AC 10287 - Strangers

AC 10287 [9]

Jerusalem is an adulterous wife under her man,
she receives strangers.
(Ezekiel 16:32)

"Jerusalem an adulterous wife"
denotes the church in which good is adulterated;
"to receive strangers" denotes to acknowledge evils
and the falsities of evil in life and doctrine.
And in Joel:
    
Jerusalem shall be holiness,
and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
(Joel 3:17)

"Jerusalem" denotes the church,
but that in which the Lord is acknowledged,
men live in good,
and believe in the truths which are from the Lord;
that "strangers shall not pass through her any more"
denotes that the evils and falsities of evil
which are from hell shall not enter.

~ Remember and Turn ~

All the ends of the earth will remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before Him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and He rules over the nations.

(Psalm 22:27-28)

AC 10276 - The Lord Came Into the World; AC 102777 - "Made Holy"

AC 10276 [9]

. . . unless the Lord had come into the world
and opened the interior things of the Word,
the communication with the heavens
by means of the Word would have been broken;
and then the human race on this earth
would have perished,
for man can think no truth
and do no good
except from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
and the Word is that which opens heaven.

AC 10277

Therefore as the influx and presence of the Lord
are in love and faith,
(and) are with those who receive Him in love and faith,
these are they who are here said to be "made holy;"
but it is the Divine with them which alone is holy,
and not at all what is their own. 

 

~ His Way Is Perfect ~

As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is flawless.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
He enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hand for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You give me Your shield of victory,
and Your right hand sustains me;
You stoop down to make me great.
You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn.

(Psalm 18:30-36)

AC 10252 - More on Measures; AC 10266 - In the Beginning of a Person's Formation

AC 10252 [2, 4-5]

Two measures are mentioned in the Word,
which were in holy use,
one for liquids, which was called the "hin,"
the other for dry things,
which was called the "ephah;"
by the hin were measured oil and wine,
and by the ephah, meal and fine flour;
the measure hin, which was for oil and wine,
was divided into four parts,
but the measure ephah was divided into ten.
The reason why the measure hin was divided into four,
was that it might signify what is conjunctive,
for "four" denotes conjunction;
but that the measure ephah was divided into ten
was that it might signify what is receptive,
the quality whereof was marked by the numbers,
for "ten" signifies much, all, and what is full.

There were other measures besides,
which were in common use
both for dry things and for liquids;
the dry measures were called the "homer" and the "omer,"
and the liquid measures the "cor" and the "bath."
The homer contained ten ephahs,
and the ephah ten omers;
but the cor contained ten baths,
and the bath ten lesser parts.

But in Ezekiel, where the new temple is treated of,
there appears a different division of the ephah and the bath;
the ephah and the bath not being there divided into ten,
but into six;
and the hin there corresponds to the ephah . . ..
The reason is that the subject there treated of
is not celestial good and its conjunction,
but spiritual good and its conjunction;
and in the spiritual kingdom
the corresponding numbers are twelve, six, and three,
because by these numbers are signified all things,
and when they are predicated of truths and goods,
all things of truth and of good in the complex.


AC 10266

It matters not if in the beginning,
when the man begins to be formed,
his affection of truth is also
for the sake of himself and the world.
But this affection must be put off
as good increases by means of truths;
and moreover the man is afterward
continually being purified from such things;
as are the digestive organs,
from what is of no use.
He who believes
that a man can be endowed with the good of love,
without the truths of faith,
and without a life in accordance with these,
is very much mistaken.

~ I Call On You, O God ~

I call on You, O God, for You will answer me;
give ear to me and hear my prayer.
Show the wonder of Your great love,
You who save by Your right hand
those who take refuge in You from their foes.

(Psalm 17:6-7)

AC 10252 - Celestial Good

AC 10252 - [2-3]

In order that celestial good,
which is inmost good,
may be born with man,
which is effected by the Lord through regeneration,
truths must be acquired from the Word,
or from the doctrine of the church
which is from the Word.
These truths obtain their first seat in the memory
of the natural or external man;
from this they are called forth by the Lord
into the internal man,
which is done when the man lives according to them;
and the more the man is affected with them,
or loves them,
the higher, or the more interiorly,
they are raised by the Lord,
and there become celestial good. 

Celestial good is the good of the love
of doing truths from the Word for the sake of good,
thus for the Lord's sake;
for the Lord is the source of good, thus is good;
and this is the generation of this good.
From this it is evident that this good comes forth
by means of truths from the Word,
first in the most external or sensuous man,
next by their elevation into the internal man,
and finally into the very inmost man,
where they become celestial good.
And as this good comes forth in this way
by means of truths in their order,
so it afterward subsists in a like order
by means of the same truths,
for subsistence is a perpetual coming-forth.
And when it so subsists,
as it had come forth,
it is complete,
for then the higher things subsist, rest,
and store up themselves in order,
upon the lower ones as upon their planes;
and upon their outermosts or ultimates,
which are sensuous memory-truths,
as upon their foundation.

~ The Lord Hears ~

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?

Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of Your unfailing love.

Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.

(Psalm 6:1-4, 8-9)

AC 10251 - "Take to Thee Chief Spices"

AC 10251

And do thou take to thee chief spices.
(Exodus 30:23)

That this signifies truths with goods,
from the Word,
which are gratefully perceived,
is evident from the signification of "spices,"
as being truths conjoined with goods,
which are grateful.
That it denotes which are gratefully perceived
is because "odor" signifies perceptivity;
and hence an "aromatic odor"
signifies grateful perceptivity.
That it denotes truths conjoined with goods
from the Word,
is because this is said to Moses,
for it is said, "do thou take to thee spices,"
and by Moses is represented the Lord as to the Word;
moreover, it is the Word
from which are all the truths of the church,
for the Word is Divine truth itself
sent down from heaven by the Lord.

~ The Lord Spreads His Protection ~

You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with You the wicked cannot dwell.
The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence;
You hate all who do wrong.
You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors.

But I, by Your great mercy,
will come into Your house;
in reverence will I bow down toward Your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness
because of my enemies --
make straight Your way before me.

Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against You.

But let all who take refuge in You be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread Your protection over them,
that those who love Your name may rejoice in You.
For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous;
You surround them with Your favor as with a shield.

(Psalm 5:4-12)
 

AC 10237 - For Washing

AC 10237 [1,2]

For washing.
(Exodus 30:18)

That this signifies purification from evils and falsities . . ..

. . . purification is effected in the natural.
That it is effected by means of the truths of faith
can be seen from the fact
that those who are being purified
must not only know what evil and falsity are,
but must also acknowledge them,
and then hold them in aversion and shun them.
When this is done,
then for the first time is the man purified from them;
and evils and falsities cannot be known,
thus cannot be acknowledged,
except in the natural by means of the truths of faith;
for these truths teach what things are evil and false,
and thus make them manifest.
He who believes that he is purified from evils and falsities
before he sees and acknowledges them in himself,
is very much mistaken.

