994、“凡活着的爬行物”表示包含良善的一切低级享受，这是活的，这从前面（44，594，674，746，800，807，909-911节）所说的“爬行物”的含义清楚可知。“爬行物”在此表示一切洁净的牲畜和飞鸟，这一事实对每个人来说都是显而易见的，因为经上说它们可作食物。严格来说，“爬行物”是指那些最可鄙（如利未记11:23，29-30所列举的那些）和不洁净的动物。但从广泛意义上说，如此处，它们是指可作食物的动物。它们在此被称为“爬行物”，是因为它们表示低级享受。在圣言中，人的情感由“洁净的牲畜”来表示，如前所述（45，46，142，143，246，776，987节）；但由于人若不在其享受里面就感知不到自己的情感，以至于把情感称作享受，所以它们在此被称为“爬行物”。
低级享受有两种，即意愿的享受和理解力的享受。享受的一般种类是这些：拥有土地和财富的享受；在政府担任高级职务的享受；婚姻之爱，以及爱婴儿和儿童的享受；友谊和社交的享受；阅读、写作、求知、变得智慧的享受；以及其它许多享受。还有感官的享受，如：听觉享受，这种享受一般是从甜美的音乐和歌曲中获得的；视觉享受，这种享受一般是从多种多样的美丽事物中获得的；嗅觉享受，这种享受是从怡人的香甜气味中获得的；味觉享受，这种享受是从食物和饮品的美味和营养中获得的；触觉享受，这种享受来自许多愉悦的感觉。这些不同种类的享受因在身体中被感觉到，故被称为身体的享受。但享受若不靠某种内在情感而存在并持续存在，就不会存在于身体中；而内在情感反过来若不源于一种有功用和目的居于其中的更内在的情感，也不会存在。
这些情感层次越来越深，或越来越内在，直达至内层；只要人活在肉身，他就感觉不到它们。大多数人甚至几乎不知道它们的存在，更不用说它们是低级享受的源头了。而事实上，若非来自有序的内在事物，或逐渐加深的源头，没有什么东西能存在于外在事物中，或能浮出表面。享受或感官满足只是一种外在效果或最终效果。只要人们活在肉身，就无法看到内在事物，除非他们进行反思。在来世，这些内在事物会首先显现，事实上按着主把它们提升到天堂的次序显现。内在情感及其快乐在灵人界显现；更内在的情感及其快乐在天使灵天堂显现；还要内在的情感及其一切幸福则在天使天堂显现。因为天堂有三层，一层比一层内在、完美和幸福（参看459，684节）。在来世，这些事物就是以这种方式依次展开并使自己能被感知到。但只要人活在肉身，由于他的观念和思维总是集中在肉体事物上，故这些内在事物可以说休眠了，因为它们被肉体事物淹没了。然而，凡进行反思的人都能明显看出，一切享受都反映了按次序越来越内在的情感，并从这些情感中获得它们的整个存在和本质。
由于按次序越来越内在的情感在最外在的事物，也就是肉体中被感觉为享受，所以它们被称为“爬行物”。但它们只是肉体感觉，是内在事物的产物；仅从视觉及其享受，谁都能清楚看到这一点。如果内在视觉不存在，眼睛不可能看见。眼睛的视觉来自内在视觉，所以肉体死亡后，人仍能看见，甚至比活在肉身时看得更清晰，只是看见的不是世俗和肉体事物，而是来世的事物。那些活在肉身时看不见的盲人在来世看得和那些视力敏锐的人或林叩斯（古希腊神话中的人物，拥有世界上最敏锐的视力）一样清晰。这也是为何人在睡梦中看得和醒着时一样清楚。我正是通过内在视觉才得以看到来世的事物，甚至比我看世上的事物还要清楚。由此明显可知，外在视觉来自内在视觉，而内在视觉又来自更内在的视觉，依次类推。这同样适用于其它一切感觉和各种享受。
在圣言其它地方，享受同样被称为“爬行物”。这些地方也区分了洁净的爬行物和不洁净的爬行物，也就是以一种活的或天堂般的方式所获得的享受和以一种死的或地狱般的方式所获得的享受。如何西阿书：
当那日，我必为他们与田野的野兽和空中的飞鸟，并土地上的爬行物立约。（何西阿书2:18）
此处，“田野的野兽，空中的飞鸟和爬行物”表示诸如前面所提到的与人同住的那种事物，这一点从论述的主题是一个新教会明显看出来。诗篇：
愿天和地，海和一切爬在其中的都赞美祂。（诗篇69:34）
“海和一切爬在其中的”不可能赞美耶和华，赞美祂的是它们所表示的与人同住的活物；也就是说，祂只能从它们里面的活物中得到赞美。又：
野兽和一切牲畜，爬行物和带翅膀的鸟，你们都要赞美耶和华。（诗篇148:10）
此处意思也一样。“爬行物”在此只表示享受所来自的良善情感，这一点也可从这百姓当中的不洁净的爬行物明显看出来，如从以下经文所清楚看到的。
诗篇：
耶和华啊，遍地满了你的财物。这海又大又广，其中有无数的爬行物。它们都仰望你按时给它们食物。你给它们，它们便拾起来；你张手，它们就饱享美物。（诗篇104:24-25，27-28）
此处就内义而言，“海”表示属灵事物，“爬行物”表示靠它们活着的一切事物；“按时给它们食物，它们就饱享美物”表示享受。以西结书：
这两条河所到之处，凡爬行的活物或活灵魂都必存活，并且必有极多的鱼，因为这水流到那里，它们必得医治，凡这河所到之处，一切都必存活。（以西结书47:9）
这指的是从新耶路撒冷流出来的水；这些水表示来自一个属天源头的属灵事物；“爬行的活物或活灵魂”表示对良善的情感和源于这些情感的享受，既有肉体的享受，也有感官的享受；后者从“水”，也就是来自一个属天源头的属灵事物中获得生命，这是显而易见的。
来源于自我，因而来源于自我的污秽欲望的享受也被称为“爬行物”。这一点明显可见于以西结书：
