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Deuteronomy 8

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1 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not.

3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.

4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5 And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee.

6 And thou shalt keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;

9 a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.

10 And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11 Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

15 who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, [wherein were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end:

17 and [lest] thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou shalt forget Jehovah thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8487

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8487. 'And the sun grew hot, and it melted' means its disappearance gradually as craving increased. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun growing hot' as craving that is increasing, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'melting' as disappearing. The reason why 'the sun grew hot' means craving that was increasing is that 'the sun' in a good sense means heavenly love. It means this because the Lord is the Sun in the next life, the heat which comes from it being the good of love, and the light the truth of faith. (For more about that Sun - that it is the Lord and that heavenly love comes from it - see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696, 5084, 5047, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 7270.) Therefore 'the sun' in the contrary sense means self-love and love of the world, and the heat from the sun or its 'growing hot' in that sense means craving.

[2] The nature of the occurrence described here - that the good of truth, meant by 'the manna', disappeared gradually as craving increased, meant by its melting when the sun grew hot - must be explained briefly. The good of truth or spiritual good is indeed imparted to a member of the spiritual Church undergoing regeneration; but that good kills off every delight belonging to self-love and love of the world that has constituted his life previously, since they are contrary to each other. This being so, pure good of truth cannot remain for long with that person, but is modified by the Lord by means of the delights belonging to the two loves constituting his life previously. For if that good were not modified in this way it would hold no delight for him and so would be loathsome. This is what heavenly good is like initially with those undergoing regeneration. To the extent therefore that the delights of self-love and love of the world rise up, the good of heavenly love disappears, since, as has been stated, they are contrary to that good. So the reverse also occurs.

[3] This explains why in heaven there are changes of states, to which changes of times and seasons in the world correspond, 8426, and why such changes return those who are there to the delights that go with natural pleasures. For without such change of states the good of heavenly love would become so to speak dry and worthless. It is different when it is modified by natural delights, at once or in stages. This is why at first, when the children of Israel were given the man[na] every morning they were also given the selav in the evening; for 'the selav' means natural delight, and also the delight that goes with craving, 8452.

[4] But it should be recognized that the cravings to which those in heaven return when their evening comes are not cravings that are contrary to heavenly good, but ones that are to some extent in accord with it. For there are the delights of conferring benefits rather lavishly and getting some glory out of doing so, delights however which hold goodwill and the desire to serve others. Then there are the delights of opulence in home decor and personal dress, and very many other delights like these. Such delights are not ones that destroy the good of heavenly love, though they do nevertheless eclipse it. But eventually - depending on the degree the person's regeneration reaches - they become the lowest levels of heavenly good. At this point they are no longer spoken of as cravings but as delights. The fact that the good of heavenly love unless modified by such delights becomes so to speak dry, and after that is loathed as being so to speak worthless, is meant by the reaction of the children of Israel who, when they were no longer given the selav, called the manna dry food and worthless food. Their doing so is referred to in Moses as follows,

The rabble who were in the midst [of the people] had a strong craving, and so the children of Israel also wept repeatedly and said, Who will feed us with flesh? But now our soul is dry; there is nothing at all except the man[na] for our eyes [to look] at. Numbers 11:4, 6.

In the same author,

The people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you caused us to come up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor water; now our soul loathes this most worthless bread. Numbers 21:5.

And elsewhere in the same author,

Jehovah afflicted you, and caused you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor your fathers knew, in order that He might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but that man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 8:3.

[5] 'Manna' is similar in meaning to 'unleavened bread', which means good pure and free from falsities, 8058. That bread is for a similar reason called the bread of misery, 1 Deuteronomy 16:3.

From all this one may now see how to understand the disappearance of the good of truth gradually as craving increased, meant by the melting of the man[na] when the sun grew hot.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Here Swedenborg follows Sebastian Schmidt; in other places Swedenborg has the bread of affliction.

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