~ Nebuchadnezzar Takes Jerusalem ~

At that time
the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it,
and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city
while his officers were besieging it.
Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother,
his attendants, his nobles and his officials
all surrendered to him.

In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon,
he took Jehoiachin prisoner.
As the Lord had declared,
Nebuchadnezzar removed all the treasures
from the temple of the Lord
and from the royal palace,
and took away all the gold articles
that Solomon king of Israel
had made for the temple of the Lord.
He carried into exile all Jerusalem:
all the officers and fighting men,
and all the craftsmen and artisans --
a total of ten thousand.
Only the poorest people of the land were left.

(II Kings 24:10-14)

AC 10225 - The States of Life of a Person

AC 10225 [3-7]

That the first state is a state of ignorance
and also of innocence in ignorance is plain.
During the continuance of this state,
the interiors are being formed for use,
consequently are not manifest,
but only those most external,
that belong to the sensuous man;
and when these alone are manifest,
there is ignorance;
for whatever man understands and perceives
is from the interiors;
from which it can also be seen
that the innocence which exists at that time
and is called the innocence of infancy,
is innocence most external.

That the second state is a state of instruction
and of memory-knowledge is also plain;
this state is not as yet a state of intelligence,
because at that time the child or youth
does not form any conclusions from himself,
neither does he from himself
discriminate between truths and truths,
nor even between truths and falsities,
but from others;
he merely thinks and speaks things of memory,
thus from mere memory-knowledge;
nor does he see and perceive whether a thing is so,
except on the authority of his teacher,
consequently because another has said so.

But the third is called a state of intelligence,
because the man then thinks from himself,
and discriminates and forms conclusions;
and that which he then concludes is his own,
and not another's.
At this time faith begins,
for faith is not the faith of the man himself
until he has confirmed what he believes
by the ideas of his own thought.
Previous to this, faith was not his,
but another's in him,
for his belief was in the person,
not in the thing.
From this it can be seen
that the state of intelligence commences with man
when he no longer thinks from a teacher,
but from himself;
which is not the case
until the interiors are opened toward heaven.
Be it known that the exteriors with man are in the world,
and the interiors in heaven;
and that in proportion as light flows in from heaven
into what is from the world,
the man is intelligent and wise;
and this according to the degree and quality
of the opening of his interiors,
which are so far opened
as the man lives for heaven and not for the world.

But the last state is a state of wisdom
and of innocence in wisdom;
which is when the man is no longer concerned
about understanding truths and goods,
but about willing and living them;
for this is to be wise.
And a man is able to will truths and goods,
and to live them,
just insofar as he is in innocence,
that is, insofar as he believes
that he has nothing of wisdom from himself,
but that whatever he has of wisdom is from the Lord;
also insofar as he loves to have it so;
hence it is that this state is also
a state of innocence in wisdom.

From the succession of these states
the man who is wise may also see
the wonderful things of the Divine Providence,
which are that a prior state
is constantly the plane of the states which follow,
and that the opening or unfolding of the interiors
proceeds successively from outermosts even to inmosts;
and at last so that what was first
(namely, ignorance and innocence),
but in outermosts, is also last, but in inmosts;
for he who knows
that of himself he is ignorant of all things,
and that whatever he knows is from the Lord,
is in the ignorance of wisdom,
and also in the innocence of wisdom.

~ "Don't Disturb His Bones" ~

Even the altar at Bethel,
the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat,
who had caused Israel to sin --
even that altar and high place he demolished.
He burned the high place and ground it to powder,
and burned the Asherah pole also.
Then Josiah looked around,
and when he saw the tombs
that were there on the hillside,
he had the bones removed from them
and burned on the altar to defile it,
in accordance with the word of the Lord
proclaimed by the man of God
who foretold these things.

The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?"

The men of the city said,
"It marks the tomb of the man of God
who came from Judah
and pronounced against the altar of Bethel
the very things you have done to it."

"Leave it alone," he said.
"Don't let anyone disturb his bones."
So they spared his bones
and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

(II Kings 23:15-18)

AC 10219 - "As From Self"

AC 10219

It is said "as from self,"
because the goods which a man does
he does as from himself,
nor does he perceive otherwise
until he is in faith from love.
For goods flow in from the Lord
and are received by man,
and those which are received
are at first felt no otherwise
than as in himself and from himself;
nor is it perceived that they are from the Lord
until he comes into knowledge,
and afterward into acknowledgment from faith.
For before this he cannot reflect
that anything flows in from the Divine;
nor can he at all perceive this,
that is, be sensible of it in himself,
until he begins to will and to love
that it be so.

~ Amon King of Judah ~

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.
His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz;
she was from Jotbah.
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord,
as his father Manasseh had done.
He walked in all the ways of his father;
he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped,
and bowed down to them.
He forsook the Lord,
the God of his father,
and did not walk in the way of the Lord.


Amon's officials conspired against him
and assassinated the king in his palace.
Then the people of the land
killed all who had plotted against King Amon,
and they made Josiah his son king in his place.

(II Kings 21:19-24)

AC 10209 - 'Once a Year'

AC 10209

'Once a year' means everlastingly.
This is clear from the meaning of 'once a year'
as for the whole year;
for the expiation on the horns of the altar of incense
once a year implied expiation for the whole year.
'A year', like all references to time,
means a state and its duration, and also everlastingness.
In this instance it is a state of purification from evils
by means of the truths of faith;
for this state is meant by expiation
on the horns of the altar of incense once a year,
and all purification from evils,
which is regeneration,
persists everlastingly
not only in the world but also in the next life. 

(expiation - the act of making amends
or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing, atonement.)

~ Hezekiah's Prayer ~

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers
and read it.
Then he went up to the temple of the Lord
and spread it out before the Lord.
And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
"O Lord, God of Israel,
enthroned between the cherubim,
You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, O Lord, and hear;
open Your eyes, O Lord, and see;
listen to the words Sennacherib has sent
to insult the living God.

"It is true, O Lord,
that the Assyrian kings have laid waste
these nations and their lands.
They have thrown their gods into the fire
and destroyed them,
for they were not gods
but only wood and stone,
fashioned by men's hands.
Now O Lord our God,
deliver us from his hand,
so that all kingdoms on earth may know
that You alone, O Lord, are God.

(II Kings 19:14-19)

** Praise Be to the Lord **

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion;
to You 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 sons of joy.

You care for the land and water in 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 with joy and sing.

