591. [verse 10] 'If anyone leads a captivity he shall go into captivity' signifies that he who by means of this heretical [doctrine] leads others away from believing well and living well is led away by his own untruths and evils into hell. By 'to lead a captivity' is signified to persuade and draw over to his own party, in order that they may consent and adhere to that heresy which is understood by 'the dragon and the beast', and thus to lead away from believing well and living well. By 'to go into captivity' is signified to be led away into hell by his own untruths and evils. By 'captivity' here is understood spiritual captivity, which is to be led astray, and thus led away from truths and goods and led into untruths and evils. That by 'captivity' in the Word this spiritual captivity is understood can be established from the following passages:-
Hear all you people, and see my sorrow, my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity Lam i 18.
God forsook His habitation and His tent, where He dwelt among men, and delivered His strength into captivity Ps. lxxviii 10, 61.
The wind shall shepherd all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go away into captivity; then thou shalt be ashamed for all thy wickedness Jer. xxii 22.
I will make thine arrows drunk with the blood of the pierced and of the captivity Deut. xxxii 42.
They have stooped and bowed down, and their soul shall go into captivity Isa. xlvi 1, 2.
Jehovah has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to preach liberty to the captives, and to the bound, to the blind one Isa. lxi 1; Luke iv 18, 19.
I have raised Him up in justice: He shall let go My captivity not for price nor reward Isa. xlv 13.
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive Ps. lxviii 18 [H.B. 19].
Shall the captivity of the just be delivered? Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the violent shall be delivered Isa. xlix 24, 25.
Shake thyself out of the dust, sit down, O Jerusalem, open the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion Isa. lii 1, 2;
besides elsewhere, as Jer. xlviii 46, 47; l 33, 34; Ezek. xi 1-10; xii 1-12; Obad. i 11; Ps. xiv 7; liii 6 [H.B. 7]. By the captivities of the sons of Israel by their enemies, treated of in the book of Judges and 2 Kings xxv and in the Prophets, were represented and consequently signified spiritual captivities, of which elsewhere. The like is also signified by 'the bound' as by 'captives' in the following passages:-
By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth the bound out of the pit Zech. ix 11.
Let the sighing of the bound come to Thee Ps. lxxix 11.
The bound shall be gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison Isa. xxiv 22.
He has made the world (orbis) into a wilderness, he has not opened the house to his bound Isa. xix 17.
The king said, I was in prison and you did not come to me Matt. xxv 43.
Jesus said, Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? Luke xiii 16.
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