The Israelites Become Worthless

The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God

that were not right.

From watchtower to fortified city

they built themselves high places in all their towns.

They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles

on every high hill and under every spreading tree.

At every high place they burned incense,

as the nations

whom the Lord had driven out before them

had done.

They did wicked things that provoked the Lord to anger.

They worshiped idols,

though the Lord had said,

"You shall not do this."

The Lord warned Israel and Judah

through all His prophets and seers:

"Turn from your evil ways.

Observe My commands and decrees,

in accordance with the entire Law

that I commanded your fathers to obey

and that I delivered to you through My servants the prophets."

But they would not listen

and were as stiff-necked as their fathers,

who did not trust in the Lord their God.

They rejected His decrees

and the covenant He had made with their fathers

and the warnings He had given them.
They followed worthless idols

and themselves became worthless.

(II Kings 17:9-15)

EU 49 - ancient times

EU 49

. . . the ancient times, and especially the most ancient,

were more acceptable to the Lord than succeeding times:

and such being the state of the world,

innocence also then reigned,

and with it wisdom;

every one then did what was good from good,

and what was just from justice.

To do what is good and just

with a view to their own honor, or gain, was unknown.

At the same time they spoke nothing but what was true,

and this not so much from truth as from good,

that is, not from the understanding separate from the will,

but from the will conjoined with the understanding.

Such were the ancient times . . ..

The reason that those times were such, was owing to this,

that people were then distinguished into nations,

nations into families, and families into houses,

and every house lived apart by itself;

and it then never entered into any one's mind

to invade another's inheritance,

and from there to acquire to himself opulence and dominion.

Self-love and the love of the world were then far removed;

every one rejoiced in his own,

and not less in his neighbor's good.

But in succeeding times this scene was changed,

and totally reversed,

when the lust of dominion and of large possessions invaded the mind.

Then mankind, for the sake of self-defense,

collected themselves into kingdoms and empires;

and because the laws of charity and of conscience,

which were inscribed on the hearts, ceased,

it became necessary to enact laws

in order to restrain violence,

in which honors and gains were rewards,

and privation of them punishments.

When the state of the world was thus changed,

heaven removed itself from man,

and this more and more even to this age,

when it is no longer known

whether there is a heaven and a hell,

and yes, by some it is denied.

Pekah and Tiglath-Pileser

In the time of Pekah king of Israel,

Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took

Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Jonoah, Kedesh and Hazor.

He took Gilead and Galilee,

including all the land of Naphtali,

and deported the people to Assyria.

(II Kings 15:29)

EU 40 - an appearance of the Lord

EU 40
The sun of heaven,
which is the Lord,
is seen only by those who are in the inmost or third heaven;
others see the light derived from there.
On seeing the sun,
they said this was not the Lord God,
because they did not see a face.
. . . But suddenly, the sun again appeared,
and in the midst of it the Lord,
encompassed with a solar circle . . ..

The Ministers of Baal Killed

Then Jehu brought all the people together
and said to them,
"Ahab served Baal a little;
Jehu will serve him much.
Now summon all the prophets of Baal,
all his ministers and all his priests.
See that no one is missing,
because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal.
Anyone who fails to come will no longer live."
But Jehu was acting deceptively
in order to destroy the ministers of Baal.

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.
(II Kings 10:18-19, 28-29)

EU 15 - angelic communication

EU 15
. . . angels, when they are in a society,
if they are accepted and loved,
all things which they know are communicated*.

*That in the heavens there is given
a communication of all goods,
inasmuch as it is the property of heavenly love
to communicate all its possessions with others;
and that from this the angels derive wisdom and happiness.
--- (AC 549, 550, 1390, 1391, 1399, 10130, 10723)

An Axehead Floats

The company of the prophets said to Elisha,
"Look, the place where we meet with you is is too small for us.
Let us go to the Jordan,
where each of us can get a pole;
and let us build a place there for us to live."

And he said, "Go."

Then one of them said,
"Won't you please come with your servants?"

"I will," Elisha replied.
And he went with them.

They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.
As one of them was cutting down a tree,
the iron axehead fell into the water.
"Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

The man of God asked,
"Where did it fall?"
When he showed him the place,
Elisha cut a stick and threw it there,
and made the iron float.
"Lift it out," he said.
Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
(II Kings 6:1-7)

EU 4 - a universe so immense

EU 4
. . .  people may believe that in the universe
there are more earths than one, from this,
that the starry heaven is so immense,
and the stars therein are so innumerable,
each of which in its place, or in its world, 
is a sun, and like our sun, in various magnitude.
Whoever duly considers, concludes
that so immense a whole must needs be a means to an end,
which is the ultimate of creation,
which end is the kingdom of heaven,
wherein the Divine may dwell with angels and people;
for the visible universe,
or the heaven resplendent with stars so innumerable,
which are so many suns,
is only a means for the existence of earths,
and of men upon them,
of whom may be formed a heavenly kingdom.