(Psalm 65)

AC 10199 - The Senses; AC 10201 - Intelligence and Wisdom

AC 10199

For all things which are perceived by man
through the organs of sense signify spiritual things,
which bear relation to
the good of love and to the truths of faith,
as do smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch;
hence "smell" signifies the perceptivity
of interior truth from the good of love;
"taste" signifies the perception and affection
of knowing and of being wise;
"sight," the understanding of the truths of faith;
"hearing," perceptivity from the good of faith,
and from obedience;
and "touch" in general,
communication, transfer, and reception.

AC 10201 [3]

By intelligence and wisdom is not meant
the capacity to think and reason on every subject,
for this exists equally with the evil as with the good,
but there is meant
the capacity to see and perceive
the truths and goods which are of faith and charity,
and of love to the Lord.
This capacity exists solely with those
who are in enlightenment from the Lord,
and they are so far in enlightenment
as they are in love to Him
and in charity toward the neighbor.
For the Lord enters through good,
thus through the love and charity
that are with the man,
and leads into truths corresponding to the good . . ..

~ The End of Israel ~

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah,
Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria,
and he reigned nine years.
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord,
but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Shalmanese king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea,
who had been Shalmaneser's vassal
and had paid him tribute.
But the king of Assyria discovered
that Hoshea was a traitor,
for he had sent envoys to So King of Egypt,
and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria,
as he had done year by year.
Therefore Shalmanese seized him
and put him in prison.
The king of Assyria invaded the entire land,
marched against Samaria
and laid siege to it for three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea,
the king of Assyria captured Samaria
and deported the Israelites to Assyria.
He settled them in Halah,
in Gozan on the Harbor River
and in the towns of the Medes.

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon,
Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim
and settled them in the towns of Samaria
to replace the Israelites.
They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.
When they first lived there,
they did not worship the Lord;
so He sent lions among them
and they killed some of the people.
It was reported to the king of Assyria:
"The people you deported
and resettled in the towns of Samaria
do not know what the God of that country requires.
He has sent lions among them,
which are killing them off,
because the people do not know what He requires."

(II Kings 17:1-6; 24-26)

AC 10185 - Leaves, Blossoms, Fruit

AC 10185 [2-3]

. . . "leaves" in the Word signify the truths of faith),
for . . . by their means is drawn up the living power
whereby good is formed.

The blossoming before the fruit
corresponds to the state of that age with man
when the conjugial inclination
enters minds and gladdens them,
thus when truth is being conjoined with good.
But the fruit corresponds to the good itself,
which, insofar as it ripens like fruit,
puts itself forth into works.
From this it is that "fruits" in the Word
signify the works of charity;
and the blossoming before the fruit
is compared to
the voice and joy of the bride and bridegroom;
and so in all other things. 

~ After Elisha Dies ~

Elisha died and was buried.

Now Moabite raiders
used to enter the country every spring.
Once while some Israelites were burying a man,
suddenly they saw a band of raiders;
so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb.
When the body touched Elisha's bones,
the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

(II Kings 13:20-21)

AC 10175 - The Exodus; AC 10177 - Externals and Internals; AC 10178 - "Shittim Wood"

AC 10175

The subjects treated of in this chapter
are the altar of incense;
the expiation of everyone by means of silver;
the laver and the washing from it;
and the preparation of the oil of anointing,
and of the incense.
In the internal sense by "burning incense"
is signified the hearing and reception by the Lord
of all things of the worship which is from love and charity;
by "the expiation of everyone by means of silver,"
is signified the ascription of all things of worship
to the Lord, and nothing to self,
that no one may have merit.
By "the laver and the washing"
is signified purification from evils first in all worship.
By "the preparation of the oil of anointing"
is signified the quality of the love in worship;
and by "the preparation of the incense,"
the quality of the worship from it.

AC 10177

. . . a holy external from a holy internal
penetrates even into heaven,
according to the quality of the internal,
thus to the Lord.
For a holy external without an internal
is merely from the mouth and the gestures,
whereras a holy external from an internal
is at the same time from the heart.

AC 10178

. . . the good of the Lord's merit is His Divine love.
. . ."shittim wood" has such and so great a signification.
. . . in the supreme sense "wood" signifies Divine good,
because all things which in the internal sense
signify such things as belong to the church and heaven,
in the supreme sense signify Divine things.
  

~ Jehu, King ~

So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel.
However, he did not turn away
from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat,
which he had caused Israel to commit --
the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

The Lord said to Jehu,
"Because you have done well in accomplishing
what is right in My eyes
and have done to the house of Ahab
all I had in mind to do,
your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel
to the fourth generation."
Yet Jehu was not careful
to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel,
with all his heart.
He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam,
which he had caused Israel to commit.

In those days,
the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel.
Hazael overpowered the Israelites
throughout their territory east of the Jordan
in all the land of Gilead
(the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh),
from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge
through Gilead to Bashan.

As for the other events of Jehu's reign,
all he did, and all his achievements,
are they not written
in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Jehu rested with his fathers
and was buried in Samaria.
And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king.
The time that Jehu reigned
over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

(II Kings 10:28-36)

AC 10173 - Conjugial Love and the Delight of Commanding

AC 10173

That which is done from love truly conjugial
is done from freedom on both sides,
because all freedom is from love,
and both have freedom
when one loves that which the other thinks
and that which the other wills.
From this it is
that the wish to command in marriages
destroys genuine love,
for it takes away its freedom,
thus also its delight.
The delight of commanding,
which follows in its place,
brings forth disagreements,
and sets the minds at enmity,
and causes evils to take root
according to the nature
of the domination on the one side,
and the nature of the servitude on the other.

~ Elisha Sends Another Prophet ~

The prophet Elisha summoned
a man from the company of the prophets
and said to him,
"Tuck your cloak into your belt,
take this flask of oil with you
and go to Ramoth Gilead.
When you get there,
look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat,
the son of Nimshi.
Go to him,
get him away from his companions
and take him into an inner room.
Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head
and declare,
"This is what the Lord says:
I anoint you king over Israel."
Then open the door and run;
don't delay!"

(II Kings 9:1-3)

AC 14143 - Divine Worship

AC 10143 [3-5]

But what the Divine worship is
which is signified by sacrifices and burnt-offerings
shall be briefly told.
By the sacrifices and burnt-offerings
was specifically signified
purification from evils and falsities,
and the implantation then of good and truth,
and the conjunction of both, thus regeneration.
The man who is in these is in genuine worship,
for purification from evils and falsities
consists in desisting from them,
and in shunning and turning away from them;
and the implantation of good and of truth
consists in thinking and willing
what is good and what is true,
and in speaking and doing them;
and the conjunction of both
consists in living from them;
for when good and truth have been conjoined with a man,
he then has a new will and a new understanding,
consequently a new life.
When a man is of this character,
there is Divine worship in every work he does,
for he then looks to the Divine in everything;
he venerates it, and he loves it;
consequently he worships it.

