6804. 'And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob' means on account of being joined to the Church through the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the covenant' as a joining together, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob', with whom a covenant had been made, as the Lord's Divine Human. 'Abraham' represents the Lord in respect of the Divine itself, 'Isaac' in respect of the Divine Rational, and 'Jacob' in respect of the Divine Natural, see 1893, 2011, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3194, 3210, 3245, 3251, 3305 (end), 3439, 4538, 4570, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6425. When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned in the Word those patriarchs are not meant in the spiritual sense, as may be recognized from the consideration that names never pass through into heaven. Only what is really meant by the people who are referred to - real things, the essential nature of real things, and the states of real things, that is to say, aspects of the Church, of the Lord's kingdom, and of the Lord Himself - passes through.

[2] But in addition to this the angels in heaven never fix their thoughts on specific persons; that would restrict their thoughts and remove them from that all-inclusive perception of real things that lies behind angelic speech. This explains why the things that the angels in heaven say are indescribable, far surpassing human thought, whose range does not extend to seeing things in their totality but is restricted to particular aspects. When one reads therefore in Matthew 8:11 that many will come from the east and the west and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, the angels perceive the Lord's presence and the way people make the truth and goodness emanating from His Divine Human their own. Also when one reads in Luke 16:22 that Lazarus was carried into Abraham's bosom, the angels perceive that he was carried into heaven, where the Lord is present. This too goes to show that 'a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' means in the internal sense being joined through the Lord's Divine Human.

[3] The fact that the Divine Human is 'a covenant', that is, the actual joining together, may be seen from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will give You as a covenant of the people', a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.

In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people, ¹ to restore the land, to share out the devastated inheritances. Isaiah 49:8.

In the same prophet,

Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, and let your soul live. So will I make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and lawgiver to the peoples. ² Isaiah 55:3-4.

In Malachi,

Suddenly there comes to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Malachi 3:1

In the second Book of Samuel,

He has established an eternal covenant for Me, to be set in order for all and to be kept safe. 2 Samuel 23:5.

[4] These places plainly refer to the Lord and to the joining of the human race to the Lord's Divine Being itself through His Divine Human. In respect of His Divine Human the Lord is the Mediator, and no one can come to the Divine Being itself within the Lord, called the Father, except through the Son, that is, the Divine Human, as is well known in the Church. Thus the Lord in respect of His Divine Human is the actual joining together. Can anyone in his thought begin to comprehend the Divine Being itself? And if he cannot do this in thought how can he be joined to the Divine itself in love? But the Divine Human anyone can comprehend in thought and be joined to in love.

[5] The meaning of 'a covenant' as a joining together may be seen in the fact that covenants between countries join them together. They are bargains made by both parties which must be kept if their alliance is to remain intact. These bargains or agreements are also called a covenant. On man's side the bargains or agreements that are called 'a covenant' in the Word are in a restricted sense the ten commandments or the Decalogue. In a wider sense they are all the statutes, orders, laws, testimonies, and commandments that the Lord decreed from Mount Sinai through Moses; and in an even wider sense they are the Books of Moses. The contents of these books were what the children of Israel were required on their side to carry out. On the Lord's side it is mercy and election.

[6] The ten commandments or the Decalogue are a covenant.

This is clear from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten words which He wrote on two tablets of stone. Deuteronomy 4:13, 23.

And since the two tablets of stone on which the ten commandments had been written were placed in the ark, Exodus 25:16, 21, 22, 31:18; 32:15, 16, 19; 40:20, the ark was called the ark of the covenant, Deuteronomy 31:9, 24-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 14; 4:7; Judges 20:27; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 8:21. In the last of these references Solomon says,

I have made a place there for the ark, where there is the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers.

And in John,

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. Revelation 11:19.

[7] All the judgements and statutes which the Lord commanded the people of Israel through Moses are called a covenant; so too are the actual Books of Moses. In Moses,

According to the tenor ³ of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Exodus 34:27.

