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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

 

Pleasant

  

Generally, when the Bible describes something as "pleasant" or "desirable," it is talking about true ideas and concepts, things of the intellect. A good example is in Genesis 49:15, where Jacob is prophesying about his son Issachar: "And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant..." Here "rest was good" refers to celestial things, or things led by love of the Lord; "the land that it was pleasant" refers to spiritual things, or things led by the understanding of what is true.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 375 [26], 433 [12]; Arcana Coelestia 102, 1201 [2], 6392, 8869 [5], 9272 [3]; The Apocalypse Explained 242 [12], 357 [24], 504 [25], 654 [29], 739 [7], 750 [12], 799 [14], [17])

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Arcana Coelestia #8354

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8354. 'And Jehovah showed him [some] wood' means that the Lord instilled good. This is clear from the meaning of 'showing' - when done by 'Jehovah', that is, the Lord - as imparting perception, which because it takes place through influx means instilling it; and from the meaning of 'wood' as good, dealt with in 643, 2784, 2812, 3720.

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