Moths and rust, bats and moles: predicates of mind and heart in their classes

Matthew 6:19-20 - King James Version (KJV)

<19> Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: <20> But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

As we see, a flying creature and a red substance* have here been mentioned, moth and rust. 

"Be it known that all the flying things mentioned in the Word signify things of the intellect, and consequently truths, and in the opposite sense falsities (n. 40, 745, 776, 778, 866, 988, 3219, 5149); but flying things of the lowest sort, which are insects, signify truths and in the opposite sense falsities, which are more ignoble and obscure in proportion as they belong to the sensuous, for these things are in total obscurity and darkness, being next the body, and consequently near to earthly things, where heavenly things terminate, and are immersed in thick darkness (AC 7441).

*"red substance" -- red being love, context being in the reversed position (love of self and the world as opposed to love of God and the neighbor); 

When you see a flying creature in a negative context, this indicates falsity supportive of evil.

When you see a crawling creature in a negative context, this indicates evil supportive of falsity. The adulterous couple does not get along very well, but they support each other's evil well indeed.

Here we do not have a predicate of understanding as a flying creature alongside a predicate of will as a crawling creature but a splicing together of two predicate classes. The verse might have proceeded, for instance, "where moth and rodent cannot harm*; and while it did not, this would involve predicates of will and understanding of the same class.

Isaiah 2:20 - King James Version (KJV)

<20> In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

Here we have a predicate of understanding as a flying creature alongside a predicate of will as a crawling creature in the chiastic pairing of moles and bats; and the gold of love and the silver of truth are likewise of the same predicate class; when yet the verse might have gone "his idols of linen, and his idols of gold", which would have involved the filling out of the chiastic rubric with predicates of different classes.

With all the above in mind, let us conclude with the same extract as began our excursion: 

Matthew 6:19-20 - King James Version (KJV)

<19> Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: <20> But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

We are to lay up for ourselves increases in love of God and the neighbor and its supportive ideation while shunning evil and falsity as sins and acknowledging that no good and no truth come from ourselves; which failure to acknowledge would involve stealing from our Creator, who takes this matter very seriously and wants us to understand how important it is to being content and neighborly to make this acknowledgement. 

This chiastic architecture of the inner meaning of God's Word performs reliably and has its counterpart in your own hearts and minds. Use it well.

John 15:11 - King James Version (KJV)

<11> These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

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