我进去一看，看哪，在四面墙上画着各种形状的爬行物和走兽，都是可憎恶的；并以色列家一切的偶像。（以西结书8:10）
此处，“各种形状的爬行物”表示污秽的享受，这些享受的内在都是恶欲，而恶欲的内在是仇恨、报复、残忍和通奸；这就是“爬行物”，也就是来源于爱自己、爱世界或自我的享受中所固有的快乐的性质；它们是人们的偶像，因为人们认为它们令人快乐，热爱它们，把它们当作神，并因此崇拜它们。在代表性教会，这些爬行物因表示诸如此类的肮脏事物而同样是如此地不洁净，以至于人不许摸它们，凡摸它们的，都是不洁净的（这可见于利未记5:2；11:31-32，33；22:5-6）。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]994. Every creeping thing that is alive symbolizes any lower pleasure that contains some goodness, which is the living aspect. This can be seen from the symbolism of a creeping thing, discussed previously [44, 594, 674, 746, 800, 807, 909-911].
Anyone can see that the creeping things mean all clean animals and birds, because it says that they were supplied as food. Strictly speaking, creeping things are those that were the most contemptible of all (listed in Leviticus 11:23, 29-30) and unclean. In a wider sense, though — the sense used here — they are animals supplied as food. They are being called creeping things because creeping things symbolize lower pleasures. In the Word, clean animals symbolize our more tender emotional responses, as noted [45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 776, 987]; but since we are not aware of those responses except as revealed in our lower pleasures (so much so that we actually refer to them as pleasures), they are called creeping things here.
[2] There are two kinds of lower pleasures: those that involve the will and those that involve the intellect. These are the general types of pleasure: pleasure in owning property and having other wealth; the pleasure of rank and high office in government; pleasure connected with love in marriage and with love for babies and children; pleasure in friendship and social contact; the pleasure of reading, writing, learning, and growing in wisdom. And there are many others.
There are also pleasures of the senses. For instance there is auditory pleasure, which in general is pleasure in the sweetness of song and music; visual pleasure, which in general is pleasure in many different kinds of beauty; olfactory pleasure, which is pleasure in sweet scents; gustatory pleasure, which is pleasure in the wonderful flavor and useful qualities of food and drink; and tactile pleasure, which is pleasure in a variety of agreeable sensations.