That this is genuine Divine worship
is unknown to those who make worship
consist in adoration and prayers,
thus in such things as are of the mouth and thought,
and not in such as are
of work from the good of love and the good of faith;
when yet the Lord regards nothing else in the man
who is in adoration and in prayers than his heart,
that is, his interiors,
such as they are in respect
to love and the consequent faith.
If therefore these interiors of man
are not inwardly in adoration and prayers,
there is no soul and life in them,
but only an external
such as is that of flatterers and pretenders,
and that these are not pleasing
to a wise man in the world is well known.

In a word, to do according to the precepts of the Lord
is truly to worship Him, indeed,
it is truly love and truly faith,
as also can be seen by everyone who considers the matter;
for nothing is more pleasing to one who loves anyone,
and who believes anyone,
than to will and do what the other wills and thinks,
for it is his sole desire to know his will and thought,
thus his good pleasure.
It is otherwise with one who does not love and believe.
Such also is the case with love to God,
as also the Lord teaches in John:

He that has My commandments,
and does them, he it is who loves Me;
but he that loves Me not,
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

If you keep My commandments,
you shall abide in My love;
this is My commandment,
that you love one another.
(John 15:10, 12)

~ Ahaziah King of Judah ~

In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel,
Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem one year.
His mother's name was Athaliah,
a granddaughter of Omrin king of Israel.
He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab
and did evil in the eyes of the Lord,
as the house of Ahab had done,
for he was related by marriage to Ahab's family.

Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war
against Hazeal king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead.
The Arameans wounded Joram;
so King Joram returned to Jezreel
to recover from the wounds
the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth
in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah
went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab,
because he had been wounded.

(II Kings 8:25-29)

AC 10136 - Measures

AC 10136

The ephah and hin were measures,
and by "measure" is signified
the quantity of the thing that is being treating of;
by an "ephah," which was a measure of
fine flour, wheat, and  barley, the quantity of good;
and by a "hin," which was a measure of wine and oil,
the quantity of truth.

____________________________

An ephah is almost a bushel or 35 liters.
A hin is about 1-1/2 gal. or 5.7 liters.
A seah is little over a quart.

~ The End of the Siege of Samaria ~

Some time later,
Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army
and marched up and laid siege to Samaria.
There was a great famine in the city;
the siege lasted so long
that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver,
and a quarter of a cab of seeds for five shekels.

The king got up in the night and said to his officers,
"I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us.
They know we are starving;
so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside,
thinking, 'They will surely come out,
and then we will take them alive and get into the city.'"

One of his officers answered,
"Have some men take five of the horses
that are left in the city.
Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here --
yes, they will only be like all these Israelites
who are doomed.
So let us send them to find out what happened."

So they selected two chariots with their horses,
and the king sent them after the Aramean army.
He commanded the drivers,
"Go and find out what has happened."
They followed them as far as the Jordan,
and they found the whole road
strewn with the clothing and equipment
the Arameans had thrown away
in their headlong flight.
So the messengers returned and reported to the king.
Then the people went out
and plundered the camp of the Arameans.
So a seah of flour sold for a shekel,
and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel,
as the Lord had said.

Now the king had put the officer
on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate,
and the people trampled him in the gateway,
and he died, just as the man of God had foretold
when the king came down to his house.
It happened as the king:
"About this time tomorrow,
a seah of flour will sell for a shekel
and two seahs of barley for a shekel
at the gate of Samaria."

The officer had said to the man of God,
"Look, even if the Lord
should open the floodgates of the heavens,
could this happen?"
The man of God had replied,
"You will see it with your own eyes,
but you will not eat any of it!"
And that is exactly what happened to him,
for the people trampled him in the gateway,
and he died.

(II Kings 6:24-25; 7:12-20)
 

AC 10132, 10134 - Innocence

AC 10132 [10, 12]

The Divine celestial
is the Divine of the Lord in the inmost heaven;
and this Divine is innocence.

The good of innocence in every one
must be external, internal, and inmost,
in order that the person may be regenerated,
for the good of innocence is the very essence of all good.

AC 10134 [2]

For innocence is not only the plane in which truths are sown,
but is also the very essence of good;
so far therefore as a person is in innocence,
so far good becomes good,
and truth lives from good;
consequently so far the person becomes alive,
and so far the evils with him are removed;
and so far as they are removed,
goods and truths are implanted and conjoined by the Lord.

. . . without innocence good is not good.

~ Naaman ~

Now Naaman was commander
of the army of the king of Aram.
He was a great man in the sight of his master
and highly regarded,
because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
He was a valiant soldier,
but he had leprosy.

Now bands from Aram had gone out
and had taken captive a young girl from Israel,
and she served Naaman's wife.
She said to her mistress,
"If only my master would see
the prophet who is in Samaria!
He would cure him of his leprosy."

Naaman went to his master
and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
"By all means, go," the king of Aram replied.
I will send a letter to the king of Israel."
So Naaman left, taking with him
ten talents of silver
six thousand shekels of gold
and ten sets of clothing.
The letter that he took to the king of Israel read:
"With this letter
I am sending my servant Naaman to you
so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter,
he tore his robes and said,
"Am I God?
Can I kill and bring back to life?
Why does this fellow send someone to me
to be cured of his leprosy?
See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

When Elisha the man of God
heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes,
he sent him this message:
"Why have you torn your robes?
Have the man come to me
and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."
So Naaman went with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.
Elisha sent a messenger to say to him,
"Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

But Naaman went away angry and said,
"I thought that he would surely come out to me
and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God,
wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than any of the waters of Israel?
Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?"
So he turned and went off in a rage.

Naaman's servants went to him and said,
"My father, if the prophet had told you
to do some great thing,
would you not have done it?
How much more, then, when he tells you,
'Wash and be cleansed'?"
So he went down
and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,
as the man of God had told him,
and his flesh was restored
and became clean like that of a young boy.

Then Naaman and all his attendants
went back to the man of God.
He stood before him and said,
"Now I know
that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.
Please accept now a gift from your servant."

The prophet answered,
"As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve,
I will not accept a thing."
And even though Naaman urged him,
he refused.

"If you will not," said Naaman,
"please let me, your servant,
be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry,
for your servant will never again
make burnt offerings and sacrifices
to any other god but the Lord.
But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing:
When my master enters
the temple of Rimmon to bow down
and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also --
when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon,
may the Lord forgive your servant for this."

"Go in peace," Elisha said.

