shall ye die" signifies the consequent desolation of the church and damnation; "and all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence," signifies the like as before, "pestilence" signifying the vastation of all good and truth; "none of them shall be a residue or escape" signifies that nothing whatever of truth and good will survive; "and ye shall be for a curse, an astonishment, an execration, and a reproach," signifies all things belonging to damnation; "and ye shall see this place no more" signifies that nothing of the church shall be in them any longer.
[67] In Ezekiel:
There were two women, the daughters of one mother, who committed whoredom in Egypt; their names were Oholah the elder, which is Samaria, and Oholibah, which is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom while subject to Me, and loved the Assyrians her neighbors, and bestowed her whoredoms upon the choice of all the sons of Asshur. Yet she forsook not her whoredoms from Egypt, for they lay with her in her youth. Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, the sons of Asshur. They disclosed her nakedness, they took her sons and her daughters, and her they finally slew with the sword. Her sister Oholibah saw, and corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms above the whoredoms of her sister; she doted upon the sons of Asshur. For she increased her whoredoms, when indeed she saw men painted upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans painted with vermilion, all having the semblance of captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, of the Chaldeans. And the sons of Babylon came to her to the bed of loves, and they defiled her with their whoredom. She multiplied her whoredoms when she remembered the days of her youth, in which she committed whoredom in the land of Egypt. She doted upon their concubines, because their flesh was the flesh of asses, and their issue the issue of horses. Thus didst thou commend the crime of thy youth, when thou didst adorn thy breasts from Egypt. Therefore, Oholibah, I will stir up thy lovers against thee, the sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, and all the Assyrians with them. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy posterity shall be devoured by fire. They shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take away the jewels of thine adorning. Thus will I make thy crime to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt, that thou lift not up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt anymore. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and grief, with the cup of wasting and desolation (Ezekiel 23:2-33, and further to the end).
To make clear that "Egypt" signifies the natural man, here the natural separated from the spiritual, and "Asshur" the rational, here reasoning from things belonging to the natural man, I will give a summary explanation of the above. "There were two women, the daughters of one mother, who committed whoredom in Egypt," signifies the falsifications of truth and good, and as the sons of Jacob were merely natural men, they imbibed "the idolatries of the Egyptians," which signifies that they falsified all the truths of the church; "their names were Oholah the elder, which is Samaria, and Oholibah which is Jerusalem," signifies both the spiritual and the celestial church, which were represented by the posterity of Jacob, the Israelites who were in Samaria representing the spiritual church, and the Jews in Jerusalem the celestial church, both from the same mother, which is Divine truth.
[68] "Oholah committed whoredom while subject to Me" signifies the falsification of Divine truth which is in the Word; "and loved the Assyrians her neighbors, and bestowed her whoredoms upon the choice of all the sons of Asshur," signifies confirmations by many reasonings; "yet she left not her whoredoms from Egypt, for they lay with her in her youth," signifies that they still followed after their idolatries; "therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, the sons of Asshur," signifies reasonings confirming idolatries; "they disclosed her nakedness, they took her sons and her daughters, and her they finally slew with the sword," signifies the deprivation of all truth and good and the consequent extinction of the church with them, "nakedness" meaning deprivation, "sons and daughters" truths and goods, and "Oholah" 2
the church; "her sister Oholibah saw, and corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms above the whoredoms of her sister," signifies the devastation of the celestial church represented by the Jewish nation in Jerusalem, which is said "to have corrupted her love more than her sister," when it perverted and adulterated the goods of the Word, and thence of doctrine; for it is a greater sin to corrupt or pervert the goods of the church than its truths.
[69] "She doted upon the sons of Asshur" signifies that this was done by reasonings against truths and goods; "she increased her whoredoms, when she saw men painted upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans painted with vermilion" signifies fancies from the fallacies of the senses, which are of the sensual man, and arguings therefrom, from which are falsifications; "all having the semblance of captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, of the Chaldeans" signifies the appearance that they are pre-eminent truths, to be preferred above the others; "and the sons of Babylon came to her, and they defiled her with their whoredom" signifies the conjunction with the falsities of evil from the love of self; "she multiplied her whoredoms when she remembered the days of her youth, in which she committed whoredom in the land of Egypt," signifies the confirmation of their idolatries and of the falsities of evil which have been imbibed from the natural man, and thus increase of their falsifications; "she doted upon their concubines, because their flesh was the flesh of asses, and their issue the issue of horses," signifies the cupidities of love for these, because from their voluntary selfhood, and thence from their intellectual selfhood, "the flesh of asses" meaning the voluntary selfhood, and the "issue of horses" the intellectual selfhood therefrom which pervert all things.
[70] "Thus didst thou favor the crime of thy youth, when thou didst adorn thy breasts from Egypt," signifies the love of falsity implanted from the earliest age, and enjoyment therefrom; "therefore, Oholibah, I will stir up thy lovers against thee, the sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians with them," signifies the destruction of the church by evils from the love of self, and by falsities from the conceit of self-intelligence, in which there is a deadly hatred against the goods and truths of doctrine. "They shall take thy sons and thy daughters" signifies the truths and goods of the church, which they will destroy; "and thy posterity shall be devoured by fire" signifies that the remaining things therefrom will perish through earthly loves; "they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take away the jewels of thine adorning" signifies the deprivation of all intelligence and knowledge [scientia], which are the glory of the church; "thus will I make thy crime to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt," signifies that thus truths can no longer be falsified; "that thou lift not up thine eyes upon them, nor remember Egypt anymore," signifies when there is no longer any understanding of truth or knowledge [scientia] of truth; "thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and grief" signifies insanity in things spiritual, and aversion to them; "with the cup of wasting and desolation" signifies the falsities of evil which wholly devastate and desolate all the goods and truths of the church.