These general kinds of gratification are felt in the body and so are called bodily pleasures, but the body never experiences any kind of pleasure unless the pleasure springs from some deeper emotion that also sustains it. And no deeper emotion ever exists unless it comes from one still deeper that holds within it a use and purpose.
[3] These layers of emotion that go deeper and deeper, all the way to our inmost reaches, are not something we sense while we are living in the body. Most people hardly even realize that they exist, let alone that the lower pleasures stem from them. In reality, though, nothing can emerge on the surface if it does not come from progressively deeper sources. Sensual gratification is only an outward effect. As long as we live in the body we cannot see what lies within, unless we reflect on it.
Deeper elements first reveal themselves in the next life, and they do so sequentially as the Lord lifts us up toward heaven. Inner emotions, with their satisfactions, reveal themselves in the world of spirits. Emotions yet deeper, with their delights, appear in the heaven of angelic spirits. And emotions yet deeper again, with their blessings, reveal themselves in the heaven of angels. (There are, indeed, three heavens, each deeper, more perfect, and more blessed than the last, as may be seen in 459 and 684.)
These things unfold in order this way and disclose themselves to our awareness in the other world. But while we live in the body, since our whole focus and concentration is on bodily concerns, deeper elements are essentially put to sleep, being overwhelmed by those concerns. Still, the thoughtful individual can see that our pleasures all reflect the layered depths of our emotional responses and derive their whole existence and character from them.
[4] The progressively deeper layers of emotion are called creeping things because we experience them as pleasures that lie on the surface, in our body. But this is only a physical manifestation, the effect of inner processes, as anyone can see merely from the power of sight and the pleasures that accompany it. Unless there is an inner power of sight, the eye cannot possibly see. The vision of the eye arises from inner vision,{*1} for which reason we can still see just as well after the body's death as when we were alive in the body, and much better. We simply do not see what is worldly and material but rather what belongs to the other life. People who had been blind in physical life see as clearly in the next life as those who had been veritable Lynceuses.{*2} For the same reason, when we are asleep we see as well in our dreams as when we are awake. By means of inner sight, I have been allowed to see the objects of the next life more clearly than I can see the objects of the world.
These considerations establish the fact that outer sight arises from inner sight, and this from sight still deeper, and so on. Likewise with each of the other senses, and with all the lower pleasures.
[5] Other places in the Word as well call the lower pleasures creeping things, and those places also differentiate between clean and unclean ones — that is, between pleasures enjoyed in a living or heavenly way and pleasures enjoyed in a dead or hellish way. In Hosea, for example:
I will strike a pact with them on that day — with the wild animal of the field, and with the bird in the heavens and the creeping thing of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)
This passage demonstrates that the wild animal of the field, the bird in the heavens, and creeping things symbolize the kinds of things in us that I have already mentioned, since it is talking about a new church. In David:
Let the heavens and the earth, the seas and every creeping thing in them praise Jehovah. (Psalms 69:34)
The seas and the creeping things in them cannot praise Jehovah, only the living, human attributes they symbolize. That is to say, he can be praised only from the living quality of those attributes. In the same author:
Praise Jehovah, you wild animal and each of you beasts, you creeping thing and bird on the wing. (Psalms 148: [7,] 10)
The same is true here.
The fact that these passages use creeping things to mean positive emotions from which gratifications stem can also be seen from the consideration that creeping things were unclean to the people of that time. This will become evident from the following quotations.
[6] In the same author:
Jehovah, the earth is full of your possessions. This sea is large, and wide in its extent. In it is the creeping thing, and there is no counting them. They all look to you to give them their food in its season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they receive abundant good. (Psalms 104:24-25, 27-28)
In the inner meaning, the seas symbolize spiritual entities, while the creeping things symbolize everything that receives its life from them. Giving them food in its season and receiving abundant good depict the enjoyment [of pleasure]. In Ezekiel:
And it will happen that every living soul that crawls in any place where the rivers go will survive; and the fish will be very numerous, because that water goes there and is cured, and everything will live, wherever the river goes. (Ezekiel 47:9)
This is about water flowing from a new Jerusalem. Water stands for spiritual traits from a heavenly origin. The living soul that crawls stands for positive desires and the gratifications they give rise to, both those that are personal and those that are sensory. The fact that these receive life from the water — from spiritual traits of heavenly origin — is obvious.
