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Deuteronomy 8

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1 All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.

3 He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that m not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

4 Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,

5 That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up.

6 That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.

7 For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out:

8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey.

9 Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass:

10 That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee.

11 Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them,

13 And shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things,

14 Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

15 And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock,

16 And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

17 Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

18 But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

19 But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

20 As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 315

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315. "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius." This symbolically means, because the value these people placed on goodness and truth was so little as to be scarcely anything.

This is the symbolic meaning because a quart, which is a measure and its contents, symbolizes the character of a thing, as shown in no. 313 above. Wheat and barley symbolize goodness and truth, and a denarius, being a very small coin, symbolizes a value so little as to be scarcely anything.

Three quarts of barley are specified because the number three symbolizes all and is predicated of truths (no. 400).

Wheat and barley symbolizes goodness and truth, here the goodness and truth of the church acquired from the Word, because everything connected with a field or vineyard symbolizes something having to do with the church - a field symbolizing the church in respect to its goodness and consequent truth, and a vineyard symbolizing the church in respect to its truth and consequent goodness. Therefore, where these are mentioned in the Word, angels, who perceive everything spiritually, have no other understanding of them - as for example in Joel:

The field is wasted, the land mourns, because the grain is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Ashamed are the farmers, the vinedressers wail, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. (Joel 1:10-12)

All of these things symbolize things having to do with the church.

[2] That wheat and barley symbolize the goodness and truth of the church can be seen from the following passages:

(John said of Jesus that He would) gather his wheat into the granary and burn the chaff with fire... (Matthew 3:11-12)

(Jesus said,) "Let (weed and wheat) grow together..., and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the weeds... to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary.'" (Matthew 23:24-30)

...I have heard from Jehovah God... a consummation and determination... Plant the measured wheat, and the appointed barley... (Thus) He instructs him for judgment; His God teaches him. (Isaiah 28:21-26)

...Jehovah... will bring you into... a land of wheat and barley... (Deuteronomy 8:7-8)

The land of wheat and barley here is the land of Canaan, which symbolizes the church.

They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat and new wine... (Jeremiah 31:12)

(Jehovah) will fill you with the finest wheat. (Psalms 147:12-14, cf. Deuteronomy 32:13-14, Psalms 81:13, 16)

Jehovah told the prophet Ezekiel to make himself a cake of barleycorn mixed with dung and eat it (Ezekiel 4:12, 15). And He told the prophet Hosea to take to himself an adulterous woman, whom he bought for one and a half omers of barleycorn (Hosea 3:1-2). The prophets did these things to represent the falsifications of truth in the church, for barleycorns are truths, and barleycorns mixed with dung are truths falsified and profaned. An adulterous woman also symbolizes truth falsified (no. 134).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.