Arcana Coelestia # 8753
8753. 'They came to the wilderness of Sinai' means, they entered a state of good in which the truths of faith were to be implanted. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wilderness of Sinai' as a state of good in which the truths of faith are to be implanted. Here 'wilderness' is good in which truths have not as yet been implanted, and 'Sinai' is actual truths. For 'wilderness' has a number of meanings, 3900, in general what is uninhabited and uncultivated, 2708, so that in the spiritual sense it means good which as yet has no truths in it; for good without truths is spiritually uncultivated. Consequently 'wilderness' means a new will which has not as yet been formed by means of the truths of faith, 8457.
[2] As regards 'Mount Sinai', in the highest sense it means Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, Divine Good being meant by 'mountain' and Divine Truth by 'Sinai'. In the internal sense it means the truth of faith springing from good, in this instance the truth of faith that is to be implanted in good since the Law had not as yet been declared from there. The reason why 'Mount Sinai' has these meanings is that the Law was declared from there by the Lord, and the Law is Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, and also is the truth of faith springing from good, 6752, 7463, 8695. This explains why the children of Israel encamped in the wilderness beside this mountain; for not only the Ten Commandments, which are the Law in a restricted sense, were declared from there, but also all the statutes of the Church, which, being representative, held within themselves the spiritual and celestial truths and forms of good of the Lord's kingdom. The fact that the Law was declared from that mountain is clear from Chapter Exodus 20 below; and the fact that the statutes of the Church were as well is clear from Exodus 21 and following chapters; and Leviticus 7:37-38; 27:34. 'Sinai' has the same meaning in David,
O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched in the wilderness, the earth trembled; the heavens also dropped [rain] before God. This Sinai [trembled] before God. the God of Israel. You cause a rain of blessings to drop down, O God. Psalms 68:7-9.
Here 'Sinai' stands for truth which springs from good, for these are meant by 'the heavens dropped [rain] before God' and by 'God dropped a rain of blessings'.
[3] In the Book of Judges,
O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water, the mountains flowed down before Jehovah, Sinai itself before Jehovah God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads ceased to be, and those who went along by pathways kept to twisting roads; the streets in Israel ceased to be. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose a mother in Israel. Judges 5:4-7.
Here also 'Sinai' stands for the Law or Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, from which the truths of faith were implanted in the good of faith, those truths also being meant by 'the heavens dropped, and the clouds dropped water'. A lack of the truths of faith and the perversion of them is meant by 'the roads ceased to be, and those who went along by pathways kept to twisting roads', truths being meant by 'roads' or 'ways', 'pathways', and 'streets', see 627, 2333, 3123, 3477. For the theme of this prophetic song, which is the Song of Deborah and Barak, is the perversion of the Church's truth and the renewal of it.
[4] In Moses,
Jehovah came from Sinai, He dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. From His right hand came a fiery law for them. Deuteronomy 33:2.
Here the children of Jacob are blessed by Moses before his death. He begins the prophetic utterance in his blessing with Jehovah came from Sinai, and in this instance 'Sinai' means the truths of faith in their entirety. The reason why he begins with these words is that all the truths and forms of the good of faith are meant by 'the children of Jacob', 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 6335, and in a similar way by 'the children of Israel', 5414, 5951, 5879.
Genesis 30
1
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."
2
Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
3
She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."
4
She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5
Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.
6
Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.
7
Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.
8
Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.
9
When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10
Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.
11
Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.
12
Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.
13
Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Happy." She named him Asher.
14
Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15
She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."
16
Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.
17
God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18
Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.
19
Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20
Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.
21
Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.
22
God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.
23
She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."
24
She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."
25
It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
26
Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."
27
Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."
28
He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."
29
He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.
30
For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"
31
He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
32
I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.
33
So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."
34
Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word."
35
That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36
He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37
Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38
He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.
39
The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40
Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.
41
It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
42
but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43
The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
