Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
If a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. (Exodus 21:33-34)• That "to fall into a pit," when said of good and truth in the natural, which are signified by "ox and ass," denotes to pervert
• amendment by means of truth, which can be effected with perverted goods and truths, but not with those that have been extinguished; for when good or truth is perverted, it still remains, although explained in a perverted manner.
"To fall" also denotes to fall by mischance. Because this was signified by "falling into a pit," therefore it was said by the Lord:
Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a well, and will not straightway draw him out on the Sabbath day? (Luke 14:5).This was said by the Lord when He healed on the Sabbath day the man who had the dropsy. In that church, the Sabbath day was most holy because it signified the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth from the Lord; consequently healings were performed by the Lord on the Sabbath day, because "healing" involved the healing of the spiritual life; and the disease of dropsy the perversion of truth and good; thus "healing" involved the amendment and restoration of perverted truth.
For all the Lord's miracles involved and signified states of the church —
That "disease" denotes evil, is because in the internal sense are signified such things as affect the spiritual life. The diseases which affect this life are evils, and are called cupidities and concupiscences. Faith and charity make the spiritual life. This life sickens when falsity takes the place of the truth which is of faith, and evil takes the place of the good which is of charity; for these bring this life unto death, which is called spiritual death, and is damnation, as diseases bring the natural life unto its death. Hence it is that by "disease" is signified in the internal sense evil; and by "the diseases of the Egyptians," the evils into which those cast themselves who had been in faith separate and in a life of evil, whereby they had infested the upright, which evils have been treated of in what precedes, where the plagues in Egypt were treated of.
Evils are also meant by "diseases" in other passages in the Word, as in Moses:
If thou wilt keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, Jehovah will remove from thee all sickness, and will not put upon thee all the evil weaknesses of Egypt, which thou hast known; but will give them upon thy haters (Deut. 7:11, 15).
If thou wilt not obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, by keeping to do all His commandments and His statutes, Jehovah will send on thee the curse, the disquiet, and the rebuke, in every putting forth of thy hand which thou doest, until thou be destroyed, because of the wickedness of thy works, whereby thou hast forsaken Me. Jehovah shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He has consumed thee from upon the land; Jehovah shall smite thee with consumption, and with a hot fever, and with a burning fever, and with a raging fever, and with drought, and with blasting, and with jaundice, which shall pursue thee until thou perish: Jehovah shall smite thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and with the hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, that thou canst not be healed. Jehovah shall smite thee with fury, and with blindness, and with amazement of heart. Thou shalt become mad from the look of thine eyes. Jehovah shall smite thee with a sore ulcer, upon the knees, and upon the thighs, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of the foot unto the crown of thy head. He will throw back on thee all the weakness of Egypt, also every disease, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law. Jehovah shall give thee a trembling heart, consumption of eyes, and grief of soul (Deut. 28:15, 20-22, 27, 28, 34, 35, 60, 61, 65).By all the diseases here named are signified spiritual diseases, which are evils destroying the life of the will of good, and falsities destroying the life of the understanding of truth; in a word, destroying the spiritual life which is of faith and charity. Moreover natural diseases correspond to such things, for every disease in the human race is from this source, because from sin. Moreover every disease corresponds to its own evil; the reason is that everything of man's life is from the spiritual world; and therefore if his spiritual life sickens, evil is derived therefrom into the natural life also, and becomes a disease there. (See what has been said from experience about the correspondence of diseases with evils, Arcana Coelestia 5711-5727.)
Like things are signified by "diseases" in other passages, as in Moses:
Ye shall worship Jehovah your God, that He may bless thy bread, and thy waters; and I will take disease away from the midst of thee (Exod. 23:25).
If ye shall reject My statutes, and if your soul loathe My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, while ye make My covenant vain, I will enjoin terror upon you, with consumption, and with burning fever, that shall consume the eyes, and torment the soul (Lev. 26:15, 16)signifying the decrease of truth, and the increase of falsity; "burning fever" denotes the cupidity of evil. Further in these passages:
Wherefore will ye add a going back? the whole head is diseased, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wound, and scar, and flesh blow, not pressed out, and not bandaged, and not mollified with oil (Isa. 1:5, 6)that here by "disease," "wound," "scar," and "blow," are meant sins, is hidden from no one.
Woe to the shepherds of Israel, the feeble sheep have ye not strengthened, the sick one have ye not healed, and the broken one have ye not bandaged (Ezek. 34:2, 4).
Mine iniquities are gone over my head, my wounds have putrefied, they have consumed away, because of my foolishness, for my bowels are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh (Ps. 38:4, 5, 7).As by "diseases" are signified the corruptions and evils of spiritual life, therefore by the various kinds of diseases are signified also the various kinds of corruptions and evils of that life. (That by "pestilence" is signified the vastation of good and truth, see n. 7102, 7505; and by "leprosy," the profanation of truth, n. 6963.) That in general by "diseases" are signified sins, can also be seen in Isaiah:
A man of sorrows, and known of disease; whence is as it were a hiding of faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not: nevertheless He hath borne our diseases, and hath carried our griefs, and through His wounds health hath been given us (53:3-5);speaking of the Lord.
