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Devarim 2:23

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23 וְהָעַוִּים הַיֹּשְׁבִים בַּחֲצֵרִים עַד־עַזָּה כַּפְתֹּרִים הַיֹּצְאִים מִכַּפְתֹּור הִשְׁמִידֻם וַיֵּשְׁבוּ תַחְתָּם׃

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Arcana Coelestia # 1675

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1675. That 'the Horites in their Mount Seir' means false persuasions deriving from self-love is clear from the meaning of 'the Horites' and from the meaning of 'Seir'. As for the Horites, they were the people who dwelt on Mount Seir, as is clear from Genesis 36:8, 20, and following verses, where Esau, who is called Edom, is the subject. Esau or Edom in the genuine sense means the Lord as regards His Human Essence. He is also represented by Esau or Edom, as becomes clear from many places in both the historical and the prophetical sections of the Word, to be dealt with, in the Lord's Divine mercy, later on. Because 'the Horites' represented people who are under the influence of false persuasions, and because representatives at that time occurred within actual events, therefore the expulsion of the Horites from Mount Seir by the descendants of Esau had a similar representation.

[2] These are spoken of in Moses as follows,

This also is considered to be a land of Rephaim; Rephaim dwelt formerly in it, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim; they were a people great and many and tall like the Anakim. And Jehovah destroyed them from before them; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place. He did the same for the sons of Esau who dwelt in Seir, in that He destroyed the Horites from before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place. Deuteronomy 2:20-22.

These things represent and mean the same as what the present verse says about Chedorlaomer, namely that 'Chedorlaomer and the kings with him smote the Horites in Mount Seir'. For, as has been stated, Chedorlaomer represents the Lord's Good and Truth during childhood, and so the Lord's Human Essence at that time as regards Good and Truth, by which He destroyed false persuasions, that is, the hells filled with so devilish a crew, which set out to destroy the world of spirits, and consequently the human race, with its false persuasions.

[3] And because Esau or Edom represented the Lord as regards the Human Essence, Mount Seir also, and Paran as well, represented those things that belonged to His Human Essence, namely the celestial things of love, as is clear from the blessing uttered by Moses,

Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. From His right hand came a fiery law for them. He indeed loves the peoples. Deuteronomy 33:2-3.

'Jehovah dawned from Mount Seir and shone from Mount Paran' means nothing else than the Lord's Human Essence. Anyone may see that 'dawning from Mount Seir and shining from Mount Paran' does not mean mountains and their inhabitants but Divine realities, thus the celestial things of the Lord's Human Essence, from which Jehovah is said to have dawned and to have shone.

[4] As for 'Seir', its meaning is clear from the Song of Deborah and Barak in the Book of Judges,

O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water, the mountains flowed down, this Sinai before Jehovah God of Israel. Judges 5:4-5.

Here 'going forth from Seir and setting out from the field of Edom' has no other meaning.

[5] This is plainer still in Moses in the prophetic utterance of Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east, that is, he came from Syria where a residue of the Ancient Church existed,

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise up out of Israel. And Edom will be an inheritance and Seir will be an inheritance of his enemies. Numbers 24:17-18.

Here 'seeing Him, but not now; beholding Him, but not near' is the Lord's Coming into the world - His Human Essence being called 'a star that would arise out of Jacob', and also 'Edom' and 'Seir'. That neither Edom nor Seir were to be the inheritance may become clear to anyone. 'Seir, the inheritance of his enemies' or 'The mountain of his enemies' has the same meaning as in many other places where it is said that enemies were to be driven out and possession was to be taken of their land.

[6] That Mount Paran, or El-paran, mentioned in this verse also has the same meaning is clear from Habakkuk as well,

God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His fame has covered the heavens, and the earth has been filled with His praise. Habakkuk 3:3.

It should be realized however that mountains and lands have and take their meaning from their inhabitants, from the Horites when these dwelt there, and when they had been driven out, from those who drove them out, such as from Esau or Edom, or else from some others. Mount Paran is used therefore in both senses, the genuine and the contrary. In the genuine sense it stands for the Lord's Human Essence, in the contrary sense for self-love. The Lord's Human Essence is celestial love itself, while the contrary to celestial love is self-love. Thus 'the Horites' in this verse means false persuasions deriving from self-love.

[7] There are false persuasions that originate in self-love, and there are false persuasions that originate in love of the world. The former persuasions - those originating in self-love - are the most foul, whereas those originating in love of the world are not so foul. The former, or false persuasions originating in self-love, are the very opposite of the celestial things of love, whereas the latter, or false persuasions originating in love of the world, are the opposite of the spiritual things of love. Persuasions originating in self-love carry with them the desire to rule over all things, and insofar as the restraints placed upon them are loosened they hasten to fulfill that desire, even to the extent of desiring to rule over the entire universe, and, as has been shown, over Jehovah as well. Consequently persuasions of that kind are not tolerated at all in the next life. But persuasions originating in love of the world do not go so far. They do not go beyond the insanity of not being satisfied with their lot. They vainly strive after heavenly joy, and wish to acquire other people's goods, but are not so intent on ruling. But the differences among these persuasions are countless.

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

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Deuteronomy 32

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1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall condense as the dew, as the small rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.

3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh. Ascribe greatness to our God!

4 The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice: a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5 They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish. [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do you thus requite Yahweh, foolish people and unwise? Isn't he your father who has bought you? He has made you, and established you.

7 Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For Yahweh's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.

12 Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. Of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They moved him to jealousy with strange [gods]. They provoked him to anger with abominations.

17 They sacrificed to demons, [which were] no God, to gods that they didn't know, to new [gods] that came up of late, which your fathers didn't dread.

18 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.

19 Yahweh saw [it], and abhorred [them], because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20 He said, "I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in my anger, Burns to the lowest Sheol, Devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

23 "I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.

24 [They shall be] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust.

25 Outside the sword shall bereave, and in the rooms, terror; on both young man and virgin, The nursing infant with the gray-haired man.

26 I said, I would scatter them afar. I would make the memory of them to cease from among men;

27 were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, 'Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.'"

28 For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.

29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?

31 For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter.

33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps.

34 "Isn't this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. The things that are to come on them shall make haste."

36 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that [their] power is gone, There is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

37 He will say, "Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

38 Which ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection.

39 "See now that I, even I, am he, There is no god with me. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live forever,

41 if I whet my glittering sword, My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my adversaries, and will recompense those who hate me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy."

43 Rejoice, you nations, [with] his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people.

44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.

45 Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel;

46 He said to them, "Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, [even] all the words of this law.

47 For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it."

48 Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49 "Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession;

50 and die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

51 because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn't sanctify me in the midst of the children of Israel.

52 For you shall see the land before you; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel."