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1. BEHOLD, the hand of Jehovah is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
VERSE 1. As to the meaning of "hand" and" arm," see Chap. v. 25; and what is rneant by being "short of hand," see Chap. xxv. 11, Exposition.
2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God; and your sins have hidden His faces from you, that He doth not hear.
Verse 2. Your sins have hidden His faces front you, &c.-For what is involved in these words, see Ohap. viii. 17; li v. 8, Exposition.
3. For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood, and your tongue hath meditated perverseness.
Verses 3, 7. " The hands polluted with blood, and the fingers with iniquity," signifies that in everything belonging to them there is the false and the evil of the false; the "hands" and the "fingers" signify power, and hence all things appertaining to them wherein there is any ability. Inasmuch as these things are siguifled, therefore, it is also said-"Your lips have spoken falsehood, and your tongue hath meditated perverseness;" "falsehood" [or lies] denoting falses, and "perverseness" the evil of the false. By "their feet hastening to shed innocent blood," is signified to destroy the Good of love and of charity, this being meant by "shedding innocent blood;" the Good of innocence is that from which is derived every Good and Truth of heaven and the church, as may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 276-283. From these conaiderations it may appear what is signified, in the general sense, by "bloods" in the plural, viz., violence offered as well to the Truths of the Word and of the church as to the Goods thereof. Inasmuch as by "shedding innocent blood" is signified to destroy the Good of love and of charity, therefore every precaution was taken that "innocent blood" might not be shed," and if it was shed, that "the land might be expiated; " (see Deut. xix. 10, 13; xxi. 1-9.) for the "land" signifies the church. A. E. 329. That the "land," or the "earth," signifies the church, see above, Chap. xxiv., Exposition.
4. No one calleth in justice, and no one pleadeth in truth: trusting in vanity, and speaking lies; conceiving mischief; and bringing forth iniquity.
Verse 4. Trusting in vanity, &c.-"Vanity" signifies the falsity of doctrine and of religion, as may appear from the following passages:--"There shall be no more any vision of vanity, nor flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel;" (Ezek, xii. 2,i.) a "vision of vanity" means a false revelation, See also Ezek. xiii, 6-9. A. C. 9248.
5. They hatch the eggs of the asp, and weave the web of the spider: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and when it is pressed, a viper breaketh forth.
Verse 5. Speaking of evil men, who by treachery and craft seduce in things spiritual. The clandestine evils to which they craftily allure, are meant by "the eggs of the asp which they hatch;" the treacherous falses are understood by "the web of the spider which they weave." The deadly hurt which they cause if they are received, is signified by "he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and when it is pressed, a viper breaketh forth." Inasmuch as the Pharisees were of such a quality, therefore they are called by the Lord, "serpents, a generation of vipers." (Matt, xxiii. 33.) That the subtlety and malice of such could do no hurt to those whom the Lord protects, is signified by "The suckling shall play upon the hole of the viper; and upon the den of the basilisk shall the weaned child lay his hand." (Isa. xi. 8.) A.E. 581. See also Chap. xiv. 29, 30, Exposition.
6. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the deed of violence is in their hands.
7. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed. innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; devastation and destruction are in their paths.
Verses 6, 7. Their works are works of iniquity, and the deed of violence is in their hands; their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood, &c.-"Violence" means violence against charity, as may appear from many passages; the same is also signified by "shedding innocent blood." See Chap. lx, 17, 18, Exposition.
8. The Way of peace they know not; neither is there any judgment in their goings: they have perverted to themselves their paths; one that goeth therein shall not know peace.
Verse 8. In this and in many other passages "peace" signifies, in the supreme sense, the Lord; in the representative sense, His kingdom and Good from the Lord therein, thus the Divine Principle which flows into Good, or into the affections of Good, and which causes, from an inmost principle, joys and happiness. A. C. 3780.
As to "peace," see above, Chap. ix.6; xlviii. 18, 22, Exposition.
9. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we look for light, but behold darkness! for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness.