The Widow's Oil

The wife a a man
from the company of the prophets 
called out to Elisha,
"Your servant my husband is dead,
and you know that he revered the Lord.
But now his creditor is coming
to take my two boys as his slaves."

Elisha replied to her,
"How can I help you?
Tell me, what do you have in your house?"

"Your servant has nothing there at all,"
she said,  "except a little oil."
Elisha said,
"Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
Don't ask for just a few.
Then go inside
and shut the door behind you and your sons.
Pour oil into all the jars,
and as each is filled,
put it to one side."

She left him
and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons.
They brought the jars to her
and she kept pouring.
When all the jars were full,
she said to her son,
"Bring me another one."

But he replied,
"There is not a jar left."
Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God, and he said,
"Go, sell the oil and pay your debts.
You and your sons can live on what is left."
(II Kings 4:1-7)

NJHD 317, 318 - ecclesiastical government

NJHD 317, 318
Dignity and honor ought to be paid to priests
on account of the holy things which they administer;
but they who are wise give the honor to the Lord,
from whom the holy things are,
and not to themselves;
but they who are not wise
attribute the honor to themselves;
these take it away from the Lord.
They who attribute honor to themselves,
on account of the holy things which they administer,
prefer honor and gain to the salvation of souls,
which they ought to provide for;
but they who give the honor to the Lord,
and not to themselves,
prefer the salvation of souls to honor and gain.

Priests ought to teach the people,
and to lead them by truths to the good of life,
but still they ought to compel no one,
since no one can be compelled to believe
contrary to what he thinks from his heart to be true.
He who believes otherwise than the priest,
and makes no disturbance,
ought to be left in peace;
but he who makes disturbance,
ought to be separated;
for this also is of order,
for the sake of which the priesthood is established.

Ahab and Jehoshaphat

For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel.
But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah
went down to see the King of Israel.
The king of Israel had said to his officials,
"Don't you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us
and yet we are doing nothing
to retake it from the king of Aram?"

So he asked Jehoshaphat,
"Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?"

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel,
"I am as you are,
my people as your people,
my horses as your horses.:
But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel,
"First seek the counsel of the Lord."

So the king of Israel brought together the prophets -
about four hundred men - and asked them,
"Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"

"Go," they answered,
"for the Lord will give it into the King's hand."

But Jehoshaphat asked,
"Is there not a prophet of the Lord here
who we can inquire of?"

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat,
"There is still one man
through whom we can inquire of the Lord,
but I hate him
because he never prophesies anything good about me,
but always bad.
He is Micaiah son of Imlah.:

"The king should not say that,"
Jehoshaphat replied.
(I Kings 22:1-8)

NJHD 298, 299, 300, 310 - the Lord

NJHD 298, 299, 300, 310
The Divine was in the Lord from His very conception.
The Lord had the Divine from the Father.
--- (AC 4641, 4963, 5041, 5157, 6716, 10125)
The Lord alone had Divine seed.
--- (AC 1438)
--- His soul was Jehovah.
--- (AC 1999, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025)
Thus the inmost of the Lord was the Divine itself,
the covering was from the mother.
--- (AC 5041)

The Divine of the Lord is to be acknowledged.
Within the church where the Word is,
and where the Lord is thereby known,
the Divine of the Lord ought not to be denied,
 nor the holy proceeding from Him.
--- (AC 2359)
It is an essential of the church
to acknowledge the Divine of the Lord,
and His unition with the Father.
--- (AC 10083, 10112, 10370, 10730, 10738,
10816-10818, 10820)

The Lord glorified His Human in the world.
The Lord came into the world to glorify His Human.
--- (AC 3637, 4287, 9315)
The Lord glorified His Human by the Divine
which was in Him from conception.
--- (n. 4727)
The idea of the regeneration of a person
may give an idea of the glorification of the Lord's Human,
since the Lord regenerates a person
in the same manner as He glorified His Human.
--- (AC 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688)

The true acknowledgment
and true worship of the Lord
is to do His commandments . . ..
(AC 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829)

Elijah and Obadiah

After a long time, in the third year,
the word of the Lord came to Elijah:
"Go and present yourself to Ahab,
and I will send rain on the land."
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria,
and Ahab had summoned Obadiah,
who was in charge of his palace.
(Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord.
While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets,
Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets
and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each,
and had supplied them with food and water.)
Ahab had said to Obadiah,
"Go through the land to all the springs and valleys.
Maybe we can find some grass
to keep the horses and mules alive
so we will not have to kill any of our animals."
So they divided the land they were to cover,
Ahab going in one direction
and Obadiah in another.

