Arcana Coelestia # 2913
2913. 'And spoke to the sons of Heth, saying' means those with whom a new spiritual Church was to exist. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Heth' and of Hittite. Many were the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan who are mentioned one by one in various places in the Word, among them the Hittites, see Genesis 15:20; Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 11:1, 3; 12:8; 24:11; 1 Kings 9:20; and elsewhere. Most of them belonged to the Ancient Church which was spread through many lands, including the land of Canaan, see 1238, 2385. All who belonged to that Church acknowledged charity as the chief thing, and everything they taught was about charity or life. People who cultivated teachings about faith were called Canaanites and were separate from the rest of the inhabitants in the land of Canaan, Numbers 13:29 - see 1062, 1063, 1076.
[2] The Hittites belonged among those in the land of Canaan who were more acceptable. This is also made clear by the fact that Abraham, and subsequently Isaac and Jacob, dwelt among them and had a burial-place there, and also by the fact that they treated Abraham with greatest respect, as is quite clear from what is recorded about them in this chapter, especially verses 5-6, 10-11, 14-15. Since they were an upright nation they therefore represent and mean the spiritual Church, or the truth of the Church. But it happened that like all the others who belonged to the Ancient Church the Hittites fell away in the course of time from charity or good that goes with faith; and this explains why later on they mean the falsity of the Church, as in Ezekiel 16:3, 45, and elsewhere. Yet the Hittites did belong among those who were more honourable, as may be seen from the fact that David had Hittites with him, such as Ahimelech, 1 Samuel 26:6, and Uriah, who was a Hittite, 2 Samuel 11:3, 6, 17, 21 - by whose wife Bathsheba David begot Solomon, 2 Samuel 12:24. 'Heth' means exterior cognitions that have regard to life and which constitute the external truths of the spiritual Church, 1 see 1203.
[3] The subject in the present verse is a new Church which the Lord establishes when the previous one breathes its last, and in the verses which follow the subject is the reception of faith among those people. The subject is not some particular Church among the sons of Heth but in general the re-establishment by the Lord of a spiritual Church after its predecessor fades away and approaches its end. The sons of Heth are simply those who represent and carry a spiritual meaning. Please see what has been stated already about Churches in the following places:
In course of time a Church goes into decline and decay, 494, 501, 1327, 2422.
It departs from charity, and brings forth evils and falsities, 1834, 1835.
At that point the Church is said to be vastated and made desolate, 407-411, 2243.
The Church is established among gentiles; the reason why, 1366.
Within a Church undergoing vastation something of the Church is always preserved as a nucleus, 468, 637, 931, 2422.
If the Church did not exist in the world the human race would perish, ibid.
The Church is like the heart and lungs in that vast body, of which every member of the human race is a part, 637, 931, 2054, 2853.
The nature of the spiritual Church, 765, 2669.
Charity constitutes the Church, not faith separated from charity, 809, 916.
If all possessed charity the Church would be one even though they differ in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship, 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385.
All people on earth who belong to the Lord's Church, though they are scattered throughout the entire world, still so to speak make a single whole, as is the case in heaven, 2853.
Every Church is internal and external, and both together constitute a single Church, 409, 1083, 1098, 1100, 1242.
The external Church is valueless if there is no internal Church, 1795.
The Church is compared to the rise and the setting of the sun, to the seasons of the year, and also to the periods of the day, 1837.
The Last Judgement is the final period of the Church, 900, 931, 1850, 2117, 2118.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Or, reading what Swedenborg has in his rough draft the truths of the external spiritual Church
2 Samuel 11
1
It happened, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
2
It happened at evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look on.
3
David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
4
David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.
5
The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child."
6
David sent to Joab, [saying], "Send me Uriah the Hittite." Joab sent Uriah to David.
7
When Uriah was come to him, David asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8
David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." Uriah departed out of the king's house, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and didn't go down to his house.
10
When they had told David, saying, "Uriah didn't go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Haven't you come from a journey? Why didn't you go down to your house?"
11
Uriah said to David, "The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!"
12
David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next day.
13
When David had called him, he ate and drink before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn't go down to his house.
14
It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15
He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die."
16
It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were.
17
The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18
Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19
and he commanded the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the things concerning the war to the king,
20
it shall be that, if the king's wrath arise, and he asks you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Didn't you know that they would shoot from the wall?
21
who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Didn't a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"
22
So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23
The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate.
24
The shooters shot at your servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."
25
Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall tell Joab, 'Don't let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.' Encourage him."
26
When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband.
27
When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
