160. Who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants. That this signifies that thence is the doctrine of every kind of falsity is evident from the signification of a prophet, as being one who teaches truths, and impersonally the doctrine of truth (concerning which, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 2534, 7269); hence in an opposite sense by a prophet are meant those who teach falsities, and impersonally, the doctrine of falsities. Similarly by a prophetess is here meant one who teaches falsities, and also the doctrine of every kind of falsity; hence it is added, that she teaches and seduces the Lord's servants. Teaching and seducing are mentioned, because to teach is said of truths and falsities, and to seduce, of goods and evils; and those are called the Lord's servants in the Word who are in truths, and ministers those who are in good (as may be seen above, n. 155). It is said concerning Jezebel that she called herself a prophetess; not that Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, called herself a prophetess, but it is so said of Jezebel, because by her is signified the delight of the love of self and of the world; and this delight teaches and seduces those who are in truths; for whoever thinks from self, thinks from his own love, and thence fills himself with falsities. which is to teach and to seduce. Concerning Jezebel we read in the Word,
That Ahab the king of Israel took Jezebel the daughter of the king of the Zidonians to wife, and that he went away and served Baal, and erected to him an altar in Samaria, and made a grove (1 Kings xvi. 31-33);
That Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah (I Kings xviii. 4,13);
And that she would also have slain Elijah (xix. 1, 2, and following verses);
That, by a stratagem in substituting false witnesses, she took away the vineyard from Naboth, and slew him (xxi. 6, 7, and following verses);
Hence it was predicted by Elijah, that dogs should eat her (I Kings xxi. 23; 2 Kings ix. 10);
And afterwards that, by the command of Jehu, she was thrown out of the window, and that her blood was sprinkled upon the wall, and upon the horses that trod her under foot (2 Kings ix. 32-34).
[2] By all these things the perversion of the church arising from the delight of the love of self and of the world, and from the evils and falsities thence originating was represented; for all the historical parts of the Word, as well as the prophetical, are representative of those things that pertain to the church. By Baal, whom Ahab served, and to whom he erected an altar, is signified worship from the evils of the love of self and of the world; by the grove which he made is signified worship from falsities thence derived. By Jezebel slaying the prophets of Jehovah is signified the destruction of the truths of the church; by her desiring also to slay Elijah is signified a desire to annihilate the Word, for Elijah represented the Word. By the vineyard, which, by false witnesses, she took away from Naboth, is signified the falsification of truth, and the adulteration of good; by the prophecy of Elijah that dogs should eat her, is signified uncleanness and profanation. By her being thrown out of a window, and by the sprinkling of her blood upon the wall and upon the horses that trod her under foot, is signified the lot of those who are of such nature and quality. What is the lot of these is evident from the particulars understood in the internal sense. From these considerations it can be seen, that no other Jezebel is meant by the woman Jezebel who calleth herself a prophetess than Jezebel the wife of Ahab, treated of in the Word; and that by her are described those who are immersed in false doctrines derived from the delights of the love of self and of the world.
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