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Arcana Coelestia #9372

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9372. And He said unto Moses. That this signifies that which concerns the Word in general, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Word (of which below); and from the signification of “He said,” as involving those things which follow in this chapter, thus those which concern the Word (see n. 9370). (That Moses represents the Word, can be seen from what has been often shown before about Moses, as from the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 4859, 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 8601, 8760, 8787, 8805.) Here Moses represents the Word in general, because it is said of him in what follows, that he alone should come near unto Jehovah (verse 2); and also that, being called unto out of the midst of the cloud, he entered into it, and went up the mount (verses 16-18).

[2] In the Word there are many who represent the Lord in respect to truth Divine, or in respect to the Word; but chief among them are Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist. That Moses does so, can be seen in the explications just cited above; that so do Elijah and Elisha, can be seen in the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 2762, 5247; and that John the Baptist does so is evident from the fact that he was “Elias who was to come.” He who does not know that John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, cannot know what all those things infold and signify which are said about him in the New Testament; and therefore in order that this secret may stand open, and that at the same time it may appear that Elias, and also Moses, who were seen when the Lord was transfigured, signified the Word, some things may here be quoted which are spoken about John the Baptist; as in Matthew:

After the messengers of John had departed, Jesus began to speak concerning John, saying, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft things are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, even more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send Mine angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to believe, he is Elias who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:7-15; and also Luke 7:24-28).

No one can know how these things are to be understood, unless he knows that this John represented the Lord as to the Word, and unless he also knows from the internal sense what is signified by “the wilderness” in which he was, also what by “a reed shaken by the wind,” and likewise by “soft raiment in kings’ houses;” and further what is signified by his being “more than a prophet,” and by “none among those who are born of women being greater than he, and nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he,” and lastly by his being “Elias.” For without a deeper sense, all these words are uttered merely from some comparison, and not from anything of weight.

[3] But it is very different when by John is understood the Lord as to the Word, or the Word representatively. Then by “the wilderness of Judea in which John was” is signified the state in which the Word was at the time when the Lord came into the world, namely, that it was “in the wilderness,” that is, it was in obscurity so great that the Lord was not at all acknowledged, neither was anything known about His heavenly kingdom; when yet all the prophets prophesied about Him, and about His kingdom, that it was to endure forever. (That “a wilderness” denotes such obscurity, see n. 2708, 4736, 7313.) For this reason the Word is compared to “a reed shaken by the wind” when it is explained at pleasure; for in the internal sense “a reed” denotes truth in the ultimate, such as is the Word in the letter.

[4] That the Word in the ultimate, or in the letter, is crude and obscure in the sight of men; but that in the internal sense it is soft and shining, is signified by their “not seeing a man clothed in soft raiment, for behold those who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.” That such things are signified by these words, is plain from the signification of “raiment,” or “garments,” as being truths (n. 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 6914, 6918, 9093); and for this reason the angels appear clothed in garments soft and shining according to the truths from good with them (n. 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216). The same is evident from the signification of “kings’ houses,” as being the abodes of the angels, and in the universal sense, the heavens; for “houses” are so called from good (n. 2233, 2234, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4622, 4982, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); and “kings,” from truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). Therefore by virtue of their reception of truth from the Lord, the angels are called “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the king,” and also “kings.”

[5] That the Word is more than any doctrine in the world, and more than any truth in the world, is signified by “what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet;” and by, “there hath not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist;” for in the internal sense “a prophet” denotes doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); and “those who are born,” or are the sons, “of women” denote truths (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3704, 4257).

[6] That in the internal sense, or such as it is in heaven, the Word is in a degree above the Word in the external sense, or such as it is in the world, and such as John the Baptist taught, is signified by, “he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he;” for as perceived in heaven the Word is of wisdom so great that it transcends all human apprehension. That the prophecies about the Lord and His coming, and that the representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, ceased when the Lord came into the world, is signified by, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That the Word was represented by John, as by Elijah, is signified by his being “Elias who is to come.”

[7] The same is signified by these words in Matthew:

The disciples asked Jesus, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? He answered and said, Elias must needs first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias hath come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. And they understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

That “Elias hath come, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished” signifies that the Word has indeed taught them that the Lord is to come, but that still they did not wish to comprehend, interpreting it in favor of the rule of self, and thus extinguishing what is Divine in it. That they would do the same with the truth Divine itself, is signified by “even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” (That “the Son of man” denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, see n. 2803, 2813, 3704)

[8] From all this it is now evident what is meant by the prophecy about John in Malachi:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Malachi 4:5).

Moreover, the Word in the ultimate, or such as it is in the external form in which it appears before man in the world, is described by the “clothing” and “food” of John the Baptist, in Matthew:

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, had His clothing of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:1, 4).

In like manner it is described by Elijah in the second book of Kings:

He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins (2 Kings 1:8).

