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Arcana Coelestia #9373

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9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

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

Commentary

 

Locusts

  

'Locusts' signify falsities in the extremes, which consume the truths and goods of the church in a person. 'The locusts' which John the Baptist ate signify truths of a most common or general nature.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 424, 430)


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Apocalypse Explained #68

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68. And his eyes were as a flame of fire. That this signifies Divine providence from His Divine love, is evident from the signification of eyes, as denoting the understanding (concerning which see above, n. 37), and when said of the Lord, as denoting presence, and thence providence (see Arcana Coelestia 3869, 10569); concerning which more will be said in what follows; and from the signification of a flame of fire, when said of the Lord, as denoting Divine love. The reason why a flame of fire denotes the Divine love is, that the Lord appears from heaven as a Sun, and the Divine which proceeds from Him as light, flame-coloured in the inmost or third heaven, and shining white in the middle or second heaven; the Divine love itself is what thus appears. For this reason fire and flame in the Word signify love. (As may be evident from what is shown in Arcana Coelestia, viz., that fire in the Word signifies love in each sense, n. 934, 4906, 5215. That sacred and heavenly fire is Divine love, and every affection which belongs to that love, see n. 934, 6314, 6832. That there are two origins of heat, one from the sun of the world, by virtue of which all things upon the earth vegetate, the other from the Sun of heaven, which is the Lord, from which angels and men derive all that pertains to their life, see n. 3338, 5215, 7324. That love is the fire of life, and that life itself is actually therefrom, see n. 4906, 5071, 6032, 6314. That flame is truth from the good of the inmost heaven, and light truth from the good of the middle heaven, see n. 3222, 6832; the reason is, that light in the inmost heaven appears as flaming, and in the middle heaven, shining white, see n. 9570; and also in the work, Heaven and Hell 116-140.) The reason why eyes, when said of the Lord, signify Divine providence, is, because when said of man, they signify understanding; and the Divine understanding, because it is infinite, is Divine providence. Nothing else is signified by the eyes of Jehovah, in the following passage in Isaiah:

"Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see" (37:17).

In Jeremiah:

"I will set mine eye upon them for good, and I will bring them back upon this land, and I will build them" (24:6).

And in David:

"Behold the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him" (Psalms 33:18);

and in the same:

"Jehovah is in the temple of his holiness, his eyes behold, and his eyelids prove the sons of man" (Psalms 11:4.);

and in other places. (Concerning the Divine providence, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 267-279.)

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.