1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

5144. 'And behold, three baskets' means consecutive degrees forming the will. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as complete and continuous even to the end, dealt with in 2788, 4495, 5114, 5122, thus things that are consecutive; and from the meaning of 'baskets' as degrees forming the will. The reason 'baskets' means degrees forming the will is that they are vessels which serve to contain food, and 'food' means celestial and spiritual kinds of good, which are contained in the will. For all good belongs to the will, and all truth to the understanding. As soon as anything goes forth from the will it is perceived as good. Up to this point the subject has been the sensory power subject to the understanding, which has been represented by 'the cupbearer'; but now the subject is the sensory power subject to the will, which is represented by 'the baker', see 5077, 5078, 5082.

[2] The consecutive or continuous degrees of the understanding were represented by the vine, its three shoots, blossom, clusters, and grapes; and then truth which belongs properly to the understanding was represented by 'the cup', 5120. But the consecutive degrees forming the will are represented by the three baskets on the baker's head, in the highest of which 'there was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh, the work of the baker'. By consecutive degrees of the will are meant degrees in consecutive order, beginning with the one inmostly present with a person and ending with the outermost degree where sensory awareness resides. Those degrees are like a flight of steps from the inmost parts to the outermost, 5114. Good from the Lord flows into the inmost degree, then through the rational degree into the interior natural, and from there into the exterior natural, or the sensory level. That good passes down a flight of steps so to speak, the nature of it being determined at each distinct and separate level by the way it is received. But more will be said later on about the nature of this influx and those consecutive degrees it passes through.

[3] Elsewhere in the Word 'baskets' again means degrees of the will, in that forms of good are contained in these, as in Jeremiah,

Jehovah showed me, when behold, there were two baskets of figs, set before the temple of Jehovah; in one basket extremely good figs, like first-ripe figs, but in the other basket extremely bad figs, which could not be eaten because of their badness. Jeremiah 24:1-3.

In this case a different word is used in the original language for 'a basket', ¹ which is used to describe the natural degree of the will. The figs in the first basket are forms of good in the natural, but those in the second are forms of evil there.

[4] In Moses,

When you have come into the land which Jehovah your God will give you, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the land, which you shall bring from your land, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place which Jehovah has chosen. Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand, and place it before the altar of Jehovah your God. Deuteronomy 26:1-4.

Here yet another word for 'a basket' is used', which means a new will within the understanding part of the mind. 'The first of the fruit of the land' are the forms of good produced from that new will.

[5] In the same author,

To consecrate Aaron and his sons, Moses was to take unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil; he was to make them of fine wheat flour. And he was to put them in one basket, and to bring them near in the basket. Aaron, then his sons, were to eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. Exodus 29:2-3, 32.

In this case the same word is used for 'a basket' as here [in the baker's dream]. It means the will part of the mind, which has within it forms of good that are meant by bread, cakes, oil, wafers, flour, and wheat. The expression 'the will part of the mind' describes that which serves as a container; for good from the Lord flows into those interior forms within an, as the proper vessels to contain it. If those forms have been set to receive it they are 'baskets' containing such good.

[6] In the same author, when a Nazirite was being inaugurated,

He shall take a basket of unleavened [loaves] of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, together with their minchah and their drink-offerings. He shall also offer a ram as a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Jehovah, in addition to the basket of unleavened things. And the priest shall take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one wafer from the unleavened, and he shall place them on the hand of the Nazirite, and [the priest] shall wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah. Numbers 6:15, 17, 19-20.

Here also 'a basket' stands for the will part of the mind serving as a container. Cakes, wafers, oil, minchah, cooked shoulder of the ram serve to represent forms of celestial good; for a Nazirite represented the celestial man, 3301.

[7] In those times things like these which were used in worship were carried in baskets; even the kid which Gideon brought to the angel under the oak tree was carried in one, Judges 6:19. The reason for this was that 'baskets' represented things serving as containers, while the things in those baskets represented the actual contents.

