In most cases, “mouth” in the Bible represents thought and logic, especially the kind of active, concrete thought that is connected with speech. The reason for this is pretty obvious, but it also holds when people, for instance, remove a stone from the mouth of a well, which according to Swedenborg represents gaining access to spiritual ideas.
The mouth is used for eating as well as speaking, of course. In those circumstances, it represents our first, most external perception of a new spiritual idea or desire. This also makes sense, mirroring the way tasting food in the mouth gives us an instant impression of the quality of the food.
Passages from Swedenborg
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 782
- And his mouth as the mouth of a lion. That this signifies reasonings from falsities destroying the truths of the church is evident from the signification of mouth, as denoting thought; concerning which see above (n. 580); but in the present case reasoning, of which we shall speak presently. And from the signification of a lion, as denoting infernal falsity as to power; concerning which also see above (n. 278) at the end. The reason is, that by a lion is signified Divine truth; therefore the Lord is also called a lion in the Word. Hence, in the opposite sense, a lion signifies infernal falsity as to the power of destroying Divine truth, and thus the Word; and this is done especially by the falsification and adulteration of it. And because a lion is the most powerful of all animals, and his power increases according to his appetite for devouring, and thus of seizing his prey and tearing it in pieces, therefore by a lion is also signified the desire to destroy the truths of the Word. Similar things are also represented by lions in the spiritual world, for lions also appear there; but their forms are appearances arising from the desire of those who have great power to adulterate and falsify the truths of the Word, whereby they are destroyed; and this power attends them according to the faculty of reasoning. Hence it is that by lion in the Word, in the opposite sense, is signified infernal falsity destroying the truths of the church.
Because these things are signified by a lion; and by the beast which was like a leopard, and which had feet as a bear, are signified reasonings confirming the separation of faith from life, by means of which the goods and truths of the Word are falsified and adulterated; therefore by the mouth of that beast, which was as the mouth of a lion, is signified reasoning from falsities destroying the truths of the Word.
By mouth, in the proper sense, is signified thought; but because a man speaks by the mouth, therefore by the mouth are signified the various things which flow from thought, as instruction, preaching, reasoning – in the present case, reasoning – because reasonings proceeding from the natural man are signified by the beast here treated of.
More, however, will be said upon this subject in the explanation of verses 5-7 of this chapter, where these words occur:
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given to him to make war forty and two months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”
From this it is evident what is the nature of their power and desire, and also of the ability they possess, by reasonings, of falsifying the truths and adulterating the goods of the Word.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 580
- For their power was in their mouth.* – That these words signify that sensual thoughts and reasonings thence are very powerful with them, is evident from the signification of their power, which denotes to be powerful, in this case, to be very powerful; and from the signification of the mouth, which denotes sensual thought and reasoning thence, for the mouth, and the things pertaining to it, signify such things as pertain to the understanding and to thought and speech thence, because these correspond to the mouth.
For all the organs
which designated by one word are called the mouth, as the larynx, the glottis, the throat, the tongue, the palate, the lips, are organs serviceable to the understanding for expression and utterance; for this reason the mouth signifies thought, and reasoning thence. But because the man’s thought is interior and exterior, or spiritual, natural, and sensual, therefore by the mouth is signified the thought of the man to whom the subject refers; in this case, sensual thought, because the subject treated of is the man who has become sensual through the falsities of evil. Sensual thought is the lowest of all, and is material, and corporeal. In such thought are all those who are in evils of life, and thence in falsities of doctrine, however learned and clever they may be supposed to be, and although they can arrange their falsities attractively, and clothe them in choice and eloquent language.
[2] That the mouth, from correspondence, thus in the spiritual sense, signifies thought, but in the natural sense, utterance, is evident from the following passages.
Thus in David:
“The mouth of the just meditateth wisdom” (Psalm xxxvii. 30).
The mouth here signifies thought from affection, for from that a man meditates wisdom, but not from the mouth and its speech.
In Luke, Jesus said:
“I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist” (xxi. 15).
Here the mouth signifies speech from the understanding, thus thought from which man speaks.
So in Matthew:
“Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouthcome forth out of the heart. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications (stupra), thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (xv. 11, 17-19).
