Spiritual Meaning of
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That a cry denotes falsity, and sin evil, is evident from the signification in the Word of a cry. That a cry signifies falsity, can be evident to no one unless he knows the internal sense of the Word. The word sometimes occurs in the Prophets, and when vastation and desolation are there treated of, it is said that men howl and cry, by which is signified that goods and truths have been vastated; and a term is there made use of by which in the internal sense falsity is described; as in Jeremiah:--
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the howling of the powerful ones of the flock because Jehovah layeth waste their pasture (Jeremiah 25:36),
where the cry of the shepherds denotes that they are in falsity, from which there comes vastation.
[2] In the same:--
Behold, waters rise up from the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and the fullness thereof, the city and them that dwell therein and the men shall cry, and every inhabitant of the land shall howl, because of the day that cometh to lay waste (Jeremiah 47:2, 4),
where the desolation of faith is treated of, which is brought about by falsities; the overflowing stream is falsity (AC 705, 790).
[3] In Zephaniah:--
The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the second, and a great shattering from the hills, and their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation (Zephaniah 1:10, 13),
where also a cry is predicated of the falsities which lay waste.
[4] In Isaiah:--
In the way of Horonaim they shall rouse up a cry of shattering, for the waters of Nimrim shall be desolations, for the grass has dried up, the herb is consumed, there is no green thing (Isaiah 15:5, 6; Jer. 48:3),
where the desolation of faith and its consummation is described by a cry.
[5] In Jeremiah:--
Judah hath mourned, and her gates languish, they have been blackened upon the earth, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up and their illustrious ones have sent their younger ones to the waters they came to the pits, they found no waters, they returned with their vessels empty (Jeremiah 14:2, 3),
where the cry of Jerusalem denotes falsities for by their finding no waters is signified that there were no knowledges of truth, which are waters (AC 28, 680, 739).
[6] In Isaiah:--
I will exult in Jerusalem and be glad in My people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying (Isaiah 65:19),
where there not being heard the voice of weeping denotes that there shall not be evil; nor the voice of crying denotes that there shall not he falsity. Very many of these things cannot be understood from the sense of the letter, but only from the internal sense, and this is the case with a cry.
from AC 2240
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| Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). | Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. | www.BibleMeanings.info |