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Deuteronomy 32

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1 Give·​·ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the sayings of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drip·​·down as the rain, what· I ·say shall stream as the dew, as the dewdrops upon the tender·​·herb, and as the raindrops upon the herb;

3 because I will proclaim the name of Jehovah; give ye greatness to our God.

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment: a God of faithfulness and no perversity, just and upright is He.

5 They have corrupted themselves, they are not His sons, it is their blemish; they are a twisted and contorted generation.

6 Do you thus recompense Jehovah, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father that has bought thee? Has He not made thee, and established thee?

7 Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation and generation; ask thy father, and he will·​·tell thee; thine elders, and they will say it to thee.

8 When the Most·​·High caused the nations to inherit, when He separated the sons of man, He set·​·up the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.

9 For Jehovah’s portion is His people; Jacob is the region of His inheritance.

10 He found him in a land of wilderness, and in the void of howling solitude; He led· him ·around, He caused him to understand, He preserved him as the pupil of His eye.

11 As an eagle stirs·​·up its nest, flutters over its young, spreads its wings, takes them, bears them on its wings*;

12 So Jehovah alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high·​·places of the earth, that he might eat the bounty of the fields; and He made him to nurse on honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock;

14 butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, of the sons of Bashan, and of the he-goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the unmixed blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun became·​·fat, and kicked; thou art become·​·fat, thou art·​·thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he abandoned God who made him, and disparaged the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God; to gods that they knew not, to new gods that came from nearby, at which your fathers shuddered not.

18 Of the Rock who begot thee thou hast been oblivious, and hast forgotten God who brought thee forth*.

19 And Jehovah saw it, and He disdained them, because of the provocation of His sons, and of His daughters.

20 And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity shall be; for they are a very perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked Me with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is ignited in My anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall eat·​·up the earth and her produce, and set·​·flame·​·to the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will add against them evils; I will consume·​·all My arrows on them.

24 They shall be burnt with famine, and devoured with embers, and with bitter disaster; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of the snakes of the dust.

25 The sword outside, and terror from the chambers, shall bereave both the young·​·man and the virgin, the nursing infant with the man of gray·​·hairs.

26 I said, I would push· them ·to·​·the·​·corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from man;

27 except that I be·​·afraid of the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should make· themselves ·unrecognizable, and lest they should say, Our hands are lifted·​·high, and Jehovah has not worked all this.

28 For they are a nation void* of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29 Would·​·that they were·​·wise, that they had·​·intelligence in this, that they would understand their future!

30 How should one pursue a thousand, and two put· myriads ·to·​·flight, except their Rock had sold them, and Jehovah had closed· them ·in?

31 For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, the bitter clusters are theirs.

33 their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of adders.

34 Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed among My treasures?

35 To Me belongs vengeance, and repayment; their foot shall move in due time; for the day of their downfall is near, and their fortunes* shall hurry upon them.

36 For Jehovah shall make·​·judgment for His people, and repent Himself for His servants; for He sees that their hand* is spent, and nothing is restrained or forsaken.

37 And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they confide,

38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their poured·​·offerings? Let them rise·​·up and help you, and be a hiding·​·place over you.

39 See now that I, I am He, and there is no god with Me; I put·​·to·​·death, and I make·​·alive; I strike, and I heal; and there is none who can rescue from My hand.

40 For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I am alive to eternity.

41 If I sharpen My lightning sword, and My hand seizes on judgment; I will return vengeance to My adversaries, and will repay those who hate Me.

42 I will make· My arrows ·drunk from blood, and My sword shall eat·​·up flesh, from the blood of the slain and of the captivity, from the gall of revenging* the enemy.

43 Sing·​·aloud, O ye nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will return vengeance upon His adversaries, and will make·​·atonement for His ground for His people.

44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea* the son of Nun.

45 And Moses completed speaking all these words to all Israel;

46 and he said to them, Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your sons to take·​·heed to do, all the words of this law.

47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life; and through this thing you shall prolong your days on the ground, whither you cross·​·over Jordan to possess it.

48 And Jehovah spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49 Go·​·up to this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is over before Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession;

50 and die in the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;

51 because you trespassed against Me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons of Israel.

