338. 'Hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains' signifies those now in evils and in the untruths of evil. By 'hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains' is signified to be in evils and in the untruths of evil, because those who have pretended before the world that they were in the good of love and yet were in evil, after death hide themselves in caves; and those who pretended that they were in the truths of faith and yet were in the untruths of evil, hide themselves in the rocks of the mountains. The entrances appear as holes in the lands and as fissures in the mountains, in which they bury themselves like serpents and hide therein. That their abodes are such I have often seen. This is why by 'caves' are signified the evils with such, and by 'holes' and 'fissures' the untruths of evil, in the following passages:-
In that day they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs, when Jehovah shall arise to terrify the earth Isa. ii 19 [, 21].
In that day they shall go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the fissures of the cliffs for fear of Jehovah Isa. ii 21.
They shall dwell in the fissures of the valleys, and in holes of the earth, and in the rocks Job xxx 6.
The pride of thine heart has deceived thee, thou who dwellest in the fissures Obad. verse 3.
In that day they shall come and shall rest in the rivers of desolation, and in the fissures of the rocks Isa. vii 19.
The palace shall be a desert, the ascent and the watch-tower shall be upon caves to eternity Isa. xxxii 14.
The pride of thine heart has deceived thee, who dwellest in the holes of the rock Jer. xlix 16.
They shall hunt them from upon every mountain and hill, and out of the holes of the rocks; they shall not be hidden in My presence, neither shall their iniquity be hidden Jer. xvi 16, 17.
In that day the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the viper, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cove of the basilisk Isa. xi 8.
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