Verse 9. "Judgment is far from us," signifies that there is no understanding of Truth; "justice doth not overtake us," means that there is no Good of life; "we look for light, but behold darkness," signifies expectation of Truth, but behold the false; and "for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness," denotes the expectation of Goods by Truths, but behold the life of the false from evils; for "brightness" or "splendours " signify the Goods of Truth, because "light" signifies Truth, and Truth is resplendent from Good; "thick darkness" denotes the falses of evil, and to "walk" signifies to live. A. E. 526.
Verses 9, 10. We look for light, but behold darkness! for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind; we stumble at mid-day as in the twilight,&c.-In the Word "darkness" [tenebrae] and "thick darkness" [caligo] are named together. That "darkness" signifies the deprivation of Truth, and "thick darkness" the deprivation both of Truth and of Good, is evident from Isaiah lix. 9, 10. "Judgment is far from us, neither doth justice overtake us," signifies that there is neither Truth nor Good; that "judgment" is predicated of Truth, and "justice" of Good, may be seen, n. 2235. To "look for light" means Truth, and "for brightness or splendours" means the Good of Truth; for the splendour of "light" [or Truth] is from Good. That "darkness" is there opposed to "light", and to "judgment," thus to Truth; and "thick darkness" to "brightness" and to "justice," thus to Good, is evident; wherefore "darkness" is the deprivation of Truth, and "thick darkness" is the deprivation both of Truth and of Good. (See also Amos v. 20; Joel ii. 2.) A.C. 7111.
Here the "blind" denote those who are not in the understanding of Truths; "darkness" and "thick darkness" mean falses. To "stumble at mid-day, as in the twilight," denotes to err in falses, although they may be in the light from the Word. A. E. 239.
10. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as those that have no eyes: we stumble at mid-day as in the twilight; we are among the living as dead.
11. We groan all of us like bears; and like doves we make a constant moan: we look judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
12. For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee; and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us, and our iniquities we acknowledge;
13. By transgressing and lying against Jehovah, and by turning backward from our God; by speaking oppression and revolt, and by conceiving and meditating from the heart words of falsehood.
Verses 10-12. "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as those that have no eyes," signifies that there is not any understanding of Truth; "we stumble at mid-day as in the twilight," signifies the lapsing into errors, although they are in the church where the Word is, from which they might come into the light of Truth; "we are among the living as dead," denotes that they rnight be in spiritual life by the Word, and yet are not, because they are in falses. " We groan all of us like bears, and like doves we make a constant moan," signifies the grief of the natural man, and thence of the spiritual man; "we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us," denotes the hope of iilustration of the understanding, and thence of salvation, but in vain. "For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee; and our sins testify against us," signifies by reason of falses from evil. A. E. 781.
14. And judgment is turned away backwards, and justice standeth afar off: for truth hath stumbled in the street, and rectitude cannot enter.
15. And truth is taken away; and he that shunneth evil is accounted mad: and Jehovah saw it, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no judgment.
Verse 14. By "judgment" and "justice," in the Word, are meant Truth and Good. That these no longer exist, is signified by "judgment being turned away backwards, and justice standing afar off." The wandering from the Truths of doctrine, and there being thence no Truth in the life, which is Good of life, is understood by Truth hath stumbled in the street, and rectitude cannot enter;" for all the Good of life is procured by Truths of doctrine, as man thereby learns how he ought to live; whereas "street" signifies where Truth leads, therefore it is said-" Truth stumbleth in tho street." A. E. 652.
Verses 14-16. Truth hath stumbled in the street, and rectitude cannot enter, &c.-"No man" manifestly means no one intelligent, thus, in the universal sense, for no Truth; for this passage treats of the last time of the church, when there is no longer auything of Truth; wherefore it is said-"Truth hath stumbled in the street; rectitude cannot enter; and Truth is taken away. That "street" is also predicated of the Truth, may be seen, n. 2336; in like manner "judgment," n. 2335. A. C. 3134. See also above, Chap. xli, 28, Exposition; and A. C. 8273.
