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<< MATTHEW XXIII: Spiritual Meaning >>
 HAVING defeated the machinations of the Pharisees, and refuted the error of the Sadducees, and brought forth from the treasures of his wisdom some of the most important truths of the Divine religion he came to establish among men, the Lord now turns to the multitude, and to his disciples, to teach them the character of those sectaries, and warn them against the sins they concealed under an ostentatious sanctity, and the errors they made plausible by a perverted rationality. He afterwards addresses the scribes and Pharisees themselves, pointing out to them the character and consequences of their corruptions.
MATTHEW XXIII
1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Whole Chapter cited. That the external man is to be purged, but by means of the internal, the Lord teaches in the 23rd Chapter of Matthew, from beginning to end. T. 331.
1-33. That they (the Scribes and Pharisees) were tolerated, was also because every one after death retains his religion which he has acquired in the world, and is therefore also let into it when he first comes into the other life. And religion with this people was implanted by such as extolled holiness with the mouth, and feigned it in their manner, and also impressed them with the belief that they could be saved through them. Hence also it was, that such were not removed from them, but were preserved among their own. But the primary reason is that all are preserved from one judgment to another, who live a life that resembles the spiritual in externals, and emulate as if it were a pious and holy internal, by whom the simple can be taught and led, for the simple in faith and heart do not look beyond the external, and what appears before their eyes. J. 59.
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COMMENTARY
1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples. The disciples and the multitude represented the internal and external principles of the new man, or of man so far as he is new; while the scribes and Pharisees represent those of the old man, or of man so far as he is yet unrenewed; and these, we know, are contrary one to the other. It may, however, be as well to look at its individual through its general application.
2Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
2-7. Of what kind the works are which the Scribes and Pharisees did, and yet they induced men to do them. D. P., Page 79.
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COMMENTARY
2, 3. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Sitting is a state of the will, as standing is of the understanding. To sit in the seat of any one is to enter into and possess his will, or his loves and ends of life, of which his will is the seat. This was done by the scribes and Pharisees with regard to Moses, in whose seat they sat. They taught and enforced the law which Moses represented, but they did so to promote their own ends. The true end of the law is the glory of God and the salvation of man; but they had no other end in teaching it than their own glory and advantage. When this is the case, the will of man rules, and the truth of God serves. Yet men can be zealous for the truth even when they are trampling goodness under their feet, or at least when their heart has no sympathy with it. The Lord exhorted the people, saying, All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. Their teaching was to be followed, but their example was to be shunned. This is a distinction which it is highly necessary to observe. Truth is true, from whose lips soever it proceeds. True it is, that they who instruct by their teaching should lead by their example. But when the teaching of those who sit in Moses' seat is better than their lives, it is our duty to accept the truth and leave the evil. The Lord requires his people to "observe" and "do" the truth, which is to receive it into their understandings and wills, and to manifest it in their words and works.
4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
4. That to carry on the shoulder, when subjection, is treated of, signifies service. A. 9836.
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COMMENTARY
4. The Lord proceeds to describe the conduct of those who had assumed to themselves the authority of the law. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders. The Jewish hierarchy, not content with the onerous duties of the law, refined upon its plain precepts, and multiplied its ceremonial observances, laying upon the shoulders of others a burden which they did not touch themselves. It is the duty of the priesthood to help Others to bear the necessary burden of life; but the Pharisees increased that burden with unnecessary labours, and left the people unaided to sustain it. But do we not sometimes lay such burdens on ourselves? Do we not lay on ourselves the burden of unnecessary observances, even to the neglect of positive duties? We load our minds with trifles, to the neglect of solid acquirements; we oppress life with unreasonable cares and anxieties, to the neglect of prudent circumspection. But let us see what this conduct of the scribes and Pharisees spiritually implies. The Pharisees were a kind of spiritual taskmasters, who exacted an unreasonable tale of bricks from the people, and yet required them to make bricks without straw. And they no doubt represented those infesting spirits who endeavour, by fallacious reasonings and deceitful appearances, to subject the well-disposed to their power. Their requirements are a burden, because they oppress the spiritual life of the soul; the burden they impose is heavy and grievous, because, though outwardly good and trite, the requirements are inwardly evil and false and oppress the life both of the will and of the understanding; they bind these burdens, because it is their desire to unite evil and falsity together; they lay them upon men, for men signify the spiritual principles of good and truth, that make us truly human; their desire to oppress and overpower these is meant by laying their burdens on men's shoulders, for the shoulder signifies the greatest degree of power - shoulders, the powers both of the will and the intellect. The shoulders of those who bear the burden are contrasted with the fingers of those who impose it - the greatest power with the least. The burdens that the Pharisees laid on others' shoulders, they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers, because those whom they represent, while they desire to subject to themselves the whole power both of the will and intellect of others, will not, if possible, allow the least aid, either intellectual or voluntary, to be extended to them.
5But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
5. To enlarge the borders of robes means to speak truths magnificently, only to be heard and seen by men.
A. 9825.
Borders of a robe mean external things, which are extant to view. That to magnify them means to do works in externals, that they may appear or be seen. A. 9917.
Robes, mantles and cloaks signify truths in general because they were general clothings. R. 328.
These things the Scribes and Pharisees literally did, but still by their doing so was represented and signified that they spoke many things from the ultimates of the Word, and applied to life, and to their traditions, in order that they might appear holy and learned. By their phylacteries, which they made broad, are signified goods in the outward form, for the phylacteries were worn upon the hands, and by the hands are signified actions, because the hands are employed to act. By the borders of their garments which they enlarged, are signified external truths, such as are in the sense of the letter, garments standing for truths in general, and borders the ultimates of the same. E. 395.
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COMMENTARY
5. But all their works they do for to be seen of men - not to be seen of God. Man-pleasers care nothing but for the outward show of piety and holiness. This is to make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. The phylacteries were fillets, on which were written certain passages of Scripture, and bound on the forehead and hands. The custom, which does not seem to have existed till the captivity, was derived from the command of Moses respecting a certain ordinance, - "It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth" (Exod. xiii. 9). Fringes were worn by the Israelites on the borders of their garments, as a means of remembering the commandments of the Lord (Num. xv. 38). As these were but outward signs of inward principles, the Pharisees, while they narrowed and diminished the inward spirit of religion, widened and enlarged its outward forms: they made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments. The phylacteries which they made broad signified goods in the outward form; the hands on which the phylacteries were worn signifying deeds which the hands are employed to perform, the borders of their garments, which they enlarged signified external truths, which are those contained in the literal sense of the Word; outer garments denoting general truths, the ultimates of which are the borders.
6, 7. But the Pharisees, like all who enlarge the borders of their professional garments, looked to something more substantial and gratifying to their self-love than the reputation of superior sanctity; for they, it is said, love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. Here, again, we have the idea of ruling. They who sat in Moses' seat were also ambitious to occupy the chief places in the social and religious assemblies of the people, and to receive public homage and dignified titles. Spiritually, feasts signify the communication of good, and synagogues the communication of truth; and to occupy the chief seats at these signifies to insinuate one's own self-will and self-love into the good and truth of heaven, and so make them the means of self-exaltation. The market, where goods are bought and sold, signifies the knowledge of good and truth and to receive greetings there, is to receive the credit and praise of superior wisdom; and therefore it follows, that they loved to be called - Rabbi, Master or Teacher - that is, to be acknowledged as not only excelling in wisdom, but being its exclusive and authoritative teachers.