Those things which enter into the mouth mean, in the sense of the letter, food of every kind, which, after having performed its use in the body, passes through the belly into the draught. But, in the spiritual sense, that which entereth into the mouth, means all things that enter into the thought from the memory, and also from the world, and these things also correspond to food. Those things that enter into the thought, and not at the same time into the will, do not defile a man, for the memory, and the thought therefrom, are to man only as it were the entrance to him, since the will is the man himself. Those things also which enter the thought and proceed no further, are cast out as it were through the belly into the draught. The belly, from correspondence, signifies the world of spirits, whence thoughts flow in with man, while the draught signifies hell.
[3] It must be observed, that man cannot be purified from evils, and the falsities thence, unless the unclean things that are in him come forth even into the thought, and are there seen, acknowledged, discerned, and rejected. From these things it is evident, that that which enters into the mouth, signifies, in the spiritual sense, that which enters into the thought from the memory and from the world; but that which comes out of the mouth, in the spiritual sense, signifies thought from the will, or from the love. For the heart, from which it comes out into the mouth, and from the mouth, signifies the will and love of man; and since the love and will constitute the whole man, for as is the love so is the man’s quality, therefore those things which proceed therefrom into themouth, and out of the mouth, make the man unclean. That these are evils of every kind, is evident from the things there enumerated. In this way is this saying of the Lord understood in the heavens. That the heart signifies the will and love, may be seen above (n. 167).
So in Isaiah:
“Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal from off the altar in his hand; and he touched my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; therefore thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin expiated” (vi. 6, 7).
By one of the seraphim touching the mouth and lips of the prophet with a live coal from off the altar, is signified his interior purification, which is that of the understanding and will, and inauguration thence into the function of teaching. The live coal from off the altar signifies the Divine Love, from which is all purification, and the mouth and lips signify thought and affection, or what is the same thing, the understanding and the will, these being purified, a man is removed from iniquity and sin; it is therefore said, “therefore thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin expiated.” That iniquity is not taken away by the application of a live coal to the mouth and lips, must be evident to every one. That the things pertaining to the mouth correspond to things intellectual, because from them the voice and speech proceed, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 8068, 9384), That “from themouth and from the heart,” denotes from the understanding and the will; in the same (n. 3313, 8068).
* The words “and in their tails,” which occur in the A.V. and R.V., are omitted by Swedenborg, who agrees with Schmidius. The words do not occur in Beza’s Greek Testament (A.D. 1598). In the translation of chapter ix. of the Apocalypse, in passage number 533, these words are left in, but the reader should supply [ ] to indicate that they are not in Swedenborg’s MS., although found in the versions.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 574
- And its mouth like the mouth of a lion. This symbolizes their reasonings based on falsities as though on truths.
A mouth symbolizes doctrine, preaching and discourse (no. 454), here reasoning based on doctrinal falsities, because the head containing the mouth symbolizes irrationality resulting from absolute falsities (no. 568). A lion symbolizes Divine truth in its power (nos. 241, 471), but here falsities in their power appearing as truth as a result of reasonings (no. 573). Consequently its mouthlike the mouth of a lion symbolizes reasonings based on falsities as though on truths.
That the symbolic meanings of a leopard, bear and lion are as stated can be seen from the similar beasts that Daniel saw, which are described as follows:
Four great beasts came up from the sea…. The first was like a lion, but had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. …a second beast (was) like a bear, and it raised itself up on one side, had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and was told, “Arise, devour much flesh!” …(the third beast was) like a leopard, which had on its back four wings, like those of a bird, and the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. …a fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, which had…iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet. (Daniel 7:3-7)
[2] These four beasts describe succeeding states of the church, from its first state to its last, until it was completely desolate of any good or truth of the Word prior to the Lord’s advent. The lion symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in the first state, by which the church was established. This is what is meant by its being lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man, and its being given a man’s heart.
The bear describes the church’s second state, a state in which the Word is indeed read, but not understood. The three ribs between its teeth symbolize appearances and misconceptions, and much flesh symbolizes the literal sense of the Word in its totality.
The church’s third state is described by the leopard, which symbolizes the Word falsified in respect to its truths. The four wings on its back, like those of a bird, symbolize affirmations of falsities.
The fourth and last state of the church is described by the beast which was dreadful and terrible, which symbolizes the destruction of any goodness or truth. That is why we are told that it broke in pieces and devoured, and trampled the residue with its feet.
Finally the Lord’s advent is described, and the destruction of the church at that time and the establishment of a new one, from verse 9 to the end of the chapter.