(II Kings 5:1-19.5) 

AC 10128 - "To Be Sanctified"; AC 10129 - Only From the Lord

AC 10128

And shalt sanctify it.
(Exodus 29:37)

That this signifies to receive the Lord,
is evident from the signification of "to be sanctified"
as being the reception of the Lord.
That "to be sanctified"
denotes the reception of the Lord,
is because the Lord alone is holy,
and hence whatever proceeds from the Lord is holy.
Therefore insofar as a man receives good,
and with good 
truth from the Lord,
which are holy,
so far he receives the Lord;
for whether we speak of
receiving good and truth from the Lord,
or receiving the Lord, 
it is the same.
For good and truth belong to the Lord,
because they are from Him,
thus they are the Lord in heaven and in the church.
That "to be sanctified"
the reception of the Lord,
is also evident from the fact that it is said,
"thou shalt make propitiation and sanctify;"
for by "making propitiation" or "expiating"
is signified purification
from evils and the derivative falsities,
and at the same time the implantation
of truth and good from the Lord.
The implantation of truth and good from the Lord
is the reception of Him,
thus is sanctification . . ..

AC 10129 [10]

The good of love to the Lord from the Lord
is in all the good of charity which is genuine,
and likewise in all the good of faith which is genuine,
because it flows in from the Lord;
for no one can love the neighbor,
and from love do good to him,
from himself,
but only from the Lord;
and no one can believe in God from himself,
but only from the Lord.
Therefore when the Lord is acknowledged,
and the neighbor is loved,
then the Lord is in the love toward the neighbor,
however little the man may know it. 

~ "Give It To the People to Eat" ~

A man came from Baal Shalishah,
bringing the man of God
twenty loaves of barley bread
baked from the first ripe grain,
along with some heads of new grain.
"Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said.

"How can I set this before a hundred men?"
his servant asked.

But Elisha answered,
"Give it to the people to eat.
For this is what the Lord says:
'They will eat and have some left over.'"
Then he set it before them,
and they ate and had some left over,
according to the word of the Lord.

(II Kings 4:42-44)

AC 10127 - What Do Propitiating and Expiating Mean?

AC 10127 [4]

As regards "propitiating,"
this signifies purification from evils
and the derivative falsities,
or what is the same, their removal;
and as "propitiating" and "expiating" have this signification,
they also involve the implantation of good and truth,
and the conjunction of both by the Lord.
That these are involved is because
insofar as a man is purified from evils and falsities,
so far good and truth are implanted
and conjoined by the Lord.
Wherefore the one being assumed,
the other also is assumed,
for the Lord is present
with every person with the good of love,
because He loves all,
and from love wills to conjoin them with Himself,
which is effected through
the good of love and the truth of faith;
but the evils and their falsities
which a person appropriates to himself by a life of evil,
stand in the way, and hinder the influx. 

 

~ Elijah and Elisha Cross the Jordan ~

. . . 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.

(II Kings 2:7.5-14)

AC 10109 - When One is in Evils; AC 10119 - The Lord Commands

AC 10109 [2]

. . . as long as a person is in evils
and in the falsities derived from them,
it is impossible for any good to be appropriated to him,
for evil ascends from hell,
and good descends from heaven;
and where hell is,
there heaven cannot be,
because they are diametrically opposite.

AC 10119

. . . everything that the Lord commands is a law of order.

~ Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead ~

So the king of Israel
and Jehoshaphat king of Judah
went up to Ramoth Gilead.
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat,
"I will enter the battle in disguise,
but you wear your royal robes."
So the king of Israel disguised himself
and went into battle.

Now the king of Aram
had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders,
"Do not fight with anyone, small or great,
except the king of Israel."
When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat,
they thought, "Surely this is the king of Israel."
So they turned to attack him,
but when Jehoshaphat cried out,
the chariot commanders saw
that he was not the king of Israel
and stopped pursuing him.

But someone drew his bow at random
and hit the king of Israel
between the sections of his armor.
The king told his chariot diver,
"Wheel around and get me out of the fighting.
I've been wounded."
All day long the battle raged,
and the king was propped up in his chariot
facing the Arameans.
The blood from his wound
ran onto the floor of the chariot,
and that evening he die.
As the sun was setting,
a cry spread through the army:
"Every man to his town; everyone to his land!"

So the king died and was brought to Samaria,
and they buried him there.
They washed the chariot at the pool in Samaria
(where the prostitutes bathed),
and the dogs licked up his blood,
as the word of the Lord had declared.

(I Kings 22:29-38)
 

AC 10098 - "Garments of Holiness"; AC 10105 - "A Holy Place" and Doctrine

AC 10098

And the garments of holiness which are for Aaron.
(Exodus 29:29)

That this signifies the Divine spiritual
which proceeds immediately from the Divine celestial,
is evident from the signification of
"the garments of Aaron,"
as being a representative of
the spiritual kingdom of the Lord
adjoined to His celestial kingdom;
thus also the Divine spiritual,
for the spiritual kingdom of the Lord
comes forth from His Divine there,
which is called the Divine spiritual.
Nor is the universal heaven anything else
than the Divine of the Lord;
for the angels who are there
know, acknowledge, believe, and perceive,
that all the good of faith and the good of love
which make heaven, are from the Lord,
and nothing from themselves.
These garments are called "garments of holiness,"
because they represented holy Divine things
which are from the Lord.

AC 10105 [1, 2]

. . . "a holy place" denotes where
the Divine of the Lord is present,
thus as applied to the truths of doctrine,
where there is Divine enlightenment;
because where the Divine of the Lord is present,
there is enlightenment.

. . . truths from the Word are to be fitted together
into doctrine so as to serve for use,
which is done by those
who are in enlightenment from the Lord;
and those are in enlightenment
when they read the Word,
who are in the affection of truth
for the sake of truth,
and for the sake of the good of life,
and not those who seek it
for the sake of self-glory, reputation, or profit, as ends.

~ The Lord Has Elijah Forewarn Ahab ~

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.
"Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel,
who rules in Samaria.
He is now in Naboth's vineyard,
where he has gone to take possession of it.
Say to him, 'This is what the Lord says:
Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?'
Then say to him, 'This is what the Lord says:
In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood,
dogs will lick up your blood -- yes yours!"

Ahab said to Elijah,
"So you have found me, my enemy!"

"I have found you," he answered,
"because you have sold yourself to do evil
in the eyes of the Lord.
'I am going to bring disaster on you.
I will consume your descendants
and cut off from Ahab
every last male in Israel -- slave or free.
I will make your house
like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat
and that of Baasha son of Ahijah,
because you have provoked Me to anger
and have caused Israel to sin.'

"And also concerning Jezebel, the Lord says:
'Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'

"Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab
who die in the city,
and the birds of the air will feed on those
who die in the country."