As Obadiah was walking along,
Elijah met him.
Obadiah recognized him,
bowed down to the ground,
and said, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"

"Yes," he replied.
"Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"

"What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah,
"that you are handing your servant over to Ahab
to be put to death?
As surely as the Lord your God lives,
there is not a nation or kingdom
where my master has not sent someone to look for you.
And whenever a nation or kingdom
claimed you were not there,
he made them swear they could not find you.
But now you tell me to go to my master and say,
'Elijah is here.'
I don't know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you 
when I leave you.
If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you,
he will kill me.
Yet I your servant has worshiped the Lord since my youth.
Haven't you heard, my lord,
what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord?
I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves,
fifty in each,
and supplied them with food and water.
And now you tell me to go to my master and say,
'Elijah is here.'
He will kill me!"

Elijah said,
"As the Lord Almighty lives,
whom I serve,
I will surely present myself to Ahab today."
(I Kings 18:1-15)

NJHD 292, 295, 296 - the Lord

NJHD 292, 295, 296
Those who make the Human of the Lord
like the human of another person,
do not think of His conception from the Divine itself,
nor do they consider that the body of everyone
is an effigy of his soul.
Neither do they think of 
His resurrection with the whole body;
nor of His appearance when He was transformed,
that His face shone as the sun.
Neither do they think, 
respecting those things
which the Lord said concerning faith in Him,
concerning His unity with the Father,
concerning His glorification,
and concerning His power over heaven and earth,
that these are Divine,
and were said of His Human.
Neither do they remember
that the Lord is omnipresent also as to His Human (Matt. 23:20);
when yet the faith of His omnipresence in the Holy Supper
is derived from this - omnipresence is Divine.
Yea, perhaps they do not think that the Divine,
which is called the Holy Spirit,
proceeds from His Human;
when yet it proceeds from His glorified Human, for it is said:

The Holy Spirit was not yet,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.
(John 7:39)

When the Lord fully glorified His Human,
He then put off the human from the mother,
and put on the Human from the Father,
which is the Divine Human,
wherefore He was then no longer the son of Mary.

The first and primary principle of the church
is to know and acknowledge its God;
for without that knowledge and acknowledgment
there is no conjunction . . ..

Asa King of Israel

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 his life.

In his old age, however,
his feet became diseased.
Then Asa rested with his fathers
and was buried with them in the city of his father David.
(I Kings 15:9-14,23-24)

NJHD 267, 275, 276 - Providence

NJHD 267, 275, 276
The government of the Lord in the heavens and in the earths
is called Providence;
and . . . the Divine Providence of the Lord
is in each and all the things
which bring about the salvation of the human race.
This the Lord thus teaches in John:

I am the way, the truth, and the life.
(John 14:6)

It is to be known that there is providence,
and there is foresight;
good is what is provided by the Lord,
but evil is what is foreseen by the Lord.
The one must accompany the other,
for what comes from a person is nothing but evil,
but what comes from the Lord is nothing but good.

Man's own proper prudence
is like a small speck of dirt in the universe,
while the Divine providence
is respectively as the universe itself.
--- (AC 6485)

Solomon Turns To Other Gods

As Solomon grew old,
his wives turned his heart after other gods,
and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God,
as the heart of David his father had been.
He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord;
he did not follow the Lord completely,
as David his father had done.
(I Kings 11:4-5)

NJHD 249, 252-253 - the Sacred Scripture or the Word

NJHD 249, 252-253
Without a revelation from the Divine,
a person cannot know anything concerning eternal life,
nor even anything concerning God,
and still less concerning love to, and faith in Him;
fora person is born into mere ignorance,
and must therefore learn everything from worldly things,
from which he must form his understanding.
He is also born hereditarily into every evil
which is from the love of self and of the world;
the delights from these reign continually,
and suggest such things
as are diametrically contrary to the Divine.
Consequently a person knows nothing concerning eternal life;
and there must necessarily be a revelation
from which he may know.

. . . in the Word there is an internal sense,
which is spiritual, for the angels,
and an external sense, which is natural, for people.
So it is that the conjunction of heaven with a person
is effected through the Word.

No others understand the genuine sense of the Word
but they who are enlightened;
and only those are enlightened
who are in love to, and have faith in, the Lord;
for their interiors are elevated by the Lord
into the light of heaven.

