The Bible

 

Jeremiah 48:10

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10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Commentary

 

King

  
Meeting of three kings in Potsdam and Charlottenburg, 1709, by Samuel Theodor Gericke

In Genesis 14:1, kings signify apparent goods and truths having the upper hand. In the next verse, they stand for the dominant evils and falsities against which the Lord fought as he passed He grew up on Earth.

In Genesis 14:3, we see that these evils and falsities were unclean; and in Genesis 14:4, that they burst forth later. (Arcana Coelestia 1661-1664).

In Genesis 14:14-15, this signifies that the Lord gained victory over them the evils represented earlier in the chapter. (Arcana Coelestia 1711-1715)

In Isaiah 33:17, a king signifies seeing genuine truth. (Apocalypse Explained 304[31])

In Revelation 9:11, a king signifies one who is in truth from an affection for what is good, and abstractly that truth itself -- here, in the opposite sense. (Apocalypse Revealed 440)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3832

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3832. 'And made a feast' means the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'a feast' as making one's own and being joined to, dealt with in 3596. Here it is the introduction, for this precedes the joining together, and is a pledge and witness to it. The feasts which were held in early times by people among whom meaningful signs and representatives existed meant nothing else than the introduction into the mutual love which is the essence of charity. Wedding feasts meant the introduction into conjugial love, and sacred feasts the introduction into spiritual and celestial love, the reason being that 'feasting' or eating and drinking meant making one's own and becoming joined to, as shown in 3596.

[2] This being the meaning of 'feasts' the Lord also spoke in the same vein,

Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11.

And elsewhere He said to the disciples,

That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

And when He instituted the Holy Supper He said,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29.

Anyone may see that 'reclining', 'eating', and 'drinking' in the Lord's kingdom do not mean reclining, eating, and drinking, but the kind of thing that exists in that kingdom; that is to say, these experiences are used to mean making the good of love and the truth of faith one's own, and so to mean that which is called spiritual food and celestial food. The quotations given above also show plainly that there is an internal sense within words spoken by the Lord, and that without an understanding of that sense one cannot know what is meant by reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by eating and drinking at the Lord's table in His kingdom, and by drinking of the fruit of the vine with them in the Father's kingdom. Nor indeed can one know what is meant by eating bread and drinking wine in the Holy Supper.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.