여호수아서에 나오는 아주 짧은 이야기인 이 장에서 5, 여리고 근처에서 여호수아에게 천사가 나타나 여호수아가 거룩한 땅에 서 있으니 신발을 벗으라고 말합니다.

모세와 불타는 떨기나무 이야기에는 이와 비슷하지만 더 잘 알려진 구절이 있습니다. 출애굽기 3:5, 여호와께서 모세에게 신을 벗으라고 명령하는 장면에서 모세는 거룩한 땅에 있기 때문에 다시 신발을 벗습니다.

이 이야기는 무엇을 의미할까요?

두 이야기 모두에 경고가 있습니다. 여호수아와 맞서는 천사는 칼을 뽑은 채로 그렇게 합니다. 출애굽기에는 불타는 떨기나무가 있고, 여호와께서는 모세에게 "이 곳에 가까이 가지 말라"라고 경고하십니다. 이러한 경고는 모세와 여호수아가 단순히 감각적인 수준에서 주님을 생각하는 것을 넘어 성장해야 한다는 것을 의미합니다. 대신, 그들은 자신이 사랑하고 이해하는 것을 통해 더 내면적인 마음으로 주님에게 다가서기 시작해야 합니다.

두 사람 모두 신발을 벗으라는 지시를 받습니다. 왜 그럴까요? 신발은 우리 마음에서 가장 낮고 감각적인 부분을 상징합니다. 우리 마음의 낮고 육체 지향적인 부분은 우리의 마음을 고양시키고 영적인 것에 대해 명확하게 생각하기 시작하는 능력을 방해할 수 있습니다.

흥미롭습니다. 우리는 영적인 진리를 받아들이고 생각할 수 있도록 마음을 고양시킬 수 있어야 하며, 또한 자연계에서 자연스러운 마음을 통해 그것을 실천할 수 있어야 합니다. 우리는 고양된 마음과 내려앉은 마음 사이의 긴장을 잘 활용해야 합니다.

우리가 영적인 사고와 우리가 아는 진리를 실천하는 데 진전을 이루면 점차적으로 우리의 자연적인 마음도 변화되어 주님으로부터 유입을 받을 수 있게 됩니다. 다음은 스베덴보그의 신학 저서에서 이에 대해 자세히 설명하는 두 가지 핵심 구절에 대한 링크입니다:

Arcana Coelestia 6843, 및 Arcana Coelestia6844.

6844. Take off your shoes from upon your feet' means that the powers of the senses, which form the external levels of the natural, should be removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'shoes' as the powers of the senses forming the external levels of the natural, dealt with in 1748; and from the meaning of 'feet' as the natural, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952. 'Taking off' plainly means removing since one is talking about the powers of the senses. Particular expressions have to be used in application to the actual matter to which they refer; thus 'being taken off' is applied to shoes, and 'being removed' to the powers of the senses. The implications of all this need to be stated. Anyone can see that here 'shoes' represent something that does not accord with Him who is holy and Divine, so that 'taking off one's shoes' was representative of the removal of things like that. Without this representation what would it matter to the Divine whether a person drew near in shoes or in bare feet, provided that inwardly he is the kind of person who can draw near the Divine in faith and love? Therefore the powers of the senses are meant by 'shoes', and those powers, which form the external levels of the natural, are by nature such that they cannot remain when one thinks with reverence about the Divine. Consequently because it was a time when representatives had to be observed, Moses was not allowed to draw near with his shoes on.

[2] The reason why the powers of the senses that form the external levels of the natural are by nature such that they cannot receive the Divine is that they are steeped in ideas of worldly, bodily, and also earthly things because they are the first to receive them. Therefore sensory impressions contained in the memory as a result of the activity of the senses draw their nature from the light and heat of the world, and hardly at all from the light and heat of heaven. As a consequence they are the last things that can be regenerated, that is, receive something of the light of heaven. This explains why, when a person is ruled by his senses and sensory impressions control his thinking, he inevitably thinks of the Divine as he does of earthly things. If also he is ruled by evil those impressions make him think in ways altogether contrary to the Divine. When therefore a person thinks about the kinds of things that have to do with faith and love to God he is raised, if he is governed by good, from the powers of the senses which form the external levels of the natural to more internal levels, consequently from earthly and worldly things nearer to celestial and spiritual ones.

[3] This is something people do not know about, the reason being that they do not know that internal levels distinct and separate from external ones are present within them, or that thought exists on increasingly internal levels as well as on more external ones. And unaware of these things a person cannot reflect on them. But see what has been stated already about thought ruled by sensory impressions:

People whose thought is ruled by sensory impressions have little wisdom, 5084, 5089, 5094, 6201, 6310-6312, 6314, 6316, 6318, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624.

A person may be raised above the level of the senses, and when he is raised he comes into a quite gentle light; and this happens especially to those who are being regenerated, 6183, 6313, 6315.

All this now shows what is meant by 'taking off one's shoes from upon one's feet'. A person's natural divides into the external, the middle, and the internal, see 4570, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649. The internal natural is meant by 'the feet', the middle natural by 'the soles', and the external by 'the shoes'.