22. 20. (The Lord is described as to the Word appearing above the expanse of the cherubim (Ezekiel 1:26-28), and is called the Lord Jehovih (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:11, 27; 4:14; 5:7-8, 11; 6:3, 11; 7:2, 5; 8:1 seq.). Then he is called the God of Israel (8:4, especially 11:22-23).

I will raise up one shepherd over them, who shall feed them, My servant David. I, Jehovah, will be a God to them, and My servant David a prince in the midst of them. Then will I destroy for them the covenant of peace (Ezekiel 34:23-25).

My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd. And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set My sanctuary in the midst of them to eternity. Thus shall My habitation be with them; and I will be God to them, moreover they shall be a people to Me (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Throughout the chapter the regeneration of man in the New Church is treated of, for this is meant by the dry bones, and by the two sticks which were one.

In that day will I make a covenant with the beast of the field and with the bird of the heavens, and I will break war from the earth, and make them to lie down securely. And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever, and I will betroth thee unto Me in justice and in judgment and in mercy, and I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall be in that day that I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth (Hosea 2:18-21).

I have consecrated their gain, and their wealth unto the Lord of the whole earth (Micah 4:13).

(Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou art little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me, that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity. Then shall he stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the excellency of the name of his God; and they shall abide; for now shall he increase unto the ends of the earth (Micah 5:2-4). He will give them until the time, until the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the sons of Israel (verse 2). Concerning the New Church (4:5, seq.).)

8098. 'And God led the people around by the way of the wilderness' means that under Divine guidance they were led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'God led' as providence, as above in 8093, or what amounts to the same thing, as Divine guidance; and from the meaning of 'by the way of the wilderness' as a way that leads people to undergo temptations and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith since temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. 'The wilderness' means a place which is uninhabited and uncultivated, dealt with in 2708, in the spiritual sense a situation in which there is no good or truth, and also a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good. That being so, 'the wilderness' means the state of those with whom the two are to be bonded together; but since the bonding is not accomplished except by means of temptations, these also are meant. Temptations are meant when the number forty is included, which can be forty years, forty months, or forty days. For 'forty' means temptations and their duration, however long that may be, 730, 862, 2272, 2273. These things are meant by the travels of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years; the temptations they underwent are also described. The fact that they were led into the wilderness to undergo temptations and in so doing to represent them is evident from the following words in Moses,

You shall remember all the way in which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order that He might afflict you, in order that He might tempt you, in order that He might know what is in your heart. He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order that He might afflict you, in order that He might tempt you, to do good to you in your descendants. Deuteronomy 8:2, 16.

Because 'forty' meant temptations and their durations, and 'the wilderness' meant the states of people undergoing them, the Lord too, when He was tempted, went out into the wilderness and was there for forty days, Matthew 4:1-2, and following verses; Luke 4:1-2, and following verses; Mark 1:12-13.