2761. The fact that a white horse stands for understanding the Word's inner depths (or to put it another way, its inner meaning) can be seen from the symbolism of a horse as something related to the intellect. The prophetic parts of the Word often mention a horse or rider, but so far no one has recognized that a horse symbolizes something connected with the intellect, while a rider symbolizes an intelligent person. In the prophecy of Jacob (who by then was Israel) concerning Dan, for example:

Dan is a snake on the path, a darting serpent on the track, biting the horse's heels, and its rider will fall off behind. Your salvation I await, Jehovah. (Genesis 49:17, 18)

A snake means a person who makes deductions about divine secrets on the basis of sensory and secular knowledge (see §195). A path or track means truth (627, 2333). A heel means whatever is lowest on the earthly level (259). A horse means understanding the Word, while a rider means a teacher. It is clear, then, what the prophecy means: people who reason about religious truth on the basis of sensory and secular knowledge cling to nothing more than the very lowest levels of the physical world. As a result they believe nothing, which is "falling off the back," and that is why the passage adds, "Your salvation I await, Jehovah." [2] In Habakkuk:

God, you ride on your horses; your chariots are salvation. You made your horses tread in the sea. (Habakkuk 3:8, 15)

The horses stand for divine truth in the Word; the chariots, for teachings drawn from it; and the sea, for religious knowledge (§§28, 2120). All of these have to do with an understanding of the Word, given by God, so it says, "You made your horses tread in the sea." Here God is described as having horses, as he was above in Revelation, but he cannot be said to have horses unless they symbolize something like this. [3] In David:

Sing to God; make music to his name! Exalt the one riding on the clouds by his name, Jah! (Psalms 68:4)

Riding on clouds stands for understanding the depths, or inner meaning, of the Word. A cloud is the literal meaning of the Word, which holds an inner meaning. (See the preface to Genesis 18, which explains what it means to say that the Lord will come in the clouds of the heavens with strength and glory.) [4] In the same author:

Jehovah bent the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet, and he rode upon a guardian being. (Psalms 18:9, 10)

The darkness here takes the place of the clouds. Riding on the guardian being stands for the Lord's providence, which holds us back from prying into the religious mysteries in the Word on our own (§308). In Zechariah:

On that day, "Holiness to Jehovah" will be on the horse bells. (Zechariah 14:20)

The horse bells stand for understanding the Word's spiritual contents, which are holy. [5] In Jeremiah:

Through the gates of this city will enter monarchs and chieftains, sitting on David's throne, riding in a chariot and on horses, they and their chieftains, [each] a man of Judah, and residents of Jerusalem; and this city will be inhabited forever. (Jeremiah 17:25, 26; 22:4)

The city Jerusalem stands for the Lord's spiritual kingdom and church. Monarchs stand for truth (§§1672, 2015, 2069); chieftains, for the main things truth commands of us (1482, 2089). David stands for the Lord (1888). A man of Judah and residents of Jerusalem stand for people committed to doing good out of love, charity, and faith (2268, 2451, 2712). Riding a chariot and horses, then, stands for learning true theology from a deep understanding of the Word. [6] In Isaiah:

Then you will take pleasure in Jehovah, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth and cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob. (Isaiah 58:14)

Riding on the heights of the earth stands for intelligence. In David:

A love song: Strap your sword on your thigh, mighty man ([it is] your glory and finery), and in your finery advance; ride on the word of truth and gentle justice, and your right hand will teach you marvelous things. (Psalms 45: heading, 3, 4)

Riding on the word of truth plainly stands for an intelligent grasp of truth, while riding on the word of gentle justice stands for a wise understanding of goodness. [7] In Zechariah:

"On that day," says Jehovah, "I will strike every horse with bewilderment, and the one riding it, with insanity. And on the house of Judah I will open my eyes, and every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness." (Zechariah 12:4, 5)

Here too a horse clearly stands for the intellect, which was to be struck with bewilderment and blindness, while the rider stands for an intelligent person, who was to be struck with insanity. In Hosea:

Remove all wickedness and accept the good, and we will repay you with the young oxen of our lips. Assyria will not save us; on a horse we will not ride; and we will no longer say "Our God!" to the work of our hands. (Hosea 14:2, 3)

Assyria stands for rationalization (§§119, 1186). The horse stands for intellectual arrogance.

Horses come up in many other places, too.

