842、“神使风吹过地上，水就消退”表示将一切事物按其适当秩序排列，或说将一切事物放在其适当的位置上。这从圣言中“风”的含义清楚可知。所有灵人，无论善恶，都被比作“风”，甚至被称为“风”。在原文，“灵”是用表示“风”的这个词来表达的。在试探（在此由“消退的水”来表示，如705，739，790节所示）期间，正是恶灵造成了洪水的泛滥，或说他们如洪水般涌入。他们与其幻想一波接一波地涌入，激活人里面的类似幻想。当这些灵人或幻想被驱散时，圣言就说是“风”吹散了，事实上是“东风”吹散了。
一旦试探的涌浪或诸水消退，经历试探的个人和总体上的人类是一样的情形，如我从大量经历中所得知的。也就是说，在灵人界，恶灵有时抱成一团，以这种方式制造混乱。但他们会被其他灵人群体拆分，这些灵人大多是从右边，因而是从东部地区涌出来的，给他们带来太多恐惧和惊慌，以致他们只想逃跑。这时，那些抱成一团的灵人就被分散到四面八方，以邪恶为目的聚集起来的灵人社群就这样被解散。以这种方式驱散他们的灵人群体被称为“东风”。驱散的方式还有无数种，也被称为“东风”；对此，蒙主的神性怜悯，容后再述（1398，2128，4793:5，7679:1节）。当恶灵以这种方式被驱散时，混乱和骚动的状态会被平静或沉默取代，这也是经历试探的人所遇到的情形。当经历试探时，他就在这帮灵人中间；但当他们被赶走或驱散时，一种平静就会降临，这是按秩序安排一切事物的开始。
在任何事物恢复秩序之前，通常先将一切事物还原到类似混沌的混乱状态，以便不能聚合的事物可以彼此分开。一旦它们分开，主就会把它们安排得井然有序。类似现象发生在自然界；在自然界，每一个事物在被放到适当位置上之前，都是先还原到混乱的状态。例如，除非大气里面有吹散异物的暴风，否则空气永远不会变得晴朗，反而会因其中积聚的有害有毒物质而变得致命。这同样适用于人体：除非血液中的所有物质，无论同质的还是异质的，都连续不断地一起流入一个心脏，在那里混和，否则生命的体液就会有凝固的危险，并且每种成分都绝无可能精准地倾向于发挥它应有的功能。人在重生的过程中也是这样。
“风”，尤其“东风”只表示对虚假和邪恶的驱散，或也可说，对恶灵和恶魔的驱散，以及此后的有序安排。这一点从圣言明显看出来，如以赛亚书：
你必簸扬它们，风必带走它们，旋风必刮散它们。你倒要以耶和华为喜乐，以以色列的圣者为荣耀。（以赛亚书41:16）
此处驱散被比作“风”，分散被比作“旋风”，就是对邪恶的驱散和分散；这时，重生之人“倒要以耶和华为喜乐”。诗篇：
看哪，众王会合，一同经过。他们一看见，就大吃一惊，惊惶失措，急忙逃跑。战兢在那里抓住他们，他们好像临产的妇人一样阵痛。你必用东风击破他施的船只。（诗篇48:4-7）
此处描述了“东风”所造成的恐怖和混乱，这种描述是基于灵人界所发生的事，因为圣言的内义涉及这些事。
耶利米书：
（我的百姓）要使他们的陆地变为惊愕。我必在仇敌面前像东风分散他们。他们遭难的日子，我必以颈，不以面看他们。（耶利米书18:16-17）
此处，“东风”同样表示对虚假的驱散。吹干红海，好叫以色列人过去的“东风”也代表类似的事，如出埃及记所描述的：
耶和华便终夜用极强的东风，使红海退去；使海成了干陆地，水便分开。（出埃及记14:21）
“红海的水”与本节“洪水的水”的含义相同，这从以下事实明显可知：代表恶人的埃及人被淹死，而如此处“挪亚”那样代表重生之人的以色列人则过去了。“红海”和“洪水”一样，表示诅咒，也表示试探。因此，“东风”表示诸水的分散，即诅咒或试探的邪恶的分散。这一点从他们过去后摩西所唱的歌和以赛亚书中的话明显看出来：
耶和华必使埃及海的舌头全然毁坏，用强风在大河之上抡手，击打它，使它分为七条溪河，让人可以穿鞋过去。为主余剩的百姓，就是从亚述剩下的，必有一条大道，正如以色列从埃及陆地上来的日子有一条给以色列一样。（以赛亚书11:15-16）
此处“为主余剩的百姓，就是从亚述剩下的，必有一条大道”表示有序的安排。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]842. The symbolism of and God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided, as putting everything in its proper place is established by the symbolism of the wind in the Word. The wind is used as a metaphor, a simile, and even a name for all spirits, both good and evil. The original language uses the same word for both spirits and the winds.{*1} During our struggles — which are the waters that subsided, as shown before [705, 739, 790] — it is evil spirits that flood in. They crowd in on us with their delusional thinking and stir up the same kind of thinking in us. When something banishes these spirits, or rather the hallucinations they induce, the Word describes the wind (and in fact the east wind) as the agent.