[7] Tainted pleasures, which trace their origin to self-absorption and so to the sordid cravings of self-absorption, are also called creeping things, as can be seen in Ezekiel:
And I went in and looked, and here, every shape of creeping thing and animal (an abhorrence) and all the idols of the house of Israel — a painting on the wall all around. (Ezekiel 8:10)
The shape of a creeping thing symbolizes foul pleasures, within which lie corrupt desires, within which again lie hatred, vengeance, cruelty, and adultery. Such urges are creeping things, or the thrill of a lower pleasure springing from love for ourselves and for worldly advantages, which is to say, from self-absorption. These are the idols of the self-absorbed, because these are the things they consider agreeable, love, view as gods, and therefore venerate. Because these creeping things symbolized such vile attributes, the representative church{*3} deemed them so unclean that it was not permissible even to touch them, and anyone who did so much as touch them was unclean, as shown by Leviticus 5:2; 11:31-32, 33; 22:5-6.
Footnotes:
{*1} For more on inner vision, see 1954. [Editors]
{*2} Lynceus is a figure from Greek mythology, an Argonaut distinguished for keen vision, capable of seeing at long distances and of peering through solid objects. [LHC]
{*3} Swedenborg uses the term "representative church" (sometimes "ancient church," or "early church," and sometimes "Jewish church") to refer to the religious dispensations that began with Noah and ended with the Crucifixion. See 101, 349:1, 730:4-5, 1437. He uses this term because "everything that took place in that religion turned into a corresponding representation in heaven" (1003). [LHC, RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 994
994. Every creeping thing that liveth. That this signifies all pleasures in which there is good which is living, is evident from the signification of a "creeping thing" as shown before. That creeping things here mean all clean beasts and birds, is evident to everyone, for it is said that they are given for food. Creeping things in their proper sense are such as are vilest of all (as named in Lev. 11:23, 29, 30), and were unclean. But in a broad sense, as here, animals are meant which are given for food; yet here they are called "creeping things" because they signify pleasures. Man's affections are signified in the Word by clean beasts, as already said; but since his affections are perceived only in his pleasures, so that he calls them pleasures, they are here called "creeping things." [2] Pleasures are of two kinds, those of the will, and those of the understanding. In general there are the pleasures of possession of land and wealth, the pleasures of honor and office in the state, the pleasures of conjugial love and of love for infants and children, the pleasures of friendship and of converse with companions, the pleasures of reading, of writing, of knowing, of being wise; and many others. There are also the pleasures of the senses: as the pleasure of hearing, which is in general that from the sweetness of music and song; and that of seeing, which is in general that of various and manifold beauties; and of smelling, which is from the sweetness of odors; and of tasting, which is from the agreeableness and wholesomeness of foods and drinks; and of touch, from many pleasing sensations. These kinds of pleasures, being felt in the body, are called pleasures of the body. But no pleasure ever exists in the body unless it exists and subsists from an interior affection, and no interior affection exists except from one more interior, in which is the use and the end. [3] These things which, in regular order, are interior, commencing from those which are inmost, are not perceived by man while he lives in the body, and most men hardly know that they exist, still less that they are the source of pleasures; when yet nothing can ever exist in externals except from things interior in order. Pleasures are only ultimate effects. The interior things do not lie open to view so long as men live in the body, except to those who reflect upon them. In the other life they for the first time come forth to view, and indeed in the order in which they are elevated by the Lord toward heaven. Interior affections with their delights manifest themselves in the world of spirits, the more interior with their delights in the heaven of angelic spirits, and the still more interior with their happiness in the heaven of angels; for there are three heavens, one more interior, more perfect, and more happy than another (see n. 459, 684). These interiors unfold and present themselves to perception in the other life; but so long as man lives in the body, since he is all the time in the idea and thought of corporeal things, these interior things are as it were asleep, being immersed in the corporeal things. But yet it may be evident to anyone who reflects, that all pleasures are such as are the affections that are more and more interior in order, and that they receive from these all their essence and quality. [4] Since the affections that are more and more interior in order are felt in the extremes or outermost things, that is, in the body, as