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Deuteronomy 32

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1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity: just and right is he.

5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings;

12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou hast waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to devils, not to God; to gods which they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and 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, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them.

24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men;

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

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

30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut 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, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent for his servants: when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink-offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39 See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41 If I shall whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land, and to his people.

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

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

46 And he said to them, Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

47 For it is not a vain thing for you: because it is your life; and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48 And the LORD spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49 Ascend this mountain Abarim, to mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan which I give to the children of Israel for a Possession:

50 And die in the mount whither thou goest, and be gathered to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither to the land which I give the children of Israel.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 39

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39. And all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him, signifies that the falsities of the church will oppose. This is evident from the signification of "lamenting" as being to mourn, to grieve, to be displeased, to be angry, to be averse from, thus also to oppose; and from the signification of "tribes," as being all truths and goods in the complex, and in the contrary sense, all falsities and evils in the complex (of which in what follows); also from the signification of "the earth," as being the church (See above, n. 29). By "all the tribes of the earth," then, the whole church is meant, and by "their lamenting over Him" is signified that truth and good will be no more, because falsities and evils are to prevail and oppose. For this verse treats, in general, of what the state of the church will be at its end, when there will be no longer any faith, because no charity, namely, that the Lord will then reveal Himself, and that all who are in truths from good will acknowledge Him, and that they also will see Him, who are in falsities from evil, but that the falsities of the church will oppose. (That Revelation does not treat of the successive states of the church, but of its last state when it is at its end, see above, n. 5; and that its end is when there is no faith, because no charity, see the little work on The Last Judgment 33-39 seq.; and when there is no faith, because no charity, falsities from evil prevail and oppose truths from good.)

[2] In the Word "tribes" are often mentioned, inasmuch as the Israelitish people were divided into twelve tribes, and one who does not know the internal sense of the Word supposes that by "tribes" are meant the tribes of Israel; but by "tribes" are not meant tribes, nor by "Israel" is Israel meant, but by "tribes" are meant all those who are in truths from good, and by "Israel" the Lord's church. He who is ignorant of this will easily adopt the common belief that the sons of Israel were chosen in preference to all others on earth, and that they are also to be brought at last into the land of Canaan; indeed, that heaven also is to be formed chiefly from them; when, in fact, by their names they are not meant, but they who are in truths from good, thus those who are of the church; by the twelve tribes, all such, and by each tribe, some particular truth and good pertaining to those who are of the church.

[3] When this is understood, what is meant by these words in Revelation can be seen:

I heard the number of them which were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand sealed of all the tribes of the sons of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand (Revelation 7:4-8).

Here those who are of the Israelitish nation are not meant, but all, how many soever, who are in the truths from good, for all such are sealed for heaven. Moreover, the numbers "one hundred and forty-four thousand" and "twelve thousand" signify all; and each tribe signifies all who are in that truth or good which is signified by its name, as may appear from what is shown in the Arcana Coelestia; as what good and truth are signified by "Judah," n. 3881, 6363; what by "Reuben," n. 3861, 3866, 4605, 4731, 4734, 4761, 6342-6345; what by "Gad," n. 3934, 3935; what by "Asher," n. 3938, 3939, 6408; what by "Naphtali," n. 3927, 3928; what by "Manasseh," n. 3969, 5351, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296; what by "Simeon," n. 3869-3872, 4497, 4502-4503, 5482, 5626, 5630; what by "Levi," n. 3875, 3877, 4497, 4502-4503; what by "Issachar," n. 3956, 3957; what by "Zebulon," n. 3960, 3961, 6383; what by "Joseph," n. 3969, 3971, 4669, 6417; and what by "Benjamin," n. 3969, 4592, 5411, 5413, 5443, 5639, 5686, 5688, 5689, 6440. That all numbers in the Word signify things, see n. 482, 487, 647-648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253. That "twelve" signifies all, and all things in respect to truths from good, see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, likewise the numbers "72," "144," "1200," "144, 000," because they arise from the number 12 by multiplication, n. Arcana Coelestia 7973. That composite numbers have a like meaning with the simple numbers from which they are produced by multiplication, see n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).

[4] He who is not aware that numbers signify things, and what the numbers "twelve," "one hundred and forty-four," and "twelve thousand" signify, likewise what "tribes" and "apostles" signify, cannot know what is signified by these words in Revelation:

The holy city, New Jerusalem, had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and the wall had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the apostles of the Lamb. The wall was a hundred and forty and four cubits, and the length and the breadth of the city twelve thousand furlongs (Revelation 21:12, 21:14, 16-17).

What is signified by all this you will see explained in the small work on The New Jerusalem and its Doctrine 1); namely, that by "Jerusalem" is signified the church in respect to doctrine; by its "wall," protecting truths; by the "gates," introductory truths; by the" foundations," the knowledges on which doctrine is based; by "twelve angels," and by "twelve tribes," all truths and goods in the complex; "the twelve apostles," have a like signification, and the numbers "twelve," "one hundred and forty-four," and "twelve thousand," signify all things and all persons.

[5] Furthermore, he who is aware that such things are signified by the twelve tribes can see the arcanum in this:

Why the names of the twelve tribes were engraved on the precious stones in the Urim and Thummim, likewise what that breastplate signified (Exodus 28:21; 39:10-15).

(This arcanum may be seen unfolded in Arcana Coelestia 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9873, 9874, 9905) He can also see what is signified by this:

That the twelve apostles should sit upon twelve thrones, and are to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28);

namely, that the Lord alone will judge everyone by truths from good (n. 2129, 6397). Also what is meant by:

The predictions of Israel, the father, respecting his sons (Genesis 49:2-28);

as well as numerous other passages of the Word, where tribes are mentioned (as in Isaiah 19:13; 49:6; 63:17; Jeremiah 10:16; Ezekiel 48:1 seq.; Psalms 122:3-5; Deuteronomy 32:8; Numbers 24:2; Revelation 5:9; 7:4-9; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6

[6] Again, what is meant by the Lord's Word respecting the consummation of the age and His coming:

After the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth lament; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory (Matthew 24:29-30).

(These words can be seen explained in detail in the work on Heaven and Hell 1; and in the following passages in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the twelve tribes of Israel represented and thence signified all truths and goods in the complex, thus all things of faith and love, n. 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335; that like things are signified by the twelve apostles, n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397; and that their signification varies according to the order in which they are named, n. 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603, seq., 6337, 6640, 10335)

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.