137. [verse 22] 'Behold I will cast her into a bed, and those committing adultery with her into great affliction' signifies that therefore they have to be left in their doctrine with falsifications, and are to be grievously infested by untruths. That by a 'bed' doctrine is signified will be seen presently; that by 'those committing adultery' falsifications of truth are signified may be seen above (n. 134, 136); and that by 'affliction' is signified infestation from untruths (n. 35, 95, 101), consequently by 'great affliction' a severe infestation is signified. That a 'bed' signifies doctrine results from correspondence, for as the body takes repose in its own bed so does the mind in its own doctrine; but by the bed is signified the doctrine that everyone acquires for himself either out of the Word or his own intelligence, for his mind rests and, as it were, sleeps therein. The beds in which its repose is taken in the spiritual world are of no other origin. Everyone there has a bed in accordance with the quality of his knowledge and intelligence, sumptuous for the wise, tawdry for the unwise, and dirty for falsifiers. [2] This is signified by 'bed' in Luke:-
I tell you, In that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, the other left Luke xvii 34-36.
This has to do with the last judgment. 'Two in one bed' are two in one doctrine, but not in a similar life. In John:-
Jesus said to the sick man, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk; and he took up his bed, and walked John v 8-12.
And in Mark:-
Jesus said to the paralytic, Son, thy sins have been forgiven thee; and He said to the scribes, Which is easier to say, thy sins have been forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk? then He said, Take up thy bed and walk; and he took up the bed and went forth from them Mark ii 5, 9, 11, 12.
That something is signified here by 'bed' is plain, for Jesus said, 'Which is easier to say, thy sins have been forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk?' By 'carrying the bed and walking' is signified meditating on doctrine. In heaven it is understood in that way. [3] Doctrine is signified by 'bed' also in Amos:-
As the shepherd rescues Out of the lion's mouth, so shall the tons of Israel be rescued that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in the end of a bedstead Amos iii 12.
'In the corner of a bed and in the end of a bedstead' is out of the way of the truths and goods of doctrine. By 'bed' and 'bedstead', and by 'couch', the like is signified elsewhere, as in Isa. xxviii 20; lvii 2, 7, 8; Ezek. xxiii 41; Amos vi 4; Micah ii 1; Ps. iv 4; xxxvi 4; xli 3 [H.B. 4]; Job vii 13; Lev. xv 4, 5. Since by 'Jacob' in the prophetical books of the Word is signified the Church as to doctrine, it is therefore said of him that:-
He bowed himself upon the head of the bed Gen. xlvii 31.
When Joseph came, he sat upon the bed Gen. xlviii 2.
He gathered up his feet upon the bed, and expired Gen. xlix 33.
Since the doctrine of the Church is signified by Jacob, therefore sometimes when I have thought of Jacob a man lying in a bed has appeared to me above in front.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church