AE 453 - The Lord Alone Knows, "Jehovah of Hosts, A Joyous Dance; AE 455 - Bending the Knees, The Source of Falsifications, Speaking in Tongues

AE 453 [2, 6, 10]

. . . it is the Lord alone by whom all are arranged
and disposed according to their quality,
for He sees the quality of everyone,
thus what his nature is
and what will happen to him to eternity,
since the Lord's sight which is called
omniscience, foresight, and providence,
is eternal.
This is why no one except the Lord alone
knows the quality of good and truth with anyone.

. . . the Lord is called in the Word "Jehovah of Hosts,"
from truths and goods fighting against falsities and evils,
for "zebaoth" means hosts,
 and "hosts" signify the truths and goods
of heaven and the church;
and "to number" signifies to arrange these,
and "war" signifies spiritual combat.

Mount Zion shall be glad,
the daughters of Judah shall exult,
because of Thy judgments.
Encompass Zion and encircle her;
number her towers,
set your heart to the bulwarks,
mark you well her palaces;
that you may tell the generation following.
(Psalm 48:11-13).

"Mount Zion which shall be glad,"
means the celestial church,
in which are those who are in love to the Lord;
"the daughters of Judah who shall exult,"
mean the affections of good and truth
which those have who are of that church;
"because of Thy judgments"
means because of Divine truths
which they have from the Lord;
"encompass Zion and encircle her"
means to embrace the things belonging to that church
from love;
"to number her towers"
means to give thought to the higher or interior truths
of that church,
"to number"
meaning to see and give thought to their quality,
and "towers" meaning the higher or interior truths;
"set your heart to the bulwarks"
means to love the exterior truths
that defend that church against falsities;
"mark you well her palaces"
means to perceive the goods of truth,
for "houses" mean goods,
and "palaces" the more noble goods of truth;
"that you may tell the generation following"
means their permanence to eternity.

AE 455 [14, 16, 22]

. . . bending the knees means
acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and adoration
from spiritual good and delight in the natural . . ..

. . . all falsifications of the Word
spring from the pride of self-intelligence
and from the love of self.

To the apostles there appeared divided tongues
like as of fire, which sat on them.
And being filled with the Holy Spirit
they began to speak with other tongues.
(Acts 2:3, 4)

The "fire" signified the love of truth,
and "filled with the Holy Spirit"
meant the reception of Divine truth from the Lord;
and "new tongues"
meant confessions from the love of truth or zeal;
for, as was said above, all Divine miracles,
consequently all miracles mentioned in the Word,
involved and signified things spiritual and celestial,
that is, such things that pertain to heaven and the church:
by this
Divine miracles are distinguished
from miracles not Divine.
It is unnecessary to quote more passages from the Word
to show that "tongues"
do not mean speech in the ordinary sense,
but confessions from the truths of the church,
and in the contrary sense
confessions from the falsities of any religion.