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

 

Month

  

A 'month,' as in Genesis 29, signifies the end of an earlier state and the beginning of a following state, thus a new state. 'A month' signifies a full state.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 3814)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9292

Study this Passage

  
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9292. 'For in it you came out of Egypt' means deliverance from molestation by falsities. This is clear from the things stated and shown regarding the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in 7107, 7110, 7126, 7142, 7220, 7228, 7240, 7278, 7317, 8866, 9197. In these places it may be seen that the time spent by the children of Israel in Egypt meant the molestation by those from hell of the spiritual, that is, of those who belonged to the Lord's spiritual Church, and their protection by the Lord, and that their departure from Egypt meant deliverance from that molestation, on account of which the Passover, which is 'the feast of unleavened bread', was established, see 7093 (end), 7867, 7995.

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