9031. And healing he shall heal him. That this signifies restoration, namely, by means of interpretation, is evident. For if the things which are in the literal sense of the Word are looked at interiorly, they all agree together. This is circumstanced like that which is said in the Word about the sun, that it rises and sets, when yet it does not rise or set; but such an appearance is presented to the inhabitants of the earth, because the earth rotates every day around its axis. This natural truth lies hidden in the former, which is according to the appearance to the external sight. If it had been said in the Word contrary to this appearance, the common people would not apprehend it, and what the common people do not apprehend they do not believe. The case is similar with the Sun of heaven, which is the Lord, concerning which it is also said that it “rises,” but in hearts, when man is being regenerated; and also when he is in the good of love and faith; and that it “sets” when man is in evil and in the consequent falsity. And yet the Lord is continually in His rising, from which also He is called the “Sunrise,” or “East,” and He is never in any setting; nor does He turn Himself away from man, but man turns himself away from Him. From this arises the appearance that the Lord turns away His face and also brings evil; and therefore it is also so said in the Word. This likewise is the truth, but apparent truth, thus it is not in conflict with the former. From all this it can now be seen what is meant in the internal sense by “healing he shall heal,” namely, the restoration of spiritual truth, which is effected by means of a right interpretation of the memory-truth, or that of the literal sense of the Word.

[2] The case is similar with every truth of the literal sense, for in the natural light, which is that of the sensuous man, this appears just as it is expressed in the Word, because the literal sense is natural, and is for the sensuous man. But when the same is presented in the light of heaven, it then appears according to the internal sense; for this sense is spiritual, and is for the heavenly man, because those things which are of natural light vanish away in the light of heaven; for natural light is like shade or cloud, and heavenly light is like the glory and the brightness when the cloud is taken away. And therefore also the literal sense of the Word is called “a cloud,” and the internal sense “glory” (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 4391, 5922, 6343, 8106, 8443, 8781).

[3] By “healing he shall heal” is signified in the spiritual sense to restore, because disease and sickness signify the infirmity of the internal man, which infirmity exists when he is sick in respect to his life, which is the spiritual life; thus when he turns aside from truth to falsity, and from good to evil. When this is the case, the spiritual life sickens; and when he wholly turns himself away from truth and good, it dies; but this death is called “spiritual death,” which is damnation. As this is the case with the life of the internal man, therefore such things as relate to diseases and death in the natural world are said in the Word of the diseases of the spiritual life, and of its death. So also the cures of diseases, or healings, as in Isaiah:

Jehovah smiteth Egypt, smiting and healing; whence he turneth himself unto Jehovah, and He shall be entreated for them, and shall heal them (Isaiah 19:22).

Surely He was pierced for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and in His wound we are healed (Isaiah 53:5);

speaking of the Lord.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Return, ye perverse sons, I will heal your backslidings (Jeremiah 3:22).

Behold, I will cause to come up to it cure and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth (Jeremiah 33:6).

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain hast thou multiplied medicines; there is no healing for thee (Jeremiah 46:11).

And in Ezekiel:

By the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that, cometh up the tree for food, whose leaf falleth not, neither is the fruit consumed; it springeth up again in its months, because the waters thereof go forth out of the sanctuary; therefore the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicines (Ezekiel 47:12).

“The fruit which shall be for food” denotes the good of love and charity which is for the nourishment of the spiritual life; “the leaf which shall be for medicine” denotes the truths of faith which are for the refreshment and restoration of that life. (That “fruit” denotes the good of love and of charity, see n. 3146, 7690; and that “leaf” denotes the truth of faith, n. 885)

[5] As diseases and sicknesses, and also healings and medicines, are not said in the Word of the natural life, but of another life which is distinct from the natural life; it is therefore plain to him who gives some consideration to the matter, that man has another life, which is that of his internal man. They who have gross thoughts with respect to the life of man, believe that he has no other life than that of the body, which is the life of the external or natural man. They wonder what the life of the internal man may be, and even what the internal man is. If they are told that that life is the life of faith and charity, and that the internal man is man’s spirit, which lives after death, and which is essentially the man himself, they wonder still more. And such of them as live only for the body, and not for the soul, thus who are merely natural men, have no apprehension whatever of what is said about the life of faith and charity, and about the internal man, because their thought is merely from natural light, and not at all from spiritual light. Wherefore also after death they remain gross in respect to thought, and live in the shadow of death, that is, in falsities from evil; and they are wholly in thick darkness, and blind to the light of heaven.

3654. That in the internal sense of the Word “Judea” does not signify Judea; nor in like manner “Jerusalem,” Jerusalem, may be seen from many passages in the Word. “Judea” is not so frequently mentioned in the Word as is the “land of Judah,” and by the “land of Judah,” as well as by the “land of Canaan,” is signified the Lord’s kingdom (consequently also the church, for the church is the Lord’s kingdom on earth), and this for the reason that the Lord’s celestial kingdom was represented by Judah, or by the Jewish nation, and His spiritual kingdom by Israel, or the Israelitish people; and inasmuch as it was so represented, therefore also when mention is made in the Word of that nation and people, in the internal sense there is nothing else signified thereby.

[2] That this is the case will appear from what of the Lord’s Divine mercy will be said hereafter concerning Judah and the land of Judah; and in the meantime from the following few passages in the Prophets.

