He Came as a Thief in the Night

The Gospels make repeated mention of an ethno-religious group known as the Samaritans. They practised Samaritanism, a religion which originated in and remains closely related to Judaism. It has a different understanding of the law as well as believes that worship should occur at Mount Gerizim rather than at Jerusalem. The fact that these Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerizim receives two mentions in <<John>> and <<Luke>>, respectively (John 4:20-21: Luke 9:53-55). The Samaritan woman and Jesus directly mention this fact, whereas in <<Luke>> the reference is more oblique: "And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:53). The inner meaning of Jerusalem, being the Church and its doctrines, underlines that Samaritans have different doctrines than the Jews (Lord 64), as does the "well" mentioned, which signifies "doctrine from the Word" (AE537:4). The incidence of face, whic...

In <<Revelation>> we encounter something called "the wrath of the lamb", which should immediately clue us in that something does not compute; that this image involves an interior meaning as distinct from its nonsensical letter ( 6:16). Obviously lambs are not known for their wrath, making this verse one of those which, in addition to communicating other meanings, also provides a clue for the alert as to the existence of a special category of verses. This category involves what the Writings call fallacies of the senses, such as the imputation to God of wrath or of casting someone into Hell. Let us consider another verse which follows exactly the same procedure. In <<Jeremiah>> we read, "Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" (7:19) Here the Lord specifically highlights the fallacy of the senses which imputes wrath to Himself, being also that lamb in <<Revel...