1186. The fact that Asshur is skewed reasoning can be seen from the symbolism of Asshur, or Assyria, in the Word, where it is always taken to mean matters of reason, in both senses — both rational thinking and rationalizations. (Reason and rational thinking, strictly speaking, mean valid mental processes, while rationalizing and rationalizations mean dishonest ones.) Because Asshur symbolizes both reason and rationalization, it is usually connected with Egypt, which symbolizes secular knowledge, since reason and rationalization are based on such knowledge.

Asshur's symbolism as rationalization can be seen in Isaiah:

Doom to Asshur, the rod of my anger! He thinks what is not right, and his heart contemplates what is not right. He has said, "In the strength of my hand have I done this, and in my wisdom, because I have understanding." (Isaiah 10:5, 7, 13)

Asshur stands for rationalization, which is why it is said of him that he thinks and contemplates what is not right and claims that he does so through his wisdom, because he has understanding.

[2] In Ezekiel:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, whored in Egypt. In their youthful years they whored. One whored and doted on her lovers — the neighboring Asshur [Assyrians], ¹ dressed in blue-violet; leaders and rulers; desirable young men, all of them; riders riding horses. To her came the sons of Babylon, and they defiled her through their whorings. (Ezekiel 23:2-3, 5-6, 17)

Egypt in this passage stands for secular facts, Asshur for rationalization, and the sons of Babylon for false ideas that develop out of corrupt desires.

[3] In the same author:

Jerusalem, you whored with the sons of Egypt; you whored with the sons of Assyria. You multiplied your whoredom in the land of Canaan all the way to Chaldea. (Ezekiel 16:26, 28-29)

Egypt again stands for secular facts and Assyria for rationalization. To engage in twisted reasoning about spiritual and heavenly concerns on the basis of facts is called whoredom, both here and elsewhere in the Word. Anyone can see that it does not refer to whoredom with Egyptians and Assyrians.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Israel, why should you go to Egypt to drink the waters of the Sihor, and why should you go to Assyria to drink the waters of the river [Euphrates]? ² (Jeremiah 2:18, 36)

Once again Egypt stands for facts and Assyria for flawed reasoning. In the same author:

A strayed sheep is Israel; lions drove him off. First to eat him was the king of Assyria, and this later one, the king of Babylon, took his bones. (Jeremiah 50:17-18)

Assyria stands for flawed reasoning on spiritual subjects.

[5] In Micah:

This will be peace, when Assyria comes into our land and when he tramples our palaces. And we will set up over him seven shepherds and eight chiefs of the people, and they will graze on the land of Assyria with a sword and on the land of Nimrod in its gates. And one will deliver [us] from Assyria, when he comes into our land and when he tramples our border. (Micah 5:5-6)

This is about Israel (the spiritual church), which it says that Assyria (sophistic reasoning) would not invade. ³ The land of Nimrod stands for the kind of worship that Nimrod symbolizes, which contains evil and falsity at a deep level.

[6] Assyria's other symbolism in the Word — as true reason in a member of the church, which allows the person to see truth and goodness clearly — appears in Hosea:

They will quake like a bird from Egypt and like a dove from the land of Assyria. (Hosea 11:11)

In this passage, Egypt stands for factual learning and Assyria for reason in a person who is part of the church. A bird is factual knowledge that we really understand, while a pigeon, or dove, is goodness on a rational plane, as shown earlier [§§40, 745, 776-777, 870, 891].

[7] In Isaiah:

On that day there will be a path from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve Assyria. On that day Israel will be third to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the earth, whom Jehovah Sabaoth will bless, saying, "A blessing on my people Egypt and on the work of my hands, Assyria, and on my inheritance, Israel!" (Isaiah 19:23-24, 25)

The subject here is the spiritual church, which is Israel. Rationality in this church is Assyria, and the secular knowledge in it is Egypt. These three make up the intellectual abilities of people in the spiritual church, and they come in that order.

Assyria, or Asshur, symbolizes either true or false rationality in other places where it comes up too, as for instance in Isaiah 20:1-end; 23:13; 27:13; 30:31; 31:8; 36; 37; 52:4; Ezekiel 27:23-24; 31:3-end; Micah 7:12; Zephaniah 2:13; Zechariah 10:11; Psalms 83:8. It stands for rationalization in Hosea 5:13; 7:11; 10:6; 11:5; 12:1; 14:3; and likewise in Zechariah 10:10, concerning Ephraim, ⁴ which symbolizes a property of the intellect — in this case, an intellect that has been perverted.

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