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Deuteronomy 2

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1 And we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as Jehovah had said unto me; and we went round mount Seir many days.

2 And Jehovah spoke to me, saying,

3 Ye have gone round this mountain long enough: turn you northward.

4 And command the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you; and ye shall be very guarded:

5 attack them not; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth; for I have given mount Seir as a possession unto Esau.

6 Ye shall buy of them food for money, that ye may eat; and water shall ye also buy of them for money, that ye may drink;

7 for Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand. He hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years hath Jehovah thy God been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

8 And we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the plain, by Elath, and by Ezion-geber, and we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

9 And Jehovah said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither engage with them in battle; for I will not give thee of their land a possession; for unto the children of Lot have I given Ar as a possession.

10 (The Emim dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim.

11 They also are reckoned as giants like the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.

12 And in Seir dwelt the Horites in times past; and the children of Esau dispossessed them, and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of their possession, which Jehovah gave to them.)

13 Now rise up, and pass over the torrent Zered. And we passed over the torrent Zered.

14 Now the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the torrent Zered, were thirty-eight years; until the whole generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah had sworn unto them.

15 Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

16 And it came to pass when all the men of war were consumed, having died off from among the people,

17 that Jehovah spoke to me, saying,

18 Thou art to pass this day over the border of Moab, [which is] Ar,

19 and come near over against the children of Ammon; thou shalt not distress them nor attack them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon a possession; for unto the children of Lot have I given it as a possession.

20 (That also is reckoned a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in time past, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim;

21 a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim; and Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead;

22 as he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, from before whom he destroyed the Horites; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead, even to this day.

23 And the Avvites who dwelt in the hamlets as far as Gazah -- the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

24 Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land: begin, take possession, and engage with him in battle.

25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples under the whole heaven; who will hear report of thee, and will tremble, and quake because of thee.

26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon the king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

27 Let me pass through thy land: by the highway alone will I go; I will neither turn to the right hand nor to the left.

28 Thou shalt sell me food for money that I may eat; and thou shalt give me water for money that I may drink; I will only pass through on my feet,

29 -- as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, -- until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah our God giveth us.

30 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Jehovah thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obdurate, that he might give him into thy hand, as it is this day.

31 And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I begin to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin, take possession, that thou mayest possess his land.

32 And Sihon came out against us for battle, he and all his people, to Jahaz.

33 But Jehovah our God gave him up before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and his whole people.

34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every city, men, and women, and little ones: we let none escape.

35 Only the cattle we took as booty for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

36 From Aroer, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the ravine even to Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: Jehovah our God delivered all before us.

37 Only thou didst not approach the land of the children of Ammon, the whole border of the river Jabbok, nor the cities of the mountain, nor to whatsoever Jehovah our God had forbidden us.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6756

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6756. 'That he went out to his brothers' means a joining to the Church's truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'brothers' as the truths of the Church, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'going out to them' as being joined to them. As regards 'brothers', sometimes the expression means the forms of good, at other times the truths of the Church. Forms of good are meant when the celestial Church is the subject, truths when the spiritual Church is the subject. The reason for this is that the celestial Church is governed by good, but the spiritual Church by truth; and in ancient times all who belonged to the Church called one another brothers. Those who belonged to the spiritual Church did indeed call one another brothers on the basis of good, 3803; yet there were differences in the ways that members of the internal Church did so. Those differences depended on the nature of the good, and so on truths since good derives its specific nature from truths. Later on when the Church fell away from good, and consequently from truth also, people ceased any more to call one another brothers as a result of spiritual connections and relationships, which are those of charity and faith, but solely as a result of natural connections and relationships, or else as a result of friendship. They also began to consider it beneath them to call someone brother who ranked less highly than themselves. The reason for this was that they attached little or no importance to close ties that sprang from a spiritual origin, but great and supreme importance to close ties that had a natural or social origin. The Church's truths are clearly called 'brothers', because the sons of Jacob represented the truths of the Church in their entirety, 5407, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512.

[2] The reason why in ancient times people were called 'brothers' as a result of spiritual relationships is that the new birth or regeneration established family connections and relationships on a level superior to that of those established by natural birth. A further reason is that those connections and relationships trace their origin back to the same Father, who is the Lord. This goes to explain why people who enter heaven after death no longer acknowledge any brother, or even their mother or father, if the relationship is not founded on goodness and truth. It is in accordance with these that new brotherly relationships are formed there. This then is why those who belonged to the Church in former times called one another brothers.

[3] The fact that the children of Israel referred to all who were descended from Jacob as brothers, but everyone else as companions, is evident from the following places:

In Isaiah,

I will embroil Egypt with Egypt, in order that a man may fight against brother, and a man against his companion. Isaiah 19:2.

In the same prophet,

A man helps his companion and says to his brother, Be firm. Isaiah 41:6.

In Jeremiah,

Take heed, a man of his companion, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother supplants wholly, and every companion utters slanders. Jeremiah 9:4.

[4] The fact that all who were descended from Jacob called themselves brothers may be seen in Isaiah,

Then they will bring all your brothers from all nations as an offering to Jehovah, on horses, in chariots, and in covered waggons. Isaiah 66:20.

In Moses,

You shall indeed set a king over you 1 whom Jehovah your God will choose, from among your brothers shall you set a king over you; 1 you may not place over you 1 a foreigner, who is not your 1 brother. Deuteronomy 17:15.

Even the children of Esau, because they were descended from Jacob, were called brothers by them, in Moses,

We passed through, away from our brothers the children of Esau dwelling in Seir. Deuteronomy 2:8.

[5] The reason why in ancient times those who belonged to the Church called one another brothers was, as stated above, that they acknowledged the Lord as their one and only Father and received a new soul and life from Him, on account of which the Lord says,

Refuse to be called Rabbi, for one is your Master, Christ; but all you are brothers. Matthew 23:8.

Since spiritual brotherhood has its origin in love, that is, one person is another's, and those who are governed by good abide in the Lord, and He abides in them, John 14:20, the Lord calls them brothers, in Matthew,

Jesus stretching out His hand over His disciples said, Behold My mother and My brothers; for whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother. Matthew 12:49-50.

In the same gospel,

Insofar as you did it to one of the least of My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:40.

He again calls the disciples brothers in Matthew 28:10; John 20:17. 'Disciples' is used in the representative sense to mean all who are guided by the truths of faith and governed by the good of charity.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin means them and their but the Hebrew means you and your, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.

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