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Arcana Coelestia #9373

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9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #5576

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5576. And the famine became grievous. That this signifies desolation from the want of spiritual things, is evident from the signification of “famine,” as being a lack of the knowledges of good and truth (see n. 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300), and hence desolation (n. 5360, 5376, 5415); and because desolation comes from a scarcity and consequent want of spiritual things, this also is signified by “famine.”

[2] Hunger in the spiritual world or in heaven is not hunger for food, because the angels do not feed upon material food, which is for the body that man carries about in the world; but it is hunger for such food as nourishes their minds. This food, which is called spiritual food, is to understand truth and be wise in good; and wonderful to say the angels are nourished by this food; which has been made evident to me from the fact that after little children who die have been instructed in heaven in the truths of intelligence and the goods of wisdom, they no longer appear as little children, but as adults, and this according to their increase in good and truth; and also from the fact that the angels continually long for the things of intelligence and wisdom, and that when they are in the evening, that is, in a state in which these things fail, they are so far in what is relatively not happiness, and they then hunger and long for nothing more than that the morning may dawn for them afresh, and that they may return into their life of happiness, which is of intelligence and wisdom.

[3] That to understand truth and to will good is spiritual food, may also appear to everyone who reflects that when anyone is enjoying material food for the nourishment of the body, his food is more nourishing if he is at the same time in cheerful spirits and conversing on agreeable topics, which is a sign that there is a correspondence between spiritual food for the soul and material food for the body. And the same is further evident from the fact that when one who longs to imbue his mind with the things of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom is kept from them, he begins to be saddened and distressed, and like one who is famished longs to return to his spiritual food, and thereby to the nourishment of his soul.

[4] That there is spiritual food which nourishes the soul as material food nourishes the body may also be seen from the Word, as in Moses:

Man doth not live by bread only; but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).

The “utterance of the mouth of Jehovah” is in general the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord, thus all truth of wisdom, specifically the Word, in which and from which are the things of wisdom. And in John:

Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

That this meat is the truth of wisdom which proceeds from the Lord is evident.

[5] From this too it may be known what is meant by these words of the Lord in the same chapter:

My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed (John 6:55);

namely, that the Lord’s “flesh” is Divine good (n. 3813), and His “blood” Divine truth (n. 4735); for when the Lord made His whole Human Divine, then His flesh was nothing else than Divine good, and His blood Divine truth. It is evident that in the Divine nothing material is to be understood; and therefore “food” in the supreme sense, that is, when predicated of the Lord, is the good of the Divine love for saving the human race. This food is what is meant by the Lord’s words in John:

Jesus said to the disciples, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to perfect His work (John 4:32, 34);

“to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to perfect His work” is to save the human race; the Divine from which this is done is the Divine love. From all this it is now plain what is meant in the spiritual sense by “famine.”

  
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Arcana Coelestia #4728

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4728. And cast him into one of the pits. That this signifies among falsities, is evident from the signification of “pits,” as being falsities. That “pits” are falsities, is because men who have been in principles of falsity are after death kept awhile under the lower earth, until falsities have been removed from them, and as it were rejected to the sides. These places are called “pits,” and those who go into them are such as must be in vastation (n. 1106-1113, 2699, 2701, 2704). It is for this reason that by “pits” in the abstract sense, are signified falsities. The lower earth is next under the feet and the region round about for a short distance. Here are most persons after death, before they are taken up into heaven. This earth is also frequently mentioned in the Word. Beneath it are the places of vastation, which are called “pits,” and below them and round about for a considerable extent, are hells.

[2] From this it is in some measure plain what is meant by “hell,” what by the “lower earth,” and what by a “pit,” when mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Thou hast been brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Thou hast been cast forth out of thy grave like an abominable shoot, the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit (Isaiah 14:15, 19);

speaking of the king of Babylon, by whom is represented the profanation of truth; for a “king” is truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581), and “Babylon” profanation (n. 1182, 1326). “Hell” is where the damned are, and their damnation is compared to an abominable shoot, and to the raiment of those that are slain and thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit. The “raiment of those that are slain” is truth profaned; “those thrust through with the sword” are they in whom truth has been extinguished; the “pit” is falsity which must be vastated; “stones” are the borders, whence also they are called the “sides,” for round about the pits are hells. (That “raiment” is truth, see above, n. 2576; that the “raiment of those that are slain” is truth profaned, for the “blood” by which it is stained is what is profane, n. 1003; and that “those thrust through with a sword” are they in whom truth has been extinguished, n. 4503). From this it is also plain that without the internal sense it could not possibly be known what is here meant.

