Arcana Coelestia#9182
9182. 'When a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed' means good that has not been joined to truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'persuading', when said in reference to a man and a virgin, as his enticing her to be joined to him; from the meaning of 'a man' as truth, dealt with in 3134, 7716, 9007; from the meaning of 'a virgin' as the Church in respect of good, dealt with in 3081, 4638, thus the good which the Church is; and from the meaning of 'being betrothed' as being joined to. Something brief must be stated here about the law regarding a wrongful joining together, which is the subject at present - about where the cause and origin of that law lie. The cause of all the laws laid down for the children of Israel lies in heaven; and the laws of order there are the origin from which they spring. The laws of order in heaven all spring from Divine Truth and Goodness which emanate from the Lord, and therefore are laws concerning the good of love and the truth of faith. Goodness and truth joined together in heaven is called the heavenly marriage; and this marriage is represented in marriages on earth. It is also meant in the Word by marriages. From this one can see what is implied by wrongful joinings together, and also by cases of whoredom or adultery. The present two verses deal with a wrongful joining together which later on is either made rightful or else dissolved. A wrongful joining together which later on is made rightful is the subject in the present verse, and a wrongful joining together which later on is dissolved is the subject in the next.
[2] A wrongful joining together is one that takes place not as a result of a desire for marriage, but as a result of some other desire, such as an interest in good looks, monetary gain, or personal status, or else it is one that takes place as a result of sexual lust. Any such joining together is wrongful initially; it is wrongful because they are external attractions that draw the two people together and not at the same time internal ones. Nevertheless those external attractions may subsequently serve as the means towards a rightful joining together, which takes place when the two people are of one mind. They may also be the means of preventing a subsequent joining together from taking place if the two people are not of one mind. This is a matter commonly known in the world.
[3] A rightful joining together, which is a joining of minds, takes place when similar goodness and similar truth exist with both persons; for goodness and truth constitute a person's life, goodness and truth on the level of private and public behaviour constituting the life of the external man, and goodness and truth on a spiritual level constituting the life of the internal man. It should be recognized that a person's life springs from no other source than goodness and truth; for everything the person loves is called good, and everything the person believes is called truth. Or what amounts to the same thing, everything the person wills is called good, and everything the person understands is called truth. From this it is evident that a rightful joining together takes place when truth exists with one person in a marriage and the good which complements that truth exists in the other person. For when this is their relationship the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth, is represented in the two of them. So it is that conjugial love descends from that marriage, see 2727-2759, 2803, 3132, 4434, 4835.
[4] From all this, mentioned by way of introduction, anyone may recognize the nature of the joinings together dealt with in the present verse and the one following. Betrothal before marriage has been a custom since ancient times; it represented a first joining together, which is that of the internal man without the external. The actual marriage following it represented a second joining together, which is that of the internal man together with the external. For when a person is being regenerated by forms of the good and the truths of faith, the internal man is regenerated first and the external man afterwards, since the external man is regenerated from the internal, 3286, 3321, 3493, 3882, 8746.
[5] This shows what is meant in the Word by 'betrothal' and 'being betrothed', and also what is meant by 'bridegroom' and 'bride'. It shows that 'betrothal' means the joining together of truth and good in the internal man, and that where the Lord and the Church are the subject 'bridegroom' means good and 'bride' truth, as in the following places: In Jeremiah,
I have remembered for you the mercy of your youth, the love of your betrothals, when you went out after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Jeremiah 2:2.
This refers to the Ancient Church and its establishment by the Lord. 'The love of betrothals' is the affection belonging to spiritual life that is received from the truths of faith and the good of love. A state of desire, when they were still without knowledge of those truths and lacked that good, is meant by 'going out after Me in the wilderness' and 'in a land not sown'.
[6] In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the earth. And I will abolish 1 the bow, and the sword, and war from the land. And I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in judgement, and in mercy and in compassion. 2 Hosea 2:18-19.
This refers to the establishment of a new Church. 'Making a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds, and with the creeping things of the earth' means a joining together which the Lord accomplishes by means of the goodness and truth, internal and external, present with a person.