In Isaiah:

My beloved had a vineyard in the horn of a son of oil; and he made a hedge about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with a noble vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man of Judah, judge I pray you between Me and My vineyard. I will make it a desolation. For the vineyard of Jehovah Zebaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is the plant of His delights; and He looked for judgment, but behold a festering; for righteousness, but behold a cry (Isaiah 5:1-3, 6-7).

In this passage, in the sense of the letter, the perverted state of the Israelites and Jews is treated of, but in the internal sense the perverted state of the church as represented by Israel and Judah. The “inhabitant of Jerusalem” is the good of the church (that “inhabitant” signifies good, or what is the same, those who are in good, may be seen above, n. 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613; and that “Jerusalem” signifies the church, see n. 402, 2117). The signification of the “house of Israel” is similar (that “house” signifies good may be seen above, n. 710, 1708, 2233, 2234, 3142, 3538; and that “Israel” signifies the church, n. 3305); in like manner the “man of Judah,” for by “man” is signified truth (n. 265, 749, 1007, 3134, 3310, 3459), and by “Judah” good, but with the difference that the “man of Judah” signifies truth from the good of love to the Lord (which is called celestial truth), that is, those who are in such truth.

[3] In the same:

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four wings of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not straiten Ephraim. Jehovah shall accurse the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with the vehemence of His breath shall shake His hand over the river. And there shall be a highway for the remains of His people, which shall be left from Asshur (Isaiah 11:12-13, 15-16).

The subject here treated of in the sense of the letter is the bringing back of the Israelites and Jews from captivity, but in the internal sense it is concerning a new church in general and with every individual in particular who is being regenerated or is becoming a church. The “outcasts of Israel” denote the truths of such persons; the “dispersed of Judah,” their goods; “Ephraim,” their intellectual part in that it will no longer be resistant; “Egypt,” memory-knowledges; and “Asshur,” the derivative reasoning, which they have perverted; the “outcasts,” the “dispersed,” the “remains,” and “those who are left,” denote the truths and goods which survive. (That “Ephraim” denotes the intellectual part, will be made manifest elsewhere; and that “Egypt” is memory-knowledge, n. 1164-1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 3325; that “Asshur” is reasoning, n. 119, 1186; and that “remains” are goods and truths from the Lord stored up in the interior man, n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.)

[4] In the same:

Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, called by the name of Israel, and they have come forth out of the waters of Judah. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel (Isaiah 48:1-2); where the “waters of Judah” denote the truths which are from the good of love to the Lord; the truths thence derived are the very goods of charity, which are called spiritual goods, and constitute the spiritual church, the internal of which is “Israel,” and the external the “house of Jacob;” hence it is manifest what is signified by the “house of Jacob called by the name of Israel,” and by their “coming forth out of the waters of Judah.”

[5] In the same:

I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains; and Mine elect shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there (Isaiah 65:9);

“out of Judah an inheritor of mountains” in the supreme sense denotes the Lord, and in the representative sense those who are in love to Him, thus in the good of love to the Lord and of love to the neighbor. (That “mountains” signify these goods was shown above, n. 3652)

[6] So in Moses:

Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey my son thou art gone up; he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? (Genesis 49:9); where it is clearly manifest that in the supreme sense by “Judah” is meant the Lord, and in the representative sense those who are in the good of love to Him. So in David:

When Israel went forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion (Psalms 114:1-2);

in this passage also “Judah” denotes celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord; and “Israel,” celestial truth, or spiritual good.

[7] So in Jeremiah:

Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous offshoot, and He shall reign as king, and prosper, and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called: JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16); where the Lord’s advent is treated of, “Judah” denoting those who are in the good of love to the Lord; “Israel,” those who are in the truth of this good. That by “Judah” is not meant Judah, nor by “Israel” Israel, is evident from the fact that neither Judah nor Israel was saved. In like manner in the same:

I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first (Jeremiah 33:7).

In the same:

In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together; going and weeping shall they go, and shall seek Jehovah their God; and they shall seek Zion in the way with their faces thitherward (Jeremiah 50:4-5

Again:

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, for the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north upon the land (Jeremiah 3:17-18).

[8] Again:

Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days; I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 33).

That Israel or the house of Israel is not here meant, is very evident, because they were dispersed among the Gentiles, and were never brought back out of captivity; consequently neither was Judah nor the house of Judah meant, but thereby were signified, in the internal sense, those who are of the Lord’s spiritual and celestial kingdom. With these is made a new covenant, and on their heart is the law written; a “new covenant” denoting conjunction with the Lord by means of good (see n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 2037); the “law written on their heart,” denoting the consequent perception of good and of truth, and also conscience.

[9] So in Joel:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall go forth out of the house of Jehovah, and shall water the stream of Shittim. Egypt shall be a waste, and Edom shall be for a wilderness of a waste for the violence done to the sons of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation (Joel 3:18, 20);

from all the particulars in this passage also it is manifest that by “Judah” is not meant Judah, nor by “Jerusalem,” Jerusalem, but those who are in the holy of love and of charity; for these “shall abide forever, and to generation and generation.”

[10] So in Malachi:

Behold I send Mine angel who shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the angel of the covenant whom ye desire. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of eternity, and as in former years (Malachi 3:1, 4); where the Lord’s advent is treated of. That at that time the offering of Judah and Jerusalem was not pleasant unto Jehovah, is evident; and from this it is manifest that by “Judah and Jerusalem” are signified such things as are of the Lord’s church. The case is the same everywhere in the Word where mention is made of “Judah,” of “Israel,” and of “Jerusalem.” From all this then it is evident what is signified by “Judah” in Matthew, namely, the Lord’s church, in the present case vastated.