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Matthew 10

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1 And having called to [him] his twelve disciples, he gave them power over unclean spirits, so that they should cast them out, and heal every disease and every bodily weakness.

2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax-gatherer; James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, who was surnamed Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas the Iscariote, who also delivered him up.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out when he had charged them, saying, Go not off into [the] way of [the] nations, and into a city of Samaritans enter ye not;

6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.

8 Heal [the] infirm, [raise the dead], cleanse lepers, cast out demons: ye have received gratuitously, give gratuitously.

9 Do not provide yourselves with gold, or silver, or brass, for your belts,

10 nor scrip for the way, nor two body coats, nor sandals, nor a staff: for the workman is worthy of his nourishment.

11 But into whatsoever city or village ye enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there remain till ye go forth.

12 And as ye enter into a house salute it.

13 And if the house indeed be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, as ye go forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in judgment-day than for that city.

16 Behold, *I* send you as sheep in the midst of wolves; be therefore prudent as the serpents, and guileless as the doves.

17 But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to sanhedrims, and scourge you in their synagogues;

18 and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.

19 But when they deliver you up, be not careful how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak.

20 For *ye* are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

21 But brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child; and children shall rise up against parents and shall put them to death;

22 and ye shall be hated of all on account of my name. But he that has endured to [the] end, *he* shall be saved.

23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee to the other; for verily I say to you, Ye shall not have completed the cities of Israel until the Son of man be come.

24 The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the bondman above his lord.

25 [It is] sufficient for the disciple that he should become as his teacher, and the bondman as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household?

26 Fear them not therefore; for there is nothing covered which shall not be revealed, and secret which shall not be known.

27 What I say to you in darkness speak in the light, and what ye hear in the ear preach upon the houses.

28 And be not afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father;

30 but of you even the hairs of the head are all numbered.

31 Fear not therefore; *ye* are better than many sparrows.

32 Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, *I* also will confess him before my Father who is in [the] heavens.

33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will *I* also deny before my Father who is in [the] heavens.

34 Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I have not come to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter with her mother, and the daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law;

36 and they of his household [shall be] a man's enemies.

37 He who loves father or mother above me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me.

38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

39 He that finds his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake shall find it.

40 He that receives you receives me, and he that receives me receives him that sent me.

41 He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.

42 And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold [water] only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9049

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9049. 'You shall pay soul for soul' means the law of order that you shall do to your neighbour as you wish him to do to you, and therefore that it shall be done to you as you do to another. This is clear from the fact that paying soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and so on, means having done to you what you would do to another. The reason why this law was given to the children of Israel was that a similar law exists in the spiritual world. Anyone there who does good to another with all his heart receives good in like measure; and therefore one who does evil to another with all his heart receives evil in like measure. For good done with all one's heart carries its own reward together with it, and evil done with all one's heart carries its own punishment together with it. So it is that heaven is the reward for good people, and hell the punishment for evil ones. Considerable experience has allowed me to know that this is so. The situation with both groups is as follows. With someone who does good with all his heart good is flowing in from heaven on every side into his heart and soul and inspiring him greatly to act as he does. At the same time love and affection for the neighbour to whom he does the good is increasing, and with this love and affection a delight that is heavenly delight, beyond description. The reason why all this happens is that the good of love from the Lord reigns everywhere in heaven, flowing in unceasingly in the same measure as it is being given out to another. Similarly with someone evil who does evil to another with all his heart. Evil on every side is flowing in from hell into his heart and spurring him on greatly to act as he does. At the same time selfish love and affection is increasing, and with them the delight born of hatred and vengeance against those unsubmissive to him. The reason why all this happens is that the evil of self-love reigns everywhere in hell, flowing in unceasingly in the same measure as it is given out to another. When this happens those who punish are immediately present, and they deal roughly with the evil-doer. In this way evil along with its delight is kept in check.

[2] These things are so because the laws of order in the next life are not learned from books and then stored away in the memory, as they are with people in the world. Rather they are laws written on the heart, laws of evil on the heart of those who are evil, and laws of good on the heart of those who are good. For everyone takes with him into the next life that which has been fixed in his heart by his life in the world, that is to say evil in the case of evil people and good in the case of good ones.

[3] The law of order from which these things follow is that which the Lord has taught in Matthew,

All things whatever you wish people to do to you, do also to them; this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31.

Order arises out of Divine Truth which comes from the Lord. In heaven the laws of order are truths springing from good, but in hell they are truths separated from good. They are said to be separated not on account of what the Lord does but of what man does. Good is separated when it is unreceived.