pleasures, they are called "creeping things" but they are only corporeal things affected by internal ones, as must be evident to everyone merely from sight and its pleasures. Except there be interior sight, no eye can ever see. The sight of the eye exists from interior sight, and for this reason after the death of the body man sees equally as well and even better than when he lived in the body-not indeed worldly and corporeal things, but those of the other life. Those who were blind in the life of the body, see in the other life as well as those who had keen vision. So too when man sleeps, he sees in his dreams as clearly as when awake. It has been given me to see by internal sight the things in the other life more clearly than I see the things in the world. From all this it is evident that external sight comes forth from interior sight, and this from sight still more interior, and so on. It is similar with every other sense and with every pleasure. [5] Pleasures are likewise in other parts of the Word called "creeping things" with a distinction between the clean and the unclean, that is, between pleasures the delights of which are living, or heavenly, and pleasures the delights of which are dead or infernal. As in Hosea:
In that day will I make a covenant for them with the wild animal of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and with the creeping thing of the ground (Hos. 2:18). That here the wild animal of the field, the fowl of the heavens, and the creeping thing, signify such things in man as have been said, is evident from the subject being a new church. In David:
Let the heavens and the earth praise Jehovah, the seas, and everything that creepeth therein (Ps. 69:34). The seas and the things that creep therein cannot praise Jehovah, but the things in man that are signified by them and are living, thus from what is living within them. Again:
Praise Jehovah ye wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and winged fowl (Ps. 148:10), with a similar meaning. [6] That here by "creeping thing" nothing else is meant than good affections from which are pleasures, is evident also from creeping things being with this people unclean, as will be plain from what follows. Again:
O Jehovah the earth is full of Thy riches; this sea, great and wide, wherein are things creeping without number; these wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their food in due season; Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest Thy hand, they are satiated with good (Ps. 104:24-28). Here in the internal sense by "seas" are signified spiritual things, by "things creeping" all things that live therefrom; the enjoyment is signified by giving them food in due season, and by their being satiated with good. In Ezekiel:
And it shall come to pass that every living soul that creepeth, in every place whither the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither, and they shall be healed, and everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh (Ezek. 47:9). Here are meant the waters of the New Jerusalem; these waters denote spiritual things from a celestial origin; "the living soul that creepeth" the affections of good, and the pleasures therefrom, both of the body and of the senses; that these live from the "waters" or from spiritual things from a celestial origin, is very evident. [7] That filthy pleasures too, which have their origin in what is man's own, thus in the foul cupidities thereof, are also called "creeping things" is evident in Ezekiel:
So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping thing and of beast, the abomination, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about (Ezek. 8:10). Here the "form of creeping thing" signifies unclean pleasures whose interiors are cupidities, and the interiors of these, hatreds, revenges, cruelties, and adulteries; such are the "creeping things" or delights of pleasures from the love of self and of the world, or from man's Own, which are their "idols" because they regard them as delightful, love them, have them for gods, and thus adore them. In the representative church, these creeping things, because they had such a vile signification, were likewise so unclean that it was not permitted even to touch them; and he who but touched them was unclean (as may be seen in Lev. 5:2; 11:31-33; 22:5-6).
Elliott(1983-1999) 994
994. That 'every creeping thing that is living' means all pleasures containing good, which is living, is clear from the meaning of 'creeping thing' dealt with already. The fact that 'creeping thing' here means all clean beasts and birds is clear to everyone, for it is said that they are 'given for food'. In their proper sense 'creeping things' comprise those which were the basest of all, mentioned by name in Lev 11:27, 29, 30, and were unclean. But in a broad sense, as here, they are the living creatures that have been given for food. They are called 'creeping things' here however because they mean pleasures. In the Word, human affections are meant by 'clean beasts', as has been s rated. But because no one perceives those affections except within his pleasures, so much so that he refers to them as pleasures, they are for this reason called 'creeping things' here.