[3] Daniel saw these four beasts come up from the sea one after another, but John saw the aforementioned three beasts, also from the sea, united in a single body. That is because in Daniel they describe succeeding states of the church, whereas in the book of Revelation here they describe the last state, in which all the prior states are present concurrently. Moreover, because this beast was seen to have a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouthlike a lion, the leopard and bear mentioned in the one place and the other have the same symbolism. However, the mouth like that of a lion symbolizes reasonings based on falsities, because we are later told that the beast used its mouth to speak blasphemies (verses 5, 6), and because its heads symbolize irrationality resulting from absolute falsities.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6987
- ‘Who makes man’s mouth’ means utterance. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mouth’ as voice, dealt with above in 6985; and since it means voice it means utterance. What the specific meaning of ‘mouth’ is can be recognized only from correspondence. The mouth including the lips corresponds to inward speech that belongs to thought; and a person’s thought is active or passive. Active thought is the thought a person engages in when he is speaking and may be called vocal thought; but passive thought is the thought a person engages in when he is not speaking. The nature of the difference between the two becomes clear to anyone who stops to reflect. ‘Man’s mouth’ means active or vocal thought, and so means utterance.
[2] As regards active thought, meant by ‘mouth’, it should be recognized that such thought is also in its own kind of way a form of speaking, and that through the activity of this speech it activates the physical organs that correspond to it. Verbal expressions are seemingly present in thought, but that is an illusion; solely the meaning embodied in speech is present there. Man can have scarcely any idea of the nature of such meaning, for it is the speech that his spirit possesses, which is a universal kind of speech such as spirits in the next life employ. When this kind of speech passes into corresponding physical organs it gives rise to speech consisting of words, which is exceedingly different from the thought that produces it. That very great difference is plainly evident from the consideration that a person is able to envisage in a minute what will take him a long time to speak or write about. It would be different if that thought consisted of words such as speech in the mouth consists of. By virtue of the correspondence between speech intrinsically within thought and speech uttered by the mouth a person knows how to talk in the universal language as soon as he comes after death among spirits, and so can talk to any spirits, no matter what language they may have spoken in the world; and by the same virtue, as he talks to them there he is scarcely aware that he is not talking the same way he did in the world. Yet the words of which their speech consists are not words such as a person employs when he is in the body. Rather they are the ideas that have composed his thought, and one idea contains very much detail within it. Spirits are therefore able to declare in an instant what man can scarcely express in half an hour; and there is still more contained in the same idea, such as cannot find expression in physical speech.
[3] Yet angels in heaven speak in a different way from spirits. Angels in heaven possess speech consisting of intellectual concepts, which are called immaterial ideas by philosophers, whereas spirits possess speech consisting of mental pictures, which are called material ideas. Consequently one idea belonging to angels’ thought contains very much that spirits cannot fully describe even with very many lines of thought, in addition to much that they cannot begin to express. But when a spirit becomes an angel he uses angelic speech, just as a person uses spirits’ speech when he becomes a spirit after death, and for a similar reason. From all this one may now see what active thought is – that it is the speech a person’s spirit possesses.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 701
- 16:13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. This symbolizes something perceived from a theology founded on the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.
A mouth symbolizes doctrine, and preaching and discourse from it (nos. 454, 574). The dragon symbolizes an acknowledgment of three gods and of justification by faith alone, and so a destruction of the church (no. 537). The beast from the sea, which is the beast meant here, symbolizes people of the external church who are caught up in that acknowledgment and faith (nos. 567, 576, 577, 601). The false prophet symbolizes people of the internal church, who teach a theology founded on those doctrines. The false prophet has not been mentioned by that name before, but it is the beast from the earth that is called that now (see no. 594 above).