(There was never a man like Ahab,
who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord,
urged on by Jezebel, his wife.
He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols,
like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.)

When Ahab heard these words,
he tore his clothes,
put on sackcloth and fasted.
He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite:
"Have you noticed
how Ahab has humbled himself before Me?
Because he has humbled himself,
I will not bring this disaster in his day,
but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."

(I Kings 21:17-29)

AC 10083 - "Waving Upon the Palms of Aaron" and the Lord Healing the Sick; AC 10087 - The Good of Charity

AC 10083 [3, 4, 5-6]

. . . all purifications are effected through the truths of faith,
and that healings represented restorations of spiritual life.

. . . all motion corresponds to a state of thought;
consequently progressions, journeys, and the like,
which belong to motion,
in the Word signify states of life.

As by the "waving upon the palms of Aaron"
is signified vivification
through the acknowledgment of the Lord,
and that all things are from Him . . ..
It was often said by the Lord,
when the sick were healed,
that they should "have faith,"
and that it would be done to them
"according to their faith".
The reason was that the first of all is to acknowledge
that the Lord is the Savior of the world,
for without this acknowledgment
no one can receive anything
of truth and good from heaven, thus no faith;
and because this is the first and most essential of all,
therefore in order
that the Lord might be acknowledged
when He came into the world,
in healing the sick
He questioned them concerning their faith,
and those who had faith were healed.
The faith was that He was the Son of God
who was to come into the world,
and that He had power to heal and to save.
Moreover, all the healings of diseases by the Lord,
when He was in the world,
signified healings of the spiritual life,
thus the things that belong to salvation.

Because the acknowledgment of the Lord
is the first of all things of spiritual life,
and the most essential thing of the church,
and because without it no one can receive from heaven
anything of the truth of faith and the good of love,
therefore the Lord often says
that he who "believes in Him has eternal life,"
that he who "does not believe has not life";
but He also teaches at the same time
that those have faith in Him
who "live according to His precepts,"
so that the consequent life may enter into the faith.
All this has been said to illustrate and confirm the fact,
that the acknowledgment of the Lord,
and that from Him is all salvation,
is the first of life from the Divine with man.
This first of life is signified by
the "wavings upon the palms of Aaron."


AC 10087 [2]

. . . the good of charity
is to do what is good from willing it . . . ..

~ Elijah Hides in a Cave on Mount Horeb ~

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 live 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 no 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 the cave and spent the night.

And the world 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 gentle whisper.
When Elijah heart 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 over 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)
 

AC 10067 - Conjunction With the Lord

AC  10067 [7-9]

But these things can be better apprehended
from the reciprocal conjunction 
of good and truth in the man 
who is being regenerated by the Lord,
for as before said the Lord regenerates man
as He glorified His Human.
When the Lord is regenerating man,
He insinuates the truth
which is to be of faith in the man's understanding,
and the good
which is to be of love in his will,
and therein conjoins them;
and when they have been conjoined,
then the truth which is of faith
has its life from the good which is of love,
and the good which is of love
has the quality of its life from the truth which is of faith.
This conjunction is reciprocally accomplished
by means of good,
and is called the heavenly marriage,
and is heaven with man.
In this heaven the Lord dwells as in His own,
for all the good of love is from Him,
and also all the conjunction of truth with good.
The Lord cannot dwell in anything of man's own,
because it is evil.

This reciprocal conjunction is what is meant
by the words of the Lord in John:

In that day you shall know that I am in My Father,
and you in Me, and I in you.
(John 14:20)

All Mine are Yours,
and Yours are Mine,
and I am glorified in them ...
that they may all be one,
as You, Father, are in Me,
and I am in You,
and they may be one in Us.
(John 17:10, 21, 22)

Reciprocal conjunction is thus described;
but still it is not meant
that man conjoins himself with the Lord,
but that the Lord conjoins with Himself
the man who desists from evils;
for to desist from evils has been left to the man's decision,
and when he desists,
then is effected the reciprocal conjunction
of the truth which is of faith
and of the good which is of love from the Lord,
and not at all from man;
for that from himself man can do nothing of good,
and thus can receive nothing of truth in good,
has been known in the church;
and this also the Lord confirms in John:

Abide in Me, and I In you.
He that abides in Me, and I in him,
the same bears much fruit;
for without Me
you can do nothing.
(John 15:4, 6)

This reciprocal conjunction can be illustrated
from the conjunction
of the understanding and will in man;
his understanding is formed from truths,
and his will from goods;
and truths are of faith with him,
and goods are of love.
Man imbibes truths from hearing,
through the sense of hearing;
and from reading through the sight;
and stores them up in his memory.
These truths relate either to the
civil state, or to the moral state,
and are called memory-knowledges. 

~ Elijah Fed by Ravens ~

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)

AC 10064 - Love and Good; Understanding and Truth

AC 10064

When Divine good is mentioned,
Divine love is also meant,
because all good is of love,
for whatever is loved is perceived as good,
and consequently is also called good.
But all truth is of faith;
for whatever is believed is perceived as truth,
and is also so called.
From this it follows that those things
which form the understanding of man are of faith,
and those which form the will are of love,
for the understanding of man
has been set apart to receive the truths of faith,
and his will to receive the goods of love.
The understanding of man is therefore such
as are the truths which form it,
and such as is the faith of these truths;
and the will of man is such
as are the goods which make it,
and such as is the love of these goods.

~King Asa ~

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel,
Asa became king of Judah,
and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years.
His grandmother's name was Maacah
daughter of Abishalom.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
as his father David had done.
He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land
and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made.
He even deposed his grandmother Maacah
from her position as queen mother,
because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole.
Asa cut the pole down
and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Although he did not remove the high places,
Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all is life.

(I Kings 15:9-14)
 

AC 10049, 10052 - Regeneration and Glorification

AC 10049

. . . the purification of the internal man
during man's regeneration
is effected in heaven by the Lord.
Consequently, while a man is in the world
he does not perceive what is being accomplished
in his internal man during regeneration.
This is what is meant
by the words of the Lord in John:

The spirit blows where it will,
and you hear the voice thereof,
but know not from where it comes,
and where it goes;
so is everyone that is born of the spirit.
(John 3:8);

"the spirit" denotes the life of charity through faith.

