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1 Mose 24:49

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49 Seid ihr nun die, so an meinem HERRN Freundschaft und Treue beweisen wollt, so saget mir's; wo nicht, so saget mir's aber, daß ich mich wende zur Rechten oder zur Linken.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3077

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3077. 'That behold, Rebekah came out' means the affection for truth coming from matters of doctrine. This is clear from the representation of 'Rebekah' as Divine truth that was to be joined to the Divine Good of the Rational, though here, before she has been betrothed, she takes on the representation of the affection for truth coming from matters of doctrine; for from these comes forth truth. Truth however is not truth unless it has life within it, and that life is affection, which is an attribute of love. As regards 'Rebekah' representing Divine truth that was to be joined to the Divine good of the Rational, this is clear from the details that occur in this chapter in the internal sense, and also from the fact that 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Divine Rational, 1893, 2066, 2083, 2630. Thus 'Rebekah', who became Isaac's wife, represents something within the Rational that was to be joined like a wife to a husband, and this something was clearly Divine Truth, for 'Abraham' in a similar way represented Divine Good itself, and 'Sarah his wife' Divine Truth itself joined to Divine Good, 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2904. Isaac and Rebekah represent something similar, but within the Lord's Divine Human, that is to say, within His Rational.

[2] In general 'a husband' in the Word means good and 'his wife' truth, 1468, 2517; for the essence of every marriage is derived, that is, conjugial love is derived, from the marriage of Divine Good to Truth, and of Truth to Good in the Lord, 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803. The reason the affection for truth comes from matters of doctrine is that Rebekah is said 'to have come out', that is to say, out of the city, and 'a city' means matters of doctrine, see 402, 2449. Truths too come from matters of doctrine.

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

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Ten

  

In most places in the Word, "ten" represents "all," or in some cases "many" or "much." The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get from the Lord in life; the ten horns on the beast of Revelation represent all power of falsity; the ten virgins with lamps in Matthew 25 represent all people of the church.

Yet in other places, ten, or especially a "tenth," signifies representing remnants, or tiny scraps of goodness preserved for the future. These can be the remnants of a church -- a few good people that can be built up into a new church. Or they can be tiny subconscious memories of love and joy which the Lord stores in each of us in early childhood, feelings He can use later to draw us toward a life of goodness and affection.

These two meanings seem nearly opposite, but they're actually not. Love is whole and indivisible, so that the tiniest feeling buried inside someone contains all the elements of the love it can become. In a similar way, a remnant of a church that has preserved that church's knowledge has everything it needs to grow into a new church. In a sense, then, those remnants are indeed "all," they're just a version of "all" that is still in a state of potential.