9277. So shalt thou do to thy vineyard, and to thine olive-yard. That this signifies that so it is with spiritual good and with celestial good, is evident from the signification of a “vineyard,” as being the spiritual church (n. 1069, 9139), thus spiritual good, which is the good of charity toward the neighbor, for this good makes the spiritual church; and from the signification of an “olive-yard,” as being the celestial church, thus celestial good, that is, the good of love to the Lord, for this good makes the celestial church. (What the spiritual church is, and what is its good; and what the celestial church is, and what is its good; and also what is the difference between them, see n. 2046, 2227, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2935, 2937, 2954, 3166, 3235, 3236, 3240, 3246, 3374, 3833, 3887, 3969, 4138, 4286, 4493, 4585, 4938, 5113, 5150, 5922, 6289, 6296, 6366, 6427, 6435, 6500, 6647, 6648, 7091, 7233, 7877, 7977, 7992, 8042, 8152, 8234, 8521)

[2] That an “olive-yard” signifies the celestial church, and thus celestial good, is evident from the passages in the Word where the “olive-tree” is mentioned; as in Moses:

Thou shalt plant vineyards and till them, but the wine thou shalt not drink, nor gather; for the worm shall eat it. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy border, but thou shall not anoint thyself with the oil, for thine olive-tree shall be shaken (Deuteronomy 28:39-40); where the subject treated of is the curse if other gods were worshiped, and if the statutes and judgments were not kept. “Olive-trees in all thy border” denote the goods of celestial love which are from the Lord through the Word in the whole church; “not being anointed with the oil” denotes that nevertheless they are not in this good; “thine olive-tree shall be shaken” denotes that this good will perish. In like manner in Micah:

Thou shalt tread the olive, but shall not anoint thee with oil; and the must, but shalt not drink the wine (Micah 6:15).

[3] In Amos:

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; your many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig-trees, and your olive-trees, shall the caterpillar devour; yet have ye not returned unto Me (Amos 4:9);

“vineyards” denote the goods of faith; and “olive-trees” the goods of love; the punishment for not receiving these goods is signified by “the caterpillar devouring the olive-trees.”

In Habakkuk:

The fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall deceive, and the field shall yield no food (Hab. 3:17); where “the fig-tree” denotes natural good; “the vine,” spiritual good; “the olive,” celestial good; and “the field,” the church.

In Zechariah:

Two olive-trees were beside the lampstand, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side. These are the two sons of pure oil, that stand beside the Lord of the whole earth (Zech. 4:3, 11, 14).

The “two olive-trees beside the lampstand” denote celestial and spiritual good, which are at the Lord’s right and left; “the lampstand” signifies the Lord as to Divine truth.

[4] In the book of Judges:

Jotham said to the citizens of Shechem who made Abimelech king, The trees went to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, which God and men honor in me, and go to sway myself over the trees? And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I cause to cease my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to sway myself over the trees? Then the trees said unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. But the vine said unto them, Should I cause to cease my must, which cheereth God and men, and go to sway myself over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, come ye, and put your trust in my shadow; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon (Judg. 9:7-15);

what these things specifically involve cannot be known unless it is known what is signified by “the olive-tree,” “the fig-tree,” “the vine,” and “the bramble.” “The olive-tree” signifies the internal good of the celestial church; “the fig-tree,” the external good of that church (n. 4231, 5113); “the vine,” the good of the spiritual church; but “the bramble” signifies spurious good. These words therefore involve that the people who are here meant by the trees, were not willing that either celestial good or spiritual good should reign over them, but spurious good, and that they chose this in preference to the other goods. “Fire out of the bramble” denotes the evil of concupiscence; “the cedars of Lebanon that it would consume” denote the truths of good.

[5] As “the olive-tree” signified the good of love from the Lord and to the Lord, therefore the cherubs in the midst of the house or of the temple were made of olive wood, and in like manner the doors leading to the sanctuary (1 Kings 6:23-33); for the “cherubs” and also the “doors of the sanctuary” signified the guard and providence of the Lord that there should be no approach to Him except through the good of celestial love; and therefore they were of olive wood. From all this it can be seen why the tabernacle and the altar were anointed with oil; also the priests, and afterward the kings; and why the oil of the olive was used for the lamps; for this “oil” signified the good of love from the the Lord, (n. 886, 3728, 4582, 4638); and the “anointing” signified that so they might represent the Lord.

4585. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath. That this signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “journeying from Bethel” as being what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine from the Divine natural (that “journeying” denotes what is continuous may be seen above, n. 4554, here in the supreme sense what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine, and that “Bethel” is the Divine natural, n. 4559, 4560); from the signification of a “tract of land in coming,” as being what is intermediate (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (of which below where Bethlehem is treated of, which is the spiritual of the celestial in a new state), hence it is said, “Ephrath, this is Bethlehem” (verse 19).

[2] In these verses the subject treated of is the advancement of the Lord’s Divine toward interior things, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He advanced in a like order to that in which He makes man new by regeneration, namely, from what is external to interior things, thus from the truth which is in the ultimate of order to a good which is interior, and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But these things cannot fall into the understanding of anyone unless it is known what the external man and the internal man are, and that the former is distinct from the latter, although while man is living in the body they appear as one; also unless it is known that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal; and further, unless it is known what the spiritual is and what the celestial.

[3] These things have indeed already been occasionally unfolded, nevertheless they who have previously had no idea about them in consequence of having no desire to know the things of eternal life, find it impossible to have any such idea. Such people say, “What is the internal man? Is it possible that it can be distinct from the external? What is the natural, and the rational? Are they not one? Moreover, What is the spiritual, and the celestial? Is not this a new distinction? We have heard of the spiritual, but that the celestial is something else we have not heard.” The case however is thus: They who have not previously acquired any idea on these subjects, for the reason that the cares of the world and of the body have possession of all their thought and take away all desire of knowing anything else; or because they deem it sufficient to know their doctrinal tenets as they are commonly known, and that it is of no consequence to have any further thought about the matter, saying, “We see the world, but the other life we do not see, perhaps it exists and perhaps not”—much persons put away all these subjects, for even at the first look they at heart reject them.

[4] Nevertheless as they are such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, and these cannot be explained without adequate terms, and we have no terms more adequate for expressing exterior things than the term natural, for interior things than the term rational, for those things which are of truth the term spiritual, and those which are of good the term celestial, it is absolutely necessary to make use of these terms, for without terms adapted to the subject nothing can be described. In order therefore that those who desire to know may receive some idea of what the spiritual of the celestial is which Benjamin represents and which “Bethlehem” signifies, I will briefly explain it. In the supreme sense the subject that has been treated of is the glorification of the Lord’s natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural. That Jacob represented the man of the church as to his external, and Israel as to his internal, thus Jacob as to his exterior natural, and Israel as to his interior natural, has been shown above (n. 4286); for the spiritual man is from the natural, and the celestial man is from the rational. It has also been shown that the Lord’s glorification advanced from external things to more interior things, in like manner as the regeneration of man advances, and that for the sake of this representation Jacob was called “Israel.”

[5] But a further advance toward more interior things is now treated of, namely, toward the rational, for as just said, the rational constitutes the internal man. The intermediate between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what is meant by the spiritual of the celestial, which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. This intermediate derives somewhat from the internal of the natural which is “Israel,” and from the external of the rational which is “Joseph;” for that which is intermediate derives something from each extreme, otherwise it could not serve as an intermediate. In order that anyone from being spiritual may become celestial, he must needs advance through this intermediate, for to climb up to higher things without an intermediate is not possible.

[6] And therefore the nature of the advance through this intermediate is here described by Jacob’s coming to Ephrath, and by Rachel’s bringing forth Benjamin there. Hence it is evident that by their journeying from Bethel, and by there being yet a tract of land to come to Ephrath, is signified what is continuous of the advancement of the Lord’s Divine from the Divine natural to the spiritual of the celestial which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate that is spoken of, being called “spiritual” from the spiritual man, which viewed in itself is the interior of the natural man, and “celestial” from the celestial man, which viewed in itself is the rational man. “Joseph” is the exterior rational man, and therefore the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is predicated of him.