AE 374 - to know the Word

. . . it is of no avail

to learn and know the Word

except for the purpose of applying

its good and truth to the use of life;

from this source and no other

is intelligence from the Lord.

A Prayer

O Lord, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in Your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.

Let the morning
bring me word of Your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go,
for to You I lift up my soul.

Teach me to do Your will,
for You are my God.

(Psalm 143:1, 8-9, 10)

AE 372 - spiritual grief

AE 372 [1,6]

. . . in the church, in process of time,
good first perishes
and afterwards truth,
and at length
evil succeeds in place of good,
and falsity in place of truth.

Since in the churches before the Lord's coming,
which were representative churches,
mourning represented spiritual grief of mind
on account of the absence of truth and good,
for they mourned when oppressed by an enemy,
on the death of a father or mother,
and for like things,
and oppression by an enemy signified
oppression by evils from hell,
and father and mother signified the church
in respect to good and in respect to truth,
because with them
these things were represented by mourning,
they at such times went in black.

They Who Love Your Law

Great peace have they who love Your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.

I wait for Your salvation, O Lord,
and I follow Your commands.

(Psalm 119:165-166)

AE 365 - spiritual peace vs. success in the world

AE 365 [42] 

. . . those have peace
who are in the conjunction
of good and truth from the Lord,
and as evil destroys good,
and falsity destroys truth,
so do these destroy peace.
From this it follows
that those who are in evils and falsities
have no peace.
It appears as if they had peace
when they have success in the world,
and they even seem to themselves at such times
to be in a contented state of mind;
but that apparent peace is only in their extremes,
while inwardly there is no peace,
for they think of honor and gain without limit,
and cherish in their minds cunning, deceit, enmities,
hatreds, revenge, and many like things,
which unknown to themselves,
rend and devour the interiors of their minds,
and thence also the interiors of their bodies. 

The Lord, Our Deliverer

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need,
He saved me.

For you, O Lord,
have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

How can I repay the Lord
for all His goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all His people.

(Psalm 116:5-6, 8-9, 12-14)

AE 365 - Peace, the Lord Himself

AE 365 [30]

How joyous upon the mountains
are the feet of him that proclaims good tidings,
that makes peace to be heard;
that proclaims good tidings of good,
that makes salvation to be heard;
that says unto Zion, 
Thy King reigns.
(Isaiah 52:7)

This is said of the Lord,
and "peace" here signifies the Lord Himself,
and thus heaven to those who are conjoined to Him;
"to proclaim good tidings"
signifies to preach these things;
and as this conjunction is effected by love it is said,
"proclaim good tidings upon the mountains"
and "say unto Zion;"
"mountains" signifying . . . the good of love to the Lord,
and "Zion" signifying the church that is in that good,
and the Lord is meant by "thy King who reigns."
Because the conjunction of truth and good
from conjunction with the Lord
is signified by "peace"
therefore it is said,
"makes peace to be heard,
proclaims good tidings of good,
makes salvation to be heard;"
"proclaiming good tidings of good"
signifying conjunction with the Lord by good,
and "making salvation to be heard"
signifying conjunction with Him by truths
and by a life according to them,
for thereby is salvation. 

Praise the Lord!

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who finds great delight in His commands.

His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
Good will come to him
who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast,
trusting in the Lord.
His heart is secure,
he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.

(Psalm 112:1-9)

AE 365 - peace

AE 365 [11]

The disciples praised God, saying,
Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord;
peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
(Luke 19:37-38)

These things were said by the disciples
when the Lord went to Jerusalem,
that He might there,
by the passion of the cross,
which was His last temptation,
wholly unite His Human to His Divine,
and might also entirely subjugate the hells;
and as all Divine good and truth
would then proceed from Him, they say,
"Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord,"
which signified acknowledgment, glorification,
and thanksgiving that these things were from Him;
"peace in heaven and glory in the highest"
signifies that the things meant by "peace"
are from the union
of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human,
and that from this union
the angels and men have peace
by conjunction with the Lord;
for when the hells had been subjugated by the Lord,
peace was established in heaven,
and then those who were there
had Divine truth from the Lord,
which is "glory in the highest."
As "peace" in the internal sense of the Word
signifies the Lord, and from Him, heaven and eternal life,
and in particular,
the delight of heaven
arising from conjunction with the Lord,
so the Lord after the resurrection,
when He appeared to the disciples,
said to them:

Peace be unto you.
(Luke 24:36, 37; John 20:19, 21, 26)

His Kingdom

The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.

(Psalm 103:19)

AE 359 - fighting evils

AE 359 [2]

. . . he who fights against evils and falsities
and conquers them,
in the world even to the end of life,
conquers them to eternity;
for such as a person is at the end of his life
in consequence of his past life,
such he remains to eternity.

Jesus [said] to the disciples,
These things I have spoken unto you
that in Me you might have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation;
but take heart!
I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33)

The Lord's "overcoming the world" means
that He subjugated all the hells;
for "the world" here signifies
all evils and falsities,
which are from hell.