By “clothing,” or a “garment,” when said of the Word, is signified truth Divine there in the ultimate form; by “camel’s hair” are signified memory-truths such as appear there before a man in the world; by the “leathern girdle” is signified the external bond connecting and keeping in order all the interior things; by “food” is signified spiritual nourishment from the knowledges of truth and of good out of the Word; by “locusts” are signified ultimate or most general truths; and by “wild honey” their pleasantness.

[9] That such things are signified by “clothing” and “food” has its origin in the representatives of the other life, where all appear clothed according to truths from good, and where food also is represented according to the desires of acquiring knowledge and growing wise. From this it is that “clothing,” or a “garment,” denotes truth (as may be seen from the citations above; and that “food” or “meat” denotes spiritual nourishment, n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003; that “a girdle” denotes a bond which gathers up and holds together interior things, n. 9341; that “leather” denotes what is external, n. 3540; and thus “a leathern girdle” denotes an external bond; that “hairs” denote ultimate or most general truths, n. 3301, 5569-5573; that “a camel” denotes memory-knowledge in general, n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145, 4156; that “a locust” denotes nourishing truth in the extremes, n. 7643; and that “honey” denotes the pleasantness thereof, n. 5620, 6857, 8056). It is called “wild honey,” or “honey of the field,” because by “a field” is signified the church (n. 2971, 3317, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9295). He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot possibly know why Elijah and John were so clothed. And yet that these things signified something peculiar to these prophets, can be thought by everyone who thinks well about the Word.

[10] Because John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore also when he spoke of the Lord, who was the Word itself, he said of himself that he was “not Elias, nor the prophet,” and that he was “not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord’s shoe,” as in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Jews from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, asked John who he was. And he confessed, and denied not, I am not the Christ. Therefore they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? He answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. They said therefore, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? He answered, I baptize with water; in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not; He it is who is to come after me, who was before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. When he saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me; for he was before me (John 1:1, 14, 19-30).

From these words it is plain that when John spoke about the Lord Himself, who was Truth Divine itself, or the Word, he said that he himself was not anything, because the shadow disappears when the light itself appears, that is, the representative disappears when the original itself makes its appearance. (That the representatives had in view holy things, and the Lord Himself, and not at all the person that represented, see n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.) One who does not know that representatives vanish like shadows at the presence of light, cannot know why John denied that he was Elias and the prophet.

[11] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by Moses and Elias, who were seen in glory, and who spoke with the Lord when transfigured, of His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:29-31); namely, that they signified the Word (“Moses” the historic Word, and “Elias” the prophetic Word), which in the internal sense throughout treats of the Lord, of His coming into the world, and of His departure out of the world; and therefore it is said that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory,” for “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word, and the “cloud” its external sense (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 5922, 8427).

  
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Apocalypse Explained #693

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693. Verse 18. And the nations were angered, signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and the church. This is evident from the signification of "nations," as being those who are in the goods of the church, and in a contrary sense those who are in evils, here those who are in evils, since it is said that "they were angered." (That "nations" signify those who are in goods and those who are in evils, and in an abstract sense the goods and evils of the church, and that "peoples" signify those who are in truths and those who are in falsities, and in an abstract sense the truths and falsities of the church, may be seen above, n. 175, 331, 625.) Also from the signification of "to be angered," as being, in reference to the evil, who are signified by "nations," to be in contempt, enmity, and hatred against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and the church.

[2] These and other like things are signified by "to be angered," because everyone burns with wrath and is angered when his love and the delight of his love are assaulted, this being the cause of all wrath and anger; also for the reason that the love of everyone is his life, consequently to hurt the love is to hurt the life, and this being hurt causes commotion of mind, and thence anger and wrath. It is similar with the good when their love is assaulted, but with the difference that they have, not wrath or anger, but zeal. This zeal indeed is called anger in the Word, but still it is not anger; it is called anger because it appears in external form like anger, but inwardly it is nothing but charity, goodness, and clemency; consequently zeal does not, like anger, continue after the one towards whom it was kindled repents and turns away from evil. Anger with the evil is different; for it inwardly conceals in itself hatred and revenge, which the evil love, therefore it persists and is rarely extinguished. This is why anger belongs to those who are in the loves of self and of the world, for they are in evils of every kind; while zeal belongs to those who are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor. Therefore zeal looks to the salvation of man, but anger to his damnation; this also is in the purpose of the evil who are angered, but salvation is in the purpose of the good who are zealous.

