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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 # 8812

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8812. When it was morning. That this signifies a state when they were in good, is evident from the signification of “morning,” as being a state of the good of love (see n. 8426). From what is here said, that Jehovah, that is, the Lord; descended upon Mount Sinai on the third day, and also on the morning of that day, it is very manifest that this was representative of some Divine thing in heaven, which cannot be made known to anyone except from the correspondence of such things as come forth in the natural world with things that are in the spiritual world, and from the consequent signification; as in the present case what “morning” signifies, and what “the third day.” That “the third day” denotes the end of a former state, is because by “three” is signified what is full from beginning to end (n. 8790); and that “morning” denotes a state of the good of love, is because the sun which in the other life gives light to the angels and to the universal heaven, is the Lord, and the fire there is His Divine love, which gives the heat of life to every living being, and the light there is the Divine truth which enlightens all who receive it; quite differently from the sun of this world, the fire of which is fire and not love, and the light from which is light and not truth.

[2] From all this it can be seen what are the effects of the fire and also of the light from the sun of the world, and what are the effects of the fire and light from the sun of heaven, namely, that from the former the heat and light are devoid of life, but from the latter the heat and light are attended with life. These latter, namely, those which come forth from the sun of heaven, are therefore called “spiritual,” because they have life in them; and the former, which are from the sun of the world, are called “natural,” and have no life in them. The life which in living beings is noticed in heat and from heat, is not from the heat of the sun of the world, but is from the heat of the sun of heaven. When this heat flows into the heat of the world, it produces that effect, and is felt in the body as elementary heat; but there is in it vital heat that has its origin from the love which is heat from the sun of heaven. That the origin of the heat of life is from some other source, and that it is in love and is according to the measure and the quality of the love, everyone can know provided he is willing to reflect aright, except those who do not acknowledge anything internal in man, and who ascribe all things to nature.

[3] As therefore the heat from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, is the good of love, and as the light therefrom is the truth of faith, it can be seen what is signified by “morning,” and what by “noon,” by “evening” and by “night,” in the other life, namely, that they are states of good and truth, or of love and faith; “morning,” a state of the good of love; “noon,” a state of the truth of faith; and “evening,” and “night,” the privation of these, which is ignorance and blindness in the things that are of faith, also torpor and cold in the things that are of heavenly love.

[4] Moreover the case is similar with the sun of heaven as with the sun of the world, namely, that it is fixed and does not cause those states by any circumgyration; but that they are caused by the surrounding bodies, as by the earth revolving around the sun and at the same time around its own axis; from which comes the appearance that those changes arise from the sun, when yet they are not from the sun, but from the world revolving about it. So also in heaven, the changes of state there, to which morning, noon, evening, and night correspond, do not arise from the sun there, for the sun is always sending forth heat and light, that is, the good of love and the truth of faith; but those changes arise with those who receive, namely, with angels and spirits who by stated alternations according to their life are now in morning, that is, in the good of love; now in noon, that is, in the truth of faith; now in evening and night, that is, in shade and torpor as to love and faith.

[5] The reason why the case is similar in the world as in heaven, with the difference that in the world they are states of times which so succeed each other, and in heaven states of life, is that all things in the world were created after the image of things that are in heaven, because natural things come forth from spiritual things as effects from their causes. Hence there is a correspondence of all things in the world with those which are in heaven, and hence universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord’s kingdom (n. 3483, 4939, 8211).

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