A Prayer of Moses, portions

Lord, You have been our dwelling place
throughout the generations.
Before the mountains were born
or You brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting 
You are God.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
May Your deeds be shown to Your servants,
Your splendor to their children.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of our hands.

(Psalm 90:1-2, 12, 14-17)

AE 358 - heaven

AE 358 [2]

Wisdom and eternal happiness
taken together
are eternal life,
for the very life of heaven
is in wisdom and eternal happiness.

Listen

I will listen to what God the Lord will say;
He promises peace to His people, his saints -
but let them not return to folly.
Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him,
that His glory may dwell in our land.

(Psalm 85:8-9)

AE 356 - doctrine and illustration from the Lord

AE 356 [4]

. . .doctrine is to be acquired
from no other source than the Word,
and by none except those
who are in illustration from the Lord.
They are in illustration from the Lord
who love truths because they are truths;
and because such as these do them,
they are in the Lord
and the Lord is in them.

Restore Us

Restore us, O Lord God Almighty;
make Your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.

(Psalm 80: 3, repeated again at 7, 19)

AE 355 - the natural must serve the spiritual

AE 355 [37]
. . . hell, where all are in their own proprium,
because they are in the natural man
separated from the spiritual,
and thence in all kinds of evils and falsities.

. . . let no one from being a spiritual man become natural,
and lead himself,
and trust in what is his own proprium
instead of in the Lord . . .

A Plea

Answer me, O Lord, out of the goodness of Your love;
in Your great mercy turn to me.
Do not hide Your face from Your servant;
answer me quickly,
for I am in trouble.
Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes.

You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before You.
Scorn has broken my heart and left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

I am in pain and distress;
may Your salvation, O God, protect me.

(Psalm 69:16-21, 29)

AE 355 - the church, the Word

AE 355 [9, 11]

. . . those who from the good of life
are in the affection of knowing the truths of the church
come into the light,
and they resist evils and falsities,
and constitute the church.

. . . for the Word is Divine,
and treats of Divine things,
and not of earthly things;
therefore it contains spiritual things
which pertain to heaven and the church,
expressed in the ultimate sense,
which is the sense of the letter,
by the natural things which correspond to them.

The Lord's Blessings

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;
to Your our vows will be fulfilled.
O You who hear prayer,
to You all men will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
You forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those You choose
and bring near to live in Your courts!
We are filled with the good things of Your house,
of Your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by Your power,
having armed Yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
Those living far away
fear Your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
You call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it;
You enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so You have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
You soften it with showers
and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and Your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

(Psalm 65)

AE 351 - the church where the Word is

AE 351

It is said, the church were the Word is,
because the Lord's church is in the whole world,
but in a special sense where the Word is,
and where the Lord is known through the Word.

. . . for the Lord flows in therefrom with love and light,
and vivifies and enlightens
all who are in any spiritual affection for truth,
wherever they are.

The Lord Will Sustain You

Cast your cares on the Lord
and He will sustain you;
He will never let the righteous fall.

(Psalm 55:22)

AE 349 - the Lord, our Life

AE 349 [5, 7]

The Divine good that proceeds from the Lord
is that from which order comes,
and the Divine truths are the laws of order.


That there is one only Divine,
and that is not to be divided into three persons
according to the faith of Athanasius . . ..
And as the Lord's Divine,
which is the one only Divine,
took on a Human, 
and made that also Divine,
therefore both of these 
are the Life from which all live.
That this is so
may be known from the words of the Lord Himself . . .
in the following passages. In John:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;
no one comes unto the Father
but through Me.
(John 14:6)

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,"
was said of the Lord's Human;
for He also says,
"no one comes unto the Father but through Me,"
His "Father" being the Divine in Him,
which was His own Divine.
This makes clear that the Lord also,
in respect to His Human, is Life,
consequently
that His Human also in like manner is Divine.

God Is Our Refuge and Strength

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though is waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her,
she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar;
kingdoms fall;
He lifts His voice,
the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah.

Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations He has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
He burns the shields with fire.
"Be still,
and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah.

(Psalm 46)

AE 340 - He feeds the people

AE 340 [23]

That the Lord blessed the bread, wine, and fishes
that He gave to the disciples and to the people
(Matt. 14:15, 19, 21, 22; 15:32, 36; 26:26, 27;
Mark 6:41; 8:6, 7; 14:22, 23;
Luke 9:16; 22:19; 24:30),
signified communication of His Divine,
and thus conjunction with them
by means of the goods and truths,
which are signified by the "bread and wine,"
and also by "the fishes;"
"bread and wine"
signifying goods and truths in the spiritual man,
and "fishes"
goods and truths in the natural.

AE 342 [12]
For every one has an internal and an external man,
or a spiritual and a natural;
the internal or spiritual man
sees from the light of heaven,
but the external or natural man
sees from the light of the world.

If the Lord Delights

If the Lord delights in a man's way,
He makes his steps firm;
though he stumble,
he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with His hand.

