15. In order that it may be seen that the prophetic parts of the Word of the Old Testament are, in many places, not intelligible without the spiritual sense, I would adduce a few passages only; as in Isaiah:
Then shall Jehovah stir up a scourge against Assyria, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as His rod was upon the sea so shall He lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck ... He shall come to Aiath, he shall pass to Migron; at Michmash he shall give orders to his arms (A.V. he hath laid up his carriages). They shall pass over Mebarah; Gibeah shall be a lodging for us; Ramah shall be afraid; Gibeah of Saul shall flee. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; give ear, O Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim shall gather themselves together ... As yet shall he remain at Nob that day? He shall shake his hand, the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem ... Jehovah shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. Isa. x 26-34.
In this passage only names occur from which nothing can be drawn but by the aid of the spiritual sense; and in this sense all names in the Word signify things of heaven and the Church. From this sense it is gathered that by these things is signified that the whole Church was devastated by natural knowledge (scientifica) perverting all truth and confirming falsity.
[2] Elsewhere in the same Prophet:
In that day ... the envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea (A.V. the west): they shall spoil the children of the east together: Edom and Moab shall be the laying on (emissio) of their hand. Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with the vehemence of His spirit shall He shake His hand over the river; and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make it a way for men to go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria. Isa. xi [11], 13-16.
Here also no one would see anything Divine unless he knows what is signified by each of the names mentioned; although the subject treated of is the Coming of the Lord and what shall then come to pass, as is clearly manifest from verses 1-10 of the same chapter. Who then, without the aid of the spiritual sense, would see that by these in their order is signified that they who are in falsities from ignorance, and have not suffered themselves to be led astray by evils, will approach the Lord; and that the Church will then understand the Word; and that falsities will then no longer harm them?
[3] The case is similar in those passages where names do not occur, as in Ezekiel:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovih; Thou son of man, Speak unto the fowl of every wing, and to every beast of the field. Assemble yourselves and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth ... Ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horse and chariot, with the mighty man and with every man of war ... Thus I will set my glory among the nations. Ezek. xxxix 17-21. He who does not know from the spiritual sense what is signified by a sacrifice, by flesh, and blood, and what by a horse, a chariot, a mighty man, and a man of war, would not know otherwise than that such things were to be eaten and drunk. The spiritual sense, however, teaches that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the sacrifice which the Lord Jehovih will give upon the mountains of Israel, signifies appropriating to oneself Divine good and Divine truth from the Word. For the subject treated of here is the calling together of all to the Lord's kingdom, and in particular, the establishment by the Lord of the Church among the nations. Who cannot see that flesh is not meant by flesh, nor blood by blood? as where it is said that they should drink blood till they should be drunken, and that they should be filled with horse and chariot, the mighty man and every man of war? So likewise in a thousand other places in the Prophets.