[2] For an individual who is being tested, the circumstances surrounding the end of the struggle's commotions (or waters) are the same as those for a larger collection of people, as I have learned from much experience. Evil spirits in the world of spirits sometimes form gangs and cause disturbances, but they are dispersed by other groups of spirits that generally approach from the right and so from the east. These groups strike such fear and terror into the evil spirits that they cannot think about anything but running away. Though they had ganged together, they scatter in all directions, and this is the way in which such coalitions of spirits mobbing together for evil purposes are dissolved. The groups of spirits who disperse them by this method are called an east wind. Countless other ways of disbanding them exist, and these too are called east winds. With the Lord's divine mercy, they will be described below [1398, 2128, 4793:5, 7679:1]. When the evil spirits have scattered, and the mob and its agitation are past, a calm or silence occurs.
The case is similar for an individual during times of trial. In those periods, the person is surrounded by a crowd of the same type of spirits as above, and after they have been driven off or dispelled, there is a kind of calm — the first step in putting everything where it belongs.
[3] Before being reduced to order, it is very common for everything to fall into confusion or seeming chaos. This allows things that cling together poorly to separate, and when they have separated, the Lord arranges them in their place.
Nature offers parallels, since in it too each and every thing first falls into some degree of disorder before being put in order. If the skies did not storm, causing unlike elements to scatter, the air would never clear; destructive forces would amass and wreak havoc.
The human body displays the same characteristic. Unless all the components of the blood, whether compound or pure, were continuously and cyclically combined and pumped into a single heart first and mingled there, the fluid component would coagulate in a fatal way. The individual elements would never be distributed to perform their proper functions.{*2} It is the same with a person who is regenerating.
[4] The wind — specifically the east wind — simply symbolizes the dispersal of falsity and evil (or, what is the same, of evil spirits and demons) and the organizing of them that follows. This can be seen in the Word, as, for instance, in Isaiah:
You will disperse them, and the wind will carry them off, and a storm will scatter them. And you will rejoice in Jehovah; in the Holy One of Israel you will glory. (Isaiah 41:16)
The dispersal (of evil) is compared here to a wind and the scattering to a storm. When this occurs, those who are reborn will rejoice in Jehovah. In David:
Look! The monarchs assembled; they passed by together; they saw. So they were stupefied; they were bewildered; they rushed away. Terror seized them there — pain like that of one in labor. With an east wind you will shatter them.{*3} (Psalms 48:4, 5, 6-7)
This describes the terror and confusion that the east wind brings over such spirits. The description stems from things that happen in the world of spirits, because the Word's inner meaning involves such things.
