Spiritual Meaning of Dew

Spiritual Meaning of

Dew

That dew signifies truth, is evident also from the Word elsewhere, as in Zechariah:--

The seed of peace, the vine shall give her fruit and the earth shall give her produce, and the heavens shall give their dew (Zech. 8:12);

speaking of a new church, where the vine giving its fruit denotes the spiritual of the church or the truth of faith, giving good; and the earth giving its produce, the celestial of the church or the good of charity, giving truth; these are the dew which the heavens shall give. In Haggai:

Because of Mine house that lieth waste over you the heavens are closed from dew, and the earth is closed from her produce (Haggai 1:9, 10);

where the dew of the heavens and the produce of the earth, which were restrained, have a like signification.

[3] In David:--

From the womb of the dawning, thou hast the dew of thy birth (Ps. 110:3);

concerning the Lord the dew of birth denoting the celestial of love. In Moses:--

Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep lying beneath (Deut. 33:13);

concerning Joseph; the precious things of heaven are spiritual things (AC 3166), which are signified by dew; the deep lying beneath signifies natural things. Again:--

Israel dwelt securely, alone at the fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine, yea his heavens dropped down dew (Deut. 33:28);

where also the dew which the heavens dropped denotes the spiritual things which are of truth.

[4] In the genuine sense dew is the truth of good which is from a state of innocence and peace; for by morning or day-dawn, when the dew descends, are signified these states (AC 2333, 2405, 2540, 2780); hence also the manna which was from heaven was with the dew that descended in the morning, as may be seen from Moses:--

In the morning the dew was laid round about the camp and when the laying of the dew withdrew, behold on the faces of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground (Exod. 16:13, 14).

When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it (Num. 11:9).

As the manna was heavenly bread, in the supreme sense it signified the Lord as to the Divine good; hence with men the celestial of love, for this is from the Divine of the Lord (AC 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478); the dew in which and with which the manna descended, in the supreme sense denotes the Divine truth; and in the relative sense, the spiritual truth with men; morning is the state of peace in which these goods are (AC 92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170).

[5] Inasmuch as dew signifies the truth which is from good, or what is the same, the spiritual which is from the celestial, therefore also in the Word spiritual truth is compared to dew; for things which signify serve also for comparison with the same thing, as in Isaiah:--

Thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in My dwelling-place; like serene heat upon light; like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest (Isa. 18:4).

In Hosea:--

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your holiness is as a cloud of the dawn, and as the dew that falleth in the morning (Hosea 6:4; 13:3).

Again:--

I will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall blossom as the lily, and shall fix his roots as Lebanon (Hosea 14:5).

In Micah:--

The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as drops upon the herb (Micah 5:7).

In David:--

Like the goodly oil upon the head that came down upon the border of Aaron's garments; like the dew of Hermon that cometh down upon the mountains of Zion for there Jehovah commanded the blessing of life for evermore (Ps. 133:2, 3).

And in Moses:--

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My word shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the grass; and as drops upon the herb (Deut. 32:2);

where dew denotes the multiplication of truth from good, and the fructification of good through truth; and as the dew is that which every morning renders the field and vineyard fruitful, good itself and truth are signified by corn and new wine, concerning which in what follows.

from AC 3579

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.