AC 10052 [2]

Be it known that in every man
there is an internal and an external,
which are called his internal and external man,
and that when a man is being regenerated,
he is regenerated as to both
the internal and the external,
and that regeneration
is the conjunction of good and truth in each.
So was it in the Lord as to His Human;
yet concerning His Human
it cannot be said that it was regenerated,
but that it was glorified,
for His inmost,
which with man is called the soul from the father,
was the Divine Itself,
as He was conceived of Jehovah.
The Divine Itself
is the Divine good of the Divine love;
and as the Lord united His Human with this,
and thus made His Human also Divine,
therefore it cannot be said
that His Human was regenerated, but glorified,
for "to glorify" is to make Divine.
The glorification of His internal man,
or of His internal Human,
is described by representatives in
the burnt-offerings from rams and from lambs. 

~ Three Kings: Solomon, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam ~

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.

When all the Israelites heard
that Jeroboam had returned,
they sent out and called him to the assembly
and made him king over all Israel.
Only the tribe of Judah
remained loyal to the house of David.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem,
he mustered the whole house of Judah
and the tribe of Benjamin --
a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men --
to make war against the house of Israel
and to regain the kingdom
for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

But this word of God
came to Shemaiah the man of God:
"Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah,
to the house of Judah and Benjamin,
and to the rest of the people,
'This is what the Lord says:
Do not go up to fight against your brothers,
the Israelites.
Go home, every one of you,
for this is My doing.'"
So they obeyed the word of the Lord
and went home again,
as the Lord had ordered.

(I Kings 11:42-43; 12:20-24)

AC 10042 - Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings

AC 10042 [1, 3, 4, 5-7]

. . . it must be told what was signified
by the animals in general
that were offered in the sacrifices and burnt-offerings.
These animals were oxen, bullocks, he-goats, rams,
she-goats, and he-kids;
also he-lambs, she-lambs, and she-kids.
One who does not know what these animals signify,
cannot possibly know what is specifically signified
by the sacrifices and burnt-offerings of them.
Be it known that all animals on the earth
signify such things as are in man,
which in general bear relation to
the affections of his will
and the thoughts of his understanding,
thus to goods and truths,
for goods are of the will,
and truths are of the understanding.
And as they bear relation to goods and truths,
they also bear relation to love and faith,
for all things of love are called goods,
and all things of faith are called truths.

But as regards the sacrifices
and burnt-offerings from them, be it known:

(1) That the representative worship
with the Jewish and Israelitish nation
consisted chiefly in sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
is evident from the fact that they were employed
for every sin, and for every guilt;
also for every consecration and inauguration;
and besides on every day, on every Sabbath,
every new moon, and every festival;
and that for this reason
the altar was the most holy of all things,
and all the other things of worship with that nation
depended upon these.
Therefore where the abolition
of representative worship is treated of in Daniel,
it is said that "the sacrifice and oblation shall cease"
(Daniel 9:27),
and "the continual sacrifice shall be removed"
(Daniel 8:10-13; 11:31; 12:11).

(2) That sacrifices and burnt-offerings in general
signified the regeneration of man
through the truths of faith and the goods of love
to the Lord from the Lord,
is evident from the fact that all things of worship
relate to purification from evils and falsities,
to the implanting of truth and good,
and to their conjunction, thus to regeneration;
for by means of these three things man is regenerated;
consequently sacrifices and burnt-offerings
were offered for every sin and for every guilt;
and when they were offered,
it is said that expiation was made
and that pardon would be granted.
The pardon of sins, expiation, propitiation,
and redemption,
are also nothing else
than purification from evils and falsities,
the implantation of good and truth,
and their conjunction, thus regeneration.
Every process of regeneration
is also described by the special rituals
of the several sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
and it is opened when the representatives
are unfolded by means of the internal sense.

That in the supreme sense
the sacrifices and burnt-offerings
signify the glorification of the Lord's Human,
is because all the rituals of worship
instituted with the Israelitish and Jewish nation
regarded the Lord alone;
thus the sacrifices and burnt-offerings
especially regarded Him,
because by them in general
was represented everything of worship . . ..
Moreover, the regeneration of man
is from no other source than the Lord;
and therefore where the regeneration
of man is treated of in the Word,
in the supreme sense
the glorification of the Lord's Human is treated of;
for the regeneration of man
is an image of the glorification of the Lord.
To glorify the Human is to make it Divine,
but to regenerate man is to make him heavenly,
in order that the Divine of the Lord
may dwell in him.

(3) That everything of worship,
according to the various things of it,
was represented by the sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
thus with all variety,
and that for this reason
various kinds of animals were commanded,
is evident from the various things for which
sacrifices and burnt-offerings were made;
namely, for sins by error, and for sins not by error;
for every transgression and uncleanness,
whether with the priest,
or with the whole assembly,
or with a prince, or with any soul;
for cleansing from leprosy;
for purification after child-bearing;
for the consecration of the altar,
of the Tent of meeting and of all things therein;
for the cleansing of the same when Aaron
once every year entered into the holy of holies;
for the inauguration
of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood;
for the consecration of the Nazirites;
and in general on the three feasts,
on each of the new moons, on the Sabbaths,
and daily in the morning and between the evenings;
besides the votive and voluntary offerings. 

~ Solomon Turns From the Lord ~

The Lord became angry with Solomon
because his heart had turned away from the Lord,
the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice.
Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods,
Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.
So the Lord said to Solomon,
"Since this is your attitude
and you have not kept My covenant and My decrees,
which I commanded you,
I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you
and give it to one of your subordinates.
Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father,
I will not do it during your lifetime.
I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him,
but will give him one tribe
for the sake of David My servant
and for the sake of Jerusalem,
which I have chosen."

(I Kings 11:9-13)

AC 10033 - "Blood" and "Flesh"

AC 10033 [8-9]

. . . the appropriation of
Divine good and Divine truth from the Lord
is possible with those only
who acknowledge the Lord's Divine,
for this is the first and essential thing itself
of all things of faith in the church.
For heaven cannot be unclosed to others,
because the whole heaven is in this faith;
thus the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good,
which is there meant by "blood,"
cannot be communicated to others.
Therefore let everyone within the church
take heed to himself
lest he deny the Lord,
and also lest he deny His Divine,
for heaven is closed to this denial,
and hell is opened to it,
all such being separated from heaven,
where the Divine of the Lord is all in all,
because it makes heaven.
And when heaven has been closed,
a memory-knowledge
of the truths of faith from the Word
and the doctrine of the church is indeed possible;
but not any faith which is faith,
for faith which is faith comes from above;
that is, through heaven from the Lord.

That the Lord so spoke, namely,
that He called the Divine good
that proceeds from Him His "flesh,"
and the Divine truth
that proceeds from His Divine good His "blood,"
was because the Word, which is from Him,
was the Divine that fills the universal heaven.
Such a Word must exist by means of correspondences,
consequently must be representative and significative
in each and all things,
for thus and no otherwise it conjoins
the men of the church with the angels in the heavens.
For when men perceive the Word according to the letter,
the angels perceive it according to the internal sense;
thus instead of the Lord's "flesh"
they perceive Divine good,
and instead of His "blood," Divine truth,
both from the Lord.
From this what is holy flows in through the Word.