(Psalm 37:24-25)

AE 340 - "blessing"

AE 340 [1, 11]

. . .  "blessing," when said of the Lord,
signifies thanksgiving
that from Him is every good of love and truth of faith,
and thence heaven and eternal happiness
to those who receive.


Thus shall ye bless the sons of Israel,
Jehovah bless thee and keep thee;
Jehovah make His faces to shine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee;
Jehovah lift up His faces upon thee,
and give thee peace.
Thus shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel;
and I will bless them.
(Numbers 6:23-27)

From this, unfolded by means of the internal sense,
it is evident what "blessing" as a whole involves -
namely, that Jehovah, that is, the Lord,
from Divine love flows in
with Divine truth and with Divine good
with those who receive;
the Divine love, from which the Lord flows in,
being meant by "the faces of Jehovah;"
the Divine truth, with which the Lord flows in,
by "Jehovah make His faces to shine upon thee;"
and the Divine good, with which He flows in,
by "Jehovah lift up His faces upon thee;"
the protection from evils and falsities,
which would otherwise take away the influx,
by "keep thee" and "be gracious unto thee;"
heaven and eternal happiness,
which the Lord gives
by means of His Divine truth and His Divine good,
by "give thee peace;"
communication and conjunction with those who receive,
by "thus shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel,"
"the name of Jehovah"
signifying the Divine proceeding,
which is called in general Divine truth and Divine good,
and "the sons of Israel"
signifying those who are of the church,
thus who receive,
of whom it is therefore said, "and I will bless them."
This is the internal or spiritual sense of these words,
as can be seen from this,
that "the faces of Jehovah"
signify the Divine love;
"to make them to shine"
signifies the influx of Divine truth,
and "to lift them up"
signifies the influx of Divine good. 

The Ways of the Lord

Show me Your ways, O Lord,
teach me Your paths;
guide me in Your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in You all day long.

Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore He instructs sinners in His ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them His way.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
for those who keep the demands of His covenant.

(Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10)

AE 333 - "to reign"

AE 333

And we shall reign upon the earth
(Revelation 5:10)

. . .  the signification of "to reign,"
as being to be in truths and goods,
and thence to be from the Lord in power
to resist the evils and falsities
which are from hell . . ..

. . . if any one in heaven believes
that he has power from himself
he is instantly deprived of it,
and then becomes wholly powerless.

. . . in the spiritual sense
everything of a person is put off,
and thus everything of dominion belonging to person,
and dominion is left to the Lord alone.

. . . all wisdom is from truths
that are from good from the Lord.

"To reign" signifies to be in truths from good,
and thus in power and wisdom from the Lord,
because "kingdom" signifies heaven and the church
in respect to truths,
and "king" truth from good.

Trust

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.

(Psalm 20:7-8)

AE 329 -"to be born of God"

AE 329 [30]

. . . "to be born of God"
is to be regenerated by means of the truths of faith,
and by means of a life according to them.

The Wicked

The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile
is honored among men.

(Psalm 12:8)

AE 329 - flesh and blood

AE 329 [15]

    [15] There are also two things with a person
which constitute his spiritual life,
namely, the good of love and the truth of faith;
the will is the receptacle
of the good of love with him,
and the understanding is the receptacle
of the truth of faith with him.
All things of the mind,
that is, of the will and understanding,
have a correspondence with all things of the body,
wherefore, the latter are moved
at the command of the former.
The correspondence of the will
is in general with the flesh,
and the correspondence of the understanding
is with the blood:
so it is that man's voluntary proprium
is meant in the Word by flesh,
 and the intellectual proprium by blood;
as in Matthew 16:17:

"Jesus said to Simon, Blessed are you,
for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you."

These things are adduced,
that it may be known that in the Word
things voluntary and intellectual, thus spiritual,
are meant by flesh and blood,
where they are said of man,
and things Divine where they are said of the Lord.
But these observations are intended for those
whose minds can be elevated
above natural ideas and can see causes. 

The End of Judah

During Jehoiakim's reign,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land,
and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years.
But then he changed his mind
and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean,
Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him.
He sent them to destroy Judah,
in accordance with the word of the Lord
proclaimed by His servants the prophets.

The king of Egypt
did not march out from his own country again,
because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah;
she was from Libnah.
He did evil in the eyes of he Lord,
Just as Jehoiakim had done.
It was because of the Lord's anger
that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah,
and in the end He thrust them from His presence.

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
. . . and he was captured.
He was taken to the King of Babylon at Riblah,
where sentence was pronounced on him.
They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
Then they put out his eyes,
bound him with bronze shackles
and took him to Babylon.

So Judah went into captivity away from her land.

