Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 161signify such things as are from these interiors, can be seen from thefollowing passages:I will give in the desert the cedar, the shittah tree, 4 and the myrtle,and the oil tree; I will set in the wilderness the fir tree, the pine, and thebox tree (Isa. 41:19).The establishment of the church is there treated of:The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine,and the box tree together, to deck the place of my sanctuary (Isa.60:13).All the trees of the field shall know that I, Jehovah, humble thehigh tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry treeto bud (Ezek. 17:24).Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour the greentree in thee, and every dry tree (Ezek. 20:47).The vine is withered, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranatetree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, all the trees of the field arewithered: joy is withered away from the sons of men (Joel 1:12).When the angel sounded, there followed hail and fire, which fellupon the earth; and the third part of the trees was burnt up (Rev. 8:7).Beltshasar 5 saw in a dream a tree in the midst of the earth, and theheight thereof was great. The leaves thereof were fair, and the flowersmany, and in it was food for all (Dan. 4:10–12).(Because “trees” in general signify such things as are with man andconstitute the interiors of his mind, and so also the spiritual thingsthat are of the church; and because both are of various kinds,therefore there are so many kinds of trees mentioned, eachsignifying something different. What the various kinds signify isshown in Arcana Coelestia, as what is signified by the “oil tree,” n.9277, 10261; what by the “cedar,” n. 9472, 9486, 9528, 9715,10178; what by the “vine,” n. 1069, 5113, 6375, 6378, 9277; whatby the “fig,” n. 217, 4231, 5113, etc.)