[4] The law called the law of retaliation is set out in Leviticus as follows,

Whoever strikes the soul of a beast shall make restitution, soul for soul. If a man has caused disfigurement in his neighbour as he has done, so shall it be done to him - fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has caused disfigurement in a person, so shall it be paid out to him. One striking a beast shall make restitution, and one striking a human being shall be killed. Leviticus 24:17-21.

Since evil carries its own punishment with it the Lord says that one should not resist evil. At the same time He explains what this law means for those in the spiritual world who are governed by good, in their relations with those ruled by evil, in the following words in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say, Evil is not to be resisted. But whoever smacks you on your right jaw, turn the other to him also. And if anyone wishes to drag you to court and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to everyone asking from you, and from him desiring to receive a loan from you, do not turn away. Matthew 5:38-42.

[5] Who can fail to see that these words should not be taken literally? Who is going to turn his left jaw to one who has smacked him on the right jaw? Who is going to give his cloak to one who wishes to take away his tunic? Who is going to give what he has to all who ask for it? And who will not resist evil? But these words cannot be understood by anyone who does not know what the right jaw and the left, tunic and cloak, a mile, a loan, and all the rest are being used to mean. The subject in these verses is spiritual life or the life of faith, not natural life, which is the life of the world. In this chapter and the next the Lord reveals things of a more internal nature that belong to heaven; but He has done so by means of the kinds of things that exist in the world. He used such things in order that worldly-minded people might not understand them, only heavenly-minded people. And the reason why the worldly-minded people should be prevented from understanding was so that they would not profane the more internal truths of the Word; for by profaning these truths those people would cast themselves into the most horrible hell of all, which is the hell of profaners of the Word. This explains why the Lord has said in Luke,

To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to everyone else in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear. Luke 8:10.

And in John,

Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should be converted and I should heal them. John 12:40.

It says 'lest I heal them' because those who are healed but then go back to falsities and evils commit profanation. These are the ones who are meant in Matthew 12:43-45.

[6] But what the Lord's words quoted above are used to mean in the internal sense must be stated now. They refer in the internal sense to those who wish to use falsities to destroy the truths of faith, that is, to destroy the spiritual life with a person when he is undergoing temptation, or suffering persecution, and with good spirits when they are subject to molestations from evil spirits. 'The jaw' means an affection for interior truth, 'the right jaw' being an affection for truth derived from good; 'smacking' means the act of injuring that affection; 'tunic' and 'cloak' mean truth in an outward form, 4677, 4741, 4742; 'dragging to court' means trying to destroy; 'mile' means that which leads to truth, for 'mire' is similar in meaning to 'way', which means that which leads to truth, see 627, 2333, 3477; and 'giving a loan' means informing, which shows what 'giving to all who ask' means, namely declaring everything composing one's belief in the Lord. The reason therefore why 'evil should not be resisted' is that evil can have no harmful effect at all on those governed by truth and good, for they are protected by the Lord.

[7] These are the things that lie concealed beneath those words spoken by the Lord, which being so, the Lord says simply, 'You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth', quoting no further than this. He goes no further because 'an eye' means more internal truth of faith, and 'a tooth' more external truth of faith, as will be seen below. This shows in what way the Lord used words when He was in the world, that is to say, in the same way as they were used everywhere in the Old Testament Word - at the same time both for angels in heaven and for people in the world. For in itself His speech was Divine and heavenly, since it sprang from the Divine and came by way of heaven. But to present the truths He spoke He used such things as corresponded to them in the world. What such things correspond to is taught by the internal sense.

[8] The fact that 'smacking the jaw' or striking it means destroying truths is evident from places in the Word in which the expression 'striking the jaw' is used. And since in the genuine sense it means the destruction of truth, in the contrary sense it means the destruction of falsity, in which sense it occurs in David,

You will strike all my enemies on the jaw, You will break the teeth of the wicked. Psalms 3:7.

In Micah,

With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the jaw. Micah 5:1.

And in Isaiah,

The bridle of one that leads astray will be on the jaws of peoples. Isaiah 30:28.

'The face' means the affections, 4796, 4797, 4799, 5102, 5695, 6604. Consequently parts of the face mean such things as belong to the affections and correspond to the functions and uses they perform. The eye for example corresponds to the understanding of truth, the nostrils to the perception of truth, and parts of the mouth - the jaws, lips, throat, or tongue - to such things as belong to the utterance of truth, 4796 4805.

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