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Arcana Coelestia #9373

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9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #1672

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1672. And the kings that were with him. That this signifies the apparent truth which is of that good, is evident from the signification of “kings” in the Word. “Kings,” “kingdoms,” and “peoples,” in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, signify truths and the things which are of truths, as may be abundantly confirmed. In the Word an accurate distinction is made between a “people” and a “nation;” by a “people” are signified truths, and by a “nation” goods, as before shown (n. 1259, 1260). “Kings” are predicated of peoples, but not so much of nations. Before the sons of Israel sought for kings, they were a nation, and represented good, or the celestial; but after they desired a king, and received one, they became a people, and did not represent good or the celestial, but truth or the spiritual; which was the reason why this was imputed to them as a fault (see 1 Samuel 8:7-22, concerning which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). As Chedorlaomer is named here, and it is added, “the kings that were with him,” both good and truth are signified; by “Chedorlaomer,” good, and by “the kings,” truth. But what was the quality of the good and truth at the beginning of the Lord’s temptations has already been stated.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #1015

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1015. That 'be fruitful and multiply' means increases in good and truth in the interior man, 'being fruitful' having reference to goods and 'multiplying' to truths, is clear from what has been shown already at verse 1 of this chapter where the same words occur. That they reside with the interior man becomes clear from the second half of this verse where the imperative multiply is repeated. This would be an unnecessary and therefore pointless repetition if it did not mean something specific, different from the previous use of the word. From these considerations, and from others mentioned so far, it is clear that here being fruitful and multiplying have reference to goods and truths residing with the interior man. The expression 'interior man' is used because, as shown above, one is an internal man in regard to celestial and spiritual things which are the Lord' s alone, but an interior or intermediate man between internal man and external in regard to rational things, and an external man in regard to affections for good and to memory knowledge.

[2] That man is such has been shown in the opening sections of this chapter, in 978, but the reason why the individual is not conscious of them during his life in the body is that he is immersed in bodily things. Therefore he does not know of the existence of interior things, let alone about their existing distinctly and separately in such order. Yet, if he is willing to reflect, their existence is evident to him when he is wrapped in thought detached from the body and is thinking so to speak within his spirit. The reason being fruitful and multiplying have reference to the interior man, which is the rational, is that the activity of the internal man is not felt except very generally in the interior man, for limitless integral parts manifest themselves in the interior as one general, indeed very general, whole. How limitless those integral parts are, how they interrelate and manifest themselves as an obscure and very general whole, becomes clear from what has been shown already in 545.

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