[2] There are two kinds of pleasures - those of the will and those of the understanding In general there are the pleasures of possessing land and wealth; the pleasures of positions of honour and those of service to the state; the pleasures of conjugial love, and of love of infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of social intercourse; the pleasures of reading, writing, having knowledge, being wise, and many others. Then there are the pleasures of the senses; such as that of hearing, which in general is the pleasure taken in the sweet sounds of music and song; that of seeing, which in general is the pleasure taken in various things of beauty, which are manifold; that of smell, which is that taken in pleasant odours; that of taste, which is that taken in all the delicious and nourishing qualities of food and drink; and that of touch, which arises from further joyous sensations. Because these different kinds of pleasures are experienced in the body, they are called pleasures of the body. But no pleasure ever arises in the body unless it arises from, and is sustained by, some interior affection. Nor does any interior affection ever do so unless this in turn stems from a still more interior affection in which use and the end in view reside.
[3] These areas of affection, which are interior and properly ordered, starting with the inmost, are not discerned by anyone during his lifetime. The majority scarcely know that they even exist, let alone that they are the source of pleasures. Yet nothing can possibly arise in things that are external except from those that are interior and in order. Pleasures are simply ultimate effects. Interior things are not evident during life in the body except to those who reflect. It is in the next life that they first manifest themselves, and indeed in the order in which the Lord raises them up towards heaven. Interior affections together with their joys manifest themselves in the world of spirits; still more interior ones together with their delights do so in the heaven of angelic spirits; and yet more interior ones together with all their happiness in the heaven of angels. For there are three heavens, one interior to and more perfect and happy than the next, see 459 and 684. Such is the order in which these things unfold and enable themselves to be perceived in the next life. But so long as someone is living in the body, because his ideas and thought are constantly of bodily things, those that are interior are so to speak dormant because they are immersed in bodily things. All the same, to anyone who stops to reflect it becomes clear that the nature of all pleasures is such as are the affections ranged in order within them and that those pleasures derive their entire essence and character from those affections.
[4] Since the affections ranged in order within are experienced in outermost things, that is, in the body, as pleasures, they are therefore called 'creeping things'. But these are simply bodily feelings that are the products of things within, as may become clear to anyone merely from sight and its pleasures. If interior sight does not exist, the eye cannot possibly see. The sight of the eye comes from a more interior sight, and therefore also man has the gift of sight just as much after his life in the body as during it; indeed he sees far better than when he lived in the body, though now he does not see worldly and bodily things but things that exist in the next life. People who have been blind during their lifetime have the gift of sight in the next life just as much as those who have been sharp-sighted. This also is why when someone is asleep he sees in his dreams just as clearly as when awake. With my internal sight I have been allowed to see the things that exist in the next life more clearly than I see those which exist in the world. From these considerations it is clear that external sight comes from a more interior sight, which in turn comes from sight still more interior, and so on. The same applies to each one of the other senses and to every kind of pleasure.
[5] In other parts of the Word pleasures are in a similar way called 'creeping things'. In those places too a distinction is made between creeping things that are clean and those that are not, that is, between pleasures whose joys are living or heavenly, and pleasures whose joys are dead or hellish, as in Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,a and with the creeping things of the ground. Hosea 2:18.
Here 'wild animals of the field, birds of the air,a and creeping things' means the kind of things already mentioned that reside with man. This becomes clear for the reason that a new Church is the subject. In David,
Let heaven and earth praise Jehovah, the seas and everything creeping in them. Ps 69:34.
'Seas and creeping things in them' cannot praise Jehovah but the things with man which they mean and which are alive, and so from what is living within them. In the same author,
Praise Jehovah, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and winged bird. Ps 148:10.
Here the meaning is similar. That 'creeping things' is used here to mean nothing other than good affections in which pleasures originate is clear also from the fact that creeping things among them were unclean, as will be evident from the following:
[6] In the same author,
O Jehovah, the earth is full of Your possessions; this sea, great and wide, containing creeping things and innumerable; they all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them - they gather it up; You openest Your hand - they are satisfied with good. Ps 104:24, 15, 27, 28.
Here in the internal sense 'seas' means spiritual things, 'creeping things' all things that live from them. Fruitfulness is described by 'giving them food in due season and being satisfied with good'. In Ezekiel,
It will be that every living creatureb that creeps, in every place the [two] rivers come to, will live, and there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. Ezek 47:9.
This refers to the waters flowing out of the New Jerusalem. 'Waters' stands for spiritual things from a celestial origin. 'Living creature that creeps' stands for affections for good and the pleasures deriving from these affections, both those of the body and those of the senses. The fact that the latter get their life from 'the waters' which are spiritual things from a celestial origin is quite clear.