~ Solomon and Hiram ~

At the end of twenty years,
during which Solomon built these two buildings --
the temple of the Lord and the royal palace --
King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee
to Hiram king of Tyre,
because Hiram had supplied him
with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted.
But when Hiram went from Tyre
to see the towns that Solomon had given him,
he was not pleased with them.
"What kind of towns are these you have given me,
my brother?" he asked.
And he called them the Land of Cabul,
a name they have to this day.
Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents* of gold.

(I Kings 9:21)

* 120 talents is about 4-1/2 tons

AC 10026 - How Truth and the Life of Faith; AC 10029 - Truth and Good in the External and Internal

AC 10026

. . . by "blood" in the Word is signified
the Divine truth that proceeds
from the Lord's Divine good,
and all purification is effected thereby,
for truth teaches man what is good
and how he should live,
and when a man knows this,
then for the first time
can the affection or love of good be implanted,
and thus the man be regenerated.
For knowledge must come first,
before man can have faith,
and live the life of faith,
which is the life of good.

AC 10029

The truth in the natural is memory-knowledge,
and the good there is the delight of this,
both of which are perceptible to man
while he is in the world,
for when they are thought of they are seen.
But the truth in the internal man
is not memory-knowledge that is seen,
but is truth implanted in its intellectual part;
and the good there also is not perceptible,
because it is implanted in the will part --
both in the man's interior life,
in which truth is of faith, and good is of love.
Such is the difference between
the truth and good
in the internal or spiritual man,
and the truth and good
in the external or natural man.

 

~ A Portion of Solomon's Prayer at the Temple Dedication ~

" . . . when a prayer or plea is made
by any of Your people Israel --
each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart,
and spreading out his hands toward this temple --
then hear from heaven Your dwelling place.
Forgive and act;
deal with each man according to all he does,
since You know his heart
(for You alone know the hearts of all men),
so that they will fear You
all the time they live in the land
You gave our fathers."

(I Kings 8:38-40)

AC 10019 - "Filling the Hand"

AC 10019 [1,3]

And thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron
and the hand of his sons.
(Exodus 29:9)

There were two things by which
inauguration into the priesthood was effected --
anointing, and filling the hand;
by anointing was effected inauguration
to represent the Lord as to Divine good,
for the oil by which the anointing was done
signifies the good of love;
and by filling the hand was effected inauguration
to represent the Lord
as to Divine truth from Divine good,
thus as to power.
For by the "hand" is signified power;
and "hand" is predicated of
the truth which is from good,
because all power is of truth from good.
And as the head and the whole body
exercise their power by the hands,
and power is the activity of life with man,
therefore by "hand" is also signified
whatever pertains to man,
thus the man himself
insofar as his action is concerned;
from all which it can be seen
what is signified by "filling the hand."

The Divine power of the Lord,
which was represented by
the filling of the hands of Aaron and his sons,
is the Divine power of saving the human race;
and the power of saving the human race
is power over the heavens and over the hells.
For man is saved by this power of the Lord,
and not by any other;
because all the good which is of love,
and all the truth which is of faith,
flow in through the heavens from the Lord,
and they cannot flow in unless the hells are removed,
for all evil, and from this all falsity, are from the hells.
Man is saved by the removal of the evils
and the derivative falsities that are from the hells,
and by the influx then
of the good of love and of the truth of faith
through heaven from the Lord.
This power of the Lord
is what was represented
by the filling of the hands of the priests;
for by the "priesthood"
was signified all the work of the Lord's salvation.

~ Human Crafts the Bronze for the Temple ~

King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,
whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali
and whose father was a man of Tyre
and a craftsman in bronze.
Huram was highly skilled and experienced
in all kinds of bronze work.
He came to King Solomon
and did all the work assigned to him.

. . . So Huram finished all the work
he had undertaken for King Solomon
in the temple of the Lord:

the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of pillars;
the four hundred pomegranates
for the two sets of network
(two rows of pomegranates for each network,
decorating the bowl-shaped capitals
on top of the pillars);
the ten stands with their ten basins;
the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.

All these objects that Huram made
for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord
were of burnished bronze.
The king had them cast in clay molds
in the plain of the Jordan
between Succoth and Zarethan.
Solomon left all these things unweighed,
because there were so many;
the weight of the bronze was not determined.

(I Kings 7:13-14, 40.5-48)

AC 9995 - Bread, Cakes; Grinding

AC 9995 [3, 8]

The external way, by which truth enters,
is through the hearing and sight into the understanding;
but the internal way,
by which good flows in from the Lord,
is through his inmost into the will.

. . . the celestial goods signified by
the "bread, cakes, and wafers of unleavened things"
come forth from the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good;
and that this is meant by
"of fine flour of wheat thou shalt make them."

. . . what is meant by "grinding;"
that in a good sense it denotes
to select truths from the Word
and explain them so as to be of service to good;
and in a bad sense so as to be of service to evil;
from which it is also evident what is signified by
that which is ground,
consequently by "meal," and "fine flour."

~ The Lord Gives Solomon Wisdom ~

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight,
and a breadth of understanding
as measureless as the sand on the seashore.
Solomon's wisdom was greater
than the wisdom of all the men of the East,
and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
He was wiser than any other man,
including Ethan the Ezrahite --
wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda,
the sons of Mahol.
And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.
He spoke three thousand proverbs
and his songs numbered a thousand and five.
He described plant life,
from the cedar of Lebanon
to the hysop that grows out of walls.
He also taught about animals and birds,
reptiles and fish.
Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom,
sent by all the kings of the world,
who had heard of his wisdom.

(I Kings 4:29-34)
 

AC 9974-9975 - The Goods We Do

AC 9974-9975

Those who believe that they merit heaven
by the good which they do,
do goods from themselves,
and not from the Lord.

None of the goods
which men do from themselves are good,
because they are done for the sake of self,
being done for the sake of reward;
thus from these works
they have regard in the first place to themselves;
but the good which men do from the Lord are all good,
because they are done for the sake of the Lord
and for the sake of the neighbor;
thus in these goods they have regard
in the first place to the Lord and the neighbor.

 

~ Solomon Begins His Reign ~

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt
and married his daughter.
He brought her to the City of David
until he finished building his palace
and the temple of the Lord,
and the wall around Jerusalem.
The people, however,
were still sacrificing at the high places,
because a temple had not yet been built
for the Name of the Lord.
Solomon showed his love for the Lord
by walking according to the statutes of his father David,
except that he offered sacrifices
and burned incense on the high places.

(I Kings 3:1-3)