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Matthew 8

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1 And when he came down from the mount, great multitudes did follow him,

2 and lo, a leper having come, was bowing to him, saying, `Sir, if thou art willing, thou art able to cleanse me;'

3 and having stretched forth the hand, Jesus touched him, saying, `I will, be thou cleansed,' and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith to him, `See, thou mayest tell no one, but go, thyself shew to the priest, and bring the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony to them.'

5 And Jesus having entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion calling upon him,

6 and saying, `Sir, my young man hath been laid in the house a paralytic, fearfully afflicted,'

7 and Jesus saith to him, `I, having come, will heal him.'

8 And the centurion answering said, `Sir, I am not worthy that thou mayest enter under my roof, but only say a word, and my servant shall be healed;

9 for I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Be coming, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doth [it].'

10 And Jesus having heard, did wonder, and said to those following, `Verily I say to you, not even in Israel so great faith have I found;

11 and I say to you, that many from east and west shall come and recline (at meat) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the reign of the heavens,

12 but the sons of the reign shall be cast forth to the outer darkness -- there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.'

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, `Go, and as thou didst believe let it be to thee;' and his young man was healed in that hour.

14 And Jesus having come into the house of Peter, saw his mother-in-law laid, and fevered,

15 and he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose, and was ministering to them.

16 And evening having come, they brought to him many demoniacs, and he did cast out the spirits with a word, and did heal all who were ill,

17 that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, `Himself took our infirmities, and the sicknesses he did bear.'

18 And Jesus having seen great multitudes about him, did command to depart to the other side;

19 and a certain scribe having come, said to him, `Teacher, I will follow thee wherever thou mayest go;'

20 and Jesus saith to him, `The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may lay the head.'

21 And another of his disciples said to him, `Sir, permit me first to depart and to bury my father;'

22 and Jesus said to him, `Follow me, and suffer the dead to bury their own dead.'

23 And when he entered into the boat his disciples did follow him,

24 and lo, a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves, but he was sleeping,

25 and his disciples having come to him, awoke him, saying, `Sir, save us; we are perishing.'

26 And he saith to them, `Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?' Then having risen, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm;

27 and the men wondered, saying, `What kind -- is this, that even the wind and the sea do obey him?'

28 And he having come to the other side, to the region of the Gergesenes, there met him two demoniacs, coming forth out of the tombs, very fierce, so that no one was able to pass over by that way,

29 and lo, they cried out, saying, `What -- to us and to thee, Jesus, Son of God? didst thou come hither, before the time, to afflict us?'

30 And there was far off from them a herd of many swine feeding,

31 and the demons were calling on him, saying, `If thou dost cast us forth, permit us to go away to the herd of the swine;'

32 and he saith to them, `Go.' And having come forth, they went to the herd of the swine, and lo, the whole herd of the swine rushed down the steep, to the sea, and died in the waters,

33 and those feeding did flee, and, having gone to the city, they declared all, and the matter of the demoniacs.

34 And lo, all the city came forth to meet Jesus, and having seen him, they called on [him] that he might depart from their borders.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2187

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2187. 'And they ate' means communication in this manner. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, and also being joined together, as is also evident from the Word. The injunction that Aaron, and his sons the Levites, and also the people were to eat the consecrated elements of the sacrifices in a holy place meant nothing other than the communication, conjunction, and making one's own, as stated above in 2177, at the point where Leviticus 6:16-17, is referred to. For it was celestial and spiritual food that was meant by the consecrated elements, and thus making that food their own by eating those elements. These consecrated elements were those parts of the sacrifices which were not burned on the altar but were eaten either by the priests or by the people who brought the offering, as becomes clear from very many places where the sacrifices are the subject. The consecrated elements that were to be eaten by the priests are referred to in Exodus 29:32-33; Leviticus 6:16, 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Numbers 18:9-11; and those to be eaten by the people, in Leviticus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere. And that those who were unclean were not to eat of them is referred to in Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:4-7. These ritual feasts took place in a holy place near the altar, either at the gate or in the court outside the tent. And they meant nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and making of celestial goods one's own, for those feasts represented celestial food. For what celestial food is, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. And all those consecrated elements were called 'bread', for the meaning of which see above in 2165. Something similar was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the loaves of the presence, or the shewbread, in a holy place, Leviticus 24:9.

[2] The reason for the law given to the Nazirite that during the days of his Naziriteship he was forbidden to eat anything that is produced from the grape - from which wine is made - from pips even to skin, Numbers 6:4, is that the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such as is not willing even to mention spiritual things, see Volume One, in 202, 337, 880 (end), 1647. And because 'wine' and 'the grape', and also whatever came from the grape, meant that which is spiritual, the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat of them, that is, to have any communication with spiritual things, to join himself to them, or to make them his own.

[3] Something similar is meant by 'eating' in Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:1-2.

And also what is said in John,

To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.

'The tree of life' is the celestial itself, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself since He is the source of everything celestial, that is, of all love and charity. Thus 'eating from the tree of life' is the same as feeding on the Lord; and 'feeding on the Lord' is being endowed with love and charity, thus with those things that belong to heavenly life, as the Lord Himself declares in John,

I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. He who feeds on Me will live through Me. John 6:51, 57. But they said, This is a hard saying. Jesus said however, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:60, 63.

From this it is evident what is meant by 'eating' in the Holy Supper, Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20 - having communication, being joined together, and making one's own.

[4] From this it is also plain what is meant by the Lord's statement that

Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matthew 8:11.

The Lord did not mean that they were going to feast with these three in the kingdom of God but that they were to enjoy the celestial goods meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is to say, they were to enjoy the inmost celestial goods of love, meant by -Abraham'; also a lower type of goods, which are intermediate, as those are which belong to the rational, meant by 'Isaac'; and a still lower type of goods which are celestial-natural, such as occur in the first heaven, meant by 'Jacob'. These are the things which constitute the internal sense of these words. That such things are meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, see 1893, and wherever else they are the subject. For whether one speaks of enjoying those celestial things, or whether one speaks of enjoying the Lord, whom they represent, it amounts to the same since the Lord is the source of all those things, and the Lord is their All in all.

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