As diseases represented the hurtful and evil things of the spiritual life, therefore by the diseases which the Lord healed is signified liberation from various kinds of evil and falsity which infested the church and the human race, and which would have led to spiritual death. For Divine miracles are distinguished from other miracles by the fact that they involve and have regard to states of the church and of the heavenly kingdom. Therefore the Lord's miracles consisted chiefly in the healing of diseases. This is meant by the Lord's words to the disciples sent by John:
Tell John the things which ye hear and see: the blind see, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the poor hear the gospel (Matt. 11:4, 5).Hence it is that it is so often said that the Lord "healed all disease and weakness" (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 14:14, 35, 36; Luke 4:40; 5:15; 6:17; 7:21; Mark 1:32-34; 3:10).
(from Arcana Coelestia 8364)
as in general do all Divine miracles —As regards miracles, be it known that Divine miracles differ from magical miracles as heaven does from hell. Divine miracles proceed from Divine truth and advance according to order, the effects in ultimates being miracles when it pleases the Lord that they be presented in this form. Hence it is that all Divine miracles represent states of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, and of the Lord's kingdom in the earth, that is, of the church. This is the internal form of Divine miracles. Such is the case with all the miracles done in Egypt, and also with all others that are mentioned in the Word. All miracles which the Lord Himself wrought when He was in the world signified the coming state of the church; thus that the eyes of the blind were opened and the ears of the deaf, that the tongues of the dumb were loosed, that the lame walked, and the maimed and also the lepers were healed, signified that such men as are represented by the blind, deaf, dumb, lame, maimed, and leprous, would receive the gospel and be spiritually healed, and this through the coming of the Lord into the world. Such are Divine miracles in their internal form.
But magical miracles involve nothing at all, being wrought by the evil to acquire power over others; yet they appear in the external form like Divine miracles, and this for the reason that they flow from order, and order appears alike in the ultimates where miracles are presented. For example: the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord has in it all power, and hence it is that even in truths in the ultimates of order there is power; and therefore the evil acquire power and rule over others by means of truths.
Take also as an example the fact that in the other life it is according to order that states of affection and thought cause the idea of place and distance; and that the inhabitants appear distant from one another, so far as they are in a diverse state. This order is from the Divine, to the intent that all who are in the Grand Man may be distinct from one another. Magicians in the other life abuse this order, for they induce on others changes of state, and in this way at one time transport them on high, and at another into the deep, and also cast them into societies where they may serve them as subjects; and so in countless other ways. From all this it is evident that magical miracles, although in outward form similar to Divine miracles, nevertheless have within them a contrary end, namely, that of destroying the things of the church; whereas Divine miracles have within them the end of building up the things of the church. The case herein is like that of two beautiful women, one of whom is inwardly wholly rotten from whoredom, and the other absolutely pure within from chastity or genuine conjugial love. Their outward forms are alike, but their inward forms differ as do heaven and hell.
(from Arcana Coelestia 7337)
Hence then it is that the Lord said, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a well, and will not straightway draw him out on the Sabbath day?" by which was signified in the spiritual sense what has been said; for whatsoever the Lord spoke, He spoke from the Divine, and therefore there is an internal sense in each word. By "a well" in this passage the like is signified as by "a pit," namely, falsity. And as "a pit" denotes falsity, therefore also when the Lord spoke about the falsities of the church, He said:If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a pit (Matt. 15:14)."A blind man" denotes one who is in erroneous ideas; and "falling into a pit" denotes to pervert truth. These things were spoken in comparisons; but in the Word all the comparisons are taken from significatives.
They who believe that the Divine holiness which is in the Word lies hidden there no deeper than in the sense which appears in the letter, in these and other passages of the Word, see holiness from no other source than from faith that all things of the Word were Divinely inspired, and that there are inexplicable arcana therein known to God alone. But they who are not in this faith despise the Word, merely because the style is in appearance more humble than is the style which is adapted to the genius of the world, such as is to be found with many writers ancient and modern. But let them know that a Divine holiness lies hidden in each and all things of the Word, but it consists in the fact that each and all things treat of the Lord, of His kingdom, and His church. These are things most holy, because they are Divine from the Lord, wherein there is thus eternal life, according to the words of the Lord in John:
The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life (John 6:63).But these most holy Divine things stand open before the angels in heaven, because these do not apprehend the Word naturally according to the literal sense but spiritually according to the internal sense. Men also would apprehend the Word according to this sense if they lived an angelic life, that is, a life of faith and love. The things which are contained in the internal sense of the Word are no other than those which the genuine doctrine of the church teaches. The genuine doctrine of the church teaches the Lord, faith in Him, love to Him, and love of the good which is from Him. This love is charity toward the neighbor. They who live this life are enlightened by the Lord, and see the holy things of the Word; as by no means do others.
(from Arcana Coelestia 9086)