What are called a covenant here were many regulations regarding sacrifices, feasts, and unleavened bread. In the same author,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Exodus 24:7-8.

In the second Book of Kings,

Josiah the king of Judah read before them all in the house of Jehovah the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant before Jehovah, to establish the words of the covenant that were written in that book. And all the people took a stand on the covenant. The king commanded all the people to keep the Passover to Jehovah their God, in accordance with what was written in the book of the covenant. 2 Kings 23:2-3, 21.

In David,

If your sons keep My covenant and My testimony which I have taught them, their sons also will sit even forever on your throne. Psalms 132:12.

[8] A covenant is a joining together through love and faith.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they made My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

'Putting the law in their midst, and writing it on their heart' is endowing with faith and charity, faith and charity being the means by which the joining together described by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people' is effected. In the same prophet,

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not any more turn away from them, and I will do good to them. But I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me. Jeremiah 32:40.

A joining together through love, which is a covenant, is meant by 'I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me'.

[9] In Ezekiel,

I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will bless ⁴ them and will multiply them, and I will set a sanctuary in their midst, and it will be My dwelling-place among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Ezekiel 37:26-27.

Here a joining together through love and faith, which are a covenant, is described by 'a sanctuary in their midst' and 'dwelling-place among them', and by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people'. In the same prophet,

When I passed by you and saw you, behold, it was your time, the time of love; ⁵ and I entered into a covenant with you, so that you would be Mine. Ezekiel 16:8.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant, 'entering into a covenant, so that you would be Mine' plainly being a marriage or spiritual joining together. Since 'a covenant' means a joining together a wife is also called in Malachi 2:14 the wife of a covenant, while a joining together that exists among brothers is called in Amos 1:9 a covenant of brothers. 'A covenant' is also used in David to mean a joining together,

I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant. Psalms 89:3.

[10] The agreement in a covenant on the Lord's side is mercy and election. This is clear in David,

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant and His testimonies. Psalms 25:10.

In Isaiah,

The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, nor the covenant of My peace be removed, said Jehovah, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10.

In Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God, the faithful God keeping covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation. Deuteronomy 7:9, 11.

In the same author,

If you keep My covenant, you will be to Me a peculiar treasure from among all peoples. Exodus 19:5.

In the same author,

I will have regard for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you. Leviticus 26:9.

'Having regard for them' is viewing with mercy. 'Making them fruitful and multiplying them' is endowing with charity and faith, and those endowed with them are called 'the elect'. Thus the words used here have to do with election and so do those which say that they will be 'a peculiar treasure'.

[11] In the representative Church they also had signs of the covenant. These served to remind people of the joining together. Circumcision was one such sign, Genesis 17:11; for circumcision was a sign meaning purification from filthy loves. After these loves are removed, heavenly love is introduced, through which a joining together is effected. The sabbath too is called an eternal covenant, Exodus 31:16; and of the loaves of the presence it is said that to the children of Israel they should be for an eternal covenant, Leviticus 24:8-9. Blood in particular was a sign, as is clear in Moses,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Then Moses took the blood of the sacrifice of a peace-offering and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you, upon all these words. Exodus 24:7-8.

In Zechariah,

Through the blood of your covenant I will let out the bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Zechariah 9:11.

'The blood' was the covenant or sign of the covenant because it meant a joining together through spiritual love, that is, through charity towards the neighbour. This was why, when the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, He called His blood 'the blood of the new covenant', Matthew 26:28. From all this one may now see what 'the covenant' is used to mean in the internal sense of the Word.

