At face value, the Ten Commandments can seem intense and unforgiving. But Emanuel Swedenborg’s understanding of the internal sense of the Bible—spiritual meanings that lie beneath the literal words—can give us a new perspective on these familiar rules.

In this episode of their Swedenborg and Life web series, hosts Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose study the inner meaning of the first commandment.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 950; Arcana Coelestia 8864, 8865, 8868, 8869, 8875, 8878, 8879, 8880, 8881)

60. The stone tablets on which the law was written were called "the tablets of the covenant, " and because of them the ark was called "the ark of the covenant" and the law itself was called "the covenant" (Numbers 10:33; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; 5:2-3; 9:9; Joshua 3:11; 1 Kings 8:21; Revelation 11:19; and often elsewhere).

The reason the law was called the covenant is that "covenant" means union. That is why it says of the Lord that he will be "a covenant for the people" (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8); why he is called "the angel of the covenant" (Malachi 3:1); and why his blood is called "the blood of the covenant" (Matthew 26:28; Zechariah 9:11; Exodus 24:4-10). That is why the Word is called "the Old Covenant" and "the New Covenant."

Covenants are made for the sake of love, friendship, and companionship, and therefore for the sake of union.