720. [verse 2] 'With whom the kings of the land have committed whoredom' signifies that they have adulterated the truths and goods of the Church that are derived from the Word. By 'to commit whoredom' is signified to falsify and adulterate truths, as just above (n. 719). By 'the kings of the land' are signified the truths of the Church that are derived from the Word, by 'kings' truths derived from good, and by 'the land' the Church. That by 'kings' are signified those who are in truths derived from good out of the Lord, and therefore abstractly truths derived from good, may be seen above (n. 20, 644); here, those truths adulterated and profaned. It is said that 'the kings of the land have committed whoredom with the great harlot', as though it were the truths of the Church that are derived from the Word which are signified by 'the kings of the land'. This, however, is in accordance with the style of the Word in the sense of the letter. In this there is ascribed to God and to Divine things from Himself the things that are truths of the Word, which yet are done by a man and his evils, as often above. Therefore the genuine sense, which is the spiritual sense, is that that form of religion has adulterated the truths of the Church that are derived from the Word, has in fact profaned them. He who does not know the spiritual sense of the Word can easily be misled, believing that by 'the kings of the land' are understood kings of the land, when yet not 'kings' but truths derived from good, and in the opposite sense untruths derived from evil, are understood. [2] That it may be seen further that by 'the kings of the land' nothing else but the truths or untruths of the Church are understood and by their 'whoredoms' the truths of the Church that are derived from the Word, falsified, adulterated and profaned, some passages out of the Apocalypse and Daniel shall be quoted, whereby every one who is capable of reflection can see that kings are not understood. These are:-
Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests Rev. i 6.
Thou hast made us to our God kings and priests that we may reign over the land Rev. v 10.
You shall eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of horses and of those sitting upon them Rev. xix 18.
The seven heads of the scarlet beast are seven mountains, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, and one is; and the beast is the eighth king, and is of the seven Rev. xvii 9-11.
The ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom Rev. xvii 12.
It is also said as here, that:-
The kings of the land have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with the harlot Rev. xviii 3, 9.
Who that is able to reflect does not see that by 'kings' here kings are not understood? [3] In like manner in Daniel, as:-
That by the rough goat is understood the king, and by the great horn between his eyes the first king; and when the transgressions were come to the full, a king hard of face and understanding subtle things should rise up Dan. viii 21, 23.
That the four beasts coming up out of the sea were four kings, who shall rise up from the land, and that the ten horns of the fourth beast were ten kings, and that another should arise after them, who shall humble the three kings Dan. vii 17, 24.
In like manner that the king of the south and the king of the north should fight each other; and that the king of the south should send his daughter to the king of the north, and that this king should exalt himself against God, and that he should not acknowledge a strange god; and that he should honour with gold, silver, a precious stone, and desirable things those who acknowledge that god, and should cause them to have dominion over many, and should divide the land for a price; and that he should plant the tent of his tabernacle amid the seas, around the mountain of the ornament of holiness, but that he is going to come to his end; besides many other things Dan. xi to the end.
[4] By 'the king of the south' is signified a kingdom or Church from those who are in truths, and by 'the king of the north' is signified a kingdom or Church from those who are in untruths, for it is a prophetic utterance concerning Churches to come, what they are going to be like in the beginning, and what at the end. The reason why those who are in truths derived from good from the Lord are termed 'kings' is because they are called the Lord's 'sons'; and because they have been regenerated by Him they are called 'born from Him' and also 'heirs'; and because the Lord is the King Himself, while heaven and the Church are His kingdom.
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