Note a piè di pagina:

5113. 'And behold, a vine before me' means the understanding part. This is clear from the meaning of 'a vine' as the understanding part of the mind as it exists in the spiritual Church, dealt with below. Because 'the cupbearer' means the sensory powers that are subject to the understanding part, and because the subject here is the flow of the understanding into the sensory powers subordinate to it, there appeared in the dream therefore a vine with shoots, blossom, clusters, and grapes, which are used to describe its flow into those powers and the rebirth of them. With regard to the understanding part as it exists in the spiritual Church, it should be recognized that when that Church is the subject in the Word, its understanding is in many instances dealt with too, for the reason that it is the understanding part which is regenerated and made the Church in the case of one belonging to that Church.

[2] There are in general two Churches - the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial Church exists with the person in whom the will part of the mind can be regenerated or made the Church, whereas the spiritual Church exists with one in whom, as stated, solely the understanding part can be regenerated. The Most Ancient Church before the Flood was a celestial one because there existed with those who belonged to it some degree of wholeness in the will part, whereas the Ancient Church after the Flood was a spiritual one because among those who belonged to it no degree of wholeness existed in the will part, only in the understanding part. This explains why, when the spiritual Church is dealt with in the Word, its understanding is dealt with in many instances too. Regarding these Churches, see 640, 641, 765, 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2124, 2256, 2669, 4328, 4493. As regards its being the understanding part that is regenerated in the case of those who belong to the spiritual Church, this may also be recognized from the fact that the member of that Church does not have any good from which he may perceive truth, as those who belonged to the celestial Church had. Rather, he must first learn the truth of faith and absorb it into his understanding, and so come to recognize with the aid of truth what good is. Once truth enables him to recognize what good is, he can think about it, then desire it, and at length put it into practice, in which case he now has a new will formed by the Lord in the understanding part of his mind. The Lord then uses this to raise the spiritual man up to heaven, though evil still remains in the will that is properly his own, which at this point is miraculously set aside. This is accomplished by a higher power which withholds him from evil and maintains him in good.

[3] In the case of the member of the celestial Church however the will part was regenerated. From earliest childhood he was absorbing the good of charity, and once he could see with perception what that good was, he was led on to perceive what love to the Lord was. Consequently all the truths of faith were seen by him in his understanding as if in a mirror. His understanding and will formed one complete mind; for those truths enabled him to perceive in his understanding that which existed as a desire in his will. This is what the wholeness of that first human being consisted in, by whom the celestial Church is meant.

[4] As regards 'the vine' meaning the understanding part in the case of the spiritual Church, this is clear from many other places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

What have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what have you to do with the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? Yet I have planted you as a wholly choice vine, a seed of truth. How therefore have you turned from Me into the degenerate branches of a strange vine? Jeremiah 2:18, 21.

This refers to Israel, which means the spiritual Church, 3654, 4286. 'Egypt' and 'the waters of Shihor' stand for factual knowledge which leads to perversion, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462; 'Assyria' and 'the waters of the River' stand for reasoning based on this, that is, on factual knowledge, against the good of life and the truth of faith, 119, 1186. 'A choice vine' stands for the member of the spiritual Church, who is called 'a vine' because of his understanding, while 'the degenerate branches of a strange vine' stands for someone belonging to the perverted Church.

[5] In Ezekiel,

A riddle and a parable about the house of Israel. A great eagle took some of the seed of the land and planted it in a seed field. It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height, so that its branches turned towards him and its roots were under him. So it became a vine which brought forth branches and sent out shoots towards the eagle. This vine directed its roots and sent its branches towards him in a good field by many waters. It was planted to produce a branch, that it might be a magnificent vine. Ezekiel 17:1, 3, 5-8.

An eagle' stands for rational thought, 3901,'the seed of the land' for truth known to the Church, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373. Its becoming 'a spreading vine' and 'a magnificent vine' stands for becoming a spiritual Church, which is called 'a vine' because wine is obtained from it - 'wine' meaning spiritual good or the good of charity, the source of the truth of faith implanted in the understanding part.

[6] In the same prophet,

Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful, and made full of branches by reason of many waters. Consequently it had strong rods as sceptres for those who had dominion, and its stature rose up among entangled boughs, so that it was seen in its height amid the multitude of its branches. Ezekiel 19:10-11.