52 For thou shalt see the land in·​·front·​·of thee; but thither thou shalt not go·​·in to the land which I give to the sons of Israel.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 10283

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10283. 'It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person' means no imparting [of what is the Lord's] to a person's proprium or self. This is clear from the meaning of 'the flesh of a person' as his proprium, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'pouring onto' as imparting to. For 'pouring' has a similar meaning to 'touching'; but 'pouring' is used in connection with liquids, namely oil, wine, and water, and 'pouring out' in connection with Divine, heavenly, and spiritual realities, whereas 'touching' is used in connection with dry substances and with bodily things. For the meaning of 'touching' as imparting, see 10130. From this it follows that 'the anointing oil shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person' means that there is no imparting of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love to a person's proprium or self, because a person's proprium is nothing but evil and the Lord's Divine Good cannot be imparted to what is evil.

A person's proprium or self is nothing but evil, see 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1024, 1047, 5660, 5786, 8480.

[2] One part of the human proprium belongs to the will and the other part to the understanding; the will part consists of evil, and the understanding part of falsity arising from this. The former - the will part of the proprium - is meant by human flesh, and the understanding part by the blood of that flesh. The truth of this is clear from the following places: In Matthew,

Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:17.

It is plainly evident that 'flesh' here, and also 'blood', means the human proprium or self.

[3] In John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, who were born, not of blood 1 , nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. John 1:12-13.

'Blood' here means falsities that come out of the understanding part of the human proprium, and 'the will of the flesh' evils that spring from the will part of it. For the meaning of 'blood' as falsity arising from evil, thus what is in the understanding part of the proprium as a result of what is in the will part, see 4735, 9127.

[4] In Isaiah,

I will feed your oppressors with their flesh and they will be drunk with their blood as with new wine. Isaiah 49:26.

'Feeding them with their flesh' and 'making them drunk with their blood' stands for filling them up with evil and the falsity of evil, thus with what is of the proprium or what is one's own; for both the evil and the falsity come out of the proprium.

[5] In Jeremiah,

Cursed is the man (homo) who trusts in man (homo) and makes flesh his arm. Jeremiah 17:5.

'Trusting in man and making flesh his arm' means trusting in oneself and one's proprium.

[6] In Isaiah,

The people have become as fuel for the fire. If any of them cuts down on the right he will be hungry, and if any eats on the left they will not be satisfied. Each will eat the flesh of his own arm 2 ; Manasseh [will eat] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh. Isaiah 9:19-21.

'Fuel for the fire' means making the evils or desires of self-love and love of the world one's own, 'being hungry' and 'not being satisfied' mean not accepting the good or the truth of faith, and 'the flesh of his arm' means both parts of the human proprium, 'Manasseh' meaning evil in the will, 'Ephraim' falsity in the understanding, and 'eating' making one's own.

'Fire' means the evils or desires of self-love and love of the world, see 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

The reason why 'being hungry' and 'not being satisfied' mean not accepting the good or the truth of faith is that 'hunger' or famine and 'thirst' mean desolation with regard to goodness and truth, 5360, 5376, 6110, 7102, 8568(end).

'The right' means good from which truth emanates, and 'the left' truth through which good comes, 10061; consequently 'being hungry if any of them cuts down on the right, and not being satisfied if any eats on the left' means that no matter how much instruction they may receive about goodness and truth they will not accept them.

[7] 'Manasseh' means good in the will, 5351, 5353, 5354(end), 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, and 'Ephraim' truth in the understanding, 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, so that in the contrary sense 'Manasseh' means evil in the will and 'Ephraim' falsity in the understanding, since almost everything in the Word also has a contrary meaning.

'Eating' means making one's own, 3168, 3513(end), 3596, 4745, from which it is evident what 'eating the flesh of his own arm' means, namely making evil and falsity originating in the proprium one's own.

The expression 'flesh of the arm' is used because 'the arm', like 'the hand', means the powers present in a person, in which he puts his trust, see in the places referred to in 10019.

[8] In Zechariah,

I said, I will not feed you. Let the one that is dying die; [the sheep] that are left will eat, every one the flesh of another. Zechariah 11:9.

