3382. 'And practiced My observances, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws' means through revelations constantly coming from Himself; that is to say, as by means of temptations, so also by means of those revelations He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence. This becomes clear from the fact that 'practicing observances, commandments, statutes, and laws' implies all aspects of the Word - 'observances' being everything in general there, 'commandments' the internal aspects, 'statutes' the external, and 'laws' every specific detail. Because all these are attributed to the Lord who from eternity has been the Word and is the author of them all, the meaning in the internal sense cannot be His practice of them but that He revealed them to Himself when His state was one in which the Human and the Divine had become united.

[2] At first sight these matters do indeed seem to be quite remote from the sense of the letter, or even from the internal sense closest to the letter. All the same, when these words are read by man, this is the meaning those same words have in heaven, for as stated several times already, and as may be seen from the examples in 1873, 1874, the sense of the letter is laid aside as it rises up towards heaven and another heavenly sense takes its place, with the result that this latter sense cannot be recognized as that which arises out of the former. For the idea in the minds of those in heaven is that everything in the internal sense of the Word has to do with the Lord, and also that everything in the Word comes from the Lord. Also in their minds is the idea that even when He was in the world He thought from the Divine, and so from Himself, and acquired all intelligence and wisdom to Himself through revelations constantly coming from the Divine. Consequently they do not perceive anything other than this from the words used here. For the practice of all things of the Word, internal as well as external, meant by 'practicing the observances, commandments, statutes, and laws' is not applicable to the Lord because He Himself was the Word and therefore He Himself was the observance that was to be practiced; He Himself was the commandment, also the statute, and the law. For all these have regard to Him as the First from whom they spring and the Last to whom they lead. In the highest sense therefore these words can mean nothing else than the uniting of the Lord's Divine to His Human by means of revelations constantly coming from Himself. For unlike any others the Lord thought from the Divine, and so from Himself, see 1904, 1914, 1935, and acquired intelligence and wisdom to Himself by means of revelations constantly coming from the Divine, 1616, 2500, 2523, 2632.

[3] As regards 'practicing observances' meaning in the genuine sense all aspects of the Word in general, 'commandments' the internal aspects of the Word, 'statutes' the external aspects of the Word, and 'laws' every specific detail in the Word, this becomes clear from many places when seen in the internal sense. Let some of these be brought in here, such as the following in David,

Blessed are the blameless in the way, walking in the law of Jehovah; blessed are those who keep His testimonies. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! I will keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly. With my whole heart I have sought You; cause me not to wander from Your commandments. I have laid up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Jehovah; teach me Your statutes! With my lips I have declared all the judgements of Your mouth. I take delight in the way of Your testimonies. I meditate on Your commands and look to Your ways. I delight in Your statutes, I do not forget Your Word. Recompense Your servant that I may live and keep Your Word. Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of Your law. Do not hide Your commandments from me. Quicken me according to Your Word. Teach me Your statutes. Make me understand the way of [Your] commands. Psalms 119:1-27.

The subject in the whole of this psalm is the Word and the things that constitute the Word, which plainly are commandments, statutes, judgements, testimonies, commands, and ways. But the specific meaning of each of these cannot possibly be seen from the sense of the letter. In that sense they are scarcely more than repetitions of the same thing, but it may be seen from the internal sense in which 'commandments' has an altogether different meaning from 'statutes'; and 'judgements', 'testimonies', 'commands', and 'ways' each have a different meaning again. Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same author,

The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple; the commands of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of Jehovah is clean, standing for ever; the judgements of Jehovah are truth. Psalms 19:7-9.

And in the Book of Kings,

David said to Solomon, You shall practise the observance of your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgements, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses. 1 Kings 2:3.

'Practicing an observance' stands for all aspects of the Word in general, for this expression comes first, and those that follow are related to it as less general aspects. Actually 'practicing observances' means the same as 'keeping what has to be kept'. In Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God, and you shall practice His observance, and His statutes and judgements, and His commandments, all your days. Deuteronomy 11:1.

Here 'practising an observance' or keeping something that is to be kept in a similar way stands for all aspects of the Word in general, 'statutes' for the external aspects of the Word such as forms of ritual, and things that are representatives and meaningful signs of the internal sense, but 'commandments' for the internal aspects of the Word such as matters of life and teaching, especially those that belong to the internal sense. But the meaning of commandments and statutes will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.

1495. 'Why did you say, She is my sister?' means that He knew no other at that time than that He possessed intellectual truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sister' as intellectual truth, and also from the fact that Abram had said so, as is clear from verse 13, which was done to the end that what was celestial should suffer no violence but should be saved. From this it was evident that when the Lord as a boy absorbed facts. He first of all knew no otherwise than that facts existed solely for the sake of the intellectual man, that is, that they existed so that from them He might come to know truths. But later on it was disclosed that they had existed so that He might attain to celestial things. This took place so that celestial things should suffer no violence but be saved. When a person is being instructed the progression is from facts to rational truths, then on to intellectual truths, and finally to celestial truths, which are meant here by 'a wife'. If that progression passes from facts and rational truths straight to celestial truths and not by means of intellectual truths, then that which is celestial suffers violence; for no connection is then possible, linking rational truths, based on facts, with celestial truths, except through intellectual truths, which are means. What celestial truths are, and what intellectual truths are, will be seen in what follows shortly

[2] To enable people to know what is implied in all this, something must be said about order. Order consists in the celestial flowing into the spiritual and adapting this to be of service to itself; the spiritual in the same way flowing into the rational and adapting this to itself; the rational in the same way into factual knowledge and adapting this to itself. But when a person is receiving instruction during earliest childhood, the same order in fact exists, but it appears to be otherwise; that is to say, he appears to progress from facts to rational things, from these to spiritual, and so at length to celestial things. The reason why his instruction appears to follow such a course is that a way must thereby be opened to celestial things, which are inmost. All instruction is simply the opening of a way; and as the way is opened - or what amounts to the same, as vessels are opened - an ordered influx accordingly takes place, as has been stated, of rational things derived from celestial-spiritual things with celestial-spiritual things flowing into rational, and celestial things into celestial-spiritual. Such celestial things are presenting themselves uninterruptedly, and are also preparing for themselves and forming the vessels which are being opened. This is also made clear by the fact that in themselves factual knowledge and rational conception are dead, but that they give the appearance of being alive because of the interior life flowing into them. This may become plain to anyone from the powers of thought and of forming judgements.

[3] Hidden within those powers lie all the secrets of analytical art and science, which are so many that not one ten-thousandth part of them can ever be explored; and these secrets lie hidden not only with the adult person but also with children. All their thought and everything they speak from it is full of such things - though not one, not even the most learned, is aware of this; yet this could not be unless celestial and spiritual things within had been presenting themselves, flowing in, and bringing forth all these thoughts and utterances.