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Deuteronomio 21:17

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17 ma riconoscerà come primogenito il figliuolo dell’odiata, dandogli una parte doppia di tutto quello che possiede; poich’egli è la primizia del suo vigore, e a lui appartiene il diritto di primogenitura.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3702

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3702. 'And behold, Jehovah was standing above it' means the Lord at the highest point. This becomes clear from the fact that the Lord is called Jehovah so many times in the Old Testament Word, see 1736, 3023, 3035, and that in the New Testament Word He is not referred to anywhere as Jehovah but as the Lord instead, 2921. As regards the meaning of 'standing above it' as being at the highest point, this is clear without explanation. The arcanum concealed in the internal sense of these words is that every good and truth come down from the Lord and go up to Him, that is, He is the First and the Last. For the human being has been so created that Divine things that are the Lord's may come down through him even to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order may go up to Him. Thus the human being was created to be the means through which the Divine was linked to the natural world, and the natural world was linked to the Divine, and in this way through the human being as the means linking the two together, the lowest degree of the natural order might receive life from the Divine - which would be a reality if mankind had lived in accordance with Divine order.

[2] The creation of the human being in this particular form is evident from the fact that his body is a world in miniature, because every arcanum that is part of the natural world is also stowed in the body. Each arcanum present in the ever-changing sky is also stowed in the eye; and each one in the air is also stowed in the ear. Anything floating unseen and active in the air is stowed - where it is detected - in the organ of smell, anything unseen that is present in water or any other fluid is stowed in the organ of taste. And actual changes of state likewise occur in the sense of touch throughout the body. Besides these even further arcana are stored away in the body which could be detected by a person within his interior organs if his life accorded with order. From this it is evident that a descent of the Divine through the human being into the lowest degree of the natural order would take place, and from the lowest degree of the natural order an ascent to the Divine, if only the human being with heartfelt faith, that is, with love, acknowledged the Lord as his Final and Primary end.

[3] A state such as this existed with the most ancient people, who were celestial, for whatever they discerned with any of their senses was to them a means to thought about things which are the Lord's, and so about the Lord and His kingdom. This was the source of the delight they gained from worldly and earthly things, see 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995. Furthermore whenever these people contemplated in this fashion the lower and the lowest things of the natural order, such things appeared to them to have life in them; for the life from which these came down existed in those people's internal sight and perception. The objects which they saw with their eyes were so to speak images of that life, and although those images were inanimate they were nevertheless animate to those people. This is the kind of perception that celestial angels have of every thing in the world, as I have often been allowed to perceive, and it is also the source of the kind of perception which young children have, see 2297, 2298. This shows what those people are like through whom Divine things that are the Lord's come right down to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order rise up to Him - people that represent Divine communication and the consequent joining together, meant in the highest sense by 'the angels going up and coming down the stairway set up on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven, with Jehovah standing above it'.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2198

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2198. 'Abraham and Sarah were old' means that the human with the Lord was to be cast off. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham and Sarah', and also from the meaning of 'old' or old age. 'Abraham' here represents the Lord as regards rational good, while 'Sarah' represents the Lord as regards rational truth, as stated above in various places in this chapter. Thus each here represents the human with the Lord, the reason being, as stated above, that Jehovah was now present and spoke to Abraham. And Jehovah was the Lord's Divine itself, not separate from Him even though it presents itself in representative historical events as separate; for by means of historical events it cannot be represented in any other way. But when it is said that Abraham and Sarah were old the meaning is that that human was to be cast off. 'Old age' does not imply anything other than a final period. In the Word reference is made in various places to 'old age' and to the fact that people 'died'. But neither old age nor death of the body is ever perceived in the internal sense, but something other than these which is evident from the whole sequence of thought; for those in the next life do not know what old age is or what death is. What is meant here is evident, as has been said, from the whole train of thought, which is that the Lord was to cast off the human.

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