At face value, the Ten Commandments can seem intense and unforgiving. But Emanuel Swedenborg’s understanding of the internal sense of the Bible—spiritual meanings that lie beneath the literal words—can give us a new perspective on these familiar rules.

In this episode of their Swedenborg and Life web series, hosts Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose study the inner meaning of the first commandment.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 950; Arcana Coelestia 8864, 8865, 8868, 8869, 8875, 8878, 8879, 8880, 8881)

1565. That 'flocks and herds' are the possessions of the external man becomes clear from the meaning of 'flocks and herds' as goods, dealt with in 343, 415. Here however since it is said they belonged to Lot, who was being separated from Abram, they mean those things that were to be separated, thus things that were not good are meant. That 'flocks and herds' also means things that are not good becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Zephaniah,

I will cause destruction in you, that you will be without inhabitant; and the region of the sea will be dwellings dug out [for shepherds] and folds for the flock. Zephaniah 2:5-6.

In Jeremiah,

I will disperse in you the shepherd and the flock, and I will disperse in you the farmer and his team. Jeremiah 51:23.

In the same prophet,

Go up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. Their tents and their flocks shall they take. Jeremiah 49:28-29.