[3] So too in Ezekiel:

When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of an age, and shall make thee to dwell in the earth of the lower regions, in desolations from an age, that thou dwell not with them that go down into the pit; then will I set adornment in the land of the living (Ezekiel 26:20);

“they that descend into the pit” denote those who are sent into vastation; “not to dwell with them that go down into the pit” means to be delivered from falsities.

[4] Again:

That none of all the trees of the waters exalt themselves for their stature, neither send their branch among the tangled boughs, nor stand over them for their height, all that drink water; they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to them that go down into the pit. I will make the nations to shake at the sound of his ruin, when I make him go down into hell with them that go down into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and chief of Lebanon, all that drink waters, shall be comforted in the lower earth (Ezekiel 31:14, 16);

this is said of Egypt, by which is signified the knowledge that of itself enters into the mysteries of faith, that is, those who so enter (n. 1164, 1165, 1186). From what has been said above it is clear what is signified by “hell,” by the “pit,” and by the “lower earth,” which are here mentioned by the prophet; nor does it appear except from the internal sense what is signified by the “trees of the waters,” the “trees of Eden,” the “branch sent among the tangled boughs,” the “choice and chief of Lebanon,” and “all that drink waters.”

[5] Again:

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cause her to go down, even her, and the daughters of the august nations, unto the earth of the lower regions, with them that go down into the pit. Asshur is there, whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, all slain by the sword (Ezekiel 32:18, 22-23).

The signification of which may be seen from what has been explained above.

In David:

O Jehovah, Thou hast brought up my soul from hell; Thou hast kept me alive, from among them that go down into the pit (Psalms 30:3).

Again:

I am accounted with them that go down into the pit; I am accounted as a man that hath no strength. Thou hast set me in a pit of the lower regions, in darkness, in the depths (Psalms 88:4, 6).

In Jonah:

I went down to the cuttings off of the mountains; the bars of the earth were upon me forever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from the pit (Jonah 2:6); where the subject treated of is the Lord’s temptations, and deliverance from them. The “cuttings off of the mountains” are where the most damned are, the dark clouds which appear about them being the “mountains.”

[6] That a “pit” is the vastation of falsity, and in the abstract sense falsity, is still more evident in Isaiah:

They shall be gathered with a gathering as the bound to the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; yet after a multitude of days shall they be visited (Isaiah 24:22).

Again:

Where is the anger of him that causeth straitness? He that leadeth forth shall hasten to open; and he shall not die at the pit, neither shall bread fail (Isaiah 51:13-14).

In Ezekiel:

Behold I bring strangers upon thee, the violent of the nations, who shall draw their swords upon the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall profane thy brightness. They shall bring thee down into the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are pierced in the heart of the seas (Ezekiel 28:7-8);

speaking of the prince of Tyre, by whom are signified those who are in principles of falsity.

[7] In Zechariah:

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; sound, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just, wretched, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of she-asses. By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth thy bound out of the pit wherein is no water (Zech. 9:9, 11); where the “pit wherein is no water” denotes falsity in which there is nothing true; as also in what follows it is said that they cast Joseph into the pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it (Genesis 37:24).

In David:

Unto thee O Jehovah will I cry, my Rock be not Thou silent unto me, lest if Thou be silent unto me I seem like them that go down into the pit (Psalms 28:1).

Again:

Jehovah brought me up also out of a pit of vastation, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock (Psalms 40:2).

Let not the billow of waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me (Psalms 69:15).

[8] Again:

He sent His word, and healed them, and rescued them from their pits (Psalms 107:20);

“from their pits” denoting from falsities. Again:

Make haste, answer me, O Jehovah; my spirit is consumed, hide not Thy faces from me, lest I become like them that go down into the pit (Psalms 143:7).

As a “pit” signifies falsity, and the “blind” signify those who are in falsities (n. 2383), the Lord therefore says,

Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind, for if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39).

Something similar to what was represented by Joseph was also represented by Jeremiah the prophet, concerning which he says:

They took Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit that was in the court of the guard; and they let down Jeremiah with cords, into the pit where was no water (Jeremiah 38:6).

That is, they rejected Divine truths among falsities in which was nothing of truth.

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