(II Kings 24:1-2, 7, 18-20; 25:6-7, 21)
_____

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

(Psalm 1:6)

AE 329 - "the Book of the Covenant"

AE 329 [6, 7]

Moses came from Mount Sinai,
and told the people all the words of Jehovah,
and all the judgments.
And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah,
and rose up early in the morning,
and built an altar under the mount.
And he sent young men of the sons of Israel,
and they offered up burnt-offerings,
and sacrificed bullocks as peace-offerings unto Jehovah.
And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins;
and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
And he took the Book of the Covenant,
and read in the ears of the people;
and they said,
All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do and hear.
And he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people,
and said,
Behold the Blood of the Covenant
that Jehovah has concluded with you upon all these words.
And they saw the God of Israel,
and under His feet as it were a work of sapphire stone,
and as the substance of the heavens for purity.
(Exodus 24:3-11).

Words or truths become truths of life by doing;
and as Moses wrote these words,
he called them, "The Book of the Covenant,"
which signifies that there is conjunction by means of them.
The law promulgated by Jehovah from Mount Sinai,
and the statutes and judgments
that were also commanded at that time,
signified all Divine truth,
or the Divine truth in its whole complex.
This is why they are called "the Book of the Covenant,"
and why the ark in which was that book is called
"The Ark of the Covenant,"
"covenant" signifying conjunction.

Because Divine truth, by which there is conjunction,
proceeds from the Lord,
the Lord appeared to the people
"under the feet as it were a work of sapphire stone;"
that He so appeared "under the feet"
signifying that Divine truth is such in ultimates.
Divine truth in ultimates
is Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word;
"work of sapphire stone"
signifies the translucence of this sense
from Divine truth in the internal or spiritual sense;
"the God of Israel" is the Lord.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Covenant

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary,
"I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord."
He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king
and reported to him:
"Your officials have paid out the money
that was in the temple of the Lord
and have entrusted it
to the workers and supervisors at the temple."
Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king,
"Hilkiah the priest has given me a book."
And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law,
he tore his robes.

Then the king called together
all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
He went up to the temple of the Lord
with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem,
the priests and the prophets -
all the people from the least to the greatest.
He read in their hearing
all the words of the Book of the Covenant,
which had been found in the temple of the Lord.
The king stood by the pillar
and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord -
to follow the Lord
and keep His commands, regulations and decrees
with all his heart and all his soul,
thus confirming the words of the covenant
written in this book.
Then all the people
pledged themselves to the covenant.

(II Kings 22:  8-11; 23:1-3)

AE 328 - what the Lord taught when He was in the world

AE 328 [6-7]

"Thou didst redeem us to God in Thy blood"
(Revelation 5:9)

The primary thing is
to acknowledge the Lord,
to acknowledge His Divine in the Human,
and His omnipotence to save the human race;
for by that acknowledgment
man is conjoined to the Divine,
since there is no Divine except in Him;
for the Father is there;
for the Father is in Him,
and He in the Father,
as the Lord Himself teaches;
consequently they who look to another Divine near Him,
or at His side,
as those are wont to do who pray to the Father
to have mercy for the sake of the Son,
turn aside from the way
and worship a Divine elsewhere than in Him.
Moreover, they then give no thought
to the Divine of the Lord,
but only to the Human,
when yet these cannot be separated;
for the Divine and the Human are not two,
but a single person,
conjoined like soul and body,
according to the doctrine received by the churches
from the Athanasian Creed.
Therefore to acknowledge
the Divine in the Lord's Human,
or the Divine Human,
is the primary thing of the church,
by which there is conjunction;
and because it is the primary
it is also the first thing of the church.
It is because this is the first thing of the church,
that the Lord, when He was in the world,
so often said to those whom He healed,
"Do you believe that I can do this?"
and when they answered that they believed,
He said, "Be it done according to your faith."
This He so often said that they might believe,
in the first place,
that from His Divine Human
He had Divine omnipotence,
for without that belief the church could not begin,
and without that belief
they could not have been conjoined with the Divine,
but must have been separated from it,
and thus would not have been able
to receive anything good from Him.

Afterwards the Lord taught
how they were to be saved, namely,
by receiving Divine truth from Him;
and truth is received
when it is applied to the life
and implanted in it 
by doing it;
therefore the Lord so often said
that they should do His words.
From this it can be seen that these two things,
namely, believing in the Lord and doing His words,
make one,
and can by no means be separated;
for he who does not do the Lord's words
does not believe in Him;
so also he who thinks that he believes in Him
and does not do His words
does not believe in Him,
for the Lord is in His words,
that is, in His truths,
and by them
He gives faith to man. 

Hezekiah King of Judah

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel,
Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
He was twenty-five years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.
His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
just as his father David had done.
He removed the high places,
smashed the sacred stones
and cut down the Asherah poles.
He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made,
for up to that time
the Isreaelites had been burning incense to it.
(It was called Nehushtan.)

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of  Israel.
There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah,
either before him or after him.
He held fast to the Lord
and did not cease to follow Him;
he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.
And he Lord was with him;
he was successful in whatever he undertook.
He rebelled against the king of Assyria
and did not serve him.
From watchtower to fortified city,
he defeated the Philistines,
as far as Gaza and its territory.

