IBhayibheli

 

Exodus 13:8

Funda

       

8 And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt.

Amazwana

 

Womb

  

'Womb,' as in Genesis 49:25, signifies the conjunction of good and truth. The term 'belly' is used where truths are being discussed, and the term 'womb' where good is discussed. 'An abortive womb' signifies falsities from evil in the place of truth from good.

(Izinkomba: Arcana Coelestia 4918, 6433)


Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #352

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

352. 'The firstborn of the flock' means the holy which is the Lord's alone. This becomes clear from the firstborn in the representative Church, where everything was holy because it had regard to the Lord, who alone is 'the Firstborn'. Love and faith deriving from it are the firstborn. All love is the Lord's and not a trace of it man's, and this is why the Lord alone is 'the Firstborn'. This was represented in the Churches of the ancient era by the requirement to consecrate the firstborn of man and of beast to Jehovah, Exodus 13:2, 12, 15. It was also represented by the tribe of Levi, which in the internal sense means love - though Levi was born later than Reuben and Simeon, who in the internal sense mean faith - being taken instead of all the firstborn and becoming the priesthood, Numbers 3:40-46; 8:14-20. That the Lord as regards His Human Essence is the Firstborn of all is clear from the following statement in David,

He will cry to Me, You are My Father, My God, and the Rock of My Salvation; I will also make Him as the Firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth. Psalms 89:26-27.

And in John,

Jesus Christ, the Firstborn from the dead, and Prince of the kings of the earth. Revelation 1:5.

Please note that the firstborn of worship mean the Lord, while the firstborn of the Church mean faith.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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