Spiritual Meaning of Anger

Spiritual Meaning of

Anger

The signification of anger is a turning away (AC 5034), because one who is angry with another turns away, for in that state he does not think like him, but against him. That anger is a turning away is plain from many passages in the Word, especially from those where anger and wrath are ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord, by which is signified a turning away--not that Jehovah or the Lord ever turns away, but that man does so; and when he turns away it seems to him as if the Lord did so, for he is not heard. The Word so speaks in accordance with the appearance. And because anger is a turning away, it is also an assault on good and truth on the part of those who have turned away; while on the part of those who have not turned away, there is no assault, but repugnance on account of aversion to what is evil and false.

[2] That anger is an assault has been shown above (AC 3614); that it is also a turning away, and likewise the penalty when truth and good are assailed, is plain from the following passages. In Isaiah:--

Woe to them that decree decrees of iniquity. They shall fall under the bound, and under the slain. For all this His anger is not turned away. Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of wrath will I give him a charge. He thinketh not right, and his heart doth not meditate right (Isa. 10:1, 4-7);

anger and wrath denote a turning away and opposition on man's part, and the attendant punishing and not hearing appear like anger; and as it is on man's part, it is said, Woe to them that decree decrees of iniquity. He thinketh not right, and his heart doth not meditate right.

[3] In the same:--

Jehovah with the vessels of His anger, to destroy the whole land. Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with indignation, wrath and anger, to make the earth a waste, that He may destroy the sinners thereof out of it. I will shake the heaven, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place in the indignation of Jehovah Zebaoth, and in the day of the wrath of His anger (Isa. 13:5, 9, 13);

the heaven and the earth here denote the church, which having turned away from truth and good, its vastation and destruction are described by the indignation, anger, and wrath of Jehovah; when in fact it is quite the contrary, namely, that the man who is in evil is indignant, angry, and wroth, and sets himself in opposition to good and truth. The penalty which is from the evil is attributed to Jehovah on account of the appearance. Elsewhere occasionally in the Word the last time of the church and its destruction are called the day of the anger of Jehovah.

[4] Again:--

Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers. Thou wilt smite the peoples in fury, with an incurable stroke, ruling the nations with anger (Isa. 14:5, 6);

where the meaning is similar. This is as with a culprit who is punished by the law, and who ascribes the evil of the penalty to the king or judge; not to himself. Again:--

Jacob and Israel because they would not walk in the ways of Jehovah, neither heard they His law; He poured upon him the wrath of anger, and the violence of war (Isa. 42:24, 25).

In Jeremiah:--

I will fight against you in an outstretched hand and a strong arm, and in anger, and in wrath, and in great heat. Lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn and be not quenched, because of the wickedness of your works (Jer. 21:5, 12);

in this passage fury, anger, and great heat are nothing else than the evils of penalty because of the turning away from what is good and true, and an assault thereon.

[5] By Divine law all evil is attended with the penalty, and wonderful to say, in the other life the evil and the penalty cleave together; for as soon as an infernal spirit does evil more than usual, punishing spirits are at hand, and punish him, and this without advertence. That evil of penalty because of turning away is meant, is plain, for it is said, because of the wickedness of your works. In David:--

He sent upon them the wrath of His anger, indignation and fury, and distress, and an inroad of evil angels. He levelled a path for His anger, He spared not their soul from death (Ps. 78:49, 50; Isa. 30:27, 30; 34:2; 54:8; 57:17; 63:3, 6; 66:15; Jer. 4:8; 7:20; 15:14; 33:5; Ezek. 5:13, 15; Deut. 9:19, 20; 29:20, 22, 23; Rev. 14:9, 10; 15:7).

[6] Wrath, anger, indignation, fury, in these passages also denote a turning away, assault, and consequent penalty. That the penalty for turning away and assault is ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord, and is called anger, wrath, and fury in Him, is because the race sprung from Jacob had to be kept in the representatives of a church, which are merely external; and they could not have been kept in them except through fear and dread of Jehovah, and unless they had believed that He would do them evil from anger and wrath. They who are in externals without an internal cannot otherwise be brought to do external things; for there is nothing interior that binds them. Moreover the simple within the church, from the appearance apprehend no otherwise than that God is angry when anyone does evil. Yet everyone who reflects can see that there is nothing of anger, still less of fury, with Jehovah or the Lord; for He is mercy itself and good itself, and is infinitely above willing evil to anyone. Nor does the man who is in charity toward the neighbor do evil to anyone. All the angels in heaven are such; and how much more the Lord Himself!

[7] But in the other life the case is this. When the Lord reduces heaven and its societies into order, which is continually being done on account of new comers, and gives them bliss and happiness, and when this flows into the societies which are in the opposite (for in the other life all the societies of heaven have opposed to them societies in hell, whence there is equilibrium), and these feel a change owing to the presence of heaven, they are then angry and wrathful, and burst forth into evil, and at the same time rush into the evil of the penalty. Moreover when evil spirits or genii approach the light of heaven, they begin to be in anguish and torment (AC 4225, 4226), which they attribute to heaven, and consequently to the Lord; when in fact it is they themselves that bring the torment upon themselves; for evil is tortured when it comes near to good. Hence it is evident that nothing but good is from the Lord, and that all evil is from those who turn away, who are in the opposite, and who attack.

from AC 5798

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.