7And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
7—10. The Lord did not forbid calling a father, father, neither a teacher, teacher, nor a master, master, in the natural sense, but in the spiritual sense, in which there is only one Father, Teacher, and Master. D. V., 5.
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COMMENTARY
6, 7. But the Pharisees, like all who enlarge the borders of their professional garments, looked to something more substantial and gratifying to their self-love than the reputation of superior sanctity; for they, it is said, love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. Here, again, we have the idea of ruling. They who sat in Moses' seat were also ambitious to occupy the chief places in the social and religious assemblies of the people, and to receive public homage and dignified titles. Spiritually, feasts signify the communication of good, and synagogues the communication of truth; and to occupy the chief seats at these signifies to insinuate one's own self-will and self-love into the good and truth of heaven, and so make them the means of self-exaltation. The market, where goods are bought and sold, signifies the knowledge of good and truth and to receive greetings there, is to receive the credit and praise of superior wisdom; and therefore it follows, that they loved to be called - Rabbi, Master or Teacher - that is, to be acknowledged as not only excelling in wisdom, but being its exclusive and authoritative teachers.
8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
8. See Chapter V., 22—24. A. 2360.
bee Chapter XII., 49. A. 6756.
See Chapter XII., 49. R. 32.
But we do not read that the disciples called the Lord brother, because a brother is good, which is from the Lord. This is comparatively as with a king, a prince or a nobleman, who call their relatives and neighbours brothers, but still the latter do not call them so in return, for the Lord says in Matthew xxiii. 8. R. 32.
It is true that all who worship the Lord in truth, and keep His precepts are brethren, but brethren in spirit.
T. 459.
See Chapter XIL, 47-50. E. 46.
By Rabbi and teacher is signified one that teaches truth, thus abstractly the doctrine of truth, and in the supreme sense Divine truth, which is Christ. That the Lord alone is Divine truth is therefore understood by "be ye not called Rabbi, one is your teacher, Christ." E. 684.
8,9. To be called master, and to be called father on earth is not here forbidden, but to acknowledge in heart any other father than the Lord, that is when mention is made of master and father, the Lord should be understood, Who in the supreme sense is represented by them. A. 3703.
The Lord is therefore called Father, and they who are in goods and truths from Him are called sons of God, and born of God, and brethren to one another. T. 583.
That all those are called brethren by the Lord, who acknowledge Him, and are in the good of charity from Him, follows from this consideration, that the Lord is the Father of all, and the Teacher of all. From Him as a Father is all the good of charity, and from Him as a Teacher all the truth of that good. To call and to call by a name signifies in the Word to acknowledge the quality of any one. E. 746.
8-10. Without doctrine this would be that it is not lawful to-call anyone teacher, father, or master, but from doctrine it is known that it is lawful in a natural sense, but not in a spiritual sense. S. 51.
The previous statement of S. 51 repeated in T. 226,
In the heavens no one in his heart acknowledges any above himself but the Lord alone, which is understood by these words of the Lord in Matthew. E. 735.
That one is Rabbi and one master, he who teaches good and truth. D. P., Page 46.
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COMMENTARY
8, 9. The Lord then says to his disciples, But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren; and he proceeds to say to them, And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. This is one of the many instances which show that our Lord expressed spiritual truth in his plainest declarations. Our Lord could not mean to prohibit the use of the language that expressed the ordinary and necessary relations between teachers and their scholars, and between children and their parents. He who is a doctor or teacher may be so called and so addressed, and not less he who is a father. But in the spiritual and exalted sense. Christ is our only Teacher, God our only Father. A teacher is one who communicates truth: a father is one who communicates good. Although one man may be instrumental in leading another into truth and goodness, the Lord is the only Author and origin of these heavenly principles. The teacher is in this respect on a level with the scholar, and both are alike recipients of these gifts from heaven; the one excels the other only in regard to the time and measure of reception. One is the Teacher of all, and all the taught, brethren. Christ is a name expressive of the Divine Truth itself; and whence but from the Truth itself can we receive truth? By this declaration of our Lord we are also instructed that all the authority of truth belongs to the Lord alone. We are not to look to any man as in authority: Christ is our only authority in matters relating to eternal life. "To the law and to the testimony" is the rule of Christian evidence, and to this ultimate test every dogma is to be brought. "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." If the Lord alone is our teacher, no less is he alone our Father. He is especially, because spiritually, our Father when we are born again of him. Can we in this sense call any man our father? That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. And although human help is required to bring us to the second birth, yet the human instrument is not the author of the new life. He only who is the Life can make us alive, and to him alone belongs the glory. His infinite love is life, and that love in us is life eternal. Yet all this does not prevent the use of language which describes the relative condition of men. There is no sin in calling one Rabbi who is our teacher, nor in calling one father who is our parent. Nay, there is a propriety in doing so. The sin is committed only when we put man in the place of God, and, in the purely spiritual sense, when we put any human good and truth in the place of the Divine good and truth, and give them a name and ascribe to them a power which belong to the Infinite and Eternal only.
9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
9. This passage means that He alone is the Father as to life, and that the earthly father is the father only as to-life's covering, which is the body, wherefore in heaven no other father is named than the Lord. That men who do not pervert that life are said to be His sons and born of Him is also manifest from many passages in the Word.
P. 33).
The angels in nowise understand anything else by the Father, when that name is read in the Word, than that the Lord Himself is the Father, nor can they understand anything else, because no one in the heavens knows anyone as his father, from whom they are said to be bornr and whose sons and heirs they are called, but the Lord. R. 170.
These words were spoken for children and angels in heaven, but not for children and men on earth.
The Lord teaches the same in the common prayer of Christian churches, Our Father Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. T. 306.
By Father is understood the Divine good, and there is none good except the one God. E. 254,
Father signifies the Lord as to Divine good. E. 966.
Most fathers when they come into another life recollect their children, who have died before them. They are also presented to and mutually acknowledge each other. Spiritual fathers only look at them, and enquire as to their present state, and rejoice if it is well with them, and grieve if it is ill. But natural fathers when agreeably .to their wishes they are presented to each other instantly embrace, and become united like a bundle of rods. If the father is told that some of his children are satans, and have done injuries to the good, he nevertheless keeps them in a group around him. M. 406.
9, 10. When man is in a spiritual idea he will then think of the Lord alone as the Father and Master, but the case is otherwise, when man is in a natural idea. Moreover in the spiritual world or in heaven no one knows any other father, teacher, or master but the Lordr because from Him is all spiritual life. E. 631,
That for the sake of the internal sense He named Divine good the Father, and Divine truth the Christ is evident from Matthew xxiii. De Dom., Page 9.