'Not feeding' stands for not teaching and reforming, 'dying' for loss of spiritual life, and 'eating the flesh of another' for making evils originating in the proprium of another one's own.

[9] In Ezekiel,

Jerusalem committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, her neighbours, the great in flesh. Ezekiel 16:26.

'Jerusalem' stands for the perverted Church, 'committing whoredom with the sons of Egypt, the great in flesh' for falsifying the Church's truths by means of factual knowledge which begins in the natural man alone, thus by means of factual knowledge based on sensory evidence.

'Jerusalem' means the Church, see 402, 2117, 3654, in this instance the Church when it has been perverted.

'Committing whoredom' means falsifying truths, 2466, 2729, 8904.

'Sons' means truths, or else falsities, 1147, 3373, 4257, 9807.

'Egypt' means factual knowledge, in either [a good or a bad] sense, see in the places referred to in 9340, and also the natural, in the places referred to in 9391.

Consequently the words 'the great in flesh' describe people who, relying on sensory evidence, reason and draw conclusions about the Church's truths. Those who do this lay hold of falsities as truths, for to rely on sensory evidence to reason and draw conclusions about anything is to rely on the illusions of the bodily senses. People therefore who are ruled by their senses are meant by 'the great in flesh'; for their own bodily perceptions govern their thinking.

[10] In Isaiah,

Egypt is man (homo) and not God, and his horses are flesh, but not spirit. Isaiah 31:3.

Here also 'Egypt' stands for factual knowledge, 'his horses' for a power of understanding consisting of this. That power is called 'flesh, not spirit' when people use what is their own and not God's to draw conclusions.

By 'horses' is meant the power of understanding, see 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6534, and by 'the horses of Egypt' factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding, 6125, 8146, 8148.

[11] The fact that 'flesh' means a person's proprium or selfhood, or what amounts to the same thing, his own evil will, is clear in Moses, where the subject is the Israelite people's desire for flesh to eat, described as follows,

The rabble who were in the midst of the people had a strong craving and said, Who will feed us with flesh? Jehovah said, Tomorrow you will eat flesh. Not for one day will you eat it, nor for two days, nor for five days, nor for ten days, nor for twenty days, [but] for a whole month. And a wind set out from Jehovah, and it cut off the quails from the sea and sent them down 3 over the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the land. The people rose up that whole day, and the whole night, and the whole of the next day, and gathered them and spread them out all around the camp. The flesh was still between their teeth, before it could be swallowed, and Jehovah's anger flared up against the people, and He struck the people with an extremely great plague. So he called the name of the place The Graves of Craving. Numbers 11:4, 18-20, 31-34.

[12] The fact that 'flesh' meant that nation's proprium becomes clear from every detail in these verses; for unless this had been meant what evil could there have been in their desire for flesh, especially as flesh had been promised them on a previous occasion, Exodus 16:12? But since it meant the proprium, thus an evil will, which that nation possessed in greater measure than other nations, it says - when they desired flesh - that they 'had a strong craving', on account of which they were struck with a great plague, and on account of which the place where they were buried was called The Graves of Craving. Whether you speak of an evil will or of craving, it amounts to the same thing, for an evil will consists in craving. The human proprium has no desire for anything apart from what belongs to itself; it has no desire for anything that concerns the neighbour or anything that concerns God, unless this is beneficial to itself. Since that nation was like this it says that they would eat flesh not for one day, not for two, not for five, nor for ten, nor for twenty, but for a whole month, meaning that this nation would be like that forever (for 'a whole month' means forever); and for the same reason it says that while the flesh was still between their teeth, before it could be swallowed, they were struck with a great plague. For by 'teeth' the bodily level of the proprium, the lowest of a person's mind, is meant, 4424(end), 5565-5568, 9062. The fact that this nation was like this may be seen in the places referred to in 9380, and in the Song of Moses, at Deuteronomy 32:20, 22-26, 28, 32-34.

[13] In the Word spirit is set in contrast to flesh, for 'spirit' means life from the Lord and 'flesh' life from man, as in John,

It is the Spirit which bestows life, the flesh does not profit anything. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

From this it is clear that 'spirit' means life from the Lord, which is the life of love to Him and faith in Him, received from Him, and that 'flesh' means life from man, thus his selfhood. This is why it says 'the flesh does not profit anything'. Something similar is meant elsewhere in John,

That which has been born from the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born from the spirit is spirit. John 3:6.

