Isaiah 53
1
Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled?
2
For his growth was like that of a delicate plant before him, and like a root out of a dry place: he had no grace of form, to give us pleasure;
3
Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom Men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him.
4
But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.
5
But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.
6
We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all.
7
Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word.
8
They took away from him help and right, and who gave a thought to his fate? for he was cut off from the land of the living: he came to his death for the sin of my people.
9
And they put his body into the earth with sinners, and his last resting-place was with the evil-doers, though he had done no wrong, and no deceit was in his mouth.
10
And the Lord was pleased ... see a seed, long life, ... will do well in his hand. ...
11
... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself.
12
For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.
Arcana Coelestia #8603
8603. 'And Moses, Aaron, and Hur' means levels of Divine Truth that follow one another in order. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as Divine Truth that goes forth directly from the Lord, dealt with in 7010; from the representation of 'Aaron' as Divine Truth that goes forth from the Lord in an indirect way, dealt with in 7009; and from the representation of 'Hur' as Divine Truth that goes forth again in an indirect way, but through the latter. Thus there are levels of truth that follow one another in order.
[2] What is meant by levels of truth that follow one another in order must be stated briefly. All things without exception in the entire natural world spring in order from others on a more internal level; they derive from them and follow in order after them. But the interior things do not connect with the exterior by gradually merging into them; rather, they are distinct and separate, and are joined through extensions from themselves like fibres, which act as channels of communication. Some idea of the nature of things which derive from others and therefore follow in order from them may be conveyed by considering fruits such as lemons, apples, and the like. Their most external parts are their surrounding skins, their interiors are the surrounded flesh or pulp, and their yet more interior parts are the seeds; and the seeds have casings around the outside, then on the actual seeds membranes, under which lies an inner pulp containing the initial form, the soul so to speak, from which again spring new trees and fruit.
[3] All these things follow one another in order; but they are distinct and separate, yet at the same time are joined together. The communication of interiors with exteriors is effected in a wondrous fashion through fibre-like passageways. When those interiors and exteriors are first formed they are very closely connected; but in the course of time they are separated. For before the initial form, the inmost part within the seed, can expand into forms like its parents it must be opened in stages following one another in order. When it is opened and starts to grow, the pulpy parts surrounding it adapt themselves, serving first as its 'soil', and after that as its fertilizing sap. After this phase, which is its time in the womb, it is born; at that point it is left to the soil of the earth, in which it is sown as a seed.
[4] All this enables one to form some idea of the nature of things that derive from and follow one another in order. As is the nature of them in the vegetable kingdom, so it is also in the animal kingdom, yet in a far more perfect way. In the animal kingdom there are exterior things, interior, and inmost, which in like manner follow one another in order, are distinct and separate from one another, and yet at the same time are joined together. But they are different in that forms in the animal kingdom have been created to receive life. Consequently just as forms receiving life follow one another in order, so do the resulting kinds of vitality. For the forms or substances receiving life are the subjects 1 , and the things which result from changes and modifications of those forms are the forces, which should be called vitalities because they are life-forces. From all this one may now see what is meant by levels of Divine Truth that follow one another in order. For everything constituting life has connection with truth, and the perfection it possesses with good, or in the contrary sense with falsity, and its imperfection with evil. Their transitions in order from one to the next are also called degrees.
Footnotes:
1. Subject is used here to mean something which really exists yet depends for its existence on something prior to itself.
8603a 'Went up to the top of the hill' means in the good of charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hill' as charity, dealt with in 6435, the good of it being meant by 'the top of the hill'.