[5] In Jeremiah:
It will make their land something shocking; like an east wind I will scatter them before their enemy. I will turn toward them with my neck and not my face on the day of their disaster. (Jeremiah 18:16-17)
Here again the east wind stands for the dispersal of falsity. Something similar is represented by the east wind that dried up the Suph Sea{*4} to allow the children of Israel to cross, as mentioned in Exodus:
Jehovah drew back the Suph Sea by means of a powerful east wind the whole night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. (Exodus 14:21)
The water of the Suph Sea represented something much like what the waters of the Flood do in the present verse. This can be seen from the fact that the Egyptians, who represented the wicked, drowned, while the children of Israel, who represented the regenerate (as Noah does in the present verse), walked across. The Suph Sea, like the Flood, represented damnation and also times of trial. So the east wind represented the dispersal of the water, that is, the abatement of damnation's evils or a person's trials. The parallels can also be seen in the Song of Moses, which he sang after the Israelites had crossed that sea (Exodus 15:1-19), and in Isaiah:
Jehovah will exterminate the tongue of Egypt's sea and wave his hand over the river in the fierceness of his wind and strike it into seven rivers and make way [for them as they walk] in their shoes. And there will be a path for the survivors of his people who will remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel when he went up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:15-16)
The path for the survivors of the people left from Assyria stands for the process of putting things in their proper place.
Footnotes:
{*1} On the word for "spirit" and "wind" in Hebrew, see note 1 in 221. [LHC]
{*2} This description is based on Swedenborg's considerable work on the blood as the medium for the soul in his Dynamics of the Soul's Domain (Swedenborg [1740-1741] 1955), part 1, 36-115. In his premise, there are three "bloods": 1. the animal spirits (the spirituous fluid, or "fluid of the soul," delivered via the nerves from the cerebrum to the tissues); 2. the purest blood (lymph, or blood plasma without the cellular components); and 3. the red blood (a compound of the above, with the addition of the cells). These three fluids are combined in the heart and then distributed to the various parts of the body. Each of these "bloods" has its own specific function as it contributes to the essential function of the whole. Swedenborg's system is based partly on Descartes's system of psychophysiology, which also posited the existence of "animal spirits" that mediated between soul and body (Gaukroger 1995, 272-273). [RPB, RS]
{*3} The third Latin edition supplies "the ships of Tarshish" (naves Tarshishi) as the object that is shattered. [LHC]
{*4} On the name Suph Sea, see note 1 in 756. [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 842
842. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. That this signifies the disposal of all things into their order, is evident from the signification of "wind" in the Word. All spirits, both good and evil, are compared and likened to and are also called "winds;" and in the original tongue "spirits" are expressed by the same word that means "winds." In temptations (which are here the "waters that assuaged" as was shown above), evil spirits cause an inundation, by inflowing in crowds with their phantasies, and exciting similar phantasies in man; and when these spirits or their phantasies are dispersed, it is said in the Word to be done by a "wind" and indeed by an "east wind." [2] It is the same with one man during temptation and when the commotions or waters of temptation cease, as it is with man in general, as I have learned by repeated experience; for evil spirits in the world of spirits sometimes band together in troops, and thereby excite disturbances until they are dispersed by other bands of spirits, coming mostly from the right, and so from the eastern quarter, who strike such fear and terror into them that they think of nothing but flight. Then those who had associated themselves are dispersed into all quarters, and thereby the societies of spirits formed for evil purposes are dissolved. The troops of spirits who thus disperse them are called the East Wind; and there are also innumerable other methods of dispersion, also called "east winds" concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. When evil spirits are thus dispersed, the state of commotion and turbulence is succeeded by serenity, or silence, as is also the case with the man who has been in temptation; for while in temptation he is in the midst of such a band of spirits, but when they are driven away or dispersed, there follows as it were a calm, which is the beginning of the disposal of all things into order. [3] Before anything is reduced into a state of order, it is most usual that things should be reduced into a confused mass, or chaos as it were, so that those which do not well cohere together may be separated, and when they are separated, then the Lord disposes them into order. This