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

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Arcana Coelestia #4444

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4444. As they heard it, and the men were grieved, and they were very angry. That this signifies that they were in evil against the truth of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the signification of being “grieved and very angry,” as being to be in evil. That this was against the truth of the Church among the Ancients, follows, because it was against Shechem the son of Hamor, by whom is signified the truth among the ancients, as before said (n. 4430, 4431). That they were in evil is evident from what follows, in that they spoke with fraud (verse 13), and then, after Shechem and Hamor had complied with their demands, they slew them (verses 26-29). Thus by being “grieved and very angry” is here signified that they were in evil. It appears as if these words signify zeal because he lay with their sister, according to the words which presently follow: “Because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, and so it ought not to be done;” and at the end of the chapter: “They said, Shall he make our sister as a harlot?” (verse 31); but it was not zeal, for zeal is impossible with anyone who is in evil, being possible only with him who is in good, because zeal has good within it (n. 4164).

[2] It is true that the religiosity which existed with their posterity had good within it, for each and all things of it represented the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom; but as regards those who were in that religiosity it had no good within it, for they were in mere externals without internals, as shown above. The case herein is the same as it is with the religiosity of that nation as now prevalent among them: they acknowledge Moses and the prophets, thus the Word, which in itself is holy, but as regards them it is not holy, for in everything therein they regard themselves, and thus make the Word worldly, nay, earthly, for that there is anything heavenly in it they do not know and neither do they care. They who are in such a state cannot be in good when in their religiosity, but in evil, for nothing heavenly flows in, because they extinguish it in themselves.

[3] Moreover, it was according to a law known in the Ancient Church that he who forced a virgin should give a dowry and take her for his wife, as thus stated in Moses:

If a man persuade a virgin who is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall endow her with a dowry to be his wife. If refusing her father refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay silver, as much as is the dowry of virgins (Exodus 27:15-16).

And elsewhere:

If a man find a damsel who is a virgin, who has not been betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be caught, the man who lay with her shall give the damsel’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he forced her, and he may not put her away all his days (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

That this same law was known to the ancients is very evident from the words of Shechem to the damsel’s father and brothers: “Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye say unto me I will give. Multiply upon me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me, and give me the damsel for a woman” (verses 11-12). And as Shechem desired to fulfill this law, and Dinah’s brothers gave their consent provided that he would become as they were by circumcising every male, according to the words which follow: “Nevertheless in this will we consent unto you, if ye will be as we are, that every male with you be circumcised, we will both give our daughters to you, and will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people” (verses 15-16), it is evident that Dinah’s brothers did not act from the law (thus not from good), but contrary to the law, and consequently from evil.

[4] It was indeed according to their law that they should not enter into marriages with the nations, as stated in Moses: “Lest thou take of their daughters for thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods” (Exodus 34:16); and again: “Thou shalt not contract kinship with the nations, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, and his daughter thou shalt not take unto thy son, because he will turn aside thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4); but this law was given in regard to idolatrous nations, lest by marriages with them the sons of Israel should turn aside from truly representative worship to idolatrous worship; for when they became idolaters they could no longer represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, but the opposites, which are infernal, for they then called forth from hell a certain devil whom they worshiped, and to whom they applied the Divine representatives, and therefore it is said, “Lest they go a whoring after their gods.” This law was given for the additional reason that by the “nations” were signified the evils and falsities with which the goods and truths represented by the sons of Israel were not to be commingled, consequently not diabolical and infernal things with heavenly and spiritual things (see n. 3024 at the end).

[5] But they were never forbidden to intermarry with the nations who accepted their worship, and who after being circumcised acknowledged Jehovah. These they called “sojourners sojourning with them,” who are thus spoken of in Moses:

If a sojourner shall sojourn with thee, and be willing to keep the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as an inhabitant of the land; there shall be one law for the inhabitant and for the sojourner that sojourneth in the midst of you (Exodus 12:48-49).

And again:

When a sojourner shall sojourn with you, he shall keep the passover unto Jehovah; according to the statute of the passover, and according to the statutes thereof, so shall he do; one statute shall there be for you, both for the sojourner and for the native of the land (Numbers 9:14).

The reason why they were called “sojourners sojourning in the midst of them” and “with them” was that “to sojourn” signified to be instructed; and therefore a “sojourner” signified those who suffered themselves to be instructed in the statutes and doctrinal things. (That “to sojourn” and a “sojourner” have this signification may be seen above, n. 1463, 2025, 3672) In the same:

If a sojourner shall sojourn with you who shall have made a fire-offering of an odor of rest unto Jehovah, as ye do, so he shall do: as to the assembly, there is one statute for you and for the sojourner that sojourneth, a statute of eternity for your generations; as ye are, so is the sojourner before Jehovah; one law and one judgment shall be for you and for the sojourner that sojourneth with you (Numbers 15:14-16).

As the native of you shall be the sojourner that sojourneth with you (Leviticus 19:34).

One judgment shall there be for you, such as is for the sojourner, such shall be for the native (Leviticus 24:22).

[6] That this statute was known not only to Jacob and his sons, but also to Shechem and Hamor, is evident from their words; for the statutes, judgments, and laws that were given to the Israelitish and Jewish nation were not new, but such as had previously existed in the Ancient Church and in the second Ancient Church which was called Hebrew from Eber, as has been shown. That consequently this law was known is evident from the words, “The sons of Jacob said to Hamor and Shechem, We cannot do this word, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin, for this is a reproach to us; nevertheless in this will we consent to you, if ye will be as we, to circumcise for you every male, we will both give our daughters to you, and will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you and will be for one people” (verses); and the same is evident from the words of Hamor and Shechem, in that they not only consented, but also caused themselves and every male of their city to be circumcised (verses 18-24).

