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Deuteronomy 22

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1 Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother.

2 And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them.

3 Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother's, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another.

4 If thou see thy brother's ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.

5 A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use woman's apparel : for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.

6 If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird's nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young:

7 But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.

8 When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together.

10 Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

11 Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together.

12 Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.

13 If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her,

14 And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin:

15 Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate:

16 And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her,

17 He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city:

18 And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,

19 Condemning him besides in a hundred sides of silver, which he shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life.

20 But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel:

21 They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

22 If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.

23 If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her,

24 Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

25 But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die:

26 The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death : for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer:

27 She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment :

29 He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sides of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life.

30 No man shall take his father's wife, nor remove his covering.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5895

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5895. 'In which there will be no ploughing and harvest' means that in the meanwhile no good will be seen nor any truth derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ploughing' as the preparation made by good for the reception of truths, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'harvest' as truths derived from good, for a harvest is grain that has ripened by the time it is gathered in, so that 'harvest' means truth derived from good. Before this truth is produced truths are indeed to be seen, but they are truths that lead to good, not truths derived from good. When truth guides a person in his actions his truths are truths leading to good; but when good guides him in them his truths are truths derived from good. The reason why 'ploughing' is said to mean good is that 'the field' which is ploughed means the Church as regards good, 2971, and so the good which constitutes the Church, 3310, 3317, 4982. Consequently 'ploughing' is the preparation made by good for the reception of truths; and 'the oxen' too that were used in ploughing means forms of good within the natural, 2180, 2566, 2781.

[2] Because 'ploughing' had this meaning people in the representative Church were forbidden 'to plough with an ox and an ass together', Deuteronomy 22:10. They would never have been forbidden to do this if there had not been some cause of a more internal nature, thus a cause existing in the spiritual world. Without it what would have been wrong with the two ploughing together? And what value would such a law have in the Word? That cause of a more internal nature, a cause existing in the spiritual world, is that 'ploughing with an ox' means good within the natural, and 'ploughing with an ass' means the truth there, 'an ass' being truth contained in factual knowledge, thus truth within the natural, see 5492, 5741. The more internal or spiritual cause behind the existence of this prohibition was that the angels could not have a separate idea of good and truth. The two must be joined together and make one. For this reason the angels were unwilling to see any kind of ploughing done by an ox and an ass. Celestial angels refuse even to think about truth separate from good, for all truth with them exists within good, so that also for them truth is good. It was for the same reason that people were also forbidden to wear a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen, Deuteronomy 22:11; for 'wool' meant good, and 'linen' truth.

[3] The fact that 'ploughing', also 'harrowing', 'sowing', and 'reaping', mean the kinds of activities that are connected with good and the truth that goes with it is clear in Hosea,

I will make Ephraim ride, Judah will plough, Jacob will harrow for him. Sow for yourselves in keeping with righteousness, reap in keeping with godliness, break up 'your fallow ground; and it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and teaches righteousness. Hosea 10:11-12.

'Riding' is used in reference to Ephraim because 'riding' means having the use of an understanding, 'Ephraim' being the Church's gift of understanding. But 'ploughing' is used in reference to Judah because 'Judah' is the good which exists in the Church.

[4] In Amos,

Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough with oxen? in that you have turned judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11-12.

'Will horses run upon the rock?' stands for Will there be any understanding of the truth of faith? For 'rock' in the spiritual sense is faith, Preface to Genesis 22, while 'horses' means the powers of understanding, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321. 'Will one plough with oxen?' stands for Will there be any doing of good? For 'oxen' means good in the natural, see 2180, 2566, 2781. The fact that no doing of it was possible is meant by the words that follow - 'because you have turned judgement into poison'.

[5] In Luke,

Jesus said, No one putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62.

These words have the same meaning as those spoken by the Lord in Matthew,

Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:17-18.

The meaning of these words is that a person governed by good should not depart from it and resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith; see 3652, where those words spoken by the Lord have been explained. Thus 'one who puts his hand to the plough' is a person governed by good; but 'looking back' means someone who then looks to matters of doctrine concerning faith and in so doing forsakes good. This explains why Elijah was displeased with Elisha who, ploughing in the field when he received his call, asked whether he might first kiss his father and mother; for Elijah said,

Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19-21.

In the contrary sense 'ploughing' means evil that destroys good, and so means a laying waste, as in Jeremiah,

Zion will be ploughed [like] a field, and Jerusalem will be heaps, and the mountain of the house [will be turned] into the heights of the forest. Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12.

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