From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9373

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

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.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2971

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

2971. The field and the cave that was therein. That this signifies as to the good and the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of “field” as being the church, also the good itself of the church. The celestial, or good, which is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, is compared to “ground,” and also to “field;” it is also called “ground” and “field;” because the celestial or good is that which receives the truths of faith, which are compared to seeds and are also called “seeds.” The same is evident also from the signification of a “cave,” as being the truth of faith which is in obscurity (see n. 2935); it is said to be in obscurity because it is with the spiritual (see n. 1043, 2708, 2715).

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2159

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

2159. That the “servant” denotes the human that appertained to the Lord, before it was made Divine, may be seen from many passages in the Prophets. The reason is-as already shown several times-that until He had put it off and made it Divine the human that appertained to the Lord was merely a servant. The human that appertained to Him was from the mother, thus was infirm, having with it from the mother an hereditary which by means of the combats of temptations He overcame and utterly expelled, insomuch that nothing was left of that which was infirm and hereditary from the mother, nay, at last there remained not anything whatever from the mother. Thus He entirely put off all that was from the mother, and therefore was no longer her son, as also He himself says in Mark:

They said unto Him, Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee: and He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? And looking round on them that sat about Him, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and My mother (Mark 3:32-35; Matthew 12:46-49; Luke 8:20-21).

[2] And when He had put off this human, He put on the Divine Human, from which He called Himself the “Son of man,” as we find many times in the Word of the New Testament; and also the “Son of God;” and by the “Son of man” He meant the truth itself, and by the “Son of God” the good itself, which belonged to His Human Essence when this was made Divine. The former state was that of the Lord’s humiliation, but the latter that of His glorification (treated of before, n. 1999).

[3] In the former state, namely, that of humiliation, when as yet He had appertaining to Him an infirm human, He adored Jehovah as one other than Himself, and indeed like a servant; for relatively to the Divine the human is nothing else, on which account in the Word the term “servant” is predicated of that human, as in Isaiah:

I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake (Isaiah 37:35),

where the Assyrians are treated of, in whose camp a hundred and eighty-five thousand were smitten by an angel. “David” denotes the Lord, who, as He was to come, in respect to the human is called a “servant.” (That in the Word “David” denotes the Lord, may be seen above, n. 1888.)

[4] In the same Prophet:

Behold My servant upon whom I will lean; My chosen, My soul is well pleased. I have put My spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment unto the nations (Isaiah 42:1),

manifestly concerning the Lord, of whom, when He was in the human, the terms “servant” and “chosen” are predicated.

Again:

Who is blind but My servant? and deaf, as the angel I will send? who is blind as the perfect one, and blind as the servant of Jehovah? (Isaiah 42:19),

where also the Lord is spoken of; and of whom in like manner the terms “servant” and “angel” are predicated when He was in the human.

[5] Again:

Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He (Isaiah 43:10).

Again:

Said Jehovah, My Former from the womb to be His servant; to bring Jacob again unto Him, and that Israel be gathered unto Him; and He said, Thou art a slight thing that thou shouldest be My servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob; I have given thee for a light of the nations to be My salvation unto the extremity of the earth (Isaiah 49:5-6),

where also the Lord and His human are manifestly treated of before He was made the “light of the nations,” and “salvation unto the extremity of the earth.” Again:

Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that heareth the voice of His servant, who walketh in darkness, and hath no brightness? let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean upon His God (Isaiah 50:10).

“Servant” here also denotes the human that appertained to the Lord; and that He was in this human and taught the way of truth, is the “voice of the servant of Jehovah.”

[6] Again:

Jehovah goeth before you, and the God of Israel gathereth you. Behold, My servant shall act prudently, he shall be lifted up, and shall be exalted, and shall be raised up exceedingly (Isaiah 52:12-13).

It is evident that “servant” is here predicated of the Lord when He was in the human; for it is said of Him that He “shall be lifted up, exalted, and raised up.” Again:

He hath no form and no honor; we saw him, but there was no appearance; He was despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with disease. Jehovah willed to bruise him; He made him infirm; if he shall make his soul guilt, he shall see seed, he shall prolong days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper by his hand; he shall see of the labor of his soul, he shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; and he himself hath carried their iniquities (Isa;. 53:2-3, 10-11).

Here, as in the whole of this chapter, the Lord’s state of humiliation is openly treated of; and it is also said that He was then in an infirm human, namely, that He was a “man of sorrows, acquainted with disease, infirm, was in the labor of His soul,” besides a number of other statements, in which state He is called “servant.”

  
/ 10837  
  

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