10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
10. The Christ stands for truth Divine. Hence it is plain what a Christian is, namely one who is in truth from good. A. 3010.
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COMMENTARY
10. Our Lord seemingly repeats an exhortation he had previously given; but as there are no mere repetitions in the Word, a distinct meaning is contained in the prohibition, Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. There is indeed a difference. In v. 8 the disciples are not to be called Rabbi; in this they are not to be called masters. Though of the same purport, - Rabbi involves an assumption of greater importance and dignity than master, and is more directly opposed to the Divine truth itself. And when master is altered to masters, we are directed not to truth as a whole, but to some separate or particular truths, and to the knowledges of truth. Even these we are not to claim as our own, but ascribe to Him to whom all knowledge and wisdom belong.
11But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
11, 12. He does this who loves the neighbour from the heart, or who feels enjoyment and blessedness in doing good to others for no selfish end, that is who has charity toward his neighbour. A. 5732.
By charity and ministry spiritual affection and its operation are signified, for good is of charity and truth of faith. R. 128.
See Chapter XX., 26-28. E. 155.
See Chapter XXL, 9. E. 340.
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COMMENTARY
11. It is not our being served and exalted by others that makes us great or happy. Accordingly, when the Lord said to his disciples, He that is greatest among you shall be your servant, or minister, he delivered one of the greatest truths that can be carried out in life, - one that would work an entire revolution in the practice and condition of the world. This requirement is in harmony with his great principle: "Seek Ye first the kingdom, and all things shall be added to you." Let usefulness have the first place, and recompense the second, and there can be no fear of the result. Seek not honour and exaltation: leave them to seek thee. If you seek an office, seek it primarily for the sake of the use it will enable you to do for others, and secondarily for the use it will enable you to do for yourself. When we consider that this was addressed to the disciples, who represent not only all the members of the church, but all the principles of the church in every member, we learn from it that the principle which prompts us to do the greatest good is itself the greatest, and contributes most to the improvement of our character, and to the advancement of our happiness. And what principle is that which prompts us to do the greatest good, but the principle of love - love to God and love to man! Its greatness consists in, or arises from, its use. It is like the heart in the human body. It is the greatest and the most laborious: the ruler, and yet the servant of all. Such should be the measure of human greatness, as that which the Creator has appointed, and which the Saviour taught.
12. And as with greatness, so with humility. Humility does not consist in occupying a lowly place, but in cultivating a lowly state: and a lowly state is one in which there is an abnegation of self. Self-seeking is self-exaltation; self-abnegation is humiliation. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. When self is exalted, self itself becomes abased, and the whole man degraded. But when self is humbled, by being made to take the lowest place, it is exalted for self-love itself is purified and dignified by being subordinated and made subservient to the love of God and the neighbour. And, indeed, when man denies his own selfhood the Lord gives him a new and heavenly selfhood. A man's selfhood is really himself - his inner life - the complex of all the thoughts and affections that form his conscious being - that which he calls me. This by, nature is evil. But so far as it is subdued, so far the Lord gives him a new selfhood; for he makes him a new creature, having new thoughts and affections, and the me becomes the consciousness of another and higher life. And this new selfhood which the Divine power builds up on the ruins of the natural selfhood is a truer self than that which it disinherits and succeeds; for the more completely a man becomes the Lords, the more perfectly he becomes his own. His conscious life is exalted. His liberty and rationality, his perceptions and delights, are of a higher order - they were natural, now they are spiritual; they were earthly, now they are heavenly.
13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
13-16, 23, 25, 27-29. "Woe" signifies lamentation over the present or future calamity, unhappiness, or damnation of others. R. 416.
Woe, in the Word signifies lamentation over various accidents, especially over the evils which devastate the church. E. 531.
13 etseq. The character of the Jewish nation the Lord openly declares where He says, Ye witness against yourselves, that ye are the sons of them that killed the prophets r and ye fill up the measure of your fathers. A. 4314.
13-15, 25- See Chapter VI., 2, 5. T. 452.
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COMMENTARY
13. While this is the happy experience of those who have found true greatness in serving, and true exaltation in humility, unhappy is the experience of those who live in the exaltation of self above all that is divine and heavenly. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! As true life consists in making all that is of self to humble itself under and serve God, so false life consists in making all that is of God submit to and serve self. This is hypocrisy, for it makes the life holy outwardly, and profane inwardly. The effect of this our Lord describes. Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. Considered in reference to the individual, heaven is the spiritual mind, which is an image of heaven, as the natural mind is an image of the world. This heaven is closed by evil, and especially by the sin of hypocrisy. The "men" against whom it is closed are the truths of the Word, which have been learnt, but only admitted into the natural mind, and there kept to serve a natural purpose. The Lord says further, ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Themselves - their thoughts and affections, which constitute themselves - they never raise above nature and the natural mind into the spiritual world and the spiritual mind, that they may become spiritual, nor do they suffer the truths of the Word, which, in their very nature, seek an upward course, to enter into that region of the mind for which they were designed; for as they came down from God out of heaven, so have they an inherent desire to ascend into heaven, and return to God again. He who remains natural does not suffer them to enter there; and both they and their recipient remain natural and dead - nay, truths, in themselves holy, are profaned, because made instruments of evil ends. This state of life is that to which the woe belongs for he who shuts his mind against the inward; and sincere reception of goodness and truth, shuts it against the blessing which these heavenly principles carry in their bosom.
14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
14. Devouring widow's houses means taking away truths from those who desire them, and teaching falsities. Depriving other's of goods and truths, and appropriating them to self for the sake of self-honour and gain, was among those curses. A. 4844.
By a widow in the Word is meant one who is without protection, for by a widow in the spiritual sense is signified one who is in good and not in truth. For by a man is signified truth and by his wife good, hence by a widow good without truth. Good without truth is without protection, for truth protects good. R. 764.
By widows are also in the Word signified such of both sexes as are in good and not in truth, and yet desire truth, thus such as are without defence against the false and evil, whom however the Lord defends. E. 1121.
14, 33, See Chapter XL, 22, 24. A. 9857.
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COMMENTARY
14. But these are not the only evils they commit, or the only blessings they exclude. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer. Widows signify those who are in good and desire truth; abstractly, good which desires truth. The house of the widow denotes the faculty itself, the will, in which the good resides, and also the means by which the principle of good is supported; for the house includes the living as well as the dwelling of the widow. To devour widows' houses is to take away the very faculty of loving and doing good. This hypocrisy does. It deprives the will of all good, and even of all the power of willing good; for it destroys not only good itself, but the remains of good, on which the very faculty depends. Connected with the devouring widows' houses there is the making of long prayers for a pretence. What can be more profane than a practice or a single act which at once mocks God and deceives men? It was by their long prayers that the Pharisees deceived and robbed the widows. So it is, when the understanding becomes the slave of the will, that it garnishes the foulest deeds with the fairest appearances. But the greater the pretence the deeper the degradation; he who steals into the hearts of others eats out his own. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. This is a warning to avoid that which brings upon the soul the more grievous punishments.
