1947. Because Jehovah hath hearkened to thine affliction. That this signifies while it was submitting itself, is evident from what was said above (n. 1937), in that to “humble and afflict oneself” denotes to submit to the sovereign control of the internal man, which submission was there treated of, and it is shown that this is to compel oneself; also that in compelling oneself there is freedom, that is, what is spontaneous and voluntary, by which compelling oneself is distinguished from being compelled. It was also shown that without this freedom, that is, spontaneity or willingness, man cannot possibly be reformed and receive any heavenly Own; and further that there is more of freedom in temptations than out of them, although the contrary appears to be the case, for the freedom is then stronger in proportion to the assaults of evils and falsities, and is strengthened by the Lord in order that a heavenly Own may be conferred upon the man; and for this reason the Lord is more present with us while we are in temptations. It was shown further that the Lord never compels anyone; for he who is compelled to think what is true and do what is good is not reformed, but thinks falsity and wills evil all the more. All compulsion has this effect, as we may see from the records and examples of life, for from them we know these two things: that consciences do not suffer themselves to be compelled, and that we strive after what is forbidden. Moreover everyone desires to pass from non-freedom into freedom, for this belongs to man’s life.

[2] Hence it is evident that anything which is not from freedom, that is, which is not from what is spontaneous or voluntary, is not acceptable to the Lord; for when anyone worships the Lord from what is not free, he worships from nothing that is his own, and in this case it is the external which moves, that is, which is moved, from being compelled, while the internal is null, or resistant, or is even contradictory to it. While man is being regenerated, he, from the freedom with which he is gifted by the Lord, exercises self-compulsion, and humbles and even afflicts his rational, in order that it may submit itself, and thereby he receives a heavenly Own, which is afterwards gradually perfected by the Lord, and is made more and more free, so that it becomes the affection of good and thence of truth, and has delight, and in both the freedom and the delight there is happiness like that of angels. This freedom is what the Lord speaks of in John:

The truth shall make ¹ you free; if the Son makes you free, you shall be ¹ free indeed (John 8:32, 36).

[3] The nature of this freedom is utterly unknown to those who do not possess conscience, for they make freedom consist in doing as they please and in the license of thinking and speaking what is false, of willing and doing what is evil, and of not compelling and humbling, still less of afflicting such desires; when yet the very reverse is the case, as the Lord also teaches in the same gospel:

Everyone that committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34).

This slavish freedom they receive from the infernal spirits who are with them and who infuse it, and when they are in the life of these spirits they are also in their loves and cupidities, and an impure and excrementitious delight breathes upon them, and when they are being as it were carried away by the torrent, they suppose themselves to be in freedom, but it is infernal freedom. The difference between this infernal freedom and heavenly freedom is that the one is that of death, and drags them down to hell, while the other, or heavenly freedom, is of life and uplifts them to heaven.

[4] That all true internal worship comes from freedom, and none from compulsion, and that if worship is not from freedom it is not internal worship, is evident from the Word, as from the sacrifices that were freewill offerings or vows, or offerings of peace or of thanksgiving; which were called “gifts” and “offerings” (concerning which see Numbers 15:3, etc.; Deuteronomy 12:6; 16:10-11; 23:23-24). So in David:

With a free-will offering will I sacrifice unto Thee; I will confess to Thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good (Psalms 54:6).

So again from the contribution or collection which they were to make for the Tabernacle, and for the garments of holiness, spoken of in Moses:

Speak unto the sons of Israel, and let them take for Me an offering; from every man whom his heart impels willingly ye shall take My offering (Exodus 25:2).

And again:

Whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring it, Jehovah’s offering (Exodus 35:5).

[5] Moreover the humiliation of the rational man, or its affliction (from freedom, as before said), was also represented by the affliction of souls on days of solemnity, as mentioned in Moses:

It shall be a statute of eternity unto you; in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, ye shall afflict your souls (Leviticus 16:29).

And again:

On the tenth of the seventh month, this is the day of expiations; there shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; every soul that shall not have afflicted itself in that same day, shall be cut off from his peoples (Leviticus 23:27, 29).

It was for this reason that the unleavened bread, in which there was nothing fermented, is called the “bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:2-3).

[6] “Affliction” is thus spoken of in David:

Jehovah, who shall sojourn in Thy tent? who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness; he that sweareth to afflict himself, and changeth not (Psalms 15:1-2, 4).

That “affliction” denotes the mastering and subjugation of the evils and falsities that rise up from the external man into the rational, may be seen from what has been said. Thus “affliction” does not mean that we should plunge ourselves into poverty and wretchedness, or that we should renounce all bodily delights, for in this way evil is not mastered and subjugated; and moreover some other evil may be aroused, namely, a sense of merit on account of the renunciation; and besides, man’s freedom suffers, in which alone, as in ground, the good and truth of faith can be inseminated. (Concerning “affliction” as denoting also temptation, see above, n. 1846.)

Примітки:

1846. And they shall afflict them. That this signifies their severe temptations, may be seen from the signification of “afflicting,” or of “affliction,” as being persecution, consequently temptation. In the Word of the Lord nothing else is signified by “affliction.” As in Isaiah:

I will purge thee, and not with silver; I will choose thee in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10),

“affliction” denoting temptation.

In Moses:

Thou shalt remember all the way by which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to tempt thee. Jehovah, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and that He might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deuteronomy 8:2, 16);

to “afflict” manifestly denotes to tempt.

[2] In the same:

When the Egyptians did evil unto us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard servitude; and we cried unto Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression (Deuteronomy 26:6-7).

Here we find the same things as in the present verse: that they “served” and were “afflicted,” by which in like manner are signified the temptations of the faithful, as likewise by their afflictions in the wilderness, by which also there were represented the temptations of the Lord.

[3] As in Isaiah:

He was despised, a man of sorrows, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. But truly He hath borne our diseases, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:3-4).

By these words are signified the Lord’s temptations; by His “bearing our sicknesses, and carrying our sorrows,” is not meant that the faithful are to undergo no temptations, nor is it meant that He took their sins upon Himself, and so bore them; but it means that by the combats and victories of temptations He overcame the hells, and in this way would alone, even as to His Human Essence, endure the temptations of the faithful.

[4] Temptations are also called by the Lord “afflictions;” as in Mark:

They that are sown upon stony places, when they have heard the Word have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; afterwards, when affliction and persecution arise because of the Word, straightway they are offended (Mark 4:16-17).

“Affliction” here manifestly denotes temptation; to “have no root in themselves” is to have no charity, for in this is faith rooted, and they who have not the support of this root yield in temptations.

In John:

In the world ye have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

“Affliction” here denotes temptation.

[5] In Matthew:

Nation shall be stirred up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; all these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up unto affliction. Then shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened (Matthew 24:7-9, 21, 29).

Here the consummation of the age, or the last times of the church, are treated of; “affliction” denotes temptations, both external and internal, the external being persecutions from the world, and the internal being persecutions from the devil. That there will be no charity, is signified by “nation being stirred against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;” also by “the sun,” that is, the Lord and love and charity, being “darkened.”