(II Kings 18:1-8)

AE 325 - prayer; AE 326 - heavenly joy

AE 325 [12]

. . . when a man is in a life of charity
he is constantly praying,
if not with the mouth
yet with the heart;
for that which is of the love
is constantly in the thought,
even when man is unconscious of it . . ..


AE 326 [11]

. . . man is not in heavenly joy
unless the things in him,
which are truths and goods,
are from heaven;
from these is joy of heart that is truly joy . . ..

Jeosheba Saves Joash

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah
saw that her son was dead,
she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.
But Jeosheba,
the daughter of King Jehoram
and the sister of Ahaziah,
took Joash son of Ahaziah
and stole him away from among the royal princes,
who were about to be murdered.
She put him and his nurse
in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah,
so he was not killed.
He remained hidden with his nurse
at the temple of the Lord
for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

(II Kings 11:1-3)

 

AE 325 - prayers and practical piety

AE 325 [3-4]

Worship does not consist
in prayers and in external devotion,
but in a life of charity;
prayers are only its externals,
for they proceed from the man through his mouth,
consequently men's prayers are such
as they themselves are
in respect to life.
It matters not that a man bears himself humbly,
that he kneels and sighs when he prays;
for these are externals,
and unless externals proceed from internals
they are only gestures and sounds without life.
In each thing that a man utters there is affection,
and every man, spirit, and angel is his own affection,
for their affection is their life;
it is the affection itself that speaks,
and not the man without it;
therefore such as the affection is
such is the praying.
Spiritual affection is what is called
charity towards the neighbor;
to be in that affection is true worship;
praying is what proceeds.
From this it can be seen that the essential of worship
is the life of charity,
and that its instrumental
is gesture and praying;
or that the primary of worship is a life of charity,
and its secondary is praying.
From this it is clear
that those who place all Divine worship in oral piety,
and not in practical piety,
err greatly. 

Practical piety is to act
in every work and in every duty
from sincerity and right, 
and from justice and equity,
and this because it is commanded 
by the Lord in the Word;
for thus man in his every work
looks to heaven and to the Lord,
and thus is conjoined with Him.
But to act sincerely and rightly, 
justly and equitably,
solely from fear of the law,
of the loss of fame or of honor and gain,
and to think nothing of the Divine law,
of the commandments of the Word,
and of the Lord,
and yet to pray devoutly in the churches,
is external piety;
however holy this may appear,
it is not piety,
but it is either hypocrisy,
or something put on derived from habit,
or a kind of persuasion from a false belief
that Divine worship consists merely in this;
for such a man does not look
to heaven and to the Lord with the heart,
but only with the eyes;
the heart looking to self and to the world,
and the mouth speaking
from the habit of the body only and its memory;
by this man is conjoined to the world
and not to heaven,
and to self
and not to the Lord.

"Don't Be Afraid."

Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel.
After conferring with his officers, he said,
"I will set up my camp in such and such a place."

The man of God sent word to the king of Israel:
"Beware of passing that place,
because the Arameans are going down there."
So the king of Israel checked on the place
indicated by the man of God.
Time and again Elisha warned the King,
so that he was on his guard in such places.

This enraged the king of Aram.
He summoned his officers and demanded of them,
"Will you not tell me which of us 
is on the side of the king of Israel?"

"None of us, my lord the king," said one of the officers,
"But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel,
tells the king of Israel
the very words you speak in your bedroom."

"Go, find out where he is," the king ordered,
"So I can send men and capture him."
The report came back:
"He is in Dothan."
Then he sent horses and chariots
and a strong force there.
They went by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God got up
and went out early the next morning,
an army with horses and chariots
had surrounded the city.
"Oh, my lord, what shall we do?"
the servant asked.

"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered.
"Those who are with us
are more than those who are with them."

And Elisha prayed, "O Lord,
open his eyes so he may see."
Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes,
and he looked
and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire
all around Elisha.

(II Kings 6:8-17)

AE 325 - all true worship

AE 325 [7]

. . . all worship of the Lord which is truly worship
comes from celestial good through spiritual good;
for spiritual good,
which is charity towards the neighbor,
is in effect of celestial good,
for charity towards the neighbor
is the performance of uses,
and living a moral life from a heavenly origin . . .
this therefore is spiritual good;
while celestial good is looking to the Lord
and acknowledging
that every good and truth is from Him,
and that from man,
or from what is man's own (proprium),
there is nothing but evil.

A Chariot of Fire and Horses of Fire

When the Lord was about to take Elijah
up to heaven in a whirlwind,
Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
Elijah said to Elisha,
"Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."

But Elisha said,
"As surely as the Lord lives and as you live,
I will not leave you."
So they went down to Bethel.

The company of the prophets at Bethel
came out to Elisha and asked,
"Do you know that the Lord is going
to take your master from you today?"

"Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."

Then Elijah said to him,
"Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."

And he replied,
"As surely as the Lord lives and as you live,
I will not leave you."
So they went to Jericho.

The company of the prophets at Jericho
went up to Elisha and asked him,
"Do you know that the Lord is going
to take your master from you today?"

"Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."

Then Elijah said to him,
"Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."

And he replied,
"As surely as the Lord lives and as you live,
I will not leave you."
So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men of the company of the prophets
went and stood at a distance,
facing the place where Elijah and Elisha
had stopped at the Jordan.
Elijah took his cloak,
rolled it up
and struck the water with it.
The water divided to the right and to the left,
and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed,
Elijah said to Elisha,
"Tell me, what can I do for you
before I am taken from you?"

"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,"
Elisha replied.

"You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said,
"yet if you see me when I am taken from you,
it will be yours - otherwise not."

As they were walking along and talking together,
suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire
appeared and separated the two of them,
And Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Elisha saw this and cried out,
"My father!  My father!
The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"
And Elisha saw him no more.
Then he took hold of his own clothes
and tore them apart."

He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah
and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him
and struck the water with it.
"Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
he asked.
When he struck the water,
it divided to the right and to the left,
and he crossed over.

The company of the prophets from Jericho,
who were watching said,
"The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha."
And they went to meet him
and bowed to the ground before him.

(II Kings 2:1-15)

AE 316 - working together

AE 316 [26]
. . . it is through truths
that good acts and speaks.

Jehoshaphat King of Judah

Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah
in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old
when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years.
His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
In everything he walked in the ways of his father Asa
and did not stray from them;
he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
The high places, however, were not removed,
and the people continued to offer sacrifices
and burn incense there.
Jehoshaphat was also at peace with the king of Israel.

As for the other events of Jehoshaphat's reign,
the things he achieved and his military exploits,
are they not written
in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes
who remained there
even after the reign of his father Asa.
There was then no king in Edom;
a deputy ruled.

(I Kings 22: 41-47)

AE 316 - cerebellum and cerebrum

AE 316 [16]

. . . according to the influx of good and truth
with man and spirit . . .
all good is received behind,
and all truth in front,
as the cerebellum is formed to receive the good,
which is of the will,
and the cerebrum to receive the truth,
which is of the understanding . . .

Under a Tree and in a Cave

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done
and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,
"May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely,
if by this time tomorrow
I do not make your life like that of one of them."

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
When he came to Beersheba in Judah,
he left his servant there,
while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.
He came to a broom tree,
sat down under it and prayed that he might die.
"I have had enough, Lord," he said.
"Take my life; I am not better than my ancestors."
Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said,
"Get up and eat."
He looked around,
and there by his head
was a cake of bread baked over hot coals,
and a jar of water.
He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time
and touched him and said,
"Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."
So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by that food,
he traveled forty days and forty nights
until he reached Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him:
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He replied,
"I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected your covenant,
broken down your altars,
and put your prophets to death with the sword.
I am the only one left,
and now they are trying to kill me, too."

The Lord said,
"Go out and stand on the mountain
in the presence of the Lord,
for the Lord is about to pass by."

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart
and shattered the rocks before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a still small Voice.
When Elijah heard it,
he pulled his cloak over his face
and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a Voice said to him,
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He replied,
"I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected Your covenant,
broken down Your altars,
and put Your prophets to death with the sword.
I am the only one left,
and now they are trying to kill me, too."

The Lord said to him,
"Go back the way you came,
and go to the Desert of Damascus.
When you get there,
anoint Hazael king over Aram.
Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king of Israel,
and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah
to succeed you as prophet.
Jehu will put to death
any who escape the sword of Hazael,
and Elisha will put to death
any who escape the sword of Jehu.
Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel -
all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal
and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

(I Kings 19:1-18)

AE 314 - "lamb", "wolf", "sheep"

AE 314[4-5, 9]

Because a "lamb" signifies innocence,
or those who are innocent,
and a "wolf" those who are against innocence,
it is said . . .:

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
they shall not do evil in the whole mountain of holiness.
(Isaiah 65:25);

"the mountain of holiness" is heaven,
especially the inmost heaven.
Therefore the Lord said to the seventy whom He sent forth:

I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.
(Luke 10:3)

Because "lambs" signify
those who are in the love to the Lord,
which love is one with innocence,
and because "sheep" signify those
who are in love towards the neighbor,
which love is charity,
the Lord said to Peter:

Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?
He says unto Him,
Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.
He said unto Him, Feed My lambs;
and afterwards, Feed My sheep.
(John 21:15-17).

These things were said to Peter,
because by "Peter" truth from good,
or faith from charity was meant,
and truth from good teaches;
"to feed" meaning to teach.

Since a "lamb" signifies innocence,
which, viewed in itself, is love to the Lord,
a "lamb," in the highest sense,
signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human,
for in respect to this,
the Lord was innocence itself;
as may be seen in the following passages:

He endured persecution and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth;
He is led as a lamb to the slaughter.
(Isaiah 53:7)

John sees Jesus coming unto him, and says,
Behold the Lamb of God,
that takes away the sin of the world.
And afterwards, seeing Jesus walking,
he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
(John 1:29, 36)

The Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.
(Revelation 7:17)

The Ravens Feed Elijah

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead,
said to Ahab,
"As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives,
whom I serve,
there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years
except at My word."