process may be compared with what takes place in nature, where all things in general and singly are first reduced to a confused mass, before being disposed into order. Thus, for instance, unless there were storms in the atmosphere, to dissipate whatever is heterogeneous, the air could never become serene, but would become deadly by pestiferous accumulations. So in like manner in the human body, unless all things in the blood, both heterogeneous and homogeneous, did continuously and successively flow together into one heart, to be there commingled, there would be deadly conglutinations of the liquids, and they could in no way be distinctly disposed to their respective uses. Thus also it is with man in the course of his regeneration. [4] That "wind" and especially the "east wind" signifies nothing else than the dispersion of falsities and evils, or, what is the same, of evil spirits and genii, and afterwards a disposal into order, may be seen from the Word, as in Isaiah:
Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 41:16). Here dispersion is compared to "wind" and scattering to a "whirlwind" which is said of evils; then they who are regenerate shall rejoice in Jehovah. In David: Lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together; they saw it, then were they amazed; they were dismayed, they hasted away; trembling took hold of them there, pain as of a woman in travail; with the east wind Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish (Ps. 48:4-7). Here is described the terror and confusion occasioned by an east wind, the description being taken from what passes in the world of spirits, which is involved in the internal sense of the Word. [5] In Jeremiah:
To make their land an astonishment: I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy, I will look upon their neck, and not their face, in the day of their calamity (Jer. 18:16-17). Here in like manner the "east wind" stands for the dispersion of falsities. Similar also was the representation of the east wind by which the Red Sea was dried up, that the sons of Israel might pass over, as described in Exodus:
Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided (Exod. 14:21). The signification of the waters of the Red Sea was similar to that of the waters of the flood in the present passage, as is evident from the fact that the Egyptians (by whom are represented the wicked) were drowned therein, while the sons of Israel (by whom are represented the regenerate, as by "Noah" here) passed over. By the "Red Sea" the same as by the "flood" is represented damnation, as also temptation; and thus by the "east wind" is signified the dissipation of the waters, that is, of the evils of damnation, or of temptation, as is evident from the song of Moses after they had passed over (Exod. 15:1-19); and also from Isaiah:
Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall remain, from Assyria, like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt (Isa. 11:15-16). Here "a highway for the remnant of the people which shall remain, from Assyria" signifies a disposing into order.
Elliott(1983-1999) 842
842. 'And God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided' means the arrangement of all things into their proper order. This is clear from the meaning of 'wind' in the Word. All spirits, both good and evil, are compared and likened to the wind, and are even called winds. And in the original language the same word is used for spirits as for winds. In temptations, meant here by 'the waters that subsided', as shown already, evil spirits who deluge are present. With their delusions they flow in wave upon wave and activate kindred delusions residing with a person. When these spirits, or delusions, are dispersed the Word speaks of it being done by means of 'a wind', and in fact by 'an east wind'.
[2] Once the swell or waters of temptation have abated, the condition of someone undergoing temptation is similar to that of mankind generally, as I have been given to know from considerable experience. That is to say, evil spirits in the world of spirits sometimes group together in squadrons and in this way create disturbances. But they are broken up by other squadrons of spirits pouring out mostly from a position to the right, from the eastern quarter therefore, who strike so much fear and terror into them that they think only of taking flight. At that point those who have grouped themselves together are scattered in all directions, and in this way the communities of spirits drawn together for evil purposes are dissolved. The squadrons of spirits who disperse them in this fashion are called 'the East Wind'. In addition to this there are countless other ways of scattering them, and these too are 'east winds', which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on. When evil spirits have been dispersed in this fashion a kind of calm or silence follows the state of disturbance. A similar situation exists with the person undergoing temptation. While undergoing temptation he is amid the throng of such spirits; but when they have been driven away or dispersed, a kind of calm descends which is the start to an arranging of all things into order.
