Spiritual Meaning of Dry

Spiritual Meaning of

Dry

The signification of on the dry, is safely, and without the influx of falsity; for by the waters of this sea are signified falsities derived from evil (AC 8137, 8138); consequently by the dry is signified without falsity. The like is signified by dry, and making dry, in David:--

Thou hast broken the heads of leviathan in pieces. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the river; Thou hast made dry the rivers of strength (Ps. 74:14, 15);

to make dry the rivers of strength denotes to dissipate the more powerful falsities.

[2] In Zechariah:--

I will gather them, because I will redeem them; I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them unto the land of Gilead and to Lebanon. He shall pass through the sea of distress; but he will smite the waves in the sea, and will make dry all the depths of the stream; and the pride of Assyria shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt shall depart. And I will render them mighty in Jehovah (Zech. 10:8-12);

this passage treats of those who trust in themselves and in their own wisdom in spiritual things, and also of the dissipation of falsities by means of temptations: the land of Egypt denotes memory-knowledges; Assyria, the reasonings therefrom; to pass through the sea of distress, denotes temptations; to smite the waves in the sea and dry up the depths of the stream, denotes to dissipate the falsities thence derived; the pride of Assyria shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt shall depart, denotes that they shall not trust any longer in their own wisdom, but in wisdom from the Lord, which is signified by I will render them mighty in Jehovah.

[3] In like manner in Isaiah:--

That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof; that saith to the abyss, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers (Isa. 44:26, 27);

to say to the abyss, be dry, and to dry up the rivers thereof, denotes to dissipate evils and falsities. But where waters signify truths, there to make dry signifies a state of no truth, or one without truth, as in Isaiah:--

I will pour waters upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry (Isa. 44:3);

waters and streams denote truths; the dry denotes where there is no truth.

[4] In Jeremiah:--

O sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babel, O sword against the horses thereof, and against the chariots thereof; a drought upon the waters, that they may be dried up (Jer. 50:35-38);

the Chaldeans denote those who profane truths; and the inhabitants of Babel, denote those who profane goods (AC 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326); a sword denotes truth fighting against falsity, and falsity fighting against truth, consequently vastation (AC 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102); horses denote the intellectual faculty (AC 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534); chariots, doctrinal things (AC 5321, 8148); a drought upon the waters that they may be dried up, denotes that by reason of falsification there is no life in the truths. But where dry, or making dry, in the Word, is said of other things, as of trees, of herbs, of harvest, of bones, the contrary to the above is signified. The earth itself is also called the dry relatively to the sea, and then dry is predicated of good, and the sea of truth.

from AC 8185

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.