A Portion of Solomon's Prayer

Hear the supplication of your servant
and of your people Israel
when they pray toward this place.
Hear from heaven,
Your dwelling place,
and when You hear, forgive.

. . . 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 8:30,33-34)

King Solomon was greater in riches and in wisdom
than all the other kings of the earth.
The whole world sought audience with Solomon
to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
(I Kings 8:23-24)

NJHD 242-243, 248 - the church

NJHD 242-243, 248
The church is said to be where the Lord is acknowledged
and where the Word is,
for the essentials of the church
are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord;
and the Word teaches how a person must live
that he may receive love and faith from the Lord.

That there may be a church,
there must be doctrine from the Word,
since without doctrine the Word is not understood.
Doctrine alone, however,
does not constitute the church with a person,
but a life according to it.
. . . the doctrine of charity and faith together
is the doctrine of life . . ..

"The seed of Abraham," of "Isaac," and of "Jacob,"
signifies the goods and truths of the church.
--- (AC 3373, 10445)

Solomon Builds

In the four hundred and eightieth year
after the Israelites had come out of Egypt,
in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel,
in the month of Ziv, the second month,
he began to build the temple of the Lord.

The foundation of the temple of the Lord
was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.
In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month,
the temple was finished in all its specifications.
He had spent seven years building it.

It took Solomon thirteen years, however,
to complete the construction of his palace.
(I Kings 6:1,37-38; I Kings 7:1)

NJHD 238 - the happiness of heaven

NJHD 238
. . . the happiness of heaven enters
so far as the loves of self and the world,
regarded as ends,
are removed;
and the happiness which succeeds on their removal
is so great
as to exceed all human comprehension.

During Solomon's Lifetime

During Solomon's lifetime
Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,
lived in safety,
each man under his own vine and fig tree.
(I Kings 4:25)

NJHD 223-225, 227 - the resurrection

NJHD 223-225, 227
A person is so created that as to his internal he cannot die;
for he can believe in and also love God,
and thus be conjoined to God by faith and love;
and to be conjoined to God is to live to eternity.

This internal is with every person who is born;
his external is that by which he brings into effect
the things which are of his faith and love.
The internal is called the spirit,
and the external is called the body.
The external, which is called the body,
is accommodated to the uses in the natural world,
this is rejected when a person dies;
but the internal, which is called the spirit,
is accommodated to the uses in the spiritual world,
this does not die.
This internal is then a good spirit and an angel,
if the person had been good in the world;
but an evil spirit if the person had been evil in the world.

This continuation of life is meant by the resurrection.

David Builds an Altar

On that day Gad went to David and said to him,
"Go up and build an altar to the Lord
on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
So David went up,
as the Lord had commanded through Gad.
When Araunah looked and saw
the king and his men coming toward him,
he went out and bowed down before the king
with his face to the ground.

Araunah siad,
"Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"

"To buy your threshing floor," David answered,
"so I can build an altar to the Lord,
that the plague on the people may be stopped."

Araunah said to David,
"Let my lord the king
take whatever pleases him and offer it up.
Here are oxen for the burnt offering,
and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.
O king, Araunah gives all this to the king."
Araunah also said to him,
"May the Lord your God accept you."

But the king replied to Araunah,
"No, I insist on paying you for it.
I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God
burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen
and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.
David built an altar to the Lord there
and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf of the land,
and the plague on Israel was stopped.
(II Samuel 24:18-25)

NJHD 210, 212, 213 - the Holy Supper

NJHD 210, 212, 213
The Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord,
that by it
there may be conjunction of the church with heaven,
thus with the Lord:
therefore it is the most holy thing of worship.

In the spiritual sense,
the Lord's "body" or "flesh," and the "bread,"
signifies the good of love;
and the Lord's "blood" and the "wine,"
the good of faith;
and "eating" is appropriation and conjunction.

. . . when a person partakes of the bread,
which is the body,
he is conjoined to the Lord
by the good of love to Him
from Him;
and when he partakes of the wine,
which is the blood,
he is conjoined to the Lord
by the good of faith in Him
from Him.
But it is to be known that the conjunction with the Lord
by the Sacrament of the Supper,
is effected with those alone
who are in the good of love and faith
in the Lord from the Lord.
With these there is conjunction by the Holy Supper;
with others there is presence,
but not conjunction.
 

David's Son of Praise (portions)

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.

"You are my lamp, O Lord,
the Lord turns my darkness into light.