'A covenant' is a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778. 'The wild animals of the field' are the life derived from good, 841, 908. 'The birds' are the life of truth, 40, 745, 776, 991, 3219, 5149, 7441. 'The creeping things of the earth' are the forms of good and the truths among the sensory perceptions of the external man, 746, 909.
'Abolishing the bow, the sword, and war' means destroying the teachings and powers of falsity.
'The bow' is teachings that present falsity, 2686, 2709.
'The sword' is falsity engaged in conflict against truth, 2799, 4499, 6353,
7102.
'War' is the conflict itself, or spiritual conflict, 1664, 2686, 8273.
'Abolishing' these means destroying them.
[7] 'Betrothing in righteousness and in judgement' means being joined to the Lord in goodness and truth - 'betrothing' is joining to oneself, and 'righteousness' has reference to good, 'judgement' to truth, 2235. 'Betrothing in mercy and in compassion' means doing so out of love towards those governed by good, and in love towards those guided by truths - the Lord's 'mercy' has reference to His love towards those who lack good but nevertheless desire it, and His 'compassion' to His love towards those who have no knowledge of truth but nevertheless desire it. From all this it is evident that 'betrothal' means the joining together by the Lord of goodness and truth present with a person. Anyone can see that matters such as these are meant in those verses in Hosea, for when their contents are looked at in nothing brighter than natural light it is evident that Jehovah does not make a covenant with the wild animals of the field, the birds, and the creeping things of the earth, but with those possessing the goodness and truth of faith, thus with the goodness and truth present with a person, and therefore that such matters lie within this prophetic utterance.
[8] In Malachi,
Judah has acted faithlessly, for he has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, for he loved and betrothed to himself the daughter of a foreign god. Malachi 2:11.
'Betrothing the daughter of a foreign god' means being joined to the evil of falsity, 'a foreign god' being falsity, 4402 (end), 4544, 7873.
[9] As regards the meaning of 'bridegroom' as good, where the Lord and the Church are the subject, and of 'bride' as truth, this may be seen in Isaiah,
Jehovah has clothed me with the garments of salvation, with the robe of righteousness has He covered me, as a bridegroom puts on his priestly tiara, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 3 Isaiah 61:10.
In John,
I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2.
In the same book,
The angel said, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. Revelation 21:9; 22:17.
Here 'bride' stands for the Church.
[10] In Matthew,
Jesus said to John's disciples, Can the sons of the wedding mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Matthew 9:15; Luke 5:34-35.
The expression 'the sons of the wedding' refers to those who adhere to the truths of the Church and receive good, good which comes from the Lord being 'the bridegroom'. 'The sons of the wedding do not mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them' implies that they are in a state of bliss and happiness, and so are with the Lord, when they adhere to the truths joined to their good. 'They will fast when the bridegroom is taken away from them' implies that they are in a state of unhappiness when good is no longer joined to the truths. The latter state is the final state of the Church, whereas the former is the first state.
[11] Something similar is meant in Matthew 25:1-12 by the bridegroom, whom the ten virgins went out to meet. For the virgins who had oil in their lamps are people who have good within their truths; but the virgins who did not have oil in their lamps are people who do not have good within their truths, see 4638, 'oil' being the good of love, 886, 3722, 4582.
[12] In John,
John said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. John 3:28-29.
'The bride' stands for the truth that composes the Church's faith, and 'the bridegroom' for the good that composes the Church's love, both of which come from the Lord, and so stand for a member of the Church with whom good has been joined to truths. 'The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears' stands for faith consisting of truth, and 'who rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice' stands for an affection for the truth composing faith. All this also shows what is meant in the internal sense by the joy and voice of the bridegroom and the bride in Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:11; Revelation 18:23, namely heaven and the happiness that result from the joining together of goodness and truth present with man and angel.
脚注:
Joshua第4章
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It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
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"Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
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and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.'"
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Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
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Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;
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that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'
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then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.'"
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The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
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Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.
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For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.
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It happened, when all the people had completely passed over, that the ark of Yahweh passed over, with the priests, in the presence of the people.
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The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.
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About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before Yahweh to battle, to the plains of Jericho.
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On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.
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Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
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"Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan."
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Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Jordan!"
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It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.
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The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
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Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.
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He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'
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Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
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For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you had passed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;
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that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh, that it is mighty; that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.'"
