Verse 8. When the Lord from the inmost principles of the soul began to arrange the affections in heavenly order by regeneration, when He separated what could be regenerated by love to Himself, He furnished the mind with truths necessary for salvation in complete order. [Note.—With reference to the last two verses the following passage is given in the Arcana Coelestia 6075: "Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation and generation. When the Most High gave an inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of man, He appointed the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel. When Jeshurun waxed fat he forsook God. He sacrificed to demons, to gods who came not near, and your fathers knew not" (Deuteronomy 32:7-8, 15, 17). This passage occurs in the prophetic song of Moses, wherein the Ancient Church is treated of from verses 7-15, and the posterity of Jacob from verses 15-44; the state of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the Flood, is signified by the days of eternity; and the state of the Ancient Church, which was after the Flood, by the years of generation and generation; the state of their good by the inheritance which the Most High gave to the nations, and the state of their truth by the Most High separating the sons of men, appointing the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel; this number, or twelve, denotes all the truths of faith in the complex. As explained in the preface, the endeavour is made in this Study of the Book of Deuteronomy to develop the internal sense as it applies to the individual soul, and not as it applies to mankind as a whole: but the one sense is involved within the other; for the mind of man is a microcosm, and an individual in regeneration has to go through the same changes that mankind has gone through collectively. We have had our Most Ancient Church in the innocence of infancy; our Ancient Church in the period of youth; and the destiny desired for us by the Lord, if we will follow Him, is that we should ultimately be brought to that state which is described by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation (Revelation 19:0—22:0), and by verses 36-43 of this chapter; in which the innocence of infancy is united to the wisdom of adult age.]

7891. 'And on the first day there shall be a holy convocation' means that at the beginning all must be together. This is clear from the meaning of 'the first day' as the beginning, that is to say, of the deliverance from those who have molested, and so from damnation; and from the meaning of 'a holy convocation' as the regulation that all must be together. The people were called to convocations in order that the whole of Israel might be assembled together and so represent heaven; for all were divided into tribes, tribes into families, and families into households. Regarding the representation of heaven and the communities there by the tribes, families, and households of the children of Israel, see 7836. Here was the reason why those convocations were called 'holy' and were held at each feast, Leviticus 23:27, 36; Numbers 28:26; 29:1, 7, 12. And the feasts themselves were consequently called 'holy convocations', for all male persons were commanded to be present at them. The fact that the feasts were referred to as 'holy convocations' is clear in Moses,

These are the appointed feasts of Jehovah, which you shall call holy convocations, to present a fire-offering to Jehovah. Leviticus 23:37.

The fact that all male persons were to be present on those occasions is clear in the same author,

Three times in the year all your male persons shall appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He will have chosen - at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. Deuteronomy 16:16.