132. 'That thou permittest the woman Jezebel' signifies that in the Church with them there are those who separate faith from charity, and who make that faith alone saving. That faith separated from charity is understood by 'the woman Jezebel' is plain from the things now following, while they are being disclosed in a series by means of the spiritual sense, and when they are compared with that faith. For these were the evil deeds of Ahab's wife Jezebel:-
That she went away and served Baal, and built him an altar in Samaria, and made a grove 1 Kings xvi 31-33.
That she killed the prophets of Jehovah 1 Kings xviii 4, 13.
That she wanted to kill Elijah 1 Kings xix 1, 2.
That by the treachery of substituting false witnesses she took the vineyard away from Naboth, and killed him 1 Kings xxi 6, 7 seq.
That on account of those evil deeds it was foretold to her by Elijah, that the dogs would eat her 1 Kings xxi 23.
That she was thrown down out of the window where she stood in her make-up, and that some of her blood was sprinkled upon the wall, and upon the horses that trampled on her 2 Kings ix 30-33.
[2] As all the historical as well as the prophetical parts of the Word signify spiritual things, so also do these. That they signify faith separated from charity is established out of the spiritual sense, and from a comparison of passages at the same time; for by 'going away and serving Baal', and 'building him an altar', and 'making a grove', is signified serving all kinds of lusts, or what is the same, the devil, not thinking about a particular evil lust or a particular sin, but only of faith, as they do who have no doctrine of charity and life. By 'killing the prophets' is signified destroying the truths of doctrine out of the Word. By 'wanting to kill Elijah' is signified wanting the same for the Word itself. By 'taking away Naboth's vineyard, and killing him' is signified [destroying] the Church itself for the 'vineyard' is the Church. By 'the dogs that would eat her' are signified lusts. By 'the throwing down out of the window' 'the sprinkling of the blood on the wall', and 'the trampling by the horses', is signified their annihilation, for the single things also signify that; the 'window' signifying truth in the light; 'the blood' untruth; 'the wall' truth in ultimates; 'the horse' an understanding of the Word. Consequently it can be concluded that these things, when brought together for comparison, coincide with a faith separated from charity, as can be further established from the things following in the Apocalypse, where it treats of that faith.
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