Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 272[8] The bed of Og, the king of Bashan, is thus described inMoses:Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnants of the Rephaim;behold, his bed was a bed of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the sons ofAmmon? Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits thebreadth of it, after the cubit of a man (Deut. 3:11).The bed of Og is here described, because he was of the remnants ofthe Rephaim, and because he was king of Bashan; for by the“Rephaim,” those were signified who were in the love of self aboveothers, and therefore natural above all others, and from apersuasion of their eminence over others were in falsities of everykind (see Arcana Coelestia, n. 581, 1268, 1270, 1271, 1673, 7686).And by “Bashan” the external of the church, thus the natural, wassignified, for Bashan was outside the land of Canaan where thechurch was. On this account the bed of Og is described, whichwould not have been described unless such things had beensignified by “Og”; for whatsoever is mentioned in the Word, evenin the historical Word, is significative as to every expression. Fromthis it is that the Word is spiritual in each and every particular, andtherefore Divine from inmosts to ultimates. On this account, also,it is said that the bed was “of iron,” that it was “in Rabbah of thesons of Ammon,” and that “nine cubits was the length thereof, andfour cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” For “iron”signifies what is natural (see below, n. 176); “Rabbah of Ammon”signifies the falsifications of truth (see Arcana Coelestia, n. 2468);and “nine cubits the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth ofit,” signifies the conjunction of evil and falsity.[9] From this it can be seen what the Word is in its bosom.Because “bed” signifies doctrine, it was among the statutes in thechurch with the sons of Israel:That every bed whereon he that hath the issue lieth should beunclean; and that the man who touched his bed should wash his clothes,and bathe himself in waters (Lev. 15:4–5).