334. Even as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs, when shaken by a great wind, signifies by reasonings of the natural man separated from the spiritual. It is said to have this signification, when yet it is a comparison, because all comparisons in the Word are also correspondences, and in the spiritual sense they cohere with the subject treated of, as in the present instance; for "a fig," from correspondence signifies the natural good of man conjoined with his spiritual good, but here, in the opposite sense, the natural good of man separated from his spiritual good, which is not good; and as the natural man, when separated from the spiritual, perverts by reasonings the knowledges of good and truth, which are signified by the stars, it follows that this is signified by "a fig tree shaken by a great wind." That "wind" and "storm" signify reasoning is evident from many passages in the Word, but it is not necessary to adduce them here, because it is a comparison. The reason why "a fig tree" signifies the natural good of man is because every tree signifies something of the church in man, therefore also man with respect thereto. In confirmation are these passages:
All the host of heaven shall fall down, as a leaf falleth from the vine, and as it falleth from the fig tree (Isa. 34:4).
I will consume them, there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fall (Jer. 8:13).
All thy bulwarks shall be like fig trees with the first fruits; if they be shaken, they shall even fall upon the mouth of the eater (Nahum 3:12; besides other places; as Jer. 24:2-3, 5, 8; Isa. 38:21; Jer. 29:17-18; Hos. 2:12; 9:10; Joel 1:7, 12; Zech. 3:10; Matt. 21:18-21; 24:32-33; Mark 11:12-14, 20-24; Luke 6:44; 13:6-9).
In which places nothing else is meant by "a fig tree."