Arcana Coelestia #10199
10199. 'Incense of spices' means a hearing and receiving with pleasure. This is clear from the meaning of 'incense' as the Lord's hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity, dealt with in 10177; and from the meaning of 'spices' as things that bring pleasure. Things bringing pleasure are meant by 'spices' on account of their odour; for 'odour' means perception, and therefore a sweet odour means a perception of that which brings pleasure, while an offensive odour means that which brings no pleasure. All things perceived by a person with the sensory organs of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch mean spiritual realities connected with the good of love and the truths of faith. Consequently smell means the perception of interior truth springing from the good of love; taste means perception and the desire to know and become wise; sight means an understanding of the truths of faith; hearing means perception resulting from the good of faith and from obedience; and touch in general means imparting, conveying, and being received.
[2] The reason why they have these meanings is that every reception of impressions by the outward senses begins in reception by the inward senses, which belong to the understanding and will, and so begins within the person, in the truths of faith and the good of love since these constitute the understanding and will within the human mind. Yet inward sensations, which belong properly to a person's understanding and will, do not feel the same as the outward ones, though they are turned into outward sensations when they flow in. For all the perceptions that a person receives by means of his outward sensory organs flow from inward powers of mind. The path all influx takes is from inward things to outward ones, not from outward to inward, since there is no such thing as physical influx - that is, influx from the natural world into the spiritual world - only influx from the spiritual world into the natural. A person's inner powers, which belong properly to understanding and will, exist in the spiritual world, and his outward ones, which belong properly to the bodily senses, exist in the natural world. From all this too it becomes clear what correspondence is and what the nature of it is.
[3] In general, smell corresponds to perception of some reality, as determined by the essential nature of the matter that is being perceived, see 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 10054.
Taste corresponds to perception and the desire to know and become wise, 3502, 4791-4805.
Sight corresponds to an understanding of the truths of faith, 3863, 4403-4421, 4567, 5114, 5400, 6805.
Hearing corresponds to perception of the good of faith and to obedience, 3869, 4652-4660, 7216, 8361, 9311, 9926.
Touch means imparting, conveying, and being received, 10130.
[4] 1 The fact that such things as are perceived with pleasure are meant by 'spices' - the kinds that spring from love and charity, in particular interior truths since they spring from these - is clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
Instead of spice 2 there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair 3 , baldness. Isaiah 3:24.
This refers to the daughters of Zion, by whom the celestial Church is meant, a Church in possession of interior truths springing from the good of love to the Lord. 'Spice' here means interior truth, 'rottenness' deprivation of it; 'a girdle' means a joining together, and 'a falling apart' the dissolution of connection and order; 'well-set hair' means factual knowledge of truth, which is exterior truth or truth as the external man knows it, and 'baldness' deprivation of that truth.
'A girdle' means a joining together and a bond to ensure that everything is held in connection and has the same end in view, see 9828.
'Well-set hair' means factual knowledge of truth, 2831 4 .
'Baldness' means deprivation of that truth, 9960.
[5] In Ezekiel,
A great eagle with [great] wings came on Lebanon, and from it took a twig of the cedar away into the land of Canaan 5 ; in the city of spicers he put the top of it 6 . Ezekiel 17:3-4.
This refers in the internal sense to the beginnings and growth of the spiritual Church, and then its corruption and end. 'A great eagle with [great] wings' means the interior truth which that Church possessed, 3901, 8764, 'wings' its exterior truths, 8764, 9514. 'Lebanon' is that Church, 'the cedar' there being the spiritual Church's truth. 'The city of spicers' is a place where teachings composed of interior truth are presented, 'cities' in the Word meaning religious teachings, see 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493. It is called 'the city of spicers' by virtue of its interior truths.
[6] In the same prophet,
The traders of Sheba and Raamah with the best of [every] spice, and with every precious stone and gold, carried out 7 their dealings. Ezekiel 27:22.
This refers to Tyre, which means the Church in respect of cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth. 'The traders' are those who possess these and pass them on; 'Sheba and Raamah' are those with whom cognitions of celestial and spiritual things exist; 'the best of spice' is that which by virtue of interior truths brings pleasure; 'precious stone' is those very truths; and 'gold' is the good that goes with them.
Tyre means the Church in respect of interior cognitions of goodness and truth, and in the abstract sense those cognitions themselves, see 1201.
'The traders' are those who possess these and pass them on, 2967, 4453.
'Sheba and Raamah' are those with whom cognitions of celestial and spiritual things exist, 1171, 3240.
'Precious stone' is interior truth, 9863, 9865, 9873, 9874.
'Gold' is the good that goes with it, see the places referred to in 9874, 9881.
[7] From all this one may see what was represented by the queen of Sheba's coming to Solomon in Jerusalem with camels carrying spices, gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:1-2, and by the offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which the wise men from the east made to the new-born Jesus, Matthew 2:11. Because 'spices' meant interior truths, thus those which bring pleasure, the incense and also the anointing oil, dealt with further on in this chapter, were scented with spices.
[8] By interior truths those truths which have become part of a person's life and affection, thus those inwardly present in him, should be understood, but not truths which are present solely in the memory and have not become part of that person's life. These truths in relation to the others are called external ones, since they have not been inscribed on the person's life, only on his memory. They reside in the external man and not in the internal. Truths of faith which have been inscribed on a person's life are present in the will, and what is in the will is present in the internal man. For by means of the truths of faith the internal man is opened up and contact with heaven is brought about. From this it is evident that the interior truths present with a person are ones that spring from the good of love and charity. Whether you say will or love it amounts to the same thing, for what composes a person's will composes his love. Therefore the truths inscribed on the person's life, called interior truths, are ones that have been inscribed on his love, and so on the will, from which they afterwards go forth when they pass into speech and action.
[9] For heaven, in which the internal man that has been opened up is present, does not enter truths directly but indirectly, through the good of love. But heaven cannot come in when a person's internal man is closed, because there is no good of love there to receive it. In the case therefore of those with whom the internal man has not been opened by means of truths springing from the good of love and charity hell enters with falsities arising from evil, no matter how many truths of faith, even interior ones, are residing in the external man alone, that is, in the memory.
From all this one may now see what should be understood by interior truths that bring pleasure, which are meant by 'spices', namely those which spring from the good of love and charity.
Footnotes:
1. To judge both from the first Latin edition and his rough draft Swedenborg may have intended to add words that would have concluded what goes before and introduced what comes next.
2. i.e. fragrance
3. literally, instead of the work of plaited [hair]
4. The word rendered well-set, more literally plaited, may otherwise mean entangled.
5. Here the Hebrew may be taken to mean either the land of Canaan or the land of the merchant. See 3901:2, 8764:6, where Swedenborg adopts the latter meaning.
6. literally, its head i.e. the twig from the top of the cedar
7. literally, gave
Exodus 23
1
"You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2
"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;
3
neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.
4
"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
5
If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him, you shall surely help him with it.
6
"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7
"Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.
8
"You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
9
"You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
10
"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,
11
but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
12
"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.
13
"Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.
14
"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.
15
You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.
16
And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.
17
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.
18
"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.
19
The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20
"Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21
Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don't provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.
22
But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
23
For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.
24
You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.
25
You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.
26
No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
27
I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28
I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.
29
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.
30
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.
31
I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32
You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
