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Deuteronomy 8

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1 You shall observe to do all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers.

2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.

3 He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn't know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live.

4 Your clothing didn't grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.

5 You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you.

6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;

9 a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.

10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you.

11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day:

12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein;

13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, [in which were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn't know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end:

17 and [lest] you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth."

18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.

19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you wouldn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8098

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8098. 'And God led the people around by the way of the wilderness' means that under Divine guidance they were led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'God led' as providence, as above in 8093, or what amounts to the same thing, as Divine guidance; and from the meaning of 'by the way of the wilderness' as a way that leads people to undergo temptations and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith since temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. 'The wilderness' means a place which is uninhabited and uncultivated, dealt with in 2708, in the spiritual sense a situation in which there is no good or truth, and also a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good. That being so, 'the wilderness' means the state of those with whom the two are to be bonded together; but since the bonding is not accomplished except by means of temptations, these also are meant. Temptations are meant when the number forty is included, which can be forty years, forty months, or forty days. For 'forty' means temptations and their duration, however long that may be, 730, 862, 2272, 2273. These things are meant by the travels of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years; the temptations they underwent are also described. The fact that they were led into the wilderness to undergo temptations and in so doing to represent them is evident from the following words in Moses,

You shall remember all the way in which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order that He might afflict you, in order that He might tempt you, in order that He might know what is in your heart. He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order that He might afflict you, in order that He might tempt you, to do good to you in your descendants. Deuteronomy 8:2, 16.

Because 'forty' meant temptations and their durations, and 'the wilderness' meant the states of people undergoing them, the Lord too, when He was tempted, went out into the wilderness and was there for forty days, Matthew 4:1-2, and following verses; Luke 4:1-2, and following verses; Mark 1:12-13.

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