This too refers to Israel, by whom the spiritual Church is meant, which Church is compared to 'a vine' for a similar reason to that mentioned immediately above. It is a description of its derivatives even to the final ones in the natural man, that is to say, even to factual knowledge based on sensory impressions, meant by 'entangled boughs', 2831.

[7] In Hosea,

I will be as the dew of Israel. His branches will go out, and his beauty will be like the olive's, and his odour like that of Lebanon. Those dwelling in its shadow will turn back, they will quicken the grain and will blossom as the vine; the memory of it will be as the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? Hosea 14:5-8.

'Israel' stands for the spiritual Church, the blossoming of which is compared to 'the vine', and the memory of it to 'the wine of Lebanon', because of the good of faith when that good has been implanted in the understanding part. 'Ephraim' means the understanding part as it exists in the spiritual Church, 3969.

[8] In Zechariah,

The remnant of the people will be the seed of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the land will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew. Zechariah 8:11-12.

'The remnant of the people' stands for truths stored away by the Lord within the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284. 'The seed of peace' stands for good there, 'the vine' for the understanding part.

[9] In Malachi,

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that he does not ruin for you the fruit of the land, nor will the vine in the field fail you. Malachi 3:11-12.

'The vine' stands for the understanding part. The expression 'a vine that does not fail' is used when the understanding part is not left bereft of the truths and goods of faith; on the other hand 'an empty vine' is used when falsities exist there together with derivative evils, as in Hosea,

Israel is an empty vine, it bears fruit like itself. Hosea 10:1.

[10] In Moses,

He will bind his ass's colt to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to a choice vine, after he has washed his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. Genesis 49:11.

This is the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel, regarding his twelve sons, in this case regarding 'Judah', who represents the Lord, 7881. 'The vine' here stands for the understanding part as it exists in the spiritual Church, and 'a choice vine' for the understanding part as it exists in the celestial Church.

[11] In David,

O Jehovah, You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You cast out the nations, and You planted it. You cleared the way in front of it and caused its roots to be rooted, so that it might fill the land. The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the cedars of God with its branches. You sent out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the Euphrates. The boar out of the forest tramples on it, and the wild animal of the fields feeds on it. Psalms 80:8-11, 13.

'A vine out of Egypt' stands in the highest sense for the Lord, the glorification of His Human being described by it and its shoots. In the internal sense 'a vine' here means the spiritual Church and the member of that Church - what he is like when the understanding and will parts of him have been made new or regenerated by the Lord. 'The boar in the forest' means falsity, and 'the wild animal of the fields' evil, which destroy the Church and faith in the Lord.

[12] In John,

The angel sent his sickle into the earth and harvested the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood went out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles. Revelation 14:19-20.

'Harvesting the vine of the earth' stands for destroying the understanding part in the Church. And since 'the vine' means that understanding part it is also said that 'the blood went out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles'; for the powers of understanding are meant by 'horses', 2761, 2762, 3217. In Isaiah,

It will happen on that day, that every place in which there have been a thousand vines, worth a thousand [shekels] of silver, will be briers and brambles. Isaiah 7:23.

In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and hardly any men (homo) left. The new wine will mourn, and the vine will languish. Isaiah 14:6-7.

In the same prophet,

They beat themselves on their breasts for the fields of unmixed wine, for the fruitful vine; for over the land of My people the them, the prickle is coming up. Isaiah 32:12-14.

In these places the subject is the spiritual Church when laid waste as regards the good and truth of faith, and so as regards the understanding part, since, as stated above, the truth and the good of faith exist in the understanding part of the mind of the member of that Church. Anyone may see that in these places 'the vine' is not used to mean the vine, nor 'the land' to mean the land, but some feature of the Church.

