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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 # 5247

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5247. And he shaved. That this signifies rejection and change as to what is of the exterior natural, is evident from the signification of “shaving the head and the beard,” as being to reject such things as are of the exterior natural; for the “hair” that was shaved off signifies this natural (see n. 3301). The hair both of the head and of the beard corresponds in the Grand Man to the exterior natural; and therefore sensuous men (that is, they who have believed nothing but what is natural, and have not been willing to understand that there is anything more interior or purer than what they could apprehend by the senses) in the other life when in the light of heaven, they appear hairy, so much so that the face is scarcely anything but beard. Such hairy faces have often been seen by me. But they who have been rational, that is, spiritual men, in whom the natural has been rightly subordinated, appear becomingly furnished with hair. Nay, from the hair in the other life may be known the quality of spirits in respect to the natural. The reason why spirits appear with hair is that in the other life spirits appear altogether as do men on earth. Hence it is that the angels spoken of in the Word as being seen are sometimes described even in respect to their hair.

[2] From what has now been said it is evident what is signified by “shaving,” as in Ezekiel:

The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, shall put off their garments wherein they minister and lay them in the bedchambers of holiness, and they shall put on other garments, neither shall they sanctify the people in their garments, and they shall not shave their heads and let down their hair, in polling they shall poll their heads (Ezekiel 44:19-20);

this is said of the new temple and the new priesthood, that is, of the new church; and the “putting on of other garments” signifies holy truths; their “not shaving their heads nor letting down their hair, but in polling to poll their heads” signifies not rejecting the natural, but accommodating it so that it may be in accord, thus making it subordinate. Everyone who believes the Word to be holy can see that these and the rest of the things said in the prophet about the new earth, the new city, the new temple, and new priesthood, will not be at all as is stated in the letter there; as that the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, will minister therein, and will then put off the garments of their ministry and put on other garments, and will poll their heads; but that all and everyone of these things signify such things as belong to a new church.

[3] Neither would the statutes have been commanded in regard to the high priest, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, in the following passages from Moses, if they had not contained holy things within:

The priest chief of his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and he hath filled his hand to put on the garments, shall not shave his head, and shall not tear his garments (Leviticus 21:10).

The sons of Aaron shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave the corner of their beard; they shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God (Leviticus 21:5-6).

Thus shalt thou purify the Levites. Sprinkle the waters of expiation upon them, and they shall make to pass a razor over their flesh, and they shall wash their garments; and they shall be pure (Numbers 8:7).

What is there that is holy or that is of the church in these things-that the high priest should not shave his head nor tear his garments; that the sons of Aaron should not make baldness upon their head nor shave the corner of their beard, and that the Levites when being purified should be shaved with a razor upon their flesh? But to have the external or natural man subordinate to the internal or spiritual, and thus to have both subordinate to the Divine, this is a holy thing, and is what the angels perceive when these passages of the Word are being read by man.

[4] So also it was with the Nazirite, who was holy unto Jehovah:

If any man should by chance die very suddenly beside him, and he hath defiled the head of his Naziriteship; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And when the days of his Naziriteship are fulfilled, the Nazirite shall shave the head of his Naziriteship at the door of the tent of meeting; and shall take the hair of his head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings (Numbers 6:9, 13, 18);

what the Nazirite was, and what holiness he represented, may be seen above (n. 3301). That holiness should abide in his hair can never be comprehended unless it is known what “hair” is by correspondence, thus to what holiness the hair of the Nazirite corresponded. In like manner it cannot be comprehended how Samson had strength from his hair, of which he speaks thus to Delilah:

There hath not come up a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And Delilah called a man, who shaved off the seven locks of his head and his strength went from upon him. And afterward when the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaved off, strength returned to him (Judges 16:17, 19, 22);

who without knowledge derived from correspondence can know that the Lord as to the Divine natural was represented by the Nazirite, and that the Naziriteship had no other meaning, and that Samson’s strength was from this representative?

