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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 #9093

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9093. And they shall divide the silver of it. That this signifies that the truth thereof shall be dissipated, is evident from the signification of “dividing,” as being to banish and dissipate (see n. 6360, 6361); and from the signification of “silver,” as being truth (n. 1551, 2048, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999). That “to divide” denotes to dissipate, is because if those things which have been associated together are divided, they are also scattered, as he who divides his mind destroys it. For the mind of man is an association of two parts, one part being called the understanding, the other the will. He who divides these two parts scatters the things which belong to one part, for one part must live from the other; consequently the other also perishes. It is the same with him who divides truth from good, or what is the same, faith from charity. He who does this destroys both. In a word, all things which ought to be united in a one, if divided perish.

[2] This division is meant by the Lord’s words in Luke:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will prefer the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

That is, by faith serve the Lord, and by love the world; thus acknowledge truth, and do evil. He who does this has a divided mind, from which comes its destruction. From all this it is evident whence it is that “to divide” denotes to dissipate; as is also evident in Matthew:

The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall divide him, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (Matthew 24:50-51); where “to divide” denotes to separate and remove from goods and truths (n. 4424), thus to dissipate.

[3] In Moses:

Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement; and their wrath, for it was hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:7); where Israel speaks prophetically of Simeon and Levi. By Simeon and Leviticus are there represented those who are in faith separate from charity (n. 6352), by Jacob and Israel the church external and internal, and also the external and internal man (n. 4286, 4598, 5973, 6360, 6361). “To divide them in Jacob” denotes to expel them from the external church; and “to scatter them in Israel” denotes from the internal church; thus to dissipate the goods and the truths of the church appertaining to them.

[4] That “dividing” has this signification is also plain from the words written on the wall when Belshazzar king of Babel, together with his lords, his wives, and his concubines, drank wine from the vessels of gold and of silver which belonged to the temple that was at Jerusalem. The writing was:

Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided (Daniel 5:2-4, 25-28); where “divided” means separated from the kingdom. In this passage it is plain how all things were at that time representative. In it is described the profanation of good and truth, which is signified by “Babel” (that Babel” denotes profanation, see n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326); “vessels of gold and of silver” denote the goods of love and the truths of faith from the the Lord, (n. 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917). Profanation is signified by “drinking therefrom, and at the same time praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone,” as we read in the fourth verse of the chapter, which denote evils and falsities in a series (n. 4402, 4544, 7873, 8941). By the “temple at Jerusalem” from which the vessels came, is signified in the supreme sense the Lord, in the representative sense His kingdom and church (n. 3720). The kingdom of Belshazzar being “divided” signified the dissipation of good and truth, and he himself being “slain that night” signified the loss of the life of truth and good, thus damnation; for “to be divided” denotes to be dissipated; “a king” denotes the truth of good (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148); the like is signified by “kingdom” (n. 1672, 2547, 4691); “to be slain” denotes to be deprived of the life of truth and good (n. 3607, 6767, 8902); and the “night” in which he was slain denotes a state of evil and falsity (n. 2353, 7776, 7851, 7870, 7947). From this it is plain that all things there were representative.

[5] It says in David:

They divided My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast a lot (Psalms 22:18).

They divided His garments, casting a lot; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Matthew 27:35).

The soldiers took His garments, and made four parts; and the tunic, the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore, Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:23-24).

He who reads these words and knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, is not aware that anything secret lies hidden in them, when yet in each word there is a Divine secret. The secret was that Divine truths had been dissipated by the Jews, for the Lord was the Divine truth; and hence He is called “the Word” (John 1). “The Word” denotes Divine truth; His garments represented truths in the external form; and His tunic, truths in the internal form; the division of the garments represented the dissipation of the truths of faith by the Jews. (That “garments” denote truths in the external form, see n. 2576, 5248, 5954, 6918; also that “a tunic” denotes truth in the internal form, n. 4677.) Truths in the external form are such as are those of the Word in the literal sense; but truths in the internal form are such as are those of the Word in the spiritual sense. The division of the garments into four parts signified total dissipation, in like manner as the division in Zechariah 14:4, and in other passages; likewise the division into two parts, as we read of the veil of the temple (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38). The rending of the rocks also at that time (Matthew 27:51) represented the dissipation of all things of faith, for a “rock” denotes the Lord as to faith, consequently it denotes faith from the Lord.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #9303