15. But there are other charges against the hypocrites, and more woes, as the consequence of their sins. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. This other charge is a severe rebuke to the sectarian spirit and zeal which seek to make converts, not for their sake, but for the sake of a particular faith. It does not condemn the propagation of the truth, but it condemns the making of proselytes for purposes of power and ostentation. Spiritually, it has a still more practical meaning. Sea and land are the literal sense of the Word as to truth and good. To compass sea and land to make one proselyte, is to search the whole Word to pervert one truth to favour self-love, and assist that love in attaining its object. The proselyte is said to be made twofold more the child of hell than those who convert him; for truth falsified is worse than simple falsity. It unites in itself what is evil and false, which is its twofold character; for such is the character implied in being a child of hell; hell being the evil that gives birth to falsity, and the child of hell being the falsity that is born of evil.
16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
16, 17. By the temple that sanctifies the gold, nothing
else is meant but the Lord's Divine Human. R. 191.
By temple is signified the Lord's Divine Human, and at the same time heaven and the church. E. 220.
16-22. There were two things by which the Lord as to the Divine Human was represented, the temple and the altar, for the like is said of the altar as of the temple, that it is what sanctifies the gift which is upon it, thus that the altar was the subject from which came sanctification, consequently that it was also representative of the Divine Human of the Lord, from which everything holy proceeds, but the altar was representative of the Lord as to His Divine good, whereas the temple was representative of Him as to His Divine truth, thus as to heaven, for the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven. The throne of God is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and He who sitteth upon it is the Lord. A. 9714.
See Chapter V., 33-37. R. 474.
Here it is said that the temple sanctifies the gold which is in it, and that the altar sanctifies the gift that is upon it, and thus that the temple and the altar were most holyr and that all sanctification was from them, therefore by the temple and altar are signified the Lord as to His Divine Human, for from this proceeds everything holy in heaven and in the church. E. 391.
The reason why they were not to swear by the temple and by the altar is, because to swear by them was to swear by the Lord, by heaven and by the church, for by the temple, in the supreme sense, is understood the Lord as to Divine truth, and in the relative sense, heaven and the church as to that truth, likewise all worship from Divine truth is understood. By the altar is signified the Lord as to Divine good, and in a relative sense heaven and the church as to that good, and likewise all worship from Divine good. E. 608.
16, 17, 19, 24. See Chapter XV., 14. R. 210,
See Chapter XV., 14. E. 239.
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COMMENTARY
16-19. From the doings of the scribes and Pharisees the Lord turns to their teaching. Woe unto you, ye blind guides. They were intellectually blind, - keen-sighted enough to see what related to their temporal interest, but unable to discern what concerned their eternal welfare. Blind guides are all those who are of such a character, and a blind guide is the understanding that is under such an influence. Which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty, Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth, the gift? From these words it appears that the Pharisees instructed the people that to swear or vow by the temple or the altar was nothing, but that to swear by the gold of the temple and by the offering upon the altar made one a debtor. It is difficult to conceive how human ingenuity could devise such perverse trifles; and this shows how the learned among the Jews had multiplied observances, and laid upon men burdens grievous to be borne. It is well for us that these particulars have a higher sense, and teach us lessons of deeper interest to our souls. To swear, in the Word, spiritually means to confirm truth; and the question is, Whence is confirmation? We must know the spiritual meaning of the things which are here mentioned, as the objects that were and were not to be sworn by. The temple represented the Lord as to his Divine humanity, which is the temple of his body, specifically, the Lord as to divine truth; and the altar represented the Lord as to divine good. The temple and the altar were, for this reason, most holy objects, and the origin of all sanctification. And so is the Lord, whom they represented, the origin of all confirmation. God must be his own witness. He is the author of faith as well as of truth; of love as well as of good. We must, therefore, swear by the temple and the altar. To swear by the gold in the temple, and by the gift upon the altar, is to confirm truth and good by something lower and less than the Lord's truth and good: it is to seek in the finite what can only be found in the infinite; it is to place our trust in something that is not holy in itself, but is dependent for its sanctity on him who is holiness itself. The gold of the temple had the same signification as the gold of the tabernacle; and this was contributed by the Israelites themselves out of that which they had borrowed from the Egyptians. The gold of the temple owed all its sanctity to the temple, as the offering laid upon the altar owed all its sanctity to the altar on which it was laid. To swear by the gold of the temple and the gift that is laid upon the altar, is therefore to confirm good and truth, not by that which is divine, but by that which, at the best is sanctified thereby. He that confirms good and truth by the less excludes the greater, but he who confirms them by the greater includes the less.
17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
17, 19. By the temple was represented the Lord Himself, and also by the altar, by the gold was signified the good which is from the Lord. By the gift or sacrifice were signified the things which are of faith and charity from the Lord. A. 9229.
18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
18-20. See Chapter V., 23, 24. R. 392.
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COMMENTARY
20-22. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon, and so with the temple. The supreme authority includes in it every lower authority in harmony with it, or that is sanctified by it. But the Lord adds, And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that, shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. It seems as if this were swearing by the lower, and that the lower included the higher. We must attend to the meaning of the Lord's declaration. To swear by something less than the temple, is to appeal to an authority that is less than divine, and this, as it excludes the temple of the Lord's body, excludes the divinity that dwelleth therein; but the acknowledgment of the Lord's humanity includes the acknowledgment of his indwelling divinity. "He that hath the Son hath the Father." On the same principle the acknowledgment of heaven as God's throne includes the acknowledgment of him that sitteth thereon. Heaven as God's throne is the Lord's divine truth in heaven, and his government derived from it there, But heaven signifies also the spiritual sense of the Word, the, divine sense therein is his throne, the Divine itself being him that sitteth thereon. To swear by heaven is to acknowledge the spirituality and divinity of the Word, as to swear by the temple is to acknowledge the divinity of the Lord - that is, the divinity of his humanity. And he who acknowledges the divinity of the Word and the divinity of the Lord, swears by none other. To them he looks for all truth and goodness, and to them for that confirmation that can make them principles of the heart and life,
22And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
22. Here it is expressly said that heaven is God's throne and by the earth which is called His footstool, is signified that which is below heaven, and thus the church. A. 5313.
See Chapter V., 34. A. 9408.
The Lord's throne signifies heaven. This is manifest from the following passages Isaiah lxvi. 1: Psalms ciii. 19 : Ezekiel i. 26, etc. R. 14.
That by throne is here signified heaven is evident, for it is said that heaven is Jehovah's throne that he has prepared in the heavens, and that he who shall swear by heaven svveareth by the throne of God., Not that Jehovah or the Lord there sits upon a throne, but because throne is predicated of His Divine in the heavens, and also it occasionally appears as a throne to those to whom it is given to look into heaven. E. 253.
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COMMENTARY
23. Our Lord proceeds to pronounce the woe of other evils upon the scribes and Pharisees, as hypocrites. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. They were scrupulous about the observance of the ceremonial law, but neglected the observance of the moral law. While the Lord condemns this conduct, he does not, on the other hand, teach men to observe the moral and neglect the ceremonial. These ought Ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. The moral is the essential, the ceremonial is the formal. The formal may exclude the essential, but the essential does not exclude the formal. He who does the greater will not leave the less undone. He who pays tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin may omit judgment, mercy, and truth; but he who does justice, mercy, and truth will not forget the mint, and anise, and cumin. There may be piety without religion, but there cannot be religion without piety. There must be the judgment of intelligence in the understanding, the mercy of love in the heart, and the works of truth or faith in the life. And these, while they go forth in service to men, will also go forth in piety to God.