[7] Filthy pleasures as well, which have their origin in the proprium and so in its foul desires, are also called 'creeping things'. This is clear in Ezekiel,
And I went and saw, and behold, every form of creeping thing and of beast, an abomination; and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed on the wall round about. Ezek 8:10.
Here 'the form of a creeping thing' means filthy pleasures in which evil desires exist interiorly, and hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery within these. Such is the nature of 'creeping things', that is, the delights inherent in pleasures which originate in self-love and love of the world, that is, in the proprium. They are people's idols because they consider them delightful, love them, hold them as gods, and in so doing worship them. Because those creeping things meant filthy things such as these, in the representative Church also they were so unclean that no one was even allowed to touch them. And anyone who did merely touch them was rendered unclean, as is clear from Lev 5:2; 11:31-33; 22:5, 6.
Latin(1748-1756) 994
994. 'Omne reptile quod est vivum': quod significet omnes voluptates in quibus bonum, quod est 'vivum,' constat a significatione 'reptilis,' de qua prius: quod reptilia hic significent omnes bestias et aves mundas, constat unicuivis, nam dicitur quod data sint in cibum; reptilia in proprio sensu sunt quae omnium vilissima fuerunt quae nominantur Lev. xi 23, 29, 30, et fuerunt immunda; at in lato sensu, ut hic, sunt animalia quae in cibum data sunt; sed hic vocantur 'reptilia' quia significant voluptates; affectiones hominis significantur in Verbo per 'bestias mundas,' ut dictum; sed quia non percipiuntur quam in ejus voluptatibus, adeo ut homo nominet eas voluptates, ideo 'reptilia' hic vocantur. [2] Duplicis generis voluptates sunt, nempe voluntariorum et intellectualium; in genere sunt voluptates possessionum terrae, et opum; voluptates honorum, et officiorum in republica; voluptates amoris conjugialis, et amoris erga infantes et liberos; voluptates amicitiae, et conversationis cum sociis; voluptates legendi, scribendi, sciendi, sapiendi, et plures aliae; sunt etiam voluptates sensuum; ut auditus, in genere voluptas suavitatis cantus et musicae; visus, in genere est voluptas pulchritudinum diversarum, quae multiplices sunt; olfactus, est suavitatum odoris; gustus, est dulcedinum, et utilitatum ex cibis et potulentis; tactus, sunt amoenitatum plurium: haec genera voluptatum quia sentiantur in corpore, vocantur corporis; sed nusquam aliqua voluptas in corpore existit nisi existat et subsistat ex quadam affectione interiore; et nusquam aliqua affectio interior, nisi ab affectione adhuc interiore in qua est usus et finis; [3] haec quae ordine interiora sunt usque ab intimis, homo dum in corpore vivit, non sentit, et plerique vix norunt quod sint, minus quod voluptates sint inde; cum tamen in externis nusquam aliquid existere potest nisi ab interioribus ordine; sunt voluptates modo effectus ultimi; interiora non patent quamdiu vivunt in corpore nisi eis qui reflectunt; in altera vita se primum manifestant, et quidem ordine quo versus caelum a Domino elevantur; affectiones interiores cum suis jucundis se manifestant in mundo spirituum; adhuc interiores cum suis amoenis in caelo spirituum angelicorum; et adhuc interiores cum suis felicibus in caelo angelorum; nam tres caeli sunt, unum interius, perfectius et felicius altero; videatur n. 459 et 684; haec ita se ordine evolvunt et se sistunt percipienda in altera vita; sed quamdiu homo in corpore vivit, qUia continue in idea et cogitatione corporeorum est, interiora illa quasi sopita sunt quia immersa corporeis; sed usque reflectenti constare potest quod voluptates omnes tales sint quales affectiones ordine interiores, et quod ab iis omnem suam essentiam et qualitatem accipiant. [4] Quia affectiones ordine