The Bible

 

Exodus 23:14-19 : The Three Annual Festivals

Study

14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Commentary

 

Harvest

  

The 'Harvest,' as mentioned in Mark 4:29, signifies the increase of the church in general and particular.

In Joel 3:13, it signifies the last state of the church before it has been devastated from all good and truth.

'A harvest' symbolizes the state of the church with respect to Divine truth. The reason is that a harvest yields the grain used to make bread, and grain and bread symbolize the church's goodness, which is achieved through truths.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 645; Joel 3; Mark 4)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #20

Study this Passage

  
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20. IV. HEAVEN IS DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS.

As there are infinite varieties in heaven, and no one society nor any one angel is exactly like any other, 1 there are in heaven general, specific, and particular divisions. The general division is into two kingdoms, the specific into three heavens, and the particular into innumerable societies. Each of these will be treated of in what follows. The general division is said to be into kingdoms, because heaven is called "the kingdom of God."

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] There is infinite variety, and nowhere any thing the same as another (Arcana Coelestia 7236, 9002).

Also in the heavens there is infinite variety (684, 690, 3744, 5598, 7236).

Varieties in heaven are varieties of good (3744, 4005, 7236, 7833, 7836, 9002).

All societies in the heavens, and all angels in a society, are thereby distinguished from each other (690, 3241, 3519, 3804, 3986, 4067, 4149, 4263, 7236, 7833, 7836).

Nevertheless they are all made one by love from the Lord (457, 3986).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.