24. Further, the Pharisees were called blind guides which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. As the Pharisees' love of virtue was shown only in trifles, so was their hatred of vice. How much is this still the case! Many who would think, it a sin to do or permit anything inconsistent with a rigid observance of the Sabbath see no sin in pursuing a devouring selfishness all the other six days of the week. But all are prone to this inconsistency. The ruling love blinds us to selfishness, and the love of reputation makes us scrupulous about little things that come not in the way of our leading object. But this saying of our Lord has a more interior sense. The gnat and the camel, considered as food, were both unclean; but the gnat, as a winged insect, signifies an object of thought; and the camel, as a beast, signifies in object of affection; that belongs to the understanding, this to the will. In this view we strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, when we are scrupulous about trifling errors and unscrupulous about great evils.
25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
25, 26. Because by a cup was signified that which contained, and by wine that which was contained, consequently by cup man's external and by wine his internal. By a cup here also is meant in the internal sense the truth of faith, to cultivate which without its good is to cleanse the outside of the cup, especially when the interiors are full of hypocrisy, deceit, hatred, revenge, and cruelty, for then the truth of faith is only in the external man, and nothing at all of it in the internal. To cultivate and to become imbued with the good of faith causes truths to be conjoined with good in the interior man, in which case even fallacies are accepted for truths, as is signified by cleansing first the inside of the cup, that the outside may become clean also. A. 5120.
Here the Lord spake by ultimates which are containers, and said cup and platter. By cup is meant wine, and by wine the truth of the Word, and by the platter is meant food, and by food the good of the Word. To -cleanse the inside of the cup and the platter signifies to purify the interiors of the mind by means of the Word. These belong to the will and the thought, and so to love .and faith. That the outside may thus be clean signifies that the exteriors, which are the works and the speech are thus purified, for these derive their essence from the will and the thought. S. 40.
That there is influx from the spiritual into the natural and not the reverse, is known in the learned world. And that the internal man must first be purified and renewed and so the external is known in the church, because the Lord teaches it, and reason dictates it. The Lord teaches it in these words. P. 150.
To be washed signifies to be cleansed from evils and falsities, and so to be reformed and regenerated. R. 378.
In the Word the containing vessel signifies the same as the contents, as the cup and the platter signify the same as the wine and the food. R. 395.
See Chapter XX., 22, 23. R. 672.
See Chapter XV., 1-20. M. 340.
Here the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons, which at the same time are correspondences, and He said cup and platter. By cup is not only meant but is signified also the truth of the Word, for by the cup is meant wine and truth is signified by wine. But by the platter is meant food, and good is signified by food. Therefore to cleanse the inside of the cup and the platter, signifies to purify the interiors of the mind, which are of ihe will and the thought, by the Word. That the outside may thus be clean signifies, that the exteriors, which are the works and the speech are thus purified, for these derive their essence from the will and the thought. T. 215.
The internals which are pharisaical are lusts after those things which men are commanded not to do in the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth commandments.
T. 326.
That a man cannot do good that in itself is good before evil has been removed, the Lord teaches in many places. T. 435.
Among the many reasons why the confession of the lips that one is a sinner is not repentance is this, that every man, an impious one, and even a devil may so cry out, and this with external devoutness, when he thinks of the torments in hell impending, or through which he is then passing. But who does not see that this is not from any internal devotion, and therefore that it is imaginary and therefore of the lungs, but not voluntary from within, and therefore not of the heart. This is what the Lord says in Matthew. T. 517.
See Chapter XV., 2, 11, 17-20. T. 671.
That these external things contributed nothing to purification from evils and falsities is clearly taught by the Lard. E. 475.
The internal of baptism is this, that by truths from the Word, and a life according to them from the Lord, evils and falsities may be removed, and thus man may be regenerated. This the Lord also teaches in these passages. E. 475.
The reason why cup and plate are here mentioned by the Lord is, because the thing containing signifies the same as what is contained, thus the cup the same as-wine and the plate the same as meat. By wine is signified the truth of the Word and of doctrine, and by meat the good of the Word and of doctrine. The natural man or natural mind is interiorly purified, when falses and evils are removed, but the contrary is the case when they are not removed. E. 960.
25-27. Those things which were instituted with the Israelitic nation were things external, which represented things internal, and the internal things were the holy things themselves of the church appertaining to them, and not the external things without them. But that that nation still made everything holy to consist in things external, and not at all in things internal, is manifest from the Lord's words in Matthew. A. 10235.
Washings and many similar things were enjoined upon the children of Israel and were commanded them, because the church instituted among them was a representative church, and this was such as to prefigure the Christian church which was to come. T. 670.
A cup signifies truth or the false, and the doctrine of every church is either the one or the other, for all the truth of the church is contained in doctrine. E. 1045.
25-28. So great disagreement between the interiors and exteriors is a proof that the state of man is altogether perverted, for such disagreement is not found with him who is in what is sincere, just, and good. Such a. one speaks as he thinks, and thinks as he speaks. But it is far otherwise with those who are not in what is sincere, just, and good, with whom the interiors disagree with the exteriors. That the Jewish nation was such is described in these words by the Lord in Matthew. A. 7046,
The Word teaches in the passages now following that so far as a man has not been purified from evils, his good things are not good, nor are his pious things pious,, neither is he wise, and the converse. Life 30.
Washings and baptisms, unless man's internal is purified from evils and falsities, have no more efficacy than the cups and platters made clean by the Jews, or (as follows also in the same passage) than the sepulchres which appear beautiful without, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. T. 673.
25, 27, 28. If a man's works appear good in the external form, and yet he is interiorly evil, it follows that his faith is that of the false, howsoever with his lips he may speak truth, but the truth spoken is contaminated with evil from the interior, hence his deeds are according to the description given of them by the Lord in Matthew. E. 842.
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COMMENTARY
25. We come to the cause of all this Pharisaic conduct and teaching. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. The inside and outside of the cup and platter are the internal and the external man. In the internal are principles, in the external are rules; in the internal are motives, in the external are actions. He who observes rules, but disregards principles - he who attends to his actions, but pays no attention to his motives cleanses the outside, but leaves the inside corrupt and unclean. But this difference between the internal and external extends both to the understanding and will, and to things both good and true. The cup is the understanding, because it contains wine or other liquid, which signifies truth; and the platter is the will, because it contains food, which signifies good. The cup is clean without but unclean within, when a man speaks well and thinks ill; and the platter is clean without and unclean within, when a man acts well and intends ill. When a man utters habitually with his lips what he disbelieves in his thoughts, and when he habitually does in his outward life what in his heart he hates or despises, then, however clean the outside may be, the inside is full of extortion and excess - that is, of evil and falsity.
