Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 98Jehovah thy God will bring thee into a wealthy land; a land out ofwhose stones thou mayest hew out iron, and out of its mountains brass(Deut. 8:7, 9).In Jeremiah:I will give thee unto this people for a fortified wall of brass, thatthey may fight against thee and not prevail against thee (Jer. 15:20).And in Ezekiel:Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; with the soulof man and with vessels of brass they traded thy merchandise (Ezek.27:13).In this chapter the traffickings of Tyre are treated of, by which aresignified the knowledges of good and truth; by the names “Javan,”“Tubal,” and “Meshech,” are signified such things as are of goodand truth, of which knowledges treat; the “soul of man” is truth oflife; “vessels of brass” are knowledges of natural good. (What issignified by “Tyre” may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, n. 1201; whatby “traffickings,” n. 2967, 4453; what by “Tubal and meshech,” n.1151; what by “Javan,” n. 1152, 1153, 1155; what by the “soul ofman,” n. 2930, 9050, 9281; what by “vessels,” n. 3068, 3079,3316, 3318.) In the same:The feet of the cherubs sparkled like the appearance of polishedbrass (Ezek. 1:7).What “cherubs” and “feet” signify, see above (n. 69).[4] In the same:I saw and behold there was a man, whose appearance was like theappearance of brass, and a line of flax was in his hand; and he wasstanding in the gate (Ezek. 40:3).It was because this angel measured the wall and the gates of thehouse of God, which signify the externals of the church, that hisappearance was seen as the appearance of brass. He who knows that