In David,

God remembered that they were flesh; a spirit which would pass away would not come back. Psalms 78:39.

[14] Since 'flesh' in reference to man means his proprium, which consists of the evil of self-love and love of the world, it is evident what 'flesh' means when used in reference to the Lord, namely His Proprium, which consists of the Divine Good of Divine Love. This is what 'the Lord's flesh' means in John,

The bread which I will give you is My flesh. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life; for My flesh is truly food and My blood is truly drink. John 6:51, 53-55.

'The flesh' of the Lord means the Divine Good of His Divine Love, and 'the blood' the Divine Truth emanating from that Divine Good, so that they are similar in meaning to the bread and wine in the Holy Supper; and those Divine Realities are His own, present within His Divine Human, see 1001, 3813, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10152. Also, the sacrifices represented forms of good that originate in the Lord, and therefore the flesh of those sacrifices meant forms of good, 10040, 10079. Furthermore, various places in the Word use the expression 'all flesh', by which every human being should be understood, as in Genesis 6:12-13, 17, 19; Isaiah 40:5-6; 49:26; 66:16, 23-24; Jeremiah 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ezekiel 20:48; 21:4-5; and elsewhere.

Фусноте:

1. literally, bloods

2. literally, they will eat, a man (vir) the flesh of his own arm

3. Reading demisit (sent down) for dimisit (allowed to depart)

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 8480

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8480. 'And some did leave part of it until the morning' means the abuse of God's goodness, in that they wished to obtain it of themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'leaving it until the morning' as being anxious to acquire good of themselves, dealt with above in 8478, which is therefore the abuse of God's goodness. It is called an abuse when something of a like nature to outward appearances arises, yet springs from a contrary origin. Good arises from a contrary origin when it springs from man, not from the Lord. For the Lord is absolute Good and therefore the source of all good. Good that originates in Him has the Divine within it, and so is good right through to its inmost or prime being. But good that originates in man is not good, because in himself man is nothing but evil. Consequently good originating in him is primarily and in essence evil, though to outward appearance it may look like good. These things are like flowers portrayed in a picture compared to flowers that grow in the garden. The latter flowers are beautiful through to their inmost parts, for the more they open out the more beautiful they become. But flowers portrayed in a picture are beautiful merely in outward appearance; for inwardly they are nothing other than clay and a mass of particles of earth lying in disorder within it. This is also what the Lord teaches when He says,

Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of the lilies of the field. Matthew 6:29.

[2] So it is with good that originates in man and good that originates in the Lord. Man cannot know that those kinds of good are so greatly different from each other because he judges by external appearances. But angels have a clear perception of where man's good originates and what it is therefore like. The angels with a person are present and so to speak dwelling in good originating in the Lord. They are unable to be present in good originating in man; they get as far away from it as they can, since inmostly it is evil. For good originating in the Lord has heaven within it; that good images the form of heaven, concealing in itself inmostly the Lord Himself. For in all good that comes from the Lord there is a likeness of Him and therefore a likeness of heaven. But in all good that comes from man there is a likeness of man; and since man in himself is nothing but evil it is a likeness of hell. This is how greatly different good originating in the Lord is from good originating in man.

Good originating in the Lord exists with those who love the Lord above all things and their neighbour as themselves; but good originating in man exists with those who love themselves above all things and despise their neighbour in comparison with themselves. The latter are also those who are concerned for the morrow because they trust in themselves, whereas the former are those who are unconcerned for the morrow because they trust in the Lord, a matter dealt with above in 8478. Those who trust in the Lord are constantly receiving good from Him; for whatever happens to them, whether it seems to be advantageous or not advantageous, is nevertheless good, for it serves as a means contributing to their eternal happiness. But those who trust in themselves are constantly bringing evil on themselves, for whatever happens to them, even if it seems to be advantageous and fortunate, is nevertheless bad, and consequently acts as a means contributing to their eternal unhappiness. These are the things that are meant when it says that they were to leave none of the manna till the morning, and that any they did leave bred worms and putrified.

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