9339. Verses 31-33 And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness even to the River; ¹ for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out ² from before you. You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me when you serve their gods; for it will be a snare to you.

'And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines' means the full range of truths from factual ones to interior truths of faith. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. 'For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand' means dominion over evils. 'And you will drive them out from before you' means the removal of them. 'You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods' means no contact with evils and falsities. 'They shall not dwell in your land' means that evils must not exist together with the Church's forms of good. 'Lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me' means lest evils turn away forms of good from the Lord. 'When you serve their gods' means if worship is kindled by falsities. 'For it will be a snare to you' means owing to evils that are enticing and deceptive.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

Ukuze uqhubeke upheqe ngenkathi ulalele, dlala umsindo ewindini elisha.

At this part of the book of Jeremiah we get to some action. The kings of Judah are trying to avoid being taken over. Babylon threatens from the north, Egypt to from the south. Can they form an alliance with one to keep the other at bay? The key in this story is that Babylon represents selfishness, and Egypt scientific knowledge, so this story is an image of how we deal in spiritual crisis situations. Do we run to Babylon or Egypt, or do we listen to God's prophet, Jeremiah?

(Izinkomba: Arcana Coelestia 1164, 1326; Jeremiah 36:2-7, 37:16-21, 38:2-6)