"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 beside the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?"
(II Samuel 22:2-3, 29,31-32)

NJHD - 209 - baptism

NJHD 209
Baptism signifies regeneration by the Lord
through the truths of faith from the Word.
--- (AC 4255, 5120, 9088, 10239, 10386-10388, 10392)

Baptism is for a sign that a person is of the church,
where the Lord is acknowledged,
from Whom is regeneration,
and which has the Word,
from which are the truths of faith,
by which regeneration is effected.
--- (AC 10386-10388)

Baptism gives neither faith nor salvation,
but testifies that faith and salvation
 will be received by those who are regenerated.
--- (AC 10391)

After Absalom's Death

Joab was told,
"The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom."
And for the whole army
the victory that day was turned into mourning,
because on that day the troops heard it said,
"The king is grieving for his son."
The men stole into the city that day
as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.
The king covered his face and cried aloud,
"O my son Absalom!  O Absalom, my son, my son!"

Then Joab went into the house to the king and said,
"Today you have humiliated all your men,
who have just saved your life
and the lives of your sons and daughters
and the lives of your wives and concubines.
You love those who hate you
and hate those who love you.
You have made it clear today
that the commanders and their men
mean nothing to you.
I see that you would be pleased
if Absalom were alive today
and all of us were dead.
Now go out and encourage your men.
I swear by the Lord
that if you don't go out,
not a man will be left with you by nightfall.
This will be worse for you than all the calamities
that have come upon you from your youth till now."

So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway.
When the men were told,
"The king is sitting in the gateway,"
they all came before him.
(II Samuel 19:1-8)

NJHD 190, 196, 197, 198 - temptations

NJHD 190, 196, 197, 198
In temptations,
the dominion of good over evil,
or of evil over good,
is contended for.
Evil which wills to have dominion,
is in the natural or external person,
and good is in the spiritual or internal person.
If evil conquers, the natural man has dominion;
if good conquers, the spiritual has dominion.

It is called spiritual temptation
when the truths of faith 
which a person believes in his heart,
and according to which he loves to live,
are assaulted within him,
especially when the good of love,
in which he places his spiritual life,
is assaulted.
Those assaults take place in various ways;
as by influx of scandals against truths and goods
into the thoughts and the will;
also by a continual drawing forth,
and bringing to remembrance,
of the evils which one has committed,
and of the falsities which he has thought,
thus by inundation of such things;
and at the same time
by an apparent shutting up of the interiors of the mind,
and, consequently, of communication with heaven,
by which the capacity of thinking from his own faith,
and of willing from his own love, are intercepted.
These things are effected by the evil spirits
who are present with person;
and when they take place,
they appear under the form
of interior anxieties and pains of conscience;
for they affect and torment a person's spiritual life,
because he supposes that they proceed,
not from evil spirits,
but from his own interiors.
A person does not know
that such assaults are from evil spirits
because he does not know that spirits are present with him,
evil spirits in his evils,
and good spirits in his goods;
and that they are in his thoughts and affections.
These temptations are most grievous
when they are accompanied with bodily pains;
and still more so,
when those pains are of long continuance,
and no deliverance is granted,
even although the Divine mercy is implored;
which results in despair,
which is the end.

In a state of despair
a person speaks bitter things,
but the Lord does not attend to them.
--- (AC 8165)

When the temptation is finished,
there is at first a fluctuation
between truth and falsity.
--- (AC 848, 857)

But afterwards truth shines,
and becomes serene and joyful.
--- (AC 3696, 4572, 6829, 8367, 8370)

Then who are regenerated,
are first let into a state of tranquility,
then into temptations,
and afterwards return 
into a state of tranquility of peace,
which is the end.
--- (AC 3696)

Temptations take place
for the sake of the conjunction of good and truth,
and the dispersion of the falsities
which adhere to truths and goods.
--- (AC 4572)

By temptations
the loves of self and the world,
from which proceed all evils and falsities,
are broken.
--- (AC 5356)

The hells fight against a person,
and the Lord for him.
--- (AC 8159)

David Flees from Absalom

The king said to Ittai the Gittite,
"Why should you come along with us?
Go back and stay with King Absalom.
You are a foreigner,
an exile from your homeland.
You came only yesterday.
And today shall I make you wander about with us,
when I do not know where I am going?
Go back, and take your countrymen.
May kindness and faithfulness be with you."

But Ittai replied to the king,
"As surely as the Lord lives,
and as my lord the king lives,
wherever my lord the king may be,
whether it means life or death,
there will your servant be."

