Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 586[4] In Nahum:Where is the abode of the lions, and the feeding place of the younglions? where walked the lion, the old lion, the lion’s whelp, and nonemaketh them afraid? (2:11).Here also “lions” signify those who are in power through Divinetruth; “their abode” signifies where there are such in the church;their “feeding.place” signifies the knowledges of truth and good;their “walking and none making them afraid” signifies their state ofsecurity from evils and falsities.[5] In Micah:The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, asdew from Jehovah, as the drops upon the herb. As a lion among thebeasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who if hego through shall tread down and tear in pieces so that none delivereth,thine hand shall be lifted up above thine adversaries, and all thineenemies shall be cut off (5:7–9).The “remnant of Jacob” signifies the truths and goods of thechurch; “dew from Jehovah” signifies spiritual truth; “drops uponthe herb” natural truth; “a lion among the beasts of the forest,” and“a young lion among the flocks of sheep,” and “treading down andtearing, and none delivering,” signify power over evils and falsities;because of this signification it is said, “thine hand shall be lifted upabove thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off;” for“adversaries” signify evils, and “enemies” falsities (see ArcanaCoelestia, n. 2851, 8289, 9314, 10481).[6] In Isaiah:The Lord said, Go set a watchman, who may look and announce.And he saw a chariot, a pair of horsemen, an ass chariot, a camelchariot; and he harkened a hearkening; a lion upon a watch-tower calledout, O lord, I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set upon mywatch all the nights: Babylon is fallen, is fallen (21:6–9).