26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
26. If therefore, from his own prudence and intelligence a man wishes to make himself new, it is only like covering a deformed face with paint, and applying something to make the skin smooth over a part affected with inward rottenness. Therefore the Lord says : Life 112.
The internal form, or internal of the law, is to love what is good, sincere, and just, and the external thereof is to act accordingly. In proportion as a man does the law from an internal principle, in the same proportion he fulfils it, but not in proportion as he does it from the external without the internal. E. 774.
Most people at this day believe that they shall come into heaven if they have faith, live piously, and do some good works and yet they do not hold evils in aversion on account of their being sins, whence they either commit them, or believe them to be allowable, and they that believe them to be allowable, commit them when opportunity is given. But let them know that their faith is not faith, that their piety is not piety, and their good works are not good, for they flow from the impurities which lie inwardly concealed in man, the externals deriving all their quality from the internals. E. 803.
It is a known thing that the interior of man must be purified, before the good which he does can be truly good. E. 939.
Man has a two-fold will, an interior and an exterior. The interior will is purified by repentance, and the exterior then does good from the interior. But exterior good does not remove the evil of lust, or the root of evil. C. 13.
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COMMENTARY
26. The Lord exhorts the blind Pharisee to cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. We are instructed in these words that the cleansing of the inside secures the cleansing of the outside, although it does not follow that the cleansing of the outside effects that of the inside. There is no purification of the moral and spiritual life without that of the motives. While the ends of life remain unchanged, the whole man remains unchanged. Man is such as his ends are. The ends of life with every one, by nature, are to love himself and the world above all things. A man may pursue these ends by a virtuous as well as by a vicious life and conversation. If the ends remain and have possession of the mind, no essential change is effected by a respectable life, even should it be saintly in appearance. It is above all things necessary, therefore, to attend to the state of the internal, and remove evil from the motives as well as from the actions, and falses from the thoughts as well as from the words, which is, to remove them from the sight of God as well as of men. We must not, however, run into the error that it is only necessary to attend to the internal, or to imagine that if we take care of the motives, the actions may be left to take care of themselves. It is highly important to attend to the actions as well as the motives. Although the actions may be good and the end evil, the end cannot be good and the actions evil. We may do good to serve a bad end, but we cannot do evil to serve a good end. While evils continue to disfigure the life, we may be sure that there are evil motives behind them. But the object of our Lord's present exhortation is, to make the inside clean where there is an appearance of cleanness outwardly. And mere outward cleanness is only apparent. Outward goodness is produced and maintained by pressure from without; and whenever that pressure is removed, good gives way, and evil flows from its fountain in the heart. The really clean external can only be produced from a clean internal. And the cleansing of the external is, even when the internal has been cleansed, a distinct and divine work. The Lord taught this both representatively and verbally when he washed the disciples' feet. "He that is washed," said our Lord, "needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Though cleansed within, we still require to be cleansed without. And this cleansing, as well as the other, must be effected by the Lord. "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."
27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
27. Truths grounded in evil may be compared to meats which are clean to the sight, but which inwardly are malignant, and if attended with hypocrisy, are poisonous, as the Lord teaches in Matthew. A. 9192.
A wicked person who outwardly takes on the semblance of a good man, may be compared to a covered vessel, shining and polished on the outside, within which is hidden filth of all kinds, in accordance with the Lord's saying. H. 505.
In Revelation xvii. 4, is described religion consisting of the holy things of the church profaned, and of the goods and truths of the Word defiled by direful falsities. These things are similar to those which the Lord said to the scribes and Pharisees. R. 728.
27, 28. Since bones signify falsities, and sepulchres the evils in which they are, and since hypocrisy is evil appearing outwardly as good, but inwardly defiled with things false and profane, therefore the Lord says in Matthew : A. 3812.
These things are said of the Jewish nation. S. 51.
The diabolical kingdom, which is the love of ruling from the "love of self, is meant by the tribe of Judah viewed in itself. They are said to be full of hypocrisy, iniquity, and uncleanness. R. 350.
That there were no truths and goods of the church with the Jewish nation is evident from the Word.E. 433.
27, 29. That they who think evil concerning God
and their neighbour, and yet speak well, and they who think insanely concerning the truths of faith, and the goods of love, whilst they speak sanely, are inwardly sepulchres, and outwardly whitened according to these words of the Lord. E. 659.
So also it is with the good which is of love, unless internal good be in it, it is not good. Unless its internal be from that source, the Divine Human of the Lord, it is not good but evil, inasmuch as it is from the man himself, and what proceeds from man is evil. A. 9473.
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COMMENTARY
27-28. Another and still stronger image of the Pharisaic state is presented by the Lord in his address. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. In the figure here presented before us we see that both the internal and external of a man who is spiritually dead are unclean, and that there is nothing to conceal or relieve the gloom of the living death, and of man's un-renewed nature, but the colour that has been laid upon the surface of the external, as the sepulchre in which the internal is entombed, to make it "appear beautiful outward." How startling is it to think that mere outward good is but the gilding of a tomb, and that if sin be our state, when a few short years shall usher us into eternity, nothing will be seen but death and corruption. Then will it be revealed that evils, like sepulchres, are full of falsities, which are as dead men's bones, and of all unclean thoughts and desires. The expression, "dead men's bones," is significant; for men signify truths, and dead men are truths deprived of good, which is the life of truth; and the bones of "dead men" are the mere scientifics or knowledges of truth. As the bones, though the beautiful framework of a human body as the organ of life, are in themselves inert, and by themselves serve but to symbolize and show the work of death, so do the mere knowledges of truth serve but as a foundation on which to build a body of faith and love that may live, and breathe, and act, but without which they are but the spectral evidences of spiritual and eternal death. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
29-37- In these passages it appears as if by prophets were only understood the prophets by whom Jehovah, that is the Lord, spake, when yet by killing the prophets, the Lord did not understand the murdering of them only, but at the same time the slaughter and extinction of Divine truth arising from the falsification and adulteration of the Word. By a person and his function, in the spiritual sense, is understood the thing itself which the functionary performs or speaks, thus by a prophet are understood Divine truths or the Word and doctrine thence derived. By shedding blood is also understood to adulterate the truths of the Word. E. 624.
29, 33. Guile is called hypocrisy when piety is carried in the mouth and impiety in the heart, or when charity is carried in the mouth, but hatred in the heart, or when innocence is carried in the face and gestures, but cruelty in the soul and breast, consequently when they deceive by show of innocence, charity and piety. A. 9013.
29, 35. Prophets stand for those who teach the truths and goods of faith, and in the abstract sense the doctrines of faith, and the just for those who live the life of charity, and in the abstract the good of charity. Abel who is called just, represented the good of charity. A. 9263.
30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
30, 34, 35. Here in the spiritual sense, by Abel are understood those who are in the good of charity, and in the abstract that good itself. By Cain are understood those who make faith alone the only means of salvation, and the good of charity of no account, which they in consequence reject and slay; and by Zacharias those, who are in truth of doctrine, and in the abstract the truth itself of doctrine. Hence by the blood of both is signified the extinction of all good and truth. By their slaying him between the temple and the altar, is signified in the spiritual sense, every kind of rejection of the Lord, for the temple signifies the Lord as to Ditfine truth, and the altar as to Divine good, and between them signifies both together. E. 329.