[5] One who does not know, and especially who does not believe, that there is an internal sense in the Word, and that the sense of the letter is representative of the things in the internal sense, will scarcely acknowledge that there is anything holy in these things; when yet that which is most holy is in them. If a man does not know, and especially if he does not believe that the Word possesses an internal sense which is holy, neither can he know what the following passages bear in their bosom, as in Jeremiah:

Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off the hair of thy Naziriteship, and cast it away (Jeremiah 7:28-29).

In Isaiah:

In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the passages of the river, through the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and shall also consume the beard (Isaiah 7:20).

In Micah:

Make thee bald, and shave thee on account of the sons of thy deliciousnesses, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, because they have migrated from thee (Micah 1:16).

Nor can he know what holiness is involved in that which is related of Elijah, in that he was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of skin about his loins (2 Kings 1:8); nor why the children who called Elisha bald were torn by she-bears out of the wood (2 Kings 2:23-24).

[6] By Elijah and by Elisha was represented the Lord as to the Word, thus by them was represented the Word, specifically the prophetic Word, as may be seen in what is prefaced to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis and at n. 2762. The “hairiness” and the “girdle of skin” signified the literal sense, a “hairy man” this sense in respect to truths, and a “girdle of skin” about the loins this sense in respect to goods. For the literal sense of the Word is its natural sense, because it is from the things in the world; and the internal sense is the spiritual sense, because it is from the things in heaven. These two senses are circumstanced as are the internal and external of man; and because there is no internal without an external, for the external is the ultimate of order in which the internal subsists, therefore it was a reproach against the Word to call Elisha bald, implying that it is devoid of an external, thus that the Word has no sense that is adapted to the apprehension of man.

[7] From all this it is evident that all the details of the Word are holy; but the holiness therein is not apparent to the understanding, except that of one who knows its internal sense; nevertheless by influx from heaven it comes to the perception of him who believes the Word to be holy. This influx is effected through the internal sense in which the angels are; and although this sense is not understood by the man, still it affects him, because the affection of the angels who are in it is communicated. From this it is plain also that the Word has been given to man in order that he may have communication with heaven, and that the Divine truth which is in heaven may affect him by means of the influx.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 6752

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6752. And she called his name Moses. That this signifies the quality of state then, is evident from the signification of a “name,” and “calling a name as being the quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421, 6674); here the quality of the state, because when anyone is named, the name itself then signifies the state (see n. 1946, 2643, 3422, 4298). The quality of state which is signified, is that of the law Divine in the beginning with the Lord, and that of truth Divine in the beginning with the man who is being regenerated. Two men especially represent the Lord as to the Word, namely, Moses and Elias; Moses as to the historic books, Elias as to the prophetic. There are besides, Elisha, and lastly John the Baptist, wherefore this is he who is meant by “Elias who was to come” (Matthew 17:10-13; Luke 1:17). But before it can be shown that Moses represents the law Divine, what this is must be told. The law Divine in a wide sense signifies the whole Word; in a sense less extended the historic Word; in a close sense, what was written through Moses; and in the closest sense, the ten commandments written on the tables of stone upon Mount Sinai. Moses represents the law in the less wide sense, also in the close, and likewise in the closest sense.

[2] That “the law,” in a wide sense, is the whole Word, both historic and prophetic, is evident in John:

We have heard out of the law that the Christ [Messiah] abideth forever (John 12:34).

That by “the law” here is meant also the prophetic Word, is plain, for this is written in Isaiah 9:6-7; Psalms 110:4; and in Daniel 7:13-14. Again in John:

That the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause (John 15:25); where the sense is the same, for this is written in Psalms 35:19.

In Matthew:

Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall not pass away from the law, till all things be done (Matthew 5:18); where “law” in the wide sense denotes the whole Word.

[3] That “the law” in a sense less wide is the historic Word, is evident in these passages:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12);

here the Word is distinguished into the law and the prophets, and because the Word is distinguished into the historic and prophetic, it follows that by “the law” is meant the historic Word, and by “the prophets” the prophetic Word.

On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40).

The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the kingdom of God is evangelized (Luke 16:16; Matthew 11:13).

[4] That “the law” in a close sense is the Word that was written through Moses, is evident in these passages:

When Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law upon a book, even until he had completed them, Moses commanded the Levites who bare the ark of Jehovah, saying, Take the book of this law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God (Deuteronomy 31:24-26);

“the book of the law” denotes the books of Moses.