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah:
"Leave here, turn eastward
and hide in the Kerith Ravine,
east of the Jordan.
You will drink from the brook,
and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.

So he did what the Lord had told him.
He went to the Kerith Ravine,
east of the Jordan,
and stayed there.
The ravens brought him
bread and meat in the morning
and bread and meat in the evening,
and he drank from the brook.

(I Kings 17:1-6)

AE 309 - the body is the soul's obedience

AE 309

Behold, the Lion has overcome,
(Revelation 5:5)

signifies that the Lord from His own power
subjugated the hells,
and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order.
This is evident from the signification of "overcoming,"
when predicated of the Lord,
namely, that when He was in the world
He subjugated the hells,
and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order,
and this by temptations admitted into His Human,
and then by continual victories.
. . . and as the Lord had done these things
from His own power,
He is called a "Lion;"
for "lion" signifies power.
That the Lord did these things from His own power
is known from the Word;
but as few are aware of this,
I wish to say something respecting it.
The Lord did this
from the Divine that was in Him from conception;
this Divine He had as a man has a soul from his father;
and the soul of everyone 
works by means of the body,
for the body is the soul's obedience. 

A Kingdom Divided

Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king.
He was one of Solomon's officials,
an Ephraimite from Zeredah,
and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king:
Solomon had built the supporting terraces
and had filled in the gap in the wall
of the city of David his father.
Now Jeroboam was a man of standing,
and when Solomon saw
how well the young man did his work,
he put him in charge of the whole labor force 
of the house of Joseph.

About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem,
and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way,
wearing a new cloak.
The two of them were alone out in the country,
and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing
and tore it into twelve pieces.
then he said to Jeroboam,
"Take ten pieces for yourself,
for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
'See, I am going to tear the kingdom
out of Solomon's hand
and give you ten tribes.
But for the sake of My servant David
and the city of Jerusalem,
which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
he will have one tribe.
I will do this because they have forsaken Me
and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians,
Chemosh the god of the Moabites,
and Molech the god of the Ammonites,
and have not walked in My ways,
nor done what is right in My eyes,
nor kept My statutes and laws as David,
Solomon's father did.

"'But I will not take
the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand;
I have made him ruler all the days of his life
for the sake of David My servant,
whom I chose
and who observed My commands and statues.
I will take the kingdom from his son's hands
and give you ten tribes."

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam,
but Jeroboam fled to Egypt,
to Shishak the king,
and stayed there until Solomon's death.

As for the other events of Solomon's reign -
all he did and the wisdom he displayed -
are they not written
in the book of the annals of Solomon?
Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
Then he rested with his fathers
and was buried in the city of David his father.
And Rehoboam his son
succeeded him as king.

(I Kings 11:26-35,40-43)

AE 304 - "land" signifies the church

AE 304 [56, 61]

I have made the earth, man and beast
that are upon the faces of the earth,
and I give it to him who is right in My eyes.
(Jeremiah 27:5)

"Man and beast that are upon the faces of the earth"
signify the affections of truth and good
in the spiritual and the natural man;
and since these affections with men
constitute the church in them it is said,
"I have made the earth, man and beast
that are upon the faces of the earth,
and I give it to him who is right in My eyes."
Everyone knows that God gives the earth
not only to those who are right in His eyes,
but also to those who are not right,
while the church He gives to those only who are right;
"right" signifying truth and its affection.

Because the "land" [or ground] signified the church:

The Lord spat on the earth,
and made clay of the spittle,
and anointed the eyes of the blind man, and said,
'Go wash thee in the pool of Siloam.'
(John 9:6-7, 11, 15)

So the Lord,
when the Scribes and Pharisees questioned Him
respecting the woman taken in adultery,
stooping down, wrote twice on the earth (John 8:6, 8);
which signified that the church was full of adulteries,
that is, full of the adulteration of good
and the falsification of truth;
therefore the Lord said to them:

He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her;
but they went out one by one,
beginning from the elders,
even unto the last.
(John 8:7, 9)

From Solomon's Blessing

When Solomon had finished
all these prayers and supplications to the Lord,
he rose from before the altar of the Lord,
where he had been kneeling
with his hands spread out toward heaven.
He stood and blessed
the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

"Praise be to the Lord,
who has given rest to His people Israel
just as He promised.
Not one word has failed
of all the good promises 
He gave through His servant Moses.
May the Lord our God be with us
as He was with our fathers;
may He never leave us nor forsake us.
May He turn our hearts to Him,
to walk in all His ways
and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations
He gave our fathers."