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9303. Behold I send an angel before thee. That this signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, is evident from the signification of “sending,” when said of the Lord, as being to proceed (see n. 6831), here to cause to proceed; and from the signification of “an angel,” as being one who proceeds; for in the original tongue “angel” means one who is sent, which is the derivation of the word; and by “sent” is signified proceeding, as can be seen from the passages cited from the Word in n. 6831. From this it is evident that by “the angel of Jehovah” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human; for this proceeds from Jehovah as the Father. Jehovah as the Father denotes the Divine good of the Divine love, which is Being itself (n. 3704); and that which proceeds from the Father is the Divine truth from that Divine good, thus the Divine Coming-forth from the Divine Being. This is here signified by the “angel.” In like manner in Isaiah:

The angel of His faces delivered them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He took them up, and carried them all the days of eternity (Isaiah 63:9).

Behold the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom ye desire (Malachi 3:1);

“to the Lord’s temple” denotes to His Human. That this is His “temple,” the Lord Himself teaches (Matthew 26:61; John 2:19, 21-22).

[2] It is said in the church that from the three who are called “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” there comes forth one Divine, which is also called “one God;” and that from the Father proceeds the Son, and from the Father through the Son proceeds the Holy Spirit; but what this proceeding or going forth means, is as yet unknown. The ideas of the angels on this subject are quite different from those of the men of the church who have thought about it, for the reason that the ideas of the men of the church are founded upon three, but those of the angels upon one. That the ideas of the men of the church are founded upon three, is because they distinguish the Divine into three persons, and attribute to each one special and particular offices. Hence they can indeed say that God is one, but they cannot possibly think otherwise than that there are three, who, by a union which they call mystical, are one. In this way they may indeed be able to think that there is one Divine, but not that there is one God; for in their thought the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. One Divine is one by agreement and thus unanimity; but one God is absolutely one.

[3] The kind of idea or thought a man of the church has about the one God, is clearly manifest in the other life, for everyone carries with him the ideas of his thought. The idea or thought of such people is that there are three gods; yet they dare not say “gods,” but “God.” A few also make one out of three by union; for they think in one way of the Father, in another way of the Son, and in another way of the Holy Spirit. From this has clearly appeared the nature of the faith the church has about the most essential thing of all, which is the Divine Itself; and as in the other life all are conjoined or separated by the thoughts which are of faith, and the affections which are of love, therefore those who have been born outside the church, and have believed in one God, flee from those who are within the church, saying of them that they do not believe in one God, but in three gods; and that those who do not believe in one God under a human form do not believe in any God, because their thought pours itself forth into the universe, without determination, and thus falls down into nature; which they thus acknowledge in the place of God. When asked what they mean by “proceeding,” in saying that the Son proceeds from the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, they answer that “proceeding” is a term of union, and that it wraps up this mystery within it. But their idea of thought about this, when examined, has been found to be that of a mere word, devoid of reality.

[4] But the ideas of the angels about the Divine, the Trinity, and Proceeding, are quite different from the ideas of the men of the church, for the reason, as said above, that the ideas of thought of the angels are founded upon one, whereas the ideas of thought of the men of the church are founded upon three. The angels think (and what they think they believe) that there is one God, and that He is the Lord; that His Human is the Divine Itself in a form; and that the holy proceeding from Him is the Holy Spirit; thus that there is a Trinity, but still it is One.

[5] A notion of this is obtained from the idea that exists about the angels in heaven. An angel appears there in the human form, but still there are three things in him that make a one. There is his internal, which does not appear before the eyes; there is the external, which does appear; and there is the sphere of life of his affections and thoughts, which pours out from him to a distance (see n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2489, 4464, 5179, 6206, 7454, 8063, 8630). These three make one angel. But the angels are finite and created, whereas the Lord is infinite and uncreated. And as no man, or even angel, can have any idea about the Infinite except from things finite, therefore such an example may be given in order to illustrate what the Trinity in One is; and that there is one God; and that He is the Lord, and no other. (See further what has been shown on this subject in the passages cited at n. 9194, 9199)

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