543. Verse 5. And she brought forth a son, a male, signifies the doctrine of the New Church. By "a son," in the Word, is signified the truth of doctrine, and also the understanding, and thence the thought, of truth and good; but by "a daughter" is signified the good of doctrine, as also the will, and thence the affection of truth and good; and by "a son, a male" is signified truth conceived in the spiritual man, and born in the natural man. The reason is, because by "generations and births," in the Word, are signified spiritual generations and births, all which in general relate to good and truth (n. 535); for nothing else is begotten and born of the Lord as Husband, and of the church as Wife. Now since by "the woman" who brought forth is signified the New Church (n. 533), it is plain that by "the son, a male" is signified the doctrine of that church. The doctrine here meant is The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London, 1758; as also The Doctrines concerning the Lord, concerning The Sacred Scripture, and concerning Life according to the Commandments of the Decalogue, published in Amsterdam; for by doctrine all the truths of doctrine are meant, because doctrine is the complex of them. When these doctrines were written, the dragonists stood around me, and endeavored, with all their fury, to devour, that is, to extinguish them. This news it is permitted me to relate, because of a truth it so happened. The dragonists who stood around me were from all parts of the Reformed Christian world. [2] Since there is no other offspring born from the spiritual marriage, a male offspring is truth and good in the understanding and thence in the thought; and a female offspring is truth and good in the will, and thence in the affections; therefore by "a son" in the Word is signified truth. To confirm this some passages shall be adduced, from which this may in some measure be seen:
Lo, sons are an heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the belly is His reward; as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of youth (Ps. 127:3-5). Make thee bald, and poll thee for the sons of thy delights, for they have gone from thee (Micah 1:16). I saw two olive trees near the lampstand; and he said, These are the two sons of the olive tree that stand near the Lord of the whole earth (Zech. 4:11, 14). My tent is devastated, My sons have gone forth from Me, and they are not (Jer. 10:20). My sons are become devastated, because the enemy hath prevailed (Lam. 1:16). Thy sons, O Jerusalem, have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets (Isa. 51:20). The fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter to every wind (Ezek. 5:10). The son shall be divided against the father, and the father against the son (Matt. 10:21; Mark 13:12; Luke 12:53). Thou hast taken the vessels of thy ornament from My gold, and hast made to thyself images of a male, with which thou didst commit whoredom (Ezek. 16:17). Jesus said, The seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one (Matt. 13:38). [3] That "the Son of man" is the Divine truth of the Word, thus the Lord, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 19-28). In the passages quoted above, by "sons" are meant they who are in truths of doctrine from the Word, and, abstractly, the truths themselves; in like manner in other places; as in Isa. 13:17, 18; 14:21, 22; 43:6; 49:17, 22; 51:17, 18; 60:9; Jer. 3:24, 25; 5:17; Ezek. 14:16-18, 20; 16:20, 36, 45; 20:26, 31; 23:37; Hos. 11:9-11; Zech. 9:13; Ps. 144:11, 12; Deut. 32:8. That by "a daughter" is signified the affection of the truth of the church, thus the church as to that affection, appears from so many passages in the Word, that to adduce them would fill many pages; nothing else is meant by "the daughter of Zion," "the daughter of Jerusalem," "the daughter of Judah," "the daughter of Israel." Some passages respecting "the daughter of Zion" may be seen adduced (n. 612). Who cannot see that not any "daughter of Zion," "Jerusalem," "Judah," and "Israel," so often mentioned in the Word, can be meant?
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