David said to Ittai,
"Go ahead, march on."
So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men
and the families that were with him.
(II Samuel 15:19-22)

NJHD 177 - regeneration

NJHD 177
No person can be regenerated
unless he knows such things as are of the new life,
that is, of spiritual life.
The things which are of the new life,
or which are of the spiritual life,
are truths which are to be believed
and goods which are to be done;
the former are of faith,
the latter of charity.
These things no one can know from himself,
for a person understands only those things
which are obvious to the senses,
from which he procures to himself a light
which is called natural light,
from which he sees nothing else
than what relates to the world and to self,
but not the things which relate to heaven and to God.
These he must learn from revelation.
As that the Lord, who is God from eternity,
came into the world to save the human race;
that He has all power in heaven and in earth;
that the all of faith and the all of charity,
thus all truth and good, is from Him;
that there is a heaven, and a hell;
and that person is to live to eternity,
in heaven if he has done well,
in hell if he has done evil.

War with the Ammonites

When the Ammonites realized
that they had become a stench in David's nostrils,
they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers
from Beth Rehob and Zobah,
as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men,
and also twelve thousand men from Tob.

On hearing this,
David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.
The Ammonites came out
and drew up in battle formation
at the entrance to their city gate,
while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob
and the men of Tob and Maacah
were by themselves in the open country.

Joab saw that there battle lines
in front of him and behind him;
so he selected some of the best troops in Israel
and deployed them against the Arameans.
He put the rest of the men under the command
of Abishai his brother
and deployed them against the Ammonites.
Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me,
then you are to come to my rescue;
but of the Ammonites are too strong for you,
then I will come to rescue you.
Be strong and let us fight bravely
for our people and the cities of our God.
The Lord will do what is good in His sight."

Then Joab and the troops with him
advanced to fight the Arameans,
and they fled before him.
When the Ammonites saw
that the Arameans were fleeing,
they fled before Abishai
and went inside the city.
So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites
and came to Jerusalem.
(II Samuel 10:6-14)

NJHD 159-161, 164-165, 167 - repentance and the remission of sins

NJHD 159-161, 164-165, 167
He who would be saved must confess his sins,
and do the work of repentance.

To confess sins,
is to know evils,
to see them in one's self,
to acknowledge them,
to make himself guilty,
and to condemn himself on account of them.
When this is done before God,
it is the confession of sins.

To do the work of repentance,
is to desist from sins after he has thus confessed them,
and from a humble heart
has made supplication for remission,
and to live a new life
according to the precepts of charity and faith.

He who lives the life of charity and faith
does the work of repentance daily;
he reflects upon the evils which are with him,
he acknowledges them,
he guards against them,
he supplicates the Lord for help.
For a person of himself continually lapses,
but he is continually raised by the Lord,
and led to good. 
Such is the state of those who are in good. 
 
The person who explores himself
that he may do the work of repentance,
must explore his thoughts and the intentions of his will,
and must there explore what he would do
if it were permitted him, that is,
if he were not afraid of the laws,
and of the loss of reputation, honor, and gain.
There the evils of man reside,
and the evils which he does in the body
are all from there.
They who do not explore the evils of their thought and will,
cannot do the work of repentance,
for they think and will afterwards as they did before,
and yet to will evils 
is to do them.
This is to explore one's self.

Repentance of the mouth
and not of the life
is not repentance.
Sins are not remitted by repentance of the mouth,
but by repentance of the life.
Sins are continually remitted to a person by the Lord,
for He is mercy itself, 
but sins adhere to a person,
however he may suppose that they are remitted;
nor are they removed from him
but by a life according to the precepts of true faith.
So far as he lives according to them,
so far sins are removed;
and so far as they are removed,
so far they are remitted.

The signs that sins are remitted, that is, removed,
are these which follow.
Those whose sins are remitted,
perceive a delight in worshiping God for the sake of God,
and in serving their neighbor for the sake of their neighbor,
thus in doing good for the sake of good,
and in speaking truth for the sake of truth;
they are unwilling to claim merit
by anything of charity and faith;
they shun and are averse to evils,
as enmities, hatreds, revenges, adulteries,
and the very thoughts of such things 
with intention.
But the signs that sins are not remitted,
that is, removed, are these which follow.
Those whose sins are not remitted,
worship God not for the sake of God,
and serve the neighbor not for the sake of the neighbor,
thus they do not do good and speak truth
for the sake of good and truth,
but for the sake of themselves and the world;
they wish to claim merit by their deeds;
they perceive nothing undelightful in evils,
as in enmity, in hatred, in revenge, in adulteries;
and they think of them and concerning them 
in all license.
 

