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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 #5248

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5248. And changed his garments. That this signifies as to what is of the interior natural, by putting on what is suitable, is evident from the signification of “changing,” as being to remove and reject; and from the signification of “garments,” as being what is of the interior natural (of which presently); hence it follows that what was suitable (signified by the new “garments”) was put on. “Garments” are often mentioned in the Word, and thereby are meant things beneath or without, and that cover things above or within; and therefore by “garments” are signified man’s external, consequently his natural, because this covers his internal and spiritual. Specifically by “garments” are signified truths that are of faith, because these cover the goods that are of charity. This signification has its origin from the garments in which spirits and angels appear clothed. Spirits appear in garments devoid of brightness, but angels in garments that are bright and are as it were made of brightness, for the very brightness around them appears as a garment, as appeared the raiment of the Lord when He was transfigured, which was “as the light” (Matthew 17:2), and was “white and flashing” (Luke 9:29). From their garments also the quality of spirits and angels can be known in respect to the truths of faith, because these are represented by garments, but truths of faith such as they are in the natural; for such as they are in the rational appears from the face and its beauty. The brightness of their garments comes from the good of love and of charity, which by shining through causes the brightness. From all this it is evident what is represented in the spiritual world by the garments, and consequently what is meant by “garments” in the spiritual sense. But the garments that Joseph changed, that is, put off, were the garments of the pit or prison, and by these are signified things fallacious and false, which in a state of temptations are excited by evil genii and spirits; and therefore by his “changing his garments” is signified rejection and change in respect to what is of the interior natural, and the garments he put on denoted such things as would be suitable, and therefore the putting on of things suitable is signified. See what has before been said and shown concerning garments: that what is celestial is not clothed, but what is spiritual and natural (n. 297); that “garments” denote truths relatively lower (n. 1073, 2576); that changing the garments was a representative of holy truths being put on, whence also came the changes of garments (n. 4545); that rending the garments was representative of mourning over truth lost and destroyed (see n. 4763 and what is signified by him that came in, not having on a wedding garment (n. 2132).

  
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Arcana Coelestia #9310

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9310. 'For My name is in the middle of him' means that from Him comes all the good of love and truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name of Jehovah' as everything in its entirety by which God is worshipped, dealt with in 2724, 3006, and so all the good of love and truth of faith, 6674; and from the meaning of 'in the middle of him' as the fact that they exist within Him, and therefore also come from Him. The good of love is such that what exists within it exists also in others from itself; for it shares what is its own. The essential characteristic of love is to give its whole self up willingly to others. And since it does so from the Divine Himself through His Divine Human, and then from the Divine Human, therefore also the Lord is called, in respect of His Divine Human, 'the name of Jehovah', 6887, 8274.

[2] Anyone who does not know what 'name' means in the internal sense may think that wherever 'the name of Jehovah' or 'the name of the Lord' occurs in the Word it implies no more than His name, when in fact all the good of love and all the truth of faith which come from the Lord are meant, as in Matthew,

If two of you agree in My name 1 on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19-20.

In the same gospel,

Everyone who leaves houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matthew 19:29.

In John,

As many as received [Him], to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name. John 1:12.

In the same gospel,

He who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18.

In the same gospel,

These things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.

In these and in very many other places 'the Lord's name' means all the good of love and truth of faith in their entirety by which He is worshipped.

[3] In John,

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give it to you. John 15:7, 16.

'Asking the Father in My name' means asking the Lord, as He Himself teaches in the same gospel,

Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:13-14.

The reason why 'asking in the Lord's name' means asking the Lord is that no one can come to the Father except through the Lord, John 14:6, and the Lord's Divine Human is Jehovah or the Father in visible form, as shown above in 9303, 9306. In the same gospel,

The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. John 10:3.

'The sheep' stands for those who are governed by the good of charity and faith; 'hearing the voice' stands for obeying commandments; and 'calling by name and leading out' stands for conferring heaven in keeping with the good of charity and truth of faith, since 'name', in regard to people, means the nature of their love and faith, 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 3421.

Footnotes:

1. These three words which Swedenborg apparently copied from the Schmidius' Latin version do not occur in the original Greek.

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