16. And He saw that there was no man; and He wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His own arm wrought salvation for Him; and His justice, it sustained Him.
Verse 16. That the Lord made His Human Divine from His own proper power, thus without the aid of any one, is evident from this, that because He was conceived of Jehovah, the Divine was in Him, and thus that the Divine was His; wherefore, when He was in the world, and made the Human in Himself Divine. He did it out of His own Divine, or out of Himself, which is described in the above words in Isaiah. The "arm" which wrought salvation for Him, is His own proper power, by which He subjugated the hells. A. C. 5005, 9715.
How the Lord, when He was in the world, bore the iniquities of the human race, that is, fought with the hells and subjugated them, and thus acquired to Himself the Divine Power of removing them with all who are in Good, and that He thus became Merit and Justice, is described in Isaiah lix. 10-20. A. C. 9937.
He saw that there was no man.-See Chap. xli. 28, Exposition.
There was no intercessor.-As to the meaning of "intercession," see Chap. liii. 12, Exposition.
17. And He put on justice as a breast-plate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head: and He put on the garments of vengeance for His clothing; and He clad Himself with zeal as with a mantle.
Verse 17. These words treat of the subjugation of the hells by tho Lord. By "righteousness [or justice] as a breast-plate," is denoted His zeal of delivering the faithful from hell, and His divine love of saving the human race; and because it was zeal from Divine Love, and hence the power from which Ho fought and conquered, therefore justice is called a "breast-plate;" but by the "helmet of salvation" is signified Divine Truth from Divine Good, by which is salvation, for a "helmet" has a similar signification to the "head" with which it is clothed; and the "head," when said of the Lord, signifies the Divine Truth aud the Divine Wisdom. A. E. 557.
These things are said of the Lord, and of His combats with the hells; for when He was in the world He reduced all things in the hells and in the heavens to order, and this by Divine Truth from Divine Love. The "garments of vengeance" signify the Truths by which He fought; "zeal as a mantle" is the Divine Love from which He fought. Hence it may appear why the "mantle" is mentioned, namely, to signify the Lord's combating by Divine Truths from Divine Love. The "cloak of the ephod, with which Aaron was clothed, upon the borders whereof were pomegranates and bells," mentioned in Exod. xxviii. 31-35, and in Lev. viii. 7-13, had a similar signification, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 9911-9929. A. E. 395.
18. According to their deserts, accordingly will He repay: fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands a recompense will He repay.
Verse 18. To the islands a recompense will He repay.-Concerning the signification of "islands," both in a good and in a bad sense, see Chap. xlii. 15, Exposition.
19. And they from the west shallfear the name of Jehovah; and they from the rising of the sun, His glory: when he [the adversary] cometh in like a rushing river, the Spirit of Jehovah shall raise up a standard against him,
Verse 19. In this passage, "from the rising and from the setting of the sun" signifies all who are in the Goods and Truths of heaven and the church. A. E. 422.
What is signified by a "name," see Chap. iv. 1; xxvi, 8, Exposition.
That the Lord is the "Sun" of heaven, see Chap. xxx. 26, Exposition.
When he [the adversary] cometh in like a rushing river, the Spirit of Jehovah shall raise up a standard against him.-The Divine Truth which was in the Lord when He was in the world, and which then was Himself, is "the Spirit of Jehovah." A. C. 9818.
20. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn away from transgression in Jacob; saith Jehovah.
Verse 20. By "Zion" is understood heaven and the church, in which the Lord rules by His Divine Truth. A. E. 850
21. And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith Jehovah: My spirit, which is upon thee, and My words, which I have put in thy mouth; they shall not depart from thy mouth, nor from the mouth of thy seed, nor from the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah; from this time forth for ever.
Verse 21. As to "covenant," see Chap. xlii. 6, Exposition.
My spirit, which is upon thee.-As to "the Spirit of Jehovah," see Chap. xi.2, Exposition.
My words, which I have put in thy mouth; shall not depart out of thy mouth, &c.-See Chap. li. 16, 17, Exposition.
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg [Compiled by J. H. Smithson 1860]
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