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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 #4281

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4281. That by “the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint in his wrestling with him,” is signified that this conjunction was wholly injured and displaced in Jacob’s posterity, is evident from the signification of being “out of joint” in the sense in question, as being to be displaced, and thus to be injured. That the “hollow of the thigh” denotes conjunction, is manifest from what was said above (n. 4280); and because in the Word “Jacob” denotes not only Jacob, but also all his posterity, as is evident from many passages in the Word (Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 2 23:23; 24:5, 1 24:17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11 Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4 and elsewhere).

[2] That Jacob and his posterity were of such a character that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be conjoined with natural good (that is, the internal or spiritual man with the external or natural man), is manifest from everything which is related of that nation in the Word; for they did not know, nor were they willing to know, what the internal or spiritual man is, and therefore this was not revealed to them; for they believed that nothing exists in man except that which is external and natural. In all their worship they had regard to nothing else, insomuch that Divine worship was to them no otherwise than idolatrous; for when internal worship is separated from external, it is merely idolatrous. The church that was instituted with them was not a church, but only the representative of a church; for which reason that church is called a representative church. That a representative of a church is possible with such people may be seen above (n. 1361, 3670, 4208).

[3] For in representations the person is not reflected upon, but the thing which is represented; and therefore Divine, celestial, and spiritual things were represented not only by persons, but also by inanimate things, as by Aaron’s garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep that were sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of arrangement upon the golden table, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other like things. Hence it was that their kings, the evil as well as the good, represented the Lord’s royalty; and the high priests, the evil as well as the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord’s Divine priesthood, when they discharged their office in an outward form according to the statutes and precepts. In order therefore that the representative of a church might come forth among them, such statutes and laws were given them by manifest revelation as were altogether representative; and therefore so long as they were in them and observed them strictly, so long they were able to represent; but when they turned aside from them, as to the statutes and laws of other nations, and especially to the worship of another god, they then deprived themselves of the faculty of representing. For this reason they were driven by outward means, such as captivities, disasters, threats, and miracles, to laws and statutes truly representative; but not by internal means, as are those who have internal worship in external. These things are signified by the “hollow of Jacob’s thigh being out of joint,” taken in the internal historical sense, which regards Jacob and his posterity.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #489

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489. That by “sons and daughters” are signified the truths and goods which they had a perception of, and indeed by “sons” truths, and by “daughters” goods, is evident from many passages in the Prophets; for in the Word, as also in olden time, the conceptions and births of the church are called “sons and daughters” as in Isaiah:

The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising; lift up thine eyes round about and see; all they gather themselves together and come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side; then thou shalt see and flow together, and thy heart shall be amazed, and shall be enlarged (Isaiah 60:3-5),

in which passage “sons” signify truths, and “daughters” goods.

[2] In David:

Deliver me and rescue me from the hand of the sons of the stranger, whose mouth speaketh vanity; that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner-stones hewn in the form of a temple (Psalms 44:11-12),

where the “sons of the stranger” signify spurious truths, or falsities; “our sons” signify doctrinals of truth; “our daughters” doctrinals of good.

[3] In Isaiah:

I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; bring forth the blind people, and they shall have eyes; the deaf, and they shall have ears (Isaiah 43:6, 8),

in which passage “sons” signify truths; “daughters” goods; the “blind” those who would see truths; and the “deaf” those who would obey them.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks, their herds, their sons, and their daughters (Jeremiah 3:24),

where “sons” and “daughters” signify truths and goods. That “children” and “sons” signify truths, is plain from Isaiah: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale; for when he shall see his children the work of My hands in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, and shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel; they also that erred in spirit shall know understanding (Isaiah 29:22-24,

where the “Holy One of Jacob, the God of Israel” signifies the Lord; “children” signify the regenerate, who have the understanding of good and truth, as is indeed explained.

[5] Again:

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, for more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married wife (Isaiah 54:1),

where the “sons of the desolate” signify the truths of the primitive Church, or that of the Gentiles; the “sons of the married wife” the truths of the Jewish Church.

[6] In, Jeremiah:

My tent is laid waste and all My cords are plucked out; My sons are gone forth of Me, and are not (Jeremiah 10:20),

where “sons” signify truths. Again:

His sons shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before Me (Jeremiah 30:20),

where “sons” signify the truths of the Ancient Church.

In Zechariah:

I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, with thy sons, O Javan, and make thee as the sword of a mighty man (Zechariah 9:13),

signifying the truths of the faith of love.

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