(I Kings 8:54-58)

AE 304 - "Sing aloud O heavens"

AE 304 [32]

I have given thee for a covenant to the people,
to restore the earth.
Sing aloud O heavens,
and exult O earth,
and break forth O mountains with a song.
(Isaiah 49:8, 13)

This treats of the Lord and His coming;
the establishment of the church by Him is described by
"I have given thee for a covenant of the people,
to restore the earth,"
to "restore the earth" being to reestablish the church;
it is known that the Lord did not restore
the earth to the Jewish people,
but that He established a church among the Gentiles;
the joy in consequence is described by,
"Sing aloud O heavens,
and exult O earth,
and break forth O mountains with a song,"
"the heavens"
being the heavens where angels are
who are in the interior truths of the church,
"the earth"
the church among men,
and "the mountains"
those who are in the good of love to the Lord.

Solomon's Kingdom

The people of Judah and Israel
were as numerous as the sand on the seashore;
they ate, they drank and they were happy.
And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms
from the River to the land of the Philistines,
as far as the border of Egypt.
These countries brought tribute
and were Solomon's subjects all his life.

(I Kings 4:20-21)

AE 302 - "a great voice"; AE 304 - angels and men

AE 302
. . . the influx of the Lord
is signified by "a great voice;"
for "voice," in reference to the Lord,
signifies every truth of the Word,
of doctrine,
and of faith from Him . . ..

. . . no one, of himself,
from the love of good
can be affected by good,
and from the love of truth
can think truth,
but that this flows in from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
and because this is so,
"a great voice" signifies influx of the Lord.

AE 304 [3]
. . . an angel is not an angel, nor is a man a man,
from the human form, which both have,
but because of heaven and the church with them.

Adonijah Thinks He Is King

Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith,
put himself forward and said,
"I will be king."
So he got chariots and horses ready,
with fifty men to run ahead of him.
(His father had never interfered with him by asking,
"Why do you behave as you do?"
He was also very handsome
and was born next after Absalom.)

Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah
and with Abiathar the priest,
and they gave him their support.
But Zadok the priest, 
Benaiah son of Jehoiada,
Nathan the prophet,
Shimei and Rei and David's special guard
did not join Adohijah.

. . . King David said,
"Call in Zadock the Priest, Nathan the prophet
and Benaiah son of Jehoiada."
When they came before the king, he said to them:
"Take your lord's servants with you
and set Solomon my son on my own mule
and take him down to Gihon.
There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet
anoint him king over Israel.
Blow the trumpet and shout,
'Long live King Solomon!'
Then you are to go up with him,
and he is to come
and sit on my throne and reign in my place.
I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah."

(I Kings 1:5-8,32-35)

AE 298 - "right hand"

AE 298 [2]

. . . "right hand" in reference to the Lord
signifies both omnipotence and omniscience,
and in reference to men
power and wisdom . . .

When One Rules

"The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me:
his word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:

"When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth."

(II Samuel 23:2-4)

AE 297 - judgment

AE 297

There are two things
that proceed from the Lord as the sun of heaven,
namely, Divine good and Divine truth.
Divine good from the Lord
is called "the Father in the heavens,"
and is here meant by "Him that sat upon the throne;"
and Divine truth from the Lord
is called "the Son of man," but here "the Lamb."

[2] For in respect to judgment, the case is this:
The Lord is present with all,
and from Divine Love He wills to save all,
and He turns and leads all towards Himself.
Those who are in good and in truths therefrom follow,
for they apply themselves,
but those who are in evil and in falsities therefrom
do not follow, but turn backwards from the Lord,
and to turn themselves backwards from the Lord
is to turn from heaven to hell;
for every man-spirit is either
his own good and the truth therefrom,
or his own evil and the falsity therefrom.
He who is a good and the truth therefrom
permits himself to be led by the Lord;
but he who is an evil and the falsity therefrom
does not permit himself to be led;
he resists with all his strength and endeavor,
for his will is toward his own love;
for this love is his breath and life;
therefore his desire is toward those
who are in a like love of evil.
From this it can be seen that
the Lord does not judge anyone,
but that Divine truth received judges to heaven
those who have received Divine truth in the heart,
that is, in love;
and it judges to hell
those who have not received Divine truth in the heart,
and who have denied it.
 

The Men of Israel and the Men of Judah Bicker

Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king
and saying to him,
"Why did our brothers, the men of Judah,
steal the king away
and bring him and his household across the Jordan,
together with all his men?"

All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel,
"We did this because the king is closely related to us.
Why are you angry about it?
Have we eaten any of the king's provisions?
Have we taken anything for ourselves?"

Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah,
"We have ten shares in the king;
and besides,
we have a greater claim on David than you have.
So why do you treat us with contempt?
Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?"

But the men of Judah responded even more harshly
than the men of Israel.

Now a troublemaker
named Sheba son if Bicri, a Benjamite,
happened to be there.
He sounded the trumpet and shouted:

"We have no share in David,
no part in Jesse's son!
Every man to his tent, I Israel!"

So all the men of Israel deserted David
to follow Sheba son of Bicri.
But the men of Judah stayed by their king
all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

David said to Abishai,
"Now Sheba son of Bicri will do more harm
than Absalom did.
Take your master's men and pursue him,
or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.

(II Samuel 19:42-43, 20:1-2,6)