If thou wilt not watch to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, every disease and every plague which are not written in the book of this law, Jehovah will send secretly upon thee, even until thou be destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:58, 61); where the meaning is the same.

His good pleasure is in the law of Jehovah, and in His law doth he meditate day and night (Psalms 1:2);

“the law of Jehovah” denotes the books of Moses, for the prophetic books were not yet written, nor the historic except those of Joshua and of Judges. Besides passages in which the “law of Moses” is mentioned, to be seen below.

[5] That “the law” in the closest sense is the ten commandments written on tables of stone upon Mount Sinai, is known (see Josh. 8:32); but this law is also called “the testimony” (Exodus 25:16, 21).

[6] That Moses represents the law in a less wide sense, or the historic Word, and also the law in a close sense, and likewise in the closest sense, is evident from those passages where instead of “the law” mention is made of “Moses;” and where the law is called “the law of Moses,” as in Luke:

Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead (Luke 16:29, 31);

here by “Moses and the prophets” the like is signified as by “the law and the prophets,” namely, the historic and the prophetic Word; from which it is evident that “Moses” denotes the law, or the historic Word. Again:

Jesus beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, interpreted in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).

All things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

Philip said, We have found Jesus of whom Moses in the law did write (John 1:45).

Moses in the law commanded us (John 8:5).

There hath flowed down over us the curse and the oath, which was written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against Him. As it is written in the law of Moses, all evil is come upon us (Daniel 9:11, 13).

Joshua wrote upon the stone of the altar a copy of the law of Moses (Josh. 8:32).

[7] It is said “the law of Moses” because by Moses is represented the Lord as to the law, that is, as to the Word; and in a sense less wide, as to the historic Word. Hence it is that to Moses is attributed what is of the Lord, as in John:

Moses gave you the law; Moses gave you circumcision; if a man receive circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken (John 7:19, 22-23).

Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother (Mark 7:10).

Jesus answering said to them, What did Moses command you? They said, Moses permitted to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away (Mark 10:3-4).

And because on account of the representation there is attributed to Moses what is of the Lord, it is said both “the law of Moses,” and “the law of the Lord,” in Luke:

When the days of her purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought Him into Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice, according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, and two young pigeons (Luke 2:22-24, 39).

[8] As Moses represented the law, he was allowed to enter in unto the Lord on Mount Sinai, and not only to receive the tables of the law there, but also to hear the statutes and judgments of the law, and to deliver them to the people; and it is also said that “from this, they should believe in Moses forever.”

Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo I come unto thee in the thickness of the cloud, that the people may hear when I shall speak with thee, and may also believe in thee forever (Exodus 19:9);

it is said “in the thickness of the cloud” because by a “cloud” is meant the Word in the letter, and from this when Moses entered in unto the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he “entered into the cloud” (Exodus 20:18; 24:2, 18; 34:25). (That a “cloud” denotes the literal sense of the Word, see the preface to Gen. 18; also n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343)

[9] And as Moses represented the law or the Word, therefore also when he came down from Mount Sinai,

The skin of his face shone when he spoke; and he put a veil upon his faces (Exodus 34:28 seq.).

The “shining of the faces” signified the internal of the law, for this is in the light of heaven, and is therefore called “glory” (n. 5922); and the “veil” signified the external of the law. That he veiled his face when he spoke with the people was because with them the internal was covered; and was so obscured to that people that they could not endure any of the light from it. (That the “face” denotes the internal, see n. 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796-4805, 5102, 5695.) As by Moses was represented the Lord as to the historic Word, and by Elias the Lord as to the prophetic Word, therefore when the Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elias were seen talking with Him (Matthew 17:3); nor could any others talk with the Lord when His Divine appeared in the world than they who represented the Word, for talking with the Lord is done through the Word. (That Elias represented the Lord as to the Word, see n. 2762, 5247.)

[10] And as both Moses and Elias together represented the whole Word, therefore where it is said of Elias that he should be “sent before the Lord,” mention is made of both:

Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and judgments. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come (Malachi 4:4-5).

These words involve that one would go before to announce the advent according to the Word.

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