Bible

 

Numbrid 15:19

Studie

       

19 siis süües selle maa leiba, te peate Issandale andma tõstelõivu:

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 7978

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

7978. 'And they baked the dough which they brought out of Egypt - unleavened cakes' means that from the truth of good further good was produced that had no falsity at all in it. This is clear from the meaning of 'baking' - when used in reference to the truth of good, meant by 'the dough' - as producing; from the meaning of 'the dough' as the truth of good, dealt with above in 7966; and from the meaning of 'unleavened cakes' as forms of good that have no falsity at all in them, since 'unleavened' means without falsity, see 2342, 7906. This is the second state of truth from good that they passed through when they were delivered, see above in 7966, 7972. The reason why 'cakes' means forms of good is that they are cakes of bread, and 'bread' in the internal sense is the good of love, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. But bread in the form of cakes is distinguished from bread in general, in that bread in the form of cakes means the good of love towards the neighbour, which is spiritual good, while bread in general means the good of love to the Lord, which is celestial good. Such spiritual good was meant by 'the minchah' which was offered and burned with the sacrifice on the altar; for 'the minchah' was baked into cakes and into wafers, as is made clear in Exodus 29:2-3, 23-24, 32; Leviticus 2:2 and following verses; 6:20-21; Numbers 6:15, 19; 15:18-21.

[2] Something similar was meant by 'the twelve loaves of the presence which too were baked into cakes, described in Moses as follows,

You shall take fine flour and bake it into twelve cakes; two-tenths [of an ephah] shall there be in one cake. And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the clean table before Jehovah. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, and it shall be loaves of bread serving as a memorial, a fire-offering to Jehovah. Leviticus 24:5-9.

From these instructions it becomes clear that 'the loaves' meant what was holy, for such instructions would never have been issued but for that reason. And since they meant what was holy they were also called in verse 9 of the same chapter 'holiness of holinesses.' 1 But these loaves meant the good of celestial love, and their being baked into cakes meant forms of the good of spiritual love. From these verses and from those in the references given above it becomes clear that something similar is meant by the bread in the Holy Supper.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. A very literal rendering of the Hebrew

  
/ 10837  
  

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

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3735

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

3735. 'And clothing to wear' means being joined to Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as truth, dealt with in 1073, 2576, Divine Truth here since the Lord is the subject; and from the meaning of 'wearing' as making it one's own and being joined to it. As for the nature of the internal sense of the Word, that becomes clear from these and all other details; that is to say, when the sense of the letter refers to bread and to clothing, and also when it does so within historical narrative, as here in 'If God will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear', the angels present with a person at the time have no thought at all of bread but of the good of love, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Good. Nor do they have any thought at all of clothing but of truth, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Truth. To them such things as are referred to in the sense of the letter are simply objects for thought regarding heavenly and Divine matters, for such things are vessels existing in the ultimate degree of order.

[2] So when with holiness of mind a person thinks about bread - for example, when he thinks about the bread in the Holy Supper, or about the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer - that thought which he has about bread serves the angels present with him as an object for thought regarding the good of love which comes from the Lord. For the angels do not take hold of anything at all of the person's actual thought concerning bread, but instead their thought concerns good; for such is the correspondence between the two. It is similar when with holiness of mind a person thinks about clothing. The angels' thought in that case concerns truth. So it is with everything else in the Word. From this the nature of the joining together of heaven and earth by means of the Word becomes clear; that is to say, the joining together is such that when with holiness of mind anyone reads the Word he is joined by means of such correspondences more closely to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, even though that person's thought is concerned solely with things in the Word which are stated in the sense of the letter. His holiness of mind at that time is the product of the influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections such as exist with angels.

[3] So that such influx might exist and from that influx man might be joined to the Lord, the Lord has instituted the Holy Supper where it is explicitly stated that the Lord is the bread and wine. For the Lord's body means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, love such as exists with celestial angels, while His blood in a similar way means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but love such as exists with spiritual angels. From this it is evident how much of the Divine there is within every individual part of the Word, though man does not know what that Divine content is or the nature of it. People however who, while in the world, have led a good life enter after death into cognitions and a perception of all those things, for at that time they cast off earthly and worldly things and take to themselves heavenly ones, and have, like angels, spiritual and celestial ideas.

  
/ 10837  
  

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