[7] Hence it is evident that Shechem became a sojourner such as is spoken of in the law, and thus could take the daughter of Jacob for a woman; so that to kill them was a wicked deed, as Jacob also testified before his death (Genesis 49:5-7). That not only Judah, but also Moses, and also the kings of the Jews and of the Israelites, and also many of the people, took wives from the nations, is evident from the historicals of the Word; and that these wives received their statutes, judgments, and laws, and were acknowledged as sojourners, is not to be doubted.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #5116

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5116. 'Its blossom came up' means the state next to regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blossom' which appears on the tree before the fruit as the state before regeneration. The budding and fruiting of a tree represents, as stated immediately above in 5115, the person's rebirth. Becoming covered with leaves represents the first state, with blossom the second, that is, the one immediately before regeneration, and fruiting the third, which is the actual state of one who has been regenerated. Consequently 'leaves' means the things that belong to intelligence, which are the truths of faith, 885, for these come first in a person's rebirth or regeneration. By 'blossoms' however are meant the things that belong to wisdom, which are the goods of faith, since these come immediately before rebirth or regeneration, while 'fruits' means the things that are matters of life, which are the works of charity, in that these come after rebirth and constitute the actual state of one who is regenerate.

[2] These features of the vegetable kingdom owe their existence to the influx of the spiritual world into it; but people who attribute everything to natural forces and nothing to the Divine are in no way able to believe this. Those however who attribute everything to the Divine and nothing to natural forces have the ability to see that every single thing owes its existence to that influx. Not only that, each individual thing also has a correspondence, and because it has a correspondence it is a representative. In the end such people have the ability to see that the whole natural system is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, thus that the Divine exists within each individual thing, so much so that the whole natural system is a representation of that which is eternal and infinite - eternal because the reproduction of species continues without end, infinite because the multiplication of seeds is unlimited. Such endeavours to reproduce and multiply could not possibly come to exist in each individual thing in the vegetable kingdom if the Divine were not flowing into it unceasingly. This influx is what provides the impulse to reproduce and to multiply; the impulse brings the power to make this a reality, and that power leads to the actual realization of it.

[3] People who attribute everything to natural forces say that such impulses to reproduce and to multiply were introduced into fruits and seeds when things were first created, and because of the power which they have received from those impulses fruits and seeds ever since then are carried spontaneously into such activities. But those people do not take into consideration the fact that continuance in being is constant coming into being, or what is much the same, that reproduction is creation taking place constantly. Nor do they take into consideration the fact that an effect is the continuation of its cause, and that when a cause ceases to exist so does the effect, and consequently that without constant influx from its cause every effect perishes in an instant. Neither do they take into consideration the fact that anything that is not linked to the first being of all, consequently to the Divine, instantly ceases to have any existence; for to have any being, what is posterior must have what is prior existing unceasingly within it.

[4] If those attributing everything to natural forces and little, scarcely anything, to the Divine were to take these facts into consideration they would also be able to acknowledge that every single thing in the natural system represents something akin to it in the spiritual world, and therefore something akin to it in the Lord's kingdom, where the closest representation of the Lord's Divine exists. This is why reference has been made to an influx coming from the spiritual world; but by this is meant an influx from the Lord's Divine coming by way of the spiritual world. The reason adherents to naturalism do not take such facts into consideration is that they are not willing to acknowledge them, since they are immersed in earthly and bodily interests and as a consequence in the life belonging to self-love and love of the world. As a result, so far as things belonging to the spiritual world, that is, to heaven are concerned, the complete reverse of true order exists with them; and to view such matters from within a state in which order is turned around is not possible, since higher things are then seen as lower ones, and lower things as higher ones. This also accounts for the fact that, when persons like these are seen in the next life in the light of heaven, they are seen with their heads pointing downwards and their feet upwards.

[5] Who among these, when he sees blossom on a tree or on anything else that grows, thinks of it as an expression of gladness so to speak that fruit and seeds are now being brought forth? All that such persons see is that blossom comes first and remains until rudimentary forms of the fruit and seeds are formed within it, whereby sap is conveyed into them. If they knew anything about human rebirth or regeneration, or rather if they wanted to know, they would also see in that blossom, because of the similarity there, a representative of a person's state before regeneration. They would see that because of the good which his intelligence and wisdom desires he is in a similar way blooming, that is, he possesses an inner gladness and beauty, because now he is endeavouring to implant these - that is to say, forms of good desired by intelligence and wisdom - in his life; that is, he is endeavouring to bear fruit. Such persons cannot know about the nature of this state because knowledge of what that inner gladness and inner beauty so represented are does not exist at all with people who feel no gladness other than that which accompanies love of the world and no delight other than that connected with self-love. Worldly or selfish feelings of gladness or delight cause inner ones to be seen as the opposite of gladness and delight, so much so that those persons loathe them. In loathing them they also brush them aside as something worthless or as something that has no actual existence. As a consequence they refuse to accept them, and at the same time they refuse to accept that what is spiritual or celestial is really anything at all. This is how the absurd thinking of the present day which is believed to be wisdom comes about.

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