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Deuteronomy 6

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1 These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it:

2 That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged.

3 Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.

6 And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:

7 And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.

8 And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.

10 And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,

11 Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant,

12 And thou shalt have eaten and be full:

13 Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name.

14 You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you:

15 Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.

16 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.

17 Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.

18 And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

19 That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

20 And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us?

21 Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

22 And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight,

23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers.

24 And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day.

25 And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9936

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9936. 'And it shall be on Aaron's forehead' means from the Lord's Divine Love. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good, which is the Good of His Divine Love, dealt with in 9806; and from the meaning of 'forehead', when the Lord is the subject, as His Divine Love. 'The Lord's face', which is the same as 'Jehovah's face', means all attributes of Divine Love, such as mercy, peace, goodness, or wisdom, 222, 223, 5585, 6848, 6849, 9306, 9545, 9546. These are meant by 'Jehovah's face' or 'the Lord's face' because in general 'the face' means a person's interiors, that is, a person's affections and consequent thoughts, thus the things which constitute his love and faith, see the places referred to in 9546. These are meant by 'the face' because they shine from the face, as if seen in their imprint or image, which also is why the face is called the image of the mind. So it is that when 'face' is mentioned in connection with Jehovah or the Lord the attributes of His Divine Love are meant. 'Forehead' in particular means Divine Love itself, because interiors have been allotted their own provinces in the face. The interiors that belong to love reside in the province of the forehead, those belonging to wisdom and intelligence in the province of the eyes, those belonging to perception in the province of the nose, and those belonging to utterance in the province of the mouth.

[2] From all this it is evident why 'forehead' - when the Lord, represented by Aaron, is the subject - means Divine Love. Since someone's forehead corresponds to his love those governed by celestial love, that is, by love to the Lord derived from the Lord, are said 'to have a sign on their foreheads', meaning that they are under the Lord's protection because they abide in His Love, as in Ezekiel,

Jehovah said, Go through the middle of Jerusalem and make a sign on the foreheads of the men (vir) who groan and sigh over all the abominations done in the midst of it, and strike; do not let your eye spare. But against any man (vir) on whom there is a sign do not go near. Ezekiel 9:4-6.

In John, in the Book of Revelation,

Behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. Revelation 14:1.

In the same book,

They will see the face of God and of the Lamb, and His name will be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:4.

In the same book,

It was declared that they should not harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only the people who did not have God's sign on their foreheads. Revelation 9:4.

[3] 'Having God's sign on their foreheads' and 'having God and the Lamb's name on them' stand for their being kept safe from molestation by evils from hell, because they abide in the Lord through love. 'The grass' and 'any green thing', which were not to be harmed, stand for true factual knowledge by means of which the truth of faith develops, 7571, 7691; and 'any tree', which too was not to be harmed, stands for the perception of truth springing from good, 103, 2163, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692.

[4] In Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. You shall bind these words as a sign onto your hand, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 8.

'As frontlets' stands for as a sign of love to Jehovah God. The words 'between your eyes' are used because intelligence and wisdom which are born from that love are meant by 'eyes'; and wisdom born from that love consists in having God constantly before one's eyes. This is self-evidently so because the subject is love to Jehovah God. The declaration that they should love Him with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength, means that they should do so with all their human powers. 'With the heart' means with the will where the good of love resides, 7542, 9050, 9300, 9495; and 'with the soul' means with the understanding where the truth of faith resides, and so with faith, 9050. These two powers belong to the internal man. 'With all their strength' means with those powers of will and understanding as they exist in the external man. The strength and power of the love of both, of the external man and of the internal, are meant by 'hands', 4931-4937, 7518; and this is why it says that those words were to be bound 'as a sign on the hand'.

[5] Since 'the forehead' by virtue of its correspondence means celestial or heavenly love with those who are good, with those who are bad it accordingly means hellish love, which is the opposite of heavenly. The forehead of the latter is called a bronze forehead in Isaiah 48:4, and an obstinate forehead in Ezekiel 3:7-8. And in reference to those ruled by hellish love it is said that they had the mark of the beast on their foreheads, Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4, and also the name of Babylon on their foreheads, Revelation 17:5.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 103

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103. The reason trees here mean perceptions is that the celestial man is the subject of the spiritual man were the subject the meaning would be different, for the character of the subject determines that of the predicate.

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