David Becomes King Over Israel

When all the elders of Israel
had come to King David at Hebron,
the king made a compact with them
at Hebron before the Lord,
and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he became king,
and he reigned forty years.
In Hebron he reigned 
over Judah seven years and six months,
and in Jerusalem he reigned
over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
(II Samuel 5:3-4)

After the king was settled in his palace
and the Lord had given him rest
from all his enemies around him,
he said to Nathan the prophet,
"Here I am, living in a palace of cedar,
while the ark of God remains in a tent."

Nathan replied to the king,
"Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it,
for the Lord is with you."
That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

"Go and tell my servant David,
'This is that the Lord says:
Are you the one to build Me a house to dwell in?
I have not dwelt in a house from the day
I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day.
I have been moving from place to place
with a tent as My dwelling.
Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites,
did I ever say to any of their rulers
whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel,
"Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?"'
(II Samuel 7:1-7)

NJHD 150, 151,158 - merit

NJHD 150, 151,158
Those who do good that they may merit,
do not do good from the love of good,
but from the love of reward,
for he who wills to merit,
wills to be rewarded;
they who do so,
regard and place their delight in the reward,
and not in good;
wherefore they are not spiritual, but natural.

To do good, which is good,
must be from the love of good,
thus for the sake of good.
They who are in that love
are not willing to hear of merit,
for they love to do, and perceive satisfaction therein,
and, on the other hand,
they are sorrowful if it be believed
that what they do is for the sake of anything of themselves.

Merit and justice belong to the Lord alone.
--- (AC 9715, 9979)

The merit and justice of the Lord
consist in His having saved the human race
by His own power.
--- (AC 1813,2025, 2026, 2027, 9715, 9809, 10019)

Those who place merit it works,
fall in temptations.
--- (AC 2273, 9978)
 

David Anointed King Over Judah

Then the men of Judah came to Hebron
and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When David was told that it was the men of Jabesh Gilead
who had buried Saul,
he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead
to say to them, "The Lord bless you
for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him.
May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness,
and I too will show you the same favor
because you have done this.
Now then, be strong and brave,
for Saul your master is dead,
and the house of Judah has anointed me King over them."
(II Samuel 2:4-7)

NJHD 142 - freedom

NJHD 142
To do evil from freedom,
appears as freedom,
but it is slavery,
because that freedom is from the love of self
and from the love of the world,
and these loves are from hell.
Such freedom is actually turned into slavery after death,
for the person who has been in such freedom
then becomes a vile servant in hell.

But to do good from freedom is freedom itself,
because it is from love to the Lord
and from love towards the neighbor,
and these loves are from heaven.
This freedom also remains after death,
and then becomes freedom indeed,
for the person who has been in such freedom,
becomes in heaven like a son of the house.
This the Lord teaches:

Everyone that does sin is the servant of sin;
the servant abides not in the house forever:
the son abides forever;
if the Son shall have made you free,
you shall be truly free.
(John 8:34-36)

Now, because all good is from the Lord,
and all evil from hell,
it follows that freedom consists in being led by the Lord,
and slavery is being led by hell.
 

After Saul's Death

When the Israelites along the valley
and those across the Jordan
saw that the Israelite army had fled
and that Saul and his sons had died,
they abandoned their towns and fled.
And the Philistines came and occupied them.

The next day,
when the Philistines came to strip the dead,
they found Saul and this three sons
fallen on Mount Gilboa.
They cut off his head and stripped off his armor,
and they sent messengers
throughout the land of the Philistines
to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols
and among their people.
They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths
and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of
what the Philistines had done to Saul,
all their valiant men
journeyed through the night to Beth Shan.
They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons
from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh,
where they burned them.
Then they took their bones
and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh,
and they fasted seven days.
(I Samuel 31:7-13)

NJHD 130, 131, 133 - conscience

NJHD 130, 131, 133
Conscience is formed with a person
from the religious principle in which he is,
according to its reception inwardly in himself.

Conscience, with the person of the church,
is formed by the truths of faith from the Word,
or from doctrine out of the Word,
according to their reception in the heart;
for when a person knows the truths of faith,
and comprehends them in his own manner,
and then wills them and does them,
he then acquires conscience.
Reception in the heart
is reception in the will,
for the will of a person 
is what is called the heart.
So it is that they who have conscience,
speak from the heart the things which they speak,
and do from the heart the things which they do.
They have also an undivided mind,
for they act according to that which they understand
and believe to be true and good.

In a true conscience is person's spiritual life itself,
for there his faith is conjoined to charity.
On which account
to act from conscience is to them
to act from their spiritual life;
and to act against conscience is to them
to act contrary to that life of theirs.
So it is that they are in the tranquility of peace,
and in internal happiness,
when they act according to conscience,
and in intranquility and pain,
when they act against it.
This pain is what is called remorse of conscience.