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COMMENTARY
29, 30. Another woe is pronounced on the Pharisees, because, said our Lord, Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. The building of these sepulchres seems like a pious acknowledgment of the merit of the prophets, and a mark of disapprobation of the conduct of their forefathers for having killed them. But we are to consider that our Lord, as one who knew the heart, spoke to the conscience of the Pharisees, and appealed to that inward witness, that yet, even in these pious acts, they were playing the hypocrite. Like their other good deeds, these were done to deceive others into a belief that they were friends of the prophets and righteous men whom their fathers had slain - that they were doing homage to their worth and to their faithfulness as servants of God.
31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
31-33. See Chapter XII., 34. A. 4314.
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COMMENTARY
31. The Lord therefore says, Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Their conscience bore witness to the truth of his accusation. To understand the meaning of the accusation, it may be necessary to call to mind the words of the Lord to a disciple who, in answer to his request to be allowed to go and bury his father, was addressed in the striking words, "Let the dead bury their dead, but come thou and follow me." The dead Pharisees were burying their dead. They were honouring the dead messenger while they were dishonouring his living message. To see its spiritual lesson, we must consider the spiritual sense of the particulars. Prophets and righteous men are the principles of truth and goodness. The fathers of the Jewish people killed the prophets, and they built their sepulchres. "A sepulchre, in the internal sense of the Word, signifies life or heaven, and in the opposite, death or hell. It signifies life or heaven, because the angels, who are in the internal sense of the Word, have no idea of a sepulchre, since they have no idea of death. Instead of a sepulchre, therefore, they perceive the continuation of life, consequently resurrection; for man rises again as to his spirit, and is buried as to his body. And since burial signifies resurrection, it signifies also regeneration; for regeneration is man's first resurrection, inasmuch as he dies as to the old man and rises again as to the new. By regeneration, man, from being dead, becomes alive. Hence the signification of a sepulchre. But a sepulchre, in the opposite sense, signifies death or hell, because the wicked do not rise again to life; and therefore, when the subject treated of is concerning the wicked, and mention is made of a sepulchre, then there occurs to the angels no other idea than that of hell: this is the reason that hell in the Word is called a sepulchre." The tombs which the Pharisees built for the prophets, and the sepulchres they garnished for the righteous, have this last signification. Not that the prophets were wicked, but that the Pharisees built their sepulchres for the wicked purpose of making religious capital out of the hypocritical homage they thus rendered to those whom their fathers had slain. Their fathers killed the prophets, and they completed what their fathers had done. And, indeed, their "fathers" signify the evils of self-love and the love of the world, and they, as their "sons," signify the falses derived from these evils. And evils kill, and falses cast out and bury, or, as in the case of the Pharisees, build and garnish the tombs into which rejected good and truth have been cast. To build the tombs of the prophets is to rear up false persuasions over the truths that have been destroyed - yet false persuasions, that have the appearance of truth, that seem to honour the dead while they are only intended to do honour to those who buried them.
32. While blaming the conduct of their fathers, and protesting that, if they were in the days of their fathers, they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they were persecuting Jesus as the prophet whose blood they finally shed, as their fathers had done the blood of them who were but his servants and representatives. In this did they truly and terribly fulfil the Lord's words: Fill Ye up then the measure of your fathers. But this has a lesson for us. The sons fill up the measure of their fathers when false principles are replete with evil. There are false persuasions which have good within them. But false principles that have an evil purpose, and are constantly employed to promote it, are of the character of the descendents of the murderers of the prophets.
33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
33. See Chapter III., 7. A. 4314.
See Chapter III., 7. A. 9320.
This is said concerning evil men who by treachery and craft seduce others in spiritual affairs. Inasmuch as the Pharisees were of such a quality, therefore they are called by the Lord, serpents, a generation of vipers. E. 581.
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COMMENTARY
33. Well, therefore, might our Lord, who knew their hearts and saw their end, address them in the language of an awful condemnation. Ye serpents, Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? When the principles of good and truth are destroyed in the inner man, and their tombs are built and their sepulchres adorned in the outer man, the man has become entirely sensual both as to will and understanding, his affections being serpents, and his thoughts thence derived a generation of vipers, - a state that cannot escape the judgment of hell, because in itself it is all which that dreadful word implies.
34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
34. See Chapter X., 17, 18. E. 122.
By hanging upon wood or crucifying is signified the punishment of evil destroying the good of the church. To kill signifies to extinguish, to crucify to destroy, and
to scourge to pervert. E. 655.
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COMMENTARY
34. But our Lord not merely shows the scribes and Pharisees what they were, and what they had done and become: he tells them also what they would in future do - that they would in fact do with the prophets of the new dispensation as their fathers had done with those of the old. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Spiritually, prophets are the truth of doctrine, wise men are the good of doctrine, and scribes are the truths of the Word relating to both. In the present instance these are principles that proceed from the Lord, and testify of him, for he says, "I send unto you." The prophets whom their fathers killed were those that Jehovah sent; the prophets the sons killed were those that Jesus sent. Of the individual, equally as of the, race, the Lord's remarkable words are true, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." And this successive working is with the children of disobedience as well as, with the children of obedience. The Divine love works especially in early life, and the Divine wisdom works especially in mature life. He who receives the teaching of love is likely to receive the teaching of wisdom; but he who rejects the teaching of love is likely to reject the teaching of wisdom. He who kills the prophets and righteous men of Jehovah, is likely to kill the prophets and wise men of Jesus. Our Lord gives a description of this sin. And some of them ye shall kill and crucify. There were two kinds of capital punishment among the Jews - stoning and crucifying. The first of these represented the extinction of the life of truth by falsity, and the other represented the extinction of the life of good by evil. The same is signified here by killing and crucifying. But the Lord says further, And some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city. It is still true of the evil, that some of the principles of spiritual life they kill and crucify, and some they persecute and scourge. That is spiritually killed which is rejected from the heart and understanding, and has no share in the regulation of the life; that is scourged and persecuted which, though not entirely rejected, is yet hated and condemned. A synagogue and a city both signify doctrine; but one signifies the doctrine of internal, the other of external good and truth, or, in the opposite sense, of evil and falsity. To scourge is to pervert, and to persecute from city to city is to falsify the truth in every doctrine of the church - always to hate, and ever to oppose the truth. Taking the particulars of the passage in a series, we find that to kill has reference to the truth of the doctrine of the church, which is a prophet; to crucify has reference to the good of doctrine, which is a wise man; and to scourge has reference to the Word, which is a scribe; and so, to kill is to extinguish, to crucify is to destroy, to scourge is to pervert, and to persecute from city to city is to pursue from one false doctrine to another. The whole implies, therefore, every degree of hostility and opposition to the heavenly principles of good and truth, and to the Word itself, consequently to him from whom, the Word and all its saving principles proceed.
