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)

8872. 'And which are in the waters under the earth' means which exist on the level of the bodily senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a likeness of the things which are in the waters under the earth', as those which come below the ones that exist in natural light. The fact that they exist on the level of the bodily senses is evident from the consecutive degrees of the light that shines in a person's understanding. In the first degree with him there are the things which exist in spiritual light; these are meant by 'the things which are in the heavens above'. In the second degree there are the things which exist in natural light; these are meant by 'the things which are on the earth beneath'. And in the third degree there are the things which exist on the level of the bodily senses; these are meant by 'the things which are in the waters under the earth'. What the level of the bodily senses is and the nature of it, see 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310-6316, 6318, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693. The things which come to be known most directly from the experience of the outward senses, and the delights accompanying such knowledge, are connected with the level of the bodily senses. With those who are good that knowledge and associated delights are good because they are used in good deeds; but with those who are bad they are bad because they are used in bad deeds. Misleading by means of such knowledge and its delights, as pretenders, hypocrites, and deceivers are accustomed to do, is 'making a likeness of such things as are below the waters under the earth.'

6183. 'And you are to carry me out of Egypt' means so that there may be a raising up from factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'carrying me' as a raising up (for when people pass from Egypt to the land of Canaan they are said 'to go up , which means a raising up, 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007; and the same is meant by 'carrying someone there out of Egypt'); and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge, dealt with already. A brief statement must be made to explain what a raising up from factual knowledge is. The regeneration of the natural is effected by an instilling of spiritual life from the Lord through the internal man into the known facts residing in the natural (this instilling has been the subject in the present chapter). But once a person has been regenerated thus far, and if he is the kind whose regeneration can go further, he is raised up from the exterior to the interior natural, which is subject to the direct control of the internal man. But if he is not that kind of person, his spiritual life exists in the exterior natural. The raising up is effected by a withdrawal from sensory impressions and factual knowledge and so by a raising up above them, and then the person comes into a state of interior thought and affection; thus interiorly he is raised into heaven. People who attain this state are in the internal Church, whereas those who attain only the first state are in the external Church. The latter are represented by 'Jacob', the former by 'Israel'. It was therefore so that Jacob might be Israel, and so that spiritual good present in the interior natural - thus the internal spiritual Church - may thereby be represented by him as Israel, that these words were uttered by Jacob.