Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3699thy sister’s cup, which is deep and wide; thou shalt be for laughter andmockery, large for holding; thou shalt be filled with drunkenness andsorrow, with the cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of thy sisterSamaria, thou shalt both drink and press out, and thou shalt pulverizethe potsherds thereof (Ezek. 23:31–34);said of Jerusalem, by which is signified what is spiritual of thecelestial church. “Cup” here denotes falsity from evil; and becausethis vastates or destroys the church, it is called the “cup ofdevastation and desolation.” In Isaiah:Awake, awake, rise up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk from thehand of Jehovah the cup of his anger; thou hast drunken the dregs ofthe cup of trembling (Isa. 51:17).In Habakkuk:Drink thou also that thy foreskin be uncovered; the cup ofJehovah’s right hand shall come round unto thee, that shameful vomitbe upon thy glory (Hab. 2:16).In David:In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and he hath mixed withwine, he hath filled with the mixture, and hath poured out therefrom;but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall suck them out,and drink them (Ps. 75:8).[11] In these passages also a “cup” denotes insanity from falsitiesand the evils thence derived. It is called the “cup of the anger ofJehovah” and also “of the right hand of Jehovah” for the reasonthat the Jewish nation, like the common people, believed evils andthe punishment of evils and falsities to come from no other sourcethan Jehovah, when yet they are from the man himself, and fromthe infernal crew with him. It is often stated in this way from theappearance and consequent belief; but the internal sense teacheshow it should be understood, and what should be believed (as maybe seen above, n. 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874–1875, 2335,2447, 3605, 3607, 3614).