Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3893Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; sound, O daughter ofJerusalem; behold thy king cometh to thee. I will cut off the chariotfrom Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and I will cut off thebattle bow; he shall speak peace against the nations; and his dominionshall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.I will bend Judah for me, I will fill Ephraim with the bow, and I will stirup thy sons, O Zion, with thy sons, O Javan (Zech. 9:9–10, 13);said of the coming of the Lord and of the church of the gentiles.“To cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse fromJerusalem” denotes to cut off all the understanding of the church;“to fill Ephraim with the bow” denotes to give a newunderstanding. That a “chariot” signifies what is of doctrine may beseen above (n. 5321), a “horse,” what is of the understanding (n.2760–2762, 3217, 5321); and a “bow” also what is of doctrine(2685–2686, 2709); for what is of doctrine depends on what is ofthe understanding, for it is believed as it is understood, theunderstanding of the doctrine determining the quality of the faith.[8] Hence also the sons of Ephraim are called “shooters with thebow,” in David:The sons of Ephraim, who were armed and shooters with the bow,turned back in the day of battle (Ps. 78:9).In Ezekiel:Son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, andfor the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and writeupon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israelhis companions; afterward join them for thee one to another into onestick, that the two may become one in my hand. Behold I will take thestick of Joseph that is in the hands of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israelhis companions, and will add those who are upon it with the stick ofJudah, and I will make them one stick, that they may be one in myhand (Ezek. 37:16–17, 19);where also by “Judah” is meant the celestial of the church, by“Israel” its spiritual, and by “Ephraim” its intellectual. That theseare made one through the good of charity is signified by one stickbeing made out of two. (That a “stick of wood” is the good of