35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
35. By which is signified that the truths of the Word have been violated by the Jews from the earliest time even to the present, insomuch that they were not willing to acknowledge anything of internal and celestial truth, neither therefore did they acknowledge the Lord. Their shedding of His blood signifies the plenary rejection of truth Divine. A. 9127.
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COMMENTARY
35. The Lord concludes, by saying that they had done all this, That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Although this at first sight may seem to favour the notion that the sins of one generation are sometimes punished on another, yet the reasonable view of the passage, even in its literal sense, is, that as the generation whom the Lord was addressing had filled up the measure of their fathers' sins, so they had filled up the measure of their punishment. But the Lord's declaration has a spiritual sense, which its nature almost necessarily suggests. In the spiritual sense Abel means those who are in the good of charity, and, abstractly, that good itself; and Cain, who slew Abel, means those who make faith alone the means or condition of salvation, and disesteem the good of charity, and therefore slay it. Zacharias signifies those who are in the truth of doctrine, and, abstractly, the truth of doctrine itself. Hence the blood of both signifies the extinction of all good and truth. Slaying Zacharias between the temple and the altar signifies all manner of rejection of the Lord; for the temple signifies the Lord as to divine truth, and the altar the Lord as to divine good, and between them signifies both together.
36. When the, Lord said, Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation, his words spiritually express the fact, that with the Jewish church the whole series of dispensations expired. That which was begun in the first church, and which had gradually declined, became extinct by the consummation of the Jewish. The soul of lives - the lives of love and faith - breathed into the first Adam, had been quenched in the blood of the righteous and faithful, and in the last generation was completed what had been begun in the first.
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
37. By wings powers are signified and also guards. R. 245.
The other punishment of death with the sons of Israel, which was stoning, was significative of condemnation and the curse, on account of the destruction of the truth of the church. E. 655.
37, 38. That the church is meant by Jerusalem in these places, which was to be established by the Lord, nd not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews in the land of Canaan, may also be evident from the places in the Word where it is said of the latter, that it is altogether destroyed, and that it is to be destroyed. R. 880.
By Jerusalem is not meant the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, where this is said to be utterly lost and that it was to be destroyed. T. 782.
The previous statement of T. 782 repeated in B. 100.
37-39. By Jerusalem is meant the church which was to be established, and which also was established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews in the land of Canaan. L. 64.
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COMMENTARY
37. But this ruin had not progressed to completion without the efforts of Infinite love to prevent it. Our Lord, apostrophising Jerusalem as the symbol of the entire church, as well as of the Jewish, exclaims, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Not only rhetorically, but morally and spiritually, sublime and beautiful is this passage of the holy Word these words of Him who spake as never man spake, because be felt and thought as never man did. How full of tenderness, how overflowing with love, is this marvellous address! It displays the Divine character and dealings in the most touching and convincing manner. But let us venture to look at it more closely, and examine it more minutely. Notwithstanding Jerusalem killed and stoned the messengers he sent, the Lord never ceased to desire and endeavour to draw her children under the shelter of his own loving wisdom. The Lord, as Jehovah, had done what as Jesus, he had come to do - to seek and to save that which was lost. As Jehovah he uses the same language to express his tender care over his people. "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him" (Deut. xxxii. 11, 12). All comparisons in the Word are grounded in correspondences. The fluttering of a bird over her young, and her solicitude to gather the little wanderers under the shelter of her soft and downy wings, present a series of beautiful and expressive images. But expressive as the images are, feebly can they express the infinite, omnipresent, and all-embracing love of God in his providential care of his people. Wings are the emblems of preservation and defence; and those are exercised over us by the Lord from his infinite love by his infinite wisdom. Since the Incarnation, this imagery has a still more expressive and comforting significance. As the Lord was the Word or the Wisdom made flesh, in the humanity we see the wings, the stretching out of which "shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel" (Isa. viii. 8); the wings under the shadow of which men put their trust as sufficient for their protection (Ps. xxxvi. 7); in the shadow of which the make their refuge, till the calamities of trial are overpast (Ps. lvii. 1); and in the shadow of which they rejoice when they find in Jesus their Comforter, after successful temptation and faithful probation (Ps. lxiii. 7). The Jews refused to be gathered under the everlasting wings but let us accept the call, and place ourselves under the protecting and cherishing care of Him who invites all to himself.
38. To those whom he would have gathered, but who would not, the Lord said, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Literally, this relates to the temple, as their "holy and beautiful house, where their fathers praised Jehovah," and the desolation of which our Lord declared to be so complete that one stone should not be left upon another that should not be thrown down. The taking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple were the political effects, as they were the awfully expressive symbols, of the complete end and utter desolation of the Jewish church. Considered in its spiritual application to the evil individually, the house is an emblem of the mind. And when everything spiritual and heavenly is destroyed within it, and the Lord himself is spurned as evil, desolation reigns. Evil and falsehood desolate; they are the destruction of all that is good, and beautiful, and happy.
39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
39. See Chapter VI., 9. A. 2724.
In the name of the Lord means in the name of Jehovah.
A.2921.
See Chapter X., 22. R. 81
By blessing is meant all the good which man has from the Lord, as power and opulence, and the things which accompany them, but especially all spiritual good, as love and wisdom, charity and faith, and thence the joy and happiness which are of life eternal. Because all these are from the Lord it follows that they are in Him, for unless they were in Him, they could not be in others from Him. Hence it is that the Lord is called "Blessed" in the Word, and also "Blessing" that is Blessing itself.
R. 289.
See Chapter VII., 22. R. 618.
See Chapter X., 22. E. 102.
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COMMENTARY
39. The Saviour concludes: For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till Ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. This has caused perplexity to those who think of no sense but that of the words in their mere literal meaning. We shall not enter into the difficulties of the literal sense, but offer some remarks on the passage as containing a spiritual meaning. The declaration of our Lord contains this great lesson, that as evil blinds the understanding to the perception of the Lord's truth, so good only can open our intellectual eyes to see the blessed vision of the Lord coming as the Saviour of the soul. Jesus coming in the name of the Lord is divine truth coming in the spirit and power of divine love. But we cannot say "Blessed" to this messenger of peace until we have the love of God dwelling in us. "No man cometh unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him." One cause of our not seeing the Lord with the eye of faith is, that we do not desire him with a heart of love. In fact, we look at him as coming in his own name, and not in the name of the Lord, or Jehovah. That is to say, we regard him as truth, but not as good. And he who sees Jesus as the truth only, sees him not - acknowledges him not. It is only when he is seen as the good also, that he is beheld as the blessed, and that he makes us blest. And what is the reason of this difference? We see the Lord as truth alone when we ourselves are in truth alone, or when we regard the Lord from the intellect; and we see the Lord as truth full of goodness and love when we ourselves look at him from the heart, or from good and love in ourselves. Happy are they who thus regard the Lord. They indeed can say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
AUTHOR: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (COMPILED BY ROBERT S. FISCHER AND LOUIS G. HOECK 1906)
COMMENTARY AUTHOR: WILLIAM BRUCE (1866)
PICTURES: JAMES TISSOT Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum
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