Now because all of this is symbolically meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (who is the beast from the earth here), it follows that John’s seeing something coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, symbolizes something perceived from a theology founded on the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8560
- ‘At the mouth of Jehovah’ means in the Lord’s providence. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the mouth of Jehovah’ as God’s truth in accordance with which they were led; for ‘the mouth of Jehovah’ here is taken to mean Divine utterance and being led in accordance with it, which is providence. God’s providence is different from any other kind of leading or guidance in that it constantly has in view what is eternal and is constantly leading to salvation. It does so through various states, sometimes joyful and at other times miserable; and though these are beyond the person’s comprehension they all nevertheless make a contribution towards his life into eternity. These things are meant by ‘travels at the mouthof Jehovah’, ‘Jehovah’ in the Word being the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2156 2329, 2447, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5663, 6281, 6303, 6905.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 619
- But it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.- That this signifies exterior delight, is evident from the signification of themouth, as denoting what is exterior, for the subject here treated of is the little book, and the eating of it up; by the little book is signified the Word, and by eating it up are signified perception and exploration, whence by the mouth, which first receives, is meant the external of the Word; and from the signification of “sweet as honey,” as denoting the delight of natural good. The reason why the external of the Word was sweet as honey, that is, thus delightful, was, that it is of such a nature as to be capable of application to any love whatever, and to any principle thence conceived; and these can be confirmed by it. The reason why the external of the Word, which is the sense of the letter is such, is that many things therein are written according to appearances with the natural man, and many appearances, if not interiorly understood, are fallacies, like the fallacies of the senses. Those therefore who love to live for the body and the world, use the external of the Word by means of those appearances to confirm evils of life and falsities of faith.
[2] This was especially the case with the sons of Jacob, who applied all things of the Word to themselves, and from the sense of the letter maintained that belief, which they also retain to this day, that they were chosen in preference to others, and were therefore a holy nation; they believed that their Jerusalem, and its temple, the ark, the altar, the sacrifices, with innumerable other things, were of themselves holy, not knowing or being willing to know, that the holiness of all those things consisted solely in the fact that they represented Divine things proceeding from the Lord, which are called celestial and spiritual, and are the holy things of heaven and the church, and that to think them to be holy of themselves, and not from the Divine things which they represented, was to falsify and adulterate the Word by applying it to themselves and to their own loves. The case was similar in regard to their faith concerning the Messiah, which was, that He would be king of the world, and raise them above all the nations and peoples in the whole world; not to mention other things which they gathered from the mere sense of the letter of the Word, which were to them as sweet as honey in the mouth. For this reason those things that are in the spiritual sense of the Word are undelightful, for in that sense are truths themselves, and these are not according to appearances; as for example, that that nation was not holy, but worse than every other nation, consequently that it was not a chosen nation; that the city of Jerusalem merely signifies the church of the Lord, and doctrine concerning Him and concerning the holy things of heaven and the church; and that the temple, the ark, the altar, and the sacrifices, represented the Lord and the holy things proceeding from Him, and that their holiness was from this and no other source. These are the truths stored up interiorly in the sense of the letter of the Word, that is, in its internal spiritual sense. These truths they deny, because, as stated, they falsified and adulterated the Word in the sense of the letter, and therefore they are undelightful to them like food that is bitter in the belly.
[3] It is said that the little book should be in the mouth sweet as honey, because honey signifies the delight of natural good. That honey signifies that delight is evident from the following passages.
Thus, in Ezekiel:
It was said to the prophet, “Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent unto me; and lo, a roll of a book was therein. And when he had spread it before me, it was written before and behind; and there were written thereon lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Then he said unto me, Son of man, eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. And he said unto me, Cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. And when I ate it, it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And then he said unto me, Go unto the house of Israel, and speak my words unto them” (ii. 8-10; iii. 1-4).
These words involve things similar to those in the Apocalypse. The command given to the prophet Ezekiel to eat the roll of the book, involves the same thing as the command to John to eat the little book, that is to say, exploration as to how the Divine Truth which is in the Word is as yet received, perceived, and appropriated by those who are of the church. For as the prophet Ezekiel and John represented the doctrine of truth and the Word, exploration was therefore made with them. The reason why this was done by eating a book is, that to eat signifies to perceive and thus to appropriate to oneself, as shown above; and when exploration was made as to the manner in which the Word was as yet perceived, it is then said to the prophet Ezekiel, that, he should go unto the house of Israel and speak the words of God unto them, also to the prophet John, that he must prophesy, that is, as yet teach the Word in the church; and this because in his mouth the book was perceived to be as sweet as honey, that is, because the Word as to the sense of the letter, is yet delightful, though only so for the reason that this sense can be used in favour of any principle of falsity whatever, and of any loves of evil whatever, and thus serve to confirm the delights of the natural life separated from the delights of the spiritual life, which, when separated, are merely delights of the loves of the body and of the world, whence arise principles of falsity from fallacies.