interiores sentiuntur in extremis, seu in corpore, ut voluptates, ideo vocantur 'reptilia'; sed sunt modo corporea, quae afficiuntur ab internis, sicut unicuivis constare potest solum ex visu et ejus voluptatibus; nisi interior visus sit, nusquam potest oculus videre; visus oculi existit a visu interiore, quare etiam homo post vitam corporis aeque videt, et melius multo quam cum vixit in corpore, verum non mundana et corporea, sed illa quae in altera vita; qui caeci fuerunt in vita corporis aeque ac qui lyncei fuerunt, in altera vita vident; quare etiam cum dormit homo, in somniis suis aeque videt sicut dum vigil; visu interno datum est mihi videre illa quae in altera vita, clarius quam video ea quae in mundo: ex quibus constat quod visus externus existat a visu interiore; et hic a visu adhuc interiore, et sic porro: similiter se habet cum omni alio sensu, et cum omni voluptate. [5] Voluptates similiter alibi in Verbo vocantur reptilia, et ibi distinguitur quoque inter reptilia munda et immunda, hoc est, inter voluptates quarum jucunda sunt viva seu caelestia, et inter voluptates quarum jucunda sunt mortua seu infernalia; ut apud Hosheam, Pangam illis foedus in die illo, cum fera agri et cum avi caelorum, et reptili humi, ii 18;ubi quod 'fera agri, avis caelorum et reptilia' significent talia quae dicta, apud hominem, constare potest quia de Ecclesia nova agitur: apud Davidem, Laudent Jehovam caeli et terra, maria et omne repens in iis, Ps. lxix 35 [A.V. 34];
'maria et repentia in iis' non laudare possunt Jehovam sed quae per illa significantur apud hominem quae viva sunt, ita ex vivis quae in illis; apud eundem, Laudate Jehovam fera et omnis bestia, reptile et avis{1} alae, Ps. cxlviii 10;
similiter. Quod per 'reptilia' hic non alia intelligantur quam bonae affectiones a quibus voluptates, constat quoque inde quia reptilia apud eos erant immunda, ut a sequentibus patebit: [6] apud eundem, Jehovah plena est terra possessionibus tuis; hoc mare magnum, et latum spatiis; ibi reptile et non numerus;... omnia Te spectant{2}, ut des cibum eorum in tempore suo; das illis, colligunt; aperis manum Tuam, saturantur bono, Ps. civ 24, 25, 27, 28;
ubi in sensu interno per 'maria' significantur spiritualia; per 'reptilia,' omnia quae inde vivunt; fruitio describitur per 'dare iis cibum in tempore suo, et saturari bono:' apud Ezechielem, Et erit, omnis anima viva quae reptat, ad omne quo venit{3} fluvii, vivet, et erit piscis multus valde, quia veniunt eo aquae hae, et sanantur, et vivet omne quo venit fluvius, xlvii 9;
ubi de aquis ex nova Hierosolyma; 'aquae' pro spiritualibus ex origine caelesti; 'anima viva quae reptat' pro affectionibus boni et voluptatibus inde, tam corporis quam sensualium; quae quod 'vivant ex aquis,' seu spiritualibus ab origine caelesti, manifeste constat. [7] Quod etiam voluptates spurcae quae originem trahunt a proprio, ita a foedis ejus cupiditatibus, quoque 'reptilia' dicantur, constat apud Ezechielem, Et ingressus et vidi, et ecce omnis forma reptilis et bestiae, abominatio; et omnia idola domus Israelis, depictum{4} super pariete circum circa, viii 10;
ubi 'forma reptilis' significat spurcas voluptates quarum interiora sunt cupiditates, et harum, odia, vindictae, crudelitates et adulteria; talia sunt 'reptilia' seu jucunda voluptatum, ex amore sui et mundi seu proprio, quae sunt idola eorum quia ea jucunda putant, amant, pro diis habent et sic adorant: quae reptilia quia significabant talia foeda, in Ecclesia repraesentativa etiam ita immunda fuerunt ut ne quidem ea tangere liceret, et qui solum tetigit, erat immundus, ut constat, Lev. v 2; xi 31-33; xxii 5, 6. @1 See note to 776.$ @2 T. changes to expectant, but Heb. [ ] (sabar) = 'to view, look for,' though its Piel form here ='to hope.'$$ @3 So Heb. which has its subject [ ] (nahalayim) in dual number.$ @4 In his Sch. S. notes depictum, qui visum seu visio.$