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1 Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
1, 2. The first thing of the church among the fathers of the Israelitish nation was destructive of all things of the church. P. P.
1-14. The adulteration of good, and falsification of truth by Jews is described. E. 1029.
1-10. Vine stands for the Ancient spiritual church, which is the mother, thus for Israel, which is therefore called: like a vine. A. 1069.
2 and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps.
2-11. Lion is the evil of the power of self-love. A. 6367.
2-9. The successive profanation of truth is described by the allurements of falsity from evils. The mother of the princes of Israel is the church where are primary truths, a lioness is falsity from evil perverting the truths of the church. A lion's whelp is evil in its power. To catch the prey and devour men is to destroy tru ths and goods, for man is the good of the church. Nations stand for evils. The pit is falsity from evil. The land of Egypt into which he was brought with hoops (chains) is external knowledge by which falsity arises. The voice of the roaring is falsity. To spread a net over him is to allure by the enjoyments of earthly loves. Babylon stands for profanation. A. 9348.
2, 3, 7. By mother is signified the church, by the lioness and lions the power of evil and of falsehood agains t good and truth, by the roaring of the lion the lust of destroying and desolating, by the cities laid waste doctrine with its truth is meant. E. 304.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.
3. That nation was likewise destroying all things of the church. P. P.
3, 5, 6. This is said of Israel, by whom the church is signified, whose power, which is in Divine truth, is thus described. R. 241.
In an opposite sense by lions in the Word is signified what is false, derived from evil. E. 278.
3, 6. Mother stands for the church, in this case the church perverted. The lioness lying down among the lions is the falsity of evil destroying truths. E. 280.
To devour man means to destroy the understanding of man and intelligence. E. 722.
3, 7. By roaring, in the opposite sense, is meant the ardent cupidity of ruining and destroying the church. By catching the prey is signified the destruction of the good and truth of the church. E. 601.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt.
5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.
7 And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring.
4-7. They were natural external, and opposed to all things of the church, and therefore they became perverted, and destroyed. P. P.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
9 And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
9. And afterward they were wholly destroyed by means of reasonings from the natural man. P. P.
10 Thy mother was like a vine, in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
10. Here mother stands for the Ancient church. The Most Ancient church especially is called mother, because she was the first, as also the only one which was celestial, and therefore she was beloved of the Lord more than all. A. 289.
A vine and a vineyard signify the spiritual church. A. 2702.
The church is called mother. These things were said of the Jewish church. M. 119.
In the spiritual sense the church is meant by mother, because as a mother on earth feeds her children with natural food, so the church feeds them with spiritual food. T. 306.
10, 11. Said of Israel, by whom is meant the spiritual church. It is compared to a vine from the wine thence produced, which signifies spiritual good. A. 5113.
10, 11. The Ancient church was in Divine truths. P. P.
10-14. By a staff (sceptre) power is signified. R. 485.
The desolation of all truth in the Jewish church. The princes, against whom the lamentation is taken up, mean truth. The mother, who was made a lioness is the church. The east wind which dried up her fruit signifies the destruction of the good of remains from the Word. The withering of her rods of strength means all Divine truth dissipated. A fire means pride in all
things. E. 727.
10, 12, 13, 14. By a mother like a vine is signified the ancient church, which was in the good of life, and thence in tru ths. Her being now planted in the wilderness
means her being now destitute of goods and truths. A dry and thirsty ground means where there are no goods and truths. Fire stands for evil. E. 504.
11 And it had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.
11. To reason from knowledges is to set the branch among the tangled boughs. (thick branches) A. 2831.
12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them.
12. See Chapter XVII., 10. A. 1679.
See Chapter XVII., ro. R.343.
See Chapter XVII., ro. E. 419.
12-14. But in the Israelitish and Jewish church all Divine truth was perverted and rejected. P. P.
12, 14. The east wind stands for what is of lusts. A. 5215.
13 And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
14 And fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it hath devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
13. A vastated church, or one in which all the truths of the Word are falsified, such as it was with the Jews at the time of the Lord's coming, is signified by a wilderness. R. 546.
13. By vine is signified the church, which in the beginning of the chapter is called a mother who became a lioness. It is said to be planted in a wilderness when there is no longer any truth therein, because no good. A land of draught is where there is no truth, but evil instead. E. 730.
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg (Compiled by Robert S. Fischer 1925)
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