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Arcana Coelestia #1413

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1413. 'To the land which I will cause you to see' means the spiritual and celestial things that were to be brought to view. This is clear from the meaning of 'a land', 662, 1066, and indeed from the meaning here of 'the land of Canaan' which represents the Lord's kingdom, as becomes clear from many places in the Word. For this reason the land of Canaan is called the Holy Land, and also the heavenly Canaan. And since it represented the Lord's kingdom, it also represented and meant the celestial and spiritual things that belong to the Lord's kingdom, and here those that belong to the Lord Himself.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2044

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2044. That 'a son eight days old' means any beginning whatever to purification is clear from the meaning of 'the eighth day'. 'A week', which consists of seven days, means the entire period of any state and length of time - of reformation, regeneration, or temptation, either of the individual in particular or of the Church in general. So the expression 'week' is used whether the period is one of a thousand years, or of a hundred, or of ten, or else one of days, hours, or minutes, and so on, as may become clear from the places quoted in Volume One, in 728. And because the eighth day is the first day of the following week it here means any new beginning whatever. From this it is also clear that just as circumcision itself was a representative of purification, so also was the time when it took place, namely the eighth day. Not that the uncircumcised on that day entered a purer state and on that account were made pure. Rather even as 'circumcision' was a sign meaning purification, so 'the eighth day' meant that such purification ought to go on all the time and so always to be taking place as if from a new beginning.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.