where also it is evident that when man averts himself from the face of Jehovah, he "cleaves by his belly to the dust and to the earth." In Jonah likewise, by the "belly" of the great fish, into which he was cast, are signified the lower parts of the earth, as is evident from his prophecy:—
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice (Jonah ii. 2),
where "hell" denotes the lower earth.
248. And therefore when man had regard to heavenly things, he was said to "walk erect," and to "look upward," or "forward," which means the same; but when he had regard to corporeal and earthly things, he was said to be "bowed to the earth," and to "look downward" or "backward." As in Leviticus:—
I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bonds of your yoke, and made you to go erect (xxvi. 13),
In Micah:—
Ye shall not thence remove your necks, neither shall ye go erect (ii. 3).
In Jeremiah:—
Jerusalem hath sinned a sin, therefore they despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she groaned and hath turned backward. From on high hath He sent fire into my bones, and hath made me to return backward; He hath made me desolate (Lam. i. 8, 13).
And in Isaiah:—
Jehovah thy Redeemer, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh foolish their knowledge (xliv. 24, 25).
249. That to "eat dust all the days of its life" signifies that their sensuous part became such that it could not live from anything except that which is of the body and the earth, that is to say, that it became infernal, is evident also from the signification of "dust" in the Word; as in Micah:—
Feed thy people as in the days of eternity. The nations shall see and shall blush at all their might; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall be shaken out of their holds like creeping things (serpentes) of the earth (vii. 14, 16, 17).
The "days of eternity," mean the Most Ancient Church; the "nations," those who trust in their Own, of whom it is predi-