[3] Before anything is restored to order it is very common for everything to be reduced first of all to a state of confusion resembling chaos so that things that are not compatible may be separated from one another. And once these have been separated the Lord arranges them into order. Phenomena comparable to this take place in nature. There too every single thing is first reduced to a state of confusion before being put in its proper place. Unless atmospheric conditions included strong winds to disperse alien substances, the air could not possibly be cleared, and harmful toxic substances would accumulate in it. The same applies to the human body. Unless all things in the bloodstream, those that are alien as well as those that are congenial, were flowing along together unceasingly and repeatedly into the same heart where they are mixed together, the vital fluids would be in danger of clotting and each constituent could not possibly be precisely disposed to perform its proper function. The same also applies to a person's regeneration.
[4] 'The wind', in particular 'the East Wind', means nothing other than the dispersion of falsities and evils, or what amounts to the same, of evil spirits and genii, and after that an arranging into order. This becomes clear from what is said in the Word, as in Isaiah,
You will disperse them, and the wind will carry them away, and the tempest will scatter them. And you will rejoice in Jehovah, in the Holy One of Israel you will glory. Isa 41:16.Here dispersing is compared to 'the wind' and scattering to 'the tempest' - a dispersing and scattering of evils - at which time regenerate persons 'will rejoice in Jehovah'. In David,
Behold, the kings assembled themselves, they went over together. They saw, and so they were astounded, thrown into confusion, and rushed about. Terror took hold of them there, pain like that of a woman in labour. By the East Wind You will shatter [the ships of Tarshish]. Ps 48:4-7.
This describes the terror and confusion caused by 'the East Wind', a description based on occurrences in the world of spirits, for the internal sense of the Word embodies those occurrences.
[5] In Jeremiah,
[My people] will make their land an astonishment. Like the East Wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will look them in the neck and not in the facea on the day of their calamity. Jer 18:16, 17.
Here similarly 'the East Wind' stands for the dispersion of falsities. Things of a similar nature are represented by the east wind that dried up the Sea Suph so that the children of Israel could go across, referred to in Exodus as follows,
Jehovah drove the Sea Suph back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. Exod 14:21.
Matters of a similar nature were represented by 'the waters of the Sea Suph' as are meant here by 'the waters of the flood'. This is clear from the fact that the Egyptians, who represented the evil, were overwhelmed, while the children of Israel, who represented the regenerate, as Noah does here, went across. 'The Sea Suph', like 'the flood', means damnation and also temptation. 'The East Wind' accordingly means the dispersion of the waters, that is, of the evils of damnation or of temptation. It is clear also from the Song of Moses after they had gone across, Exod 15:1-19, and from what is said in Isaiah,
Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and will shake His hand over the River with the might of His wind, and He will smite it into seven channels, and make it a road for shoes. Then there will be a highway for the remnant of His people, who will remain from Asshur, as there was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt. Isa 11:15, 16.
Here 'a highway for the remnant of the people who will remain from Asshur' stands for arrangement into order.
Latin(1748-1756) 842
