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Joshua 4

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1 And when they were passed over, the Lord said to Josue:

2 Choose twelve men, one of every tribe:

3 And command them to take out of the midst of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests stood, twelve very hard stones, which you shall set in the place of the camp, where you shall pitch your tents this night.

4 And Josue called twelve men, whom he had chosen out of the children of Israel, one out of every tribe,

5 And he said to them: Go before the ark of the Lord your God to the midst of the Jordan, and carry from thence every man a stone on your shoulders, according to the number of the children of Israel,

6 That it may be a sign among you end when your children shall ask you to morrow, saying: What mean these stones?

7 You shall answer them: The waters of the Jordan ran off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when it passed over the same: therefore were these atones set for a monument of the children of Israel for ever.

8 The children of Israel therefore did as Josue commanded them, carrying out of the channel of the Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord had commanded him, according to the number of the children of Israel, unto the place wherein they camped, and there they set them.

9 And Josue put other twelve stones in the midst of the channel of the Jordan, where the priests stood that carried the ark of the covenant: and they are there until this present day.

10 Now the priests that carried the ark, stood in the midst of the Jordan till all things were accomplished which the Lord had commanded Josue to speak to the people, and Moses had said to him. And the people made haste and passed over.

11 And when they had all passed over, the ark also of the Lord passed over, and the priests went before the people.

12 The children of Ruben also and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses, went armed before the children of Israel as Moses had commanded them.

13 And forty thousand fighting men by their troops, and bands, marched through the plains and fields of the city of Jericho.

14 In that day the Lord magnified Josue in the sight of all Israel, that they should fear him, as they had feared Moses, while he lived.

15 And he said to him:

16 Command the priests, that carry the ark of the covenant, to come up out of the Jordan.

17 And he commanded them, saying: Come ye up out of the Jordan.

18 And when they that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, were come up, and began to tread on the dry ground, the waters returned into the channel, and ran as they were wont before.

19 And the people came up out of the Jordan, the tenth day of the first month, and camped in Galgal, over against the east side of the city of Jericho.

20 And the twelve stones which they had taken out of the channel of the Jordan, Josue pitched in Galgal,

21 And said to the children of Israel: When your children shall ask their fathers, to morrow, and shall say to them: What mean these stones?

22 You shall teach them and say: Israel passed over this Jordan through the dry channel.

23 The Lord your God drying up the waters thereof in your sight, until you passed over:

24 As he had done before in the Red Sea, which he dried up till we passed through :

25 That all the people of the earth may learn the most mighty hand of the Lord, that you also may fear the Lord your God for ever.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6983

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6983. 'Neither since yesterday, nor since the day before' means that he has lacked it - the gift of speech - from eternity. This is clear from the meaning of 'since yesterday and since the day before' as from eternity. The reason why 'since yesterday and since the day before' means from eternity is that a period of time is meant by these words, in particular past time; but time spoken of in connection with the Lord or the Divine does not mean a period of time but what is eternal. There are two things proper to the natural order which have no existence in heaven, and even less in the Divine, namely space and time. For their non-existence in heaven and the existence of states instead - states of being instead of 'space', and states of coming-into-being or manifestation instead of 'time' - see 2625, 3938; and for the fact that areas of space and periods of time in heaven are states, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3387, 3404, 3827, 4321, 4814, 4882, 4901, 4916, 5605, 6110. But within the Divine which is above the heavens the absence of space and time is even more complete; for not even states exist within Him. Instead of space there is what is infinite, and instead of time what is eternal. These two are what periods of time or areas of space in the world correspond to, and are what states of being and of coming-into-being in the heavens correspond to.

[2] The fact that in the Word 'yesterday' and 'the day before' do not mean yesterday and the day before but past time in general is clear from places where those words are used, as in Joshua,

The waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went as yesterday [and] the day before 1 over all its banks. Joshua 4:18.

In the first Book of Samuel,

It happened, when all who knew Saul from yesterday and the day before 2 saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets . . . 1 Samuel 10:11.

In the second Book of Samuel,

The tribes of Israel said to David, Both yesterday and the day before, 3 when Saul was king over us, you were the one bringing Israel out and back. 2 Samuel 5:1-2.

In these places and elsewhere 'yesterday [and] the day before' stands for previously or past time. Now since 'yesterday and the day before' means time past, and the subject in the highest sense is the Lord, who in respect of the Divine Law or Divine Truth is represented by 'Moses', it is evident that 'since yesterday and since the day before' means from eternity. Eternity, meant by 'yesterday', is described in David as follows,

A thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalms 90:4.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, as yesterday three days ago

2. literally, from yesterday and three days ago

3. literally, Both yesterday and three days ago

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