Evildoers

As the old saying goes,
'From evildoers come evil deeds' . . .
(I Samuel 24:13)

NJHD 124, 129 - piety, worship, humiliation of heart

NJHD 124, 129
Piety consists in thinking and speaking piously,
in devoting much time to prayers,
in behaving humbly at that time,
in frequenting temples
and listening devoutly to the preaching there,
in frequently every year receiving the Sacrament of the Supper,
and in performing the other parts of worship
according to the ordinances of the church.

But the life of charity consists in willing well
and doing well to the neighbor,
in acting in every work from justice and equity,
from good and truth,
and in like manner in every office;
in a word, the life of charity consists in performing uses.
. . . he who separates one from the other,
that is, who lives the life of piety,
and not at the same time the life of charity,
does not worship God.

Worship itself consists in a life
according to the precepts of the church from the Word.
--- (AC 7884, 9921, 10143, 10153, 10196, 10645)
Humiliation of heart with a person
exists from an acknowledgment of himself,
which is, that he is nothing but evil,
and that he can do nothing from himself;
and from a consequent acknowledgment of the Lord,
which is, that nothing but good is from the Lord,
and that the Lord can do all things.
--- (AC. 2327, 3994, 7478)
The Divine cannot flow in except into a humble heart,
since so far as a person is in humiliation,
so far he is absent from his proprium,
and thus from the love of self.
--- (AC 3994, 4347, 5957)
. . . the Lord does not desire humiliation for His own sake,
but for a person's sake,
that a person may be in a state for receiving the Divine.
--- (AC 4347, 5957).
Worship is not worship without humiliation.
--- (AC 2327, 2423, 8873)

Saul Is Angry

But the next day, the second day of the month,
David's place was empty again.
Then Saul said to his son Jonathan,
"Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal,
either yesterday or today?"

Jonathan answered,
"David earnestly asked me
for permission to go to Bethlehem.
He said, 'Let me go,
because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town
and my brother has ordered me to be there.
If I have found favor in your eyes,
let me get away to see my brothers.'
That is why he has not come to the King's table."

Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him,
"You son of a perverse and rebellious woman!
Don't I know that you have sided
with the son of Jesse
to your own shame
and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth,
neither you nor your kingdom will be established.
Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!"

"Why should he be put to death?
What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father.
But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him.
Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
(I Samuel 20:27-33)

NJHD 114, 121 - it takes both

NJHD 114, 121
An idea concerning the good which is of charity,
and concerning the truth which is of faith,
may be formed from the light and heat of the sun.
When the light which proceeds from the sun is conjoined to heat,
as is the case in the time of spring and summer,
then all things of the earth germinate and flourish;
but when there is no heat in the light,
as in the time of winter,
then all things of the earth become torpid and die;
also spiritual light is the truth of faith,
and spiritual heat is love.
From these things an idea may be formed
concerning the person of the church,
what his quality is when faith with him is conjoined to charity,
namely, that he is like a garden and paradise;
and what his quality is
when faith with him is not conjoined to charity,
that he is like a desert and earth covered with snow.

The Lord inseminates and implants truth 
in the good of charity
when He regenerates a person.
--- (AC 2063, 2189, 3310)

There is not salvation by faith,
but by a life according to the truths of faith,
which life is charity.
--- (AC 379, 389, 2228, 4663, 4721)

Saul, Samuel, David

But Samuel replied:
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He has rejected you as king."

Then Samuel left for Ramah,
but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.
Until the day Samuel died,
he did not go to see Saul again,
though Samuel mourned for him.
And he Lord was grieved
that He had made Saul king over Israel.

But the Lord said to Samuel,
"Do not consider his appearance or his height,
for I have rejected him.
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart."

Then the Lord said,
"Rise and anoint him; he is the one."

So Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the presence of his brothers,
and from that day on
the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.
Samuel then went to Ramah.
(I Samuel 15:22,34; 16:7,12-13)

NJHD 85, 86, 106 - loving the neighbor or charity

NJHD 85, 86, 106
It is a common opinion at this day,
that every person is equally the neighbor,
and that benefits are to be conferred on everyone
who needs assistance;
but it is in the interest of Christian prudence
to examine well the quality of a person's life,
and to exercise charity to him accordingly.

The distinctions of neighbor,
which the person of the church ought altogether to know,
are according to the good which is with everyone;
and because all good proceeds from the Lord,
therefore the Lord is the neighbor 
in the highest