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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 #7891

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7891. And there shall be to you in the first day a holy convocation. That this signifies that in the beginning all shall be together, is evident from the signification of “the first day,” as being the beginning, namely, of liberation from those who have infested, and thus from damnation; and from the signification of “a holy convocation,” as being that all shall be together. Convocations took place in order that the whole assemblage of Israel might be together, and might thus represent heaven; for they were then all distinguished into tribes, and the tribes into families, and the families into houses. (That heaven along with the societies there was represented by the tribes, the families, and the houses of the sons of Israel, see n. 7836.) Therefore those convocations were called holy, and took place at every feast (Leviticus 23:27, 36; Numbers 28:26; 29:1, 7, 12). From this the feasts themselves were called “holy convocations,” for it was commanded that all the males should be present at them. That the feasts were called “holy convocations” is evident in Moses:

These are the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall call holy convocations, to offer a fire-offering unto Jehovah (Leviticus 23:37).

That at such times all males were to be present, in the same:

Three times in a year shall every male of thine appear together before Jehovah thy God, in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:16).

  
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Arcana Coelestia #4678

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4678. Verses 4-11 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him all the more. 1 And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up, and behold, your sheaves gathered round it and bowed down to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us? And they hated him all the more 1 for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and he recounted it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth? And his brothers envied him; and his father kept the matter 2 [in mind].

'His brothers saw' means things that are matters of faith - in the proximate sense, the descendants of Jacob. 'That their father loved him more than all his brothers' means that [the Lord's Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth] was joined to the Divine Natural - in the proximate sense, to the Ancient Church meant by 'father'. 'And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him' means contempt and aversion. 'And Joseph dreamed a dream' means a declaration concerning Himself. 'And he told it to his brothers' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'And they hated him all the more' means still greater contempt and aversion. 'And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed' means the contents of the declaration. 'Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field' means that they were teaching from doctrine. 'And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up' means teaching concerning the Lord's Divine Human. 'And behold, your sheaves gathered round it' means those who were governed by faith. 'And bowed down to my sheaf' means worship. 'And his brothers said to him' means the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us?' means, Were the concepts in their understandings and the desires in their wills to be made subject to it? 'And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words' means still greater contempt and aversion on account of that declaration of truth. 'And he dreamed yet another dream' means a further declaration. 'And he recounted it to his brothers, and said' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'Behold, I have dreamed a dream again' means the contents. 'And behold, the sun and the moon' means natural good and natural truth. 'And the eleven stars' means cognitions of good and truth. 'Were bowing down to me' means worship. 'And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers' means being given to know it. 'And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?' means indignation, 'father' at this point being the Jewish religion, an offspring of ancient religion. 'Shall we indeed come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth?' means, Will the Church come to worship? 'And his brothers envied him' means their aversion. 'And his father kept the matter [in mind]' means that truth remained within their semblance of religion.

Footnotes:

1. literally, they added more still to hating him

2. literally, word

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