Arcana Coelestia (Elliott): AC 10481

Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10481

10481. 'That those rising up against them would annihilate them' means being left without any power to withstand evils [and falsities] that come from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'being annihilated' as being deprived of all power to withstand evils and falsities, for in the spiritual world being deprived of that power is having no power at all; and from the meaning of 'those rising up', or enemies, as evils and resulting falsities, these being the enemies that rise up in the spiritual sense. Therefore also such evils and falsities are meant in the Word by 'enemies' and 'those rising up', 2851, 8289, 9255, 9314, as in David,

O Jehovah, how much my enemies have multiplied! Many are those rising up against me, saying regarding my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Ps 3:1,2.

In the same author,

Make Your mercy wonderful, O You who by Your right hand save those trusting [in You] from those rising up against them ^a. Guard me from the wicked who lay me waste, from my enemies who surround me against my soul. Ps 17:7-9.

In the same author,

Do not deliver me to the desire of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen against me, and he who breathes out violence, unless ^b I believed I would see goodness in the land of life. Ps 27:12,13.

In the same author,

O God, command the salvation ^c of Jacob. Through You we will strike our enemies; in Your name we will trample those rising up against us. Ps 44:4,5.

In the same author,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul; they have not set God before them. The Lord is with those supporting my soul. Ps 54:3,4.

In the same author,

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; raise me up from those rising up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Behold, they lie in wait for my soul. Ps 59:1-3.

In these and very many other places 'enemies' and 'those rising up' mean evils and falsities which come from hell. The expression 'those rising up' is used because evils and falsities rise up against forms of good and truths, but not vice versa.

[2] Those whose interest lies in external things separated from what is internal have no power at all to withstand evils and falsities which come from hell because all power to withstand them comes from the Divine. Those therefore who are separated from what is internal, being separated from the Divine as well, have no power; as a result they are borne along by evils and falsities, wherever hell takes them, like fluff or a straw in the wind, as is plainly evident from the evil who enter the next life from the world. This was also represented by the Israelite nation, in that they were victorious over their enemies as long as they kept to the kind of worship which they had been commanded, but were defeated by them every time they forsook that worship, thus whenever they were ruled by evil, according to the following in Moses,

If you despise My statutes, the sound of a driven leaf will pursue you, and you will flee, like flight from the sword, and you will fall without [anyone] pursuing. They will stumble over one another ^d, as though before the sword, when no one is pursuing. Lev 26:15,36,37.

And elsewhere,

One will pursue a thousand, and two ten thousand; for their Rock sold them, and Jehovah shut them up. Deut 32:30.

From all this it is evident what the meaning is of 'those rising up would annihilate them'.

Notes

^a The Latin means against me, which Sw. derives from the Latin version of Psalms translated by Sebastian Schmidt. No equivalent of the two words exists in the Hebrew.
^b Reading ni (unless) for ne (lest)
^c lit. salvations. The plural word in the Hebrew is thought to mean victories or else deliverance.
^d lit. They will stumble a man on his brother

This page is part of