842. 'Et transire fecit Deus ventum super terram, et desederunt aquae': quod significent dispositionem omnium in suum ordinem, constat ex significatione 'venti' in Verbo; omnes spiritus tam boni quam mali comparantur et assimilantur vento, etiam vocantur venti; per eandem vocem in lingua originali exprimuntur spiritus, per quam venti. In tentationibus, quae hic sunt 'aquae quae desederunt,' ut prius ostensum, sunt spiritus mali qui inundant, qui acervatim influunt cum suis phantasiis et excitant similes quae apud hominem; hi spiritus, seu hae phantasiae, cum disperguntur, dicitur in Verbo fieri per 'ventum,' et quidem per 'ventum orientalem'; se habet res apud hominem qui in tentatione, cum turbae seu aquae tentationis cessant, sicut in communi, quod a pluri experientia scire datum, quod nempe mali spiritus in mundo spirituum se quandoque in cohortes consocient et sic turbas excitent, sed dispelluntur per alias cohortes spirituum a dextra utplurimum, sic a plaga orientali, alluentes, qui illis tantum metum et terrorem incutiunt ut nihil cogitent quam de fuga; tunc qui se consociarunt, dispergantur in omnes plagas et sic dissolvuntur societates spirituum male confarctae: cohortes spirituum qui male: ita dispergunt, vocantur 'ventus orientalis'; praeter quod innumeri aliis modis dissipentur, qui etiam 'venti orientales' sunt, de quibus, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, in sequentibus. Cum ita dispersi sunt mali spiritus, tunc post turbam seu turbulentum statum oritur quasi serenum, seu silentium: similiter se habet cum homine qui in tentatione; is dum in tentatione est, inter turbam talium spirituum est; quibus abactis seu dispersis fit quasi serenum, quod principium est dispositionis omnium in ordinem. Antequam aliquid in ordinem redigitur, communissimum est quod primum in confusum quoddam quasi chaos redigantur, ita quae male cohaerent, dissociantur, quae cum dissociata sunt, tunc disponit Dominus illa in ordinem; comparari hoc potest cum illis quae existunt in natura, ubi quoque omnia ei singula in confusum quoddam prius rediguntur antequam disponuntur; nisi procellae forent in atmosphaera quae dissiparent heterogenea, nusquam serenaretur aer, sed coacervarentur pestifera in perniciem: similiter in corpore humano, nisi omnia sanguinis tam heterogenea quam homogenea continue et per vices confluerent prius in unum cor et ibi confunderentur, liquida conglutinarentur in perniciem et nusquam singula disponerentur distincte ad suos usus: ita quoque se habet apud hominem regenerandum. Quod 'ventus,' in specie 'ventus orientalis,' nihil aliud significet quam dispersionem falsorum et malorum, seu quod idem est, malorum spirituum et geniorum, et dein dispositionem in ordinem, constare potest in Verbo; ut apud Esaiam, Disperges eos, et ventus auferet eos, et procella dissipabit eos; et tu exsultabis in Jehovah, in Sancto Israelis gloriaberis, xli 16;ubi dispersio comparatur 'vento,' et dissipatio 'procellae,' quae est malorum; tunc qui regenerati 'exsultabunt in Jehovah'; apud Davidem, Ecce reges se congregarunt, transiverunt una, ii viderunt, sic obstupefacti sunt, confusi sunt, festinarunt, terror apprehendit eos ibi, dolor sicut parturientis, per ventum orientalem confringes [naves Tarshishi], Ps. xlviii 5-8 [A.V. 4-7];
hic describitur terror et confusio in quo sunt ex 'vento orientali'; descriptio haec ab illis quae fiunt in mundo spirituum, desumpta est, nam sensus internus Verbi illa involvit: apud Jeremiam, Ponet terram eorum in stuporem, sicut ventus orientalis dispergam eos coram hoste; cervice et non faciebus respiciam eos in die exitii eorum, xviii 16, 17;
hic similiter 'ventus orientalis pro dispersione falsorum. Similia repraesentantur per ventum orientalem, quo exsiccatum mare Suph, ut filii Israelis transirent, de quo in Exodo ita, Abduxit Jehovah mare Suph per ventum orientalem vehementem tota nocte, et posuit mare in siccum, et scissae sunt aquae, xiv 21;
quod similia repraesentata sint per 'aquas maris Suph' ac hic significata per 'aquas diluvii,' constat inde quod 'Aegyptii' per quos mali repraesentati, submersi sint, et 'filii Israelis' per quos regenerati, ut hic Noahus, transgressi; perque 'mare Suph' sicut per 'diluvium' damnatio ut et tentatio, ita per 'ventum orientalem' dissipatio aquarum seu malorum damnationis, aut tentationis; ut quoque ex cantico Mosis postquam transgressi sunt, constat, Exod. xv 1-19, et apud Esaiam, Devovebit Jehovah linguam maris Aegypti, et agitabit manum Suam super flumen in vehementia venti Sui, percutietque illud in septem flumina, et viam faciet in calceis; tum erit semita reliquiis populi Ipsius qui residuus erit ab Asshure, quemadmodum fuit Israeli,...cum ascenderet e terra Aegypti, xi 15, 16;
ubi 'semita reliquiis populi residui ab Asshure' pro dispositione in ordinem.