Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 300This also means that with the Jewish nation there was nothing butfalsity; and “the vessel that was marred in the potter’s house” is thatfalsity; “the potter’s house” is the state in which they were. That thetruth of the church should be taken away from them and given toothers, is meant by this, that “the potter turned back and made itanother vessel, as was right in his eyes.”[9] In the same:Jehovah said, Go buy a potter’s earthen bottle of the elders of thepeople and of the elders of the priests; and go forth into the valley of theson of Hinnom. Then shalt thou break the bottle before the eyes of themen that go with thee; and shalt say, I will break this people, and thiscity as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again;and they shall bury in Tophet, because there is no more a place to buryin (Jer. 19:1–2, 10–11).“The potter’s earthen bottle, or vessel, from the elders of the peopleand of the priests” is here also the falsity in which all of that nationwere. That this falsity was such that it could not be dispersed bymeans of truths is described by this, that “he should break thevessel before the eyes of the men that went with him, that it couldnot be made whole again”; that they should “bury in Tophet,because there was no more a place,” signifies where all truths andgoods have been destroyed.[10] In Nahum:Draw thee waters for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go intothe mire and tread the clay, repair the brick kiln. There shall the firedevour thee; the sword shall cut thee off (Nahum 3:14–15).“To draw waters for the siege and to strengthen the fortresses” is tofortify falsities by various means against truths; “to go into the mireand tread the clay” is to confirm falsities by fictions and fallacies;doctrine thence derived is called “a brick kiln,” because infernallove is strengthened by falsifications; it is therefore said that “thefire shall devour, and the sword cut off”; “fire” is infernal love, anda “sword” is falsity combating and destroying truth. “A potter’svessel” or “earthen vessel” signifies falsity, because it corresponds to