[13] In the genuine sense 'the vine' means good present in the understanding part, and 'the fig' good present in the natural part; or what amounts to the same, 'the vine' means good present in the interior man, and 'the fig' good present in the exterior man. This being so, when the vine is mentioned in the Word, so also on many occasions is the fig, as in the following places: In Jeremiah,

I will completely devour them. There will be no grapes on the vine or figs on the fig tree; and its leaf has come down. Jeremiah 8:13.

In the same prophet,

I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, which will devour your vine and your fig tree. Jeremiah 5:17.

In Hosea,

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree. Hosea 2:12.

In Joel,

A nation has come up over the land. It has turned My vine into a waste, and My fig tree into froth. It has stripped it completely bare and cast it aside; its branches have been made white. The vine has withered and the fig tree languishes. Joel 1:6-7, 12.

In the same prophet,

Fear not, you beasts of My fields, for the dwelling places of the wilderness have been made green; for the tree will bear its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine will give their full yield. Joel 2:12, 23.

In David,

He smote their vines and their fig trees, and broke to pieces the trees of their borders. Psalms 105:33.

In Habakkuk,

The fig tree will not blossom; neither will there be any yield on the vines. Habakkuk 3:17.

In Micah,

Out of Zion will go forth teaching, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. They will sit every one under his vine and under his fig tree, unafraid. Micah 4:1, 4.

In Zechariah,

On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:10.

In the first Book of Kings,

In Solomon's time there was peace from all the border-crossings round about, and Judah and Israel dwelt with confidence, every one under his vine and under his fig tree. 1 Kings 4:24-25.

The fig tree' means the good of the natural or exterior man, see 217.

[14] 'The vine' may also mean an understanding part that has been made new or regenerated by means of good obtained from truth and of truth obtained from good. This is clear from the Lord's words addressed to the disciples after He instituted the Holy Supper, in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29.

The good obtained from truth and the truth obtained from good, by means of which the understanding is made new, that is, by which a person is made spiritual, is meant by 'the fruit of the vine', while making such one's own is meant by 'drinking'. For 'drinking' means making one's own, and is used in reference to truth, see 3168. The fact that this is fully accomplished only in the next life is meant by 'until that day when I drink it new with you. In My Father's kingdom'; for 'the fruit of the vine', it is quite plain, is not used to mean new wine or matured wine but something of a heavenly nature belonging to the Lord's kingdom.

[15] Because the understanding part of the spiritual man's mind is made new and regenerated by means of truth which comes solely from the Lord, the Lord therefore compares Himself to 'the vine'. He then compares those who are secure in the truth which comes from Him and consequently is His to 'the branches', and the good produced by them to 'the fruit', in John,

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, but every one that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I him, he it is that bears much fruit; for apart from Me you cannot do anything. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:1-5, 12.

[16] Because in the highest sense 'the vine' means the Lord as regards Divine Truth, and from this it means, in the internal sense, a member of the spiritual Church, 'a vineyard' therefore means the spiritual Church itself, 1069, 3220.

[17] Since 'the Nazirite' represented the celestial man - who is regenerated by means of the good of love and not, like the spiritual man, by means of the truth of faith, so that, as may be seen stated above, it is not in the understanding part but in the will part of the celestial man's mind that the regeneration takes place - the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat anything that came from the vine and so was forbidden to drink wine, Numbers 6:3-4; Judges 13:14. From this also it is evident that 'the vine', as has been shown, means the understanding part, which belongs to the spiritual man. For details about 'the Nazirite' representing the celestial man, see 3301. From this one may also see that nobody can possibly know why the Nazirite was forbidden anything that came from the vine, and many other things besides, unless he knows what 'the vine' means in the proper sense, and also unless he knows of the existence of a celestial Church and of a spiritual Church, and that the member of the celestial Church is regenerated in a different way from a member of the spiritual Church. The former is regenerated by means of seed implanted in the will part, the latter by seed implanted in the understanding part. These are the kinds of arcana stored away in the internal sense of the Word.