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Joshua 5

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1 And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that Jehovah had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until they had passed over, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

2 At that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make thee stone-knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

3 And Joshua made him stone-knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of Araloth.

4 And this is the cause why Joshua circumcised [them]: all the people that had come out of Egypt, the males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they came out of Egypt.

5 For all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness on the way, after they came out of Egypt, [them] had they not circumcised.

6 For the children of Israel had walked forty years in the wilderness, till the whole nation of men of war had perished who had come out of Egypt, who had not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah; to whom Jehovah had sworn that he would not show them the land which Jehovah had sworn unto their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

7 And their sons [whom] he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.

8 And it came to pass when the whole nation had finished being circumcised, that they abode in their place in the camp, till they were whole.

9 And Jehovah said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. And the name of the place was called Gilgal to This day.

10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and held the passover on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, in the plains of Jericho.

11 And they ate of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened loaves, and roasted [corn] on that same day.

12 And the manna ceased on the morrow, when they had eaten of the old corn of the land; and there was no more manna for the children of Israel; and they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan that year.

13 And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man before him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him, and said to him: Art thou for us, or for our enemies?

14 And he said, No; for [as] captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come. Then Joshua fell upon his face to the earth, and worshipped, and said to him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

15 And the captain of Jehovah's army said to Joshua, Loose thy sandal from off thy foot: for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

   

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Forty

  
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'Forty' represents completeness because 'four' and 'ten' both mean what is complete. Forty is the product of four and ten. Compound numbers have a meaning similar to the simple numbers which compose them, and all numbers in the Word represent spiritual realities.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 9437; Exodus 24:18)

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Arcana Coelestia # 9437

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9437. 'And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights' means the instructions given and influx in their completeness. This is clear from the meaning of 'forty' as completeness. 'Forty' means completeness because 'four' means that which is complete, 9103, as similarly does 'ten', 3107, 4638, and forty is the product of four multiplied by ten. For compound numbers have a meaning similar to the simple numbers of which they are the product, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973; and all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 575, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175. All this goes to explain why Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights. The fact that 'forty' here means the instructions given and the influx in their completeness is evident from Chapters 25-32 which come next, recording the instructions Moses received, that is, instructions regarding the ark, Aaron, the urim and thummim, and sacrifices. The reason why influx in its completeness is also meant is that at that time Moses began to represent the outward holiness of the Word, which acted as the intermediary between the Lord and the people, and mediation is accomplished by means of influx through that holiness into the representative existing among that people, 9419.

[2] It was because 'forty' represented completeness that Moses remained on Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights not only this time but also on another occasion, Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18, 25; 10:10. For the same reason the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness forty years until, as it says in Numbers 14:33-34; 32:13, all that generation had been consumed; Jonah told the Ninevites that their city would be overturned after forty days, Jonah 3:4; the prophet was commanded to lie on his right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, Ezekiel 4:6; it says regarding Egypt that it would be made completely desolate for forty years, after which they would be gathered from the peoples, Ezekiel 29:11-13; and the earth was rained on forty days and forty nights, so that it was inundated with the flood, Genesis 7:4, 12, 17. From all this it is evident why the wicked person was to receive forty blows, Deuteronomy 25:3, for 'forty blows' meant the punishment in its completeness. It is also evident what should be understood in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak when it says that no shield or spear was seen among the forty thousand of Israel, Judges 5:8, 'among the forty thousand of Israel' meaning among them all. It is in addition evident why the temple built by Solomon was forty cubits long, 1 Kings 6:17, as was the new temple, according to Ezekiel 41:2; for in the highest sense 'the temple' means the Lord, and in the internal sense heaven and the Church, so that 'forty' means completeness in respect of representation. And it has a like meaning in other places.

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