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248. The Jewish church and Jews. ¹ The statutes, judgments, and laws that were commanded in the Jewish church were somewhat like those of the ancient church: 4449, 4834. How the symbolic rites of the Jewish church differed from the symbolic rites of the ancient church: 4288, 10149. A symbolic church was established for the people of that nation, but there was no real church among them: 4899, 4912, 6304. So they had something that symbolized a church but not an actual church: 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 6304, 7048, 9320, 10396, 10526, 10531, 10698. Because of the stubborn insistence of their ancestors and Moses, the Israelite and Jewish people were accepted as a church, not because they actually were a chosen people but rather so that they would symbolize a church: 4290, 4293, 7051, 7439, 10430, 10535, 10632. Their worship was solely external, without any inner worship: 1200, 3147, 3479, 8871. They knew absolutely nothing about inner worship and did not want to know: 301, 302, 303, 3479, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10694, 10701, 10707. What they thought of the inner aspects of worship, the church, and the Word: 4865. Their inner natures were foul, full of their love for themselves and the world and of avarice: 3480, 9962, 10454-10457, 10462-10466, 10575. Therefore the inner teachings of the church were not disclosed to them, because otherwise they would have defiled them: 2520, 3398, 3480, 4289. The Word was completely closed to them: 3769. They saw the Word from the outside and not from the inside (10549, 10550, 10551), so their inner self was closed when they were engaged in worship (8788, 8806, 9320, 9377, 9380, 9962, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10492, 10498, 10500, 10575, 10629, 10692). All the same, this people was more capable than any other of being outwardly holy despite the fact that their inner self was closed: 4293, 4311, 4903, 9373, 9377, 9380. Their state at such times: 4311. That is also why they have been preserved to this day: 3479. Their holy outward behavior was miraculously raised up and exhibited to heaven by the Lord, and as a result deeper levels of worship, the church, and the Word were perceived there: 3480, 4307, 4311, 6304, 8588, 10499, 10500, 10602. So that this could happen, they were driven by external pressures to a strict observance of their rituals in outward form: 3147, 4281, 8006. Because they could be outwardly holy without inner holiness, they were able to represent what is truly holy in the church and heaven: 3479, 3881, 4208, 6304, 8588, 9377, 10430, 10500, 10570. Nevertheless, they were not interested in what is truly holy: 3479. It does not matter what a person who symbolizes something is like, because symbolism focuses on the issue and not on the person: 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.

[2] Those people were worse than other peoples; a description of what they were like, including material from the Word of both Testaments: 4314, 4316, 4317, 4444, 4503, 4750, 4751, 4815, 4820, 4832, 5057, 5998, 7248, 8819, 9320, 10454-10457, 10462-10466. The tribe of Judah strayed more than the other tribes: 4815. How they took pleasure in cruelly treating other peoples: 5057, 7248, 9320. That people was idolatrous at heart and worshiped other gods more than other peoples did: 3732, 4208, 4281, 4825, 5998, 6877, 7401, 8301, 8871, 8882. Even their worship, seen in the context of that people, was idolatrous, since it was superficial, with no inner substance: 4281, 4825, 8871, 8882. They worshiped Jehovah in name only (6877, 10559, 10560, 10561, 10566), and only because of the miracles he did (4299). It is incorrect to think that the Jews are going to be converted at the end of the church ² and brought back into the land of Canaan: 4847, 7051, 8301. A copious selection of passages from the Word on this subject-passages that are, however, to be understood in their inner meaning and therefore not taken literally: 7051. The Word was changed in its outer meaning because of that people, but not in its inner meaning: 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604. The way Jehovah appeared to them on Mount Sinai was shaped by their own nature, so he appeared in devouring fire, thick cloud, and smoke like that of a furnace: 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434. The way the Lord appears to each of us depends on what we ourselves are really like-as a life-giving and creative fire if we are devoted to doing good, but as a devouring fire if we are bent on doing evil: 934, 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551. One lineage of that people was of Canaanite ancestry and two others were the result of fornication with a daughter-in-law: 1167, 4818, 4820, 4874, 4899, 4913. Those stories represent the nature of their relationship with the inner truth of the church, namely, that it was like that of union with a Canaanite or fornication with a daughter-in-law: 4868, 4874, 4899, 4913. Their state in the other life: 939, 940, 5057.

[3] Because despite all this that people symbolized the church, and because the Word was composed among and about them, their names-for example, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ephraim, Joseph, and the rest-have divine and heavenly meanings. In its inner meaning, "Judah" means the Lord in respect to his heavenly love and his heavenly kingdom: 3654, 3881, 5583, 5603, 5782, 6363. An explanation of Israel's prophecy concerning Judah in Genesis 49:8-12, which is about the Lord: 6362-6381. Both the tribe of Judah and Judea mean the heavenly church: 3654, 6364. The twelve tribes represented and meant all the aspects of love and faith taken together (3858, 3926, 4060, 6335), and therefore heaven and the church as well (6337, 6637, 7836, 7891). Their meanings depend on the order in which they are named: 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603 and following, 6337, 6640. The twelve tribes were divided into two kingdoms so that the Judeans could represent the heavenly kingdom and the Israelites could represent the spiritual kingdom: 3654, 8770. The seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob means the goodness and truth that belong to the church: 3373, 10445.

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