[71] In the same:
Thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh, and hast multiplied thy whoredom; and thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and there was no satiety to thee. And thou hast multiplied thy whoredom even to Chaldea, the land of thy traffic, and even then wast thou not satisfied (Ezekiel 16:26, 28, 29).
This is said of the abominations of Jerusalem, which signifies the church in respect to doctrine; and "whoredoms" signify the falsifications of the truth of doctrine and of the Word; therefore "thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh," signifies falsifications by the natural man, in which are all evils and falsities, "flesh" signifying what is man's own [proprium], which has its seat in the natural man, and in itself is nothing but evil and falsity therefrom; "and thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur" signifies falsifications by means of reasonings; "and there was no satiety to thee" signifies the cupidity for falsifying truths without limit; "and thou hast multiplied thy whoredoms even to Chaldea, the land of thy traffic," signifies the falsifications from the sensual man, where are mere fallacies, from which man wholly rejects and denies truths, and even blasphemes them; "the land of traffic" signifies where all falsities are procured, and the sensual is the fountain of all evils and all falsities therefrom. Moreover, man is born at first sensual, afterwards he becomes natural, then rational, and at length spiritual, and he who falsifies the truths of the church becomes again natural, and at length sensual. "And yet thou wast not satisfied" signifies an immense cupidity for destroying the truths of the church.
[72] In Joel:
Egypt shall be a waste, and Edom a waste wilderness, because of the violence to the sons of Judah, whose innocent blood they have shed in their land (Joel 3:19).
"Egypt shall be a waste" signifies that the natural man will be without truths, and thus in mere falsities; "and Edom a waste wilderness" signifies that the natural man will be without goods and thence in mere evils; "because of the violence to the sons of Judah, whose innocent blood they have shed," signifies because they have offered violence to the truths and goods of the Word, which they have perverted.
[73] Like things are involved in the wars between the sons of Israel and the Egyptians; also in the wars between the sons of Israel and the Assyrians; as also between the Assyrians and Egyptians, as in 2 Kings 23:29 to the end ; 2 Kings 24; Isaiah 10:3-5; and also in the first book of Kings:
That under king Rehoboam the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the house of the king; and took the shields which Solomon had made, and many other things (1 Kings 14:25, 26).
For in all the historical parts of the Word, as well as in its prophetical parts, there is a spiritual sense; since all the historical occurrences in the Word are representative of spiritual and celestial things that belong to heaven and the church, and the words there are significative; thus that "the king of Egypt took the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the house of the king" and the rest, represented the devastation of the church in respect to the cognitions of good and truth through knowledges [scientifica] wrongly applied, which are in the natural man.
[74] What the quality of the natural man is when it is subject to the spiritual, and what it is when it is separated from it, is fully described in Exodus in the internal sense. What the quality of the natural man is when it is subject to the spiritual and thus conjoined to it, is described in the story of Joseph, and of the sons of Israel called thither by Joseph and their dwelling in the land of Goshen, which was the best of the lands of Egypt. The story of Joseph describes the dominion of the Lord over the natural man, for "Joseph" means in the spiritual sense the Lord, and "Egypt" the natural man, and "the sons of Israel" the spiritual man. But afterwards what the quality of the natural man is when separated from the spiritual is described by Pharaoh's making the sons of Israel to serve grievously; and its subsequent vastation in respect to all the truths and goods of the church is described by the miracles wrought in Egypt, which were so many plagues; and its final destruction is described by the drowning of Pharaoh and all his host in the Sea Suph.
[75] The miracles by which the vastation of the natural man separated from the spiritual is described in the spiritual sense, were these:
The staff of Aaron was turned into a serpent; the waters in the river were turned into blood, so that the fish died, and the river stank (Exodus 7:12);
From the rivers and pools frogs were brought up upon the land of Egypt; the dust of the earth was turned into lice; swarms of noxious flying insects were sent into the house of Pharaoh, of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:1-11);
Locusts were sent upon the land, which devoured the herb and all the fruit of the tree; a thick darkness came over all the land of Egypt (Exodus 9);
Boils broke forth with blains upon man and upon beast; a rain of grievous hail mingled with fire rained upon the land of Egypt (Exodus 10);
All the firstborn in the land of Egypt died (Exodus 11);
Finally when the sons of Israel had borrowed of them and thus spoiled them of their vessels of gold and silver, and raiment (which signify the knowledges of good and truth) (Exodus 12:35, 36);
The Egyptians were drowned in the Sea Suph, which signifies hell (Exodus 14:28).
All this describes how the natural man is vastated, which takes place when he casts away from himself all the truths and goods of the church, and imbibes falsities and evils, until there is no longer any truth or good of the church remaining. (But all these things as to the spiritual sense may be seen explained at length in the Arcana Coelestia, where Exodus is unfolded.) From this it can be seen what is signified by:
The plagues and diseases of Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:60);
Also what by:
Being drowned by the river of Egypt (Amos 8:8; 9:5).
Also why it is that Egypt is called:
A land of bondage (Micah 6:4);
Likewise the land of Ham (Psalms 105:23);
And a furnace of iron (Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51).
All this has reference to Egypt, from which it manifestly appears that "Egypt" signifies the natural man in both senses.
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