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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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Arcana Coelestia #3143

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3143. And there is room for the camels. That this signifies a state for all things that would be serviceable to Him, is evident from the signification of “room,” as being state (see above, n. 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2625); and from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges (see n. 3048, 3071). That these are things for service may be seen above (n. 1486, 3019, 3020); for all things that belong to the natural man are for no other use than to serve the spiritual; wherefore also menservants, maidservants, camels, and asses, in the internal sense chiefly signify the things which belong to the natural man.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #3809

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3809. 'And brought him to his house' means to their being joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to the house' as taking to oneself, for in the internal sense a person himself is called 'a house', see 3128, 3242, 3538. He is so called by virtue of good, which strictly speaking is 'the house', 2233, 2331, 3652, 3720. In this case therefore a bringing to the good represented by 'Laban' is meant. That being so, 'bringing to his house' here means a joining together. This verse in the internal sense describes the whole process by which natural good meant by 'Jacob' is joined to a parallel good meant by 'Laban'. The following five phases constitute that process: Mutual acknowledgement, agreement, affection, an initial stage to a joining together, and actual joining together. Mutual acknowledgement was meant by 'Rachel ran and told her father' and by 'Laban heard the news about Jacob his sister's son', dealt with in 3804, 3805: agreement by 'Laban ran to meet him', dealt with in 3806: affection by 'Laban embraced him', dealt with in 3807: the initial stage to a joining together by 'he kissed him', dealt with in 3808: and the joining together by 'he brought him to his house', dealt with in this paragraph.

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