[3] "The nations were angered" signifies here the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord and against the Divine things that are from Him, thus against the holy things of heaven and the church, because at the end of the church, a little before the Last Judgment, which is here treated of, there is a change of state with those who were in the former heaven and former earth, which is effected by the separation of the good from the evil; and when this has been effected the externals of the evil, by and from which they uttered what is true and did what is good from pretense and hypocrisy, are closed up, and the internals which in them are infernal are opened, and when these have been opened contempt, hostility, and hatred openly break forth with contumelies against the Lord and against the holy things of heaven and the church; for with them these things have lain stored up and covered over by the loves of self and the world; and these loves are such that they can do good and speak truths for the sake of self and of the world, because the holy things of heaven and the church serve them as means to ends, which are reputation, glory, honor, and gain, in a word, self and the world, and the means are loved for the sake of the ends. But since with such the end, which is of man's love and thus of his intention and will, is corporeal and worldly, and consequently infernal, therefore the goods and truths that belong to heaven and the church with them do not abide in their internals, but only in their externals, because in these are evils and falsities. The goods and truths of heaven penetrate into the internals only with such as make the holy things of heaven and the church their ends, that is, make them to be of their love, and thence of their intention and will; when these are made ends, then the spiritual mind is opened, and through this man is led by the Lord. But it is the exact opposite when the goods and truths of heaven and the church are not made ends, but means; for, as has just been said, ends belong to the ruling love of man, and when this is love of self it is also love of his own [proprium], and this regarded in itself is nothing but evil, and so far as man acts from it he acts from hell, and thus against the Divine.

[4] Furthermore, it is to be known that in all evil there is anger against the Lord and against the holy things of the church. That this is so has been made clearly evident to me from the hells, in which all are in evils, and from which are all evils; for there when they merely hear the Lord named they become inflamed with vehement anger, not only against Him but also against all who confess Him. Thence it is that hell is the diametrical opposite of heaven, and is in the perpetual effort to destroy heaven, and to extinguish the Divine things therein, which are the goods of love and the truths of faith. This shows why evils are angry with goods, and falsities of evil with truths; this is why "anger" in the Word signifies evil in the whole complex.

[5] It is similar in the following passages. In Luke:

Jesus said, Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days; for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger with the people (Luke 21:23).

This is said of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church. That then good and truth cannot be received is signified by "Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck." The rejection of good because of the evil that will then rule in the church, and of truth because of falsity, is signified by "for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger with the people," "distress" here means the ruling evil, and "anger" the ruling falsity from evil, for at the end of the church the evil are distressed by good and angered by truth.

[6] In Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah is righteousness and strength; unto Him shall they come, and all that were incensed against Him shall be ashamed (Isaiah 45:24).

"All that were incensed against Jehovah shall be ashamed" signifies that all who are in evils and falsities will desist from them, "to be incensed against Jehovah" signifying to be in falsities from evil.

[7] In Moses:

Simeon and Levi are brethren; In their anger they slew a man, and in their good pleasure they hocked an ox; cursed be their anger for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7).

"Reuben, Simeon, and Levi" signify faith, charity, and the works of charity; but here "Reuben" signifies faith separated from charity, from which comes neither charity nor any work of charity; for these three cohere together; such as the faith is such is the charity, and such as the charity is such are the works of charity; thus they are inseparable, each one belongs to the other, and is as the other. Because Reuben, on account of his adultery with the handmaid, his father's concubine, was accursed, Simeon and Levi also were rejected; their rejection is signified by "I have divided them in Jacob and scattered them in Israel." Now because faith, which was represented by "Reuben," was not to be accepted as the first principle of the church, but spiritual good, which is truth in the understanding and will, therefore Joseph was accepted as the firstborn of the church in the place of Reuben, for "Joseph" represented spiritual good, which in its essence is truth in the understanding and will. Thence it may be clear what is signified by "the anger of Simeon and Levi that it was fierce, and their wrath that it was hard," namely, the turning away from good and truth, thus evil and falsity in the whole complex; for when charity departs from faith there is no more any good nor any truth. (But these things may be seen explained more copiously in the Arcana Coelestia 6351-6361.)

[8] In Matthew:

Jesus said, It was said to them of old, Whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment; but I say unto you, Whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment (Matthew 5:21, 22).

"To be angry with his brother without cause" here also signifies enmity and hatred against good and truth; those also that have such enmity and such hatred do kill continually in mind, intention and will, and would kill actually if it were permitted, that is, if they were not hindered by the laws and the consequent fear of punishment and loss of life or of reputation, honor, or gain; for what a man cherishes in his mind, that he does when it is permissible. "He who is angry with his brother without cause is liable to the judgment," the same as he who kills, because "to be angry" signifies to think, to intend, and to will evil to another, and all evil of the will is in the life of man's spirit and returns after death, and this is why he is then "liable to the judgment," for what belongs to the intention and will is judged like deeds. But it is unnecessary to cite more passages to show what "anger" and "wrath" signify in the case of those who are in evil, for it is self-evident that every evil conceals in itself anger against good, since it wills to extinguish the good, and even to kill him in whom good is, if not as to the body, still they do as to the soul, and this certainly comes from anger and is accompanied by anger.

  
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The Bible

 

Genesis 49:7

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7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.