40
וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיֹּום הָרִאשֹׁון פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים וַעֲנַף עֵץ־עָבֹת וְעַרְבֵי־נָחַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים׃
VaYikra 23:40
Arcana Coelestia # 7093
7093. 'And let them hold a feast to Me in the wilderness' means in order that they may worship the Lord with gladness of mind, in the obscurity of faith they live in. This is clear from the meaning of 'holding a feast' as worship offered with gladness of mind, dealt with below (the fact that the Lord was the one to whom they were to hold the feast and whom 'to Me', that is, Jehovah, is used to mean here, see just above in 7091); and from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as obscurity of faith, dealt with in 1708, 7055. Regarding those who belong to the spiritual Church, that they live in comparative obscurity of faith, see 2708, 2715-2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289, 6500, 6945.
[2] The reason why 'holding a feast' means offering worship with gladness of mind is that they were to hold the feast three days' journey away from Egypt, thus not in a state when molested by falsities but in a state of freedom. For a person who is delivered from falsities and from the distress felt at that time gives thanks to God with gladness of mind, and in so doing holds a feast. Furthermore the feasts which had been instituted among those people, three a year, are also said to have been instituted in remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, by which in the spiritual sense is meant in remembrance of deliverance from molestation by falsities through the Lord's Coming into the world. They were also told to be glad on these occasions, as is evident in Moses where the feast of tabernacles is dealt with,
At the feast of tabernacles you shall take 1 on the first day the fruit of a fine tree, 2 fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream; and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. Leviticus 23:40
[3] 'The fruit of a fine tree, fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream' means joy because of the goodness and truth present in a person from the inmost to the external parts of his being. The good of love, which is inmost, is meant by 'the fruit of a fine tree'; the good of faith by 'fronds of palm trees'; factual knowledge that accords with truth by 'the branch of a thick tree'; and sensory impressions that accord with truth, which are the most external, by 'the willows of a powerful stream'. No command to take all these things would have been given if there had not been some cause lying behind it in the spiritual world; and that cause does not become evident to anyone except from the internal sense.
[4] They were to be glad during the feast of weeks, as is also clear in Moses,
You shall keep the feast of weeks to Jehovah your God, and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God, you, and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. Deuteronomy 16:10-11.
These words too, in the internal sense, mean gladness because of the goodness and truth present in people from the inmost to the external parts of their being.
[5] The fact that feasts were times of gladness, so that holding a feast means worshipping with gladness of mind, is also evident from the following places: In Isaiah,
You will have a song like that of a night for hallowing a feast. Isaiah 30:29.
In Nahum,
Look, on the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings, of one proclaiming peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah, perform your vows; for [the man of] belial 3 will no more pass through you, he will be cut off completely. 4 Nahum 1:15.
In Zechariah,
The fasts will be to the house of Judah ones of joy and gladness and good feasts; only love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19.
In Hosea,
I will cause all her joy to cease, her feasts, her new moons. Hosea 2:11.
In Amos,
I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. Amos 8:10.
The fact that 'holding a feast' means offering worship with gladness of mind because they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, or in the spiritual sense because they had been delivered from molestation by falsities, is made plain by the feast of Passover. They were commanded to celebrate this each year on the day of their departure from Egypt; and they were commanded to do so on account of the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery, that is, on account of the deliverance of those who belonged to the spiritual Church from falsities, and so from damnation. And since the Lord delivered them by His Coming and raised them up with Him into heaven when He rose again, therefore this too was done at the Passover. This is also meant by the Lord's words in John,
Now is the judgement of this world, now will the prince of this world be cast outdoors. But I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. John 12:31-32.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. The Latin means they shall take but the Hebrew means you shall take, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.
2. literally, a tree of honour
3. A Hebrew word meaning worthlessness
4. literally, every one will be cut off
Genesis 50
1
Joseph fell on his father's face, wept on him, and kissed him.
2
Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3
Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
4
When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5
'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now therefore, please let me go up and Bury my father, and I will come again.'"
6
Pharaoh said, "Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear."
7
Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8
all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9
There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
10
They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.
11
When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore, its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12
His sons did to him just as he commanded them,
13
for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14
Joseph returned into Egypt--he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him."
16
They sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17
'You shall tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you."' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18
His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, "Behold, we are your servants."
19
Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
21
Now therefore don't be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
22
Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.
23
Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees.
24
Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
25
Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."
26
So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
