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

 

House

  
White House at Night by Vincent van Gogh

A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #118

Study this Passage

  
/ 603  
  

118. That the Lord is actually seen in heaven as a sun I have not only been told by angels, but it has occasionally been granted me to see it; and therefore what I have heard and seen respecting the Lord as a sun I shall be glad to tell in a few words. The Lord is seen as a sun, not in heaven, but high above the heavens; and not directly overhead or in the zenith, but before the faces of the angels at a middle height. He is seen at a considerable distance, in two places, one before the right eye and the other before the left eye. Before the right eye He is seen exactly like a sun, as it were, with a glow and size like that of the sun of the world. But before the left eye He is not seen as a sun, but as a moon, glowing white like the moon of our earth, and of like size, but more brilliant, and surrounded with many little moons, as it were, each of them of similar whiteness and splendor. The Lord is seen so differently in two places because every person sees the Lord in accordance with the quality of his reception of the Lord, thus He is seen in one way by those that receive Him with the good of love, and in another by those that receive Him with the good of faith. Those that receive Him with the good of love see Him as a sun, fiery and flaming, in accordance with their reception of Him; these are in His celestial kingdom; while those that receive Him with the good of faith see Him as a moon, white and brilliant in accordance with their reception of Him, and these are in His spiritual kingdom. 1 This is so because good of love corresponds to fire; therefore in the spiritual sense fire is love; and the good of faith corresponds to light, and in the spiritual sense light is faith. 2 And the Lord appears before the eyes because the interiors, which belong to the mind, see through the eyes, from good of love through the right eye, and from good of faith through the left eye; 3 since with angels and also with men all things at the right correspond to good from which truth is derived, and all at the left to truth that is from good. 4 Good of faith is in its essence truth from good.

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] The Lord is seen in heaven as a sun, and is the sun of heaven (Arcana Coelestia 1053, 3636, 3643, 4060).

The Lord is seen as a sun by those who are in His celestial kingdom, where love to Him reigns, and as a moon by those who are in His spiritual kingdom, where charity to the neighbor and faith reign (1521, 1529-1531, 1837, 4696).

The Lord is seen as a sun at a middle height before the right eye, and an a moon before the left eye (1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643, 4321, 5097, 7078, 7083, 7173, 7270, 8812, 10809).

The Lord is seen as a sun and as a moon (1531, 7173).

The Lord's Divine Itself is far above His Divine in heaven (7270, 8760).

2. [Swedenborg's footnote] "Fire" in the Word signifies love, both in a good sense and in a bad sense (934, 4906, 5215).

Holy or heavenly fire signifies the Divine Love (934, 6314, 6832).

Infernal fire signifies love of self and of the world and every lust of those loves (1861, 5071, 6314, 6832, 7575, 10747).

Love is the fire of life and life itself is really from it (4906, 5071, 6032, 6314). "Light" signifies the truth of faith (3195, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 9548, 9684).

3. [Swedenborg's footnote] The sight of the left eye corresponds to truths of faith, and the sight of the right eye to their goods (4410, 6923).

4. [Swedenborg's footnote] The things on man's right have relation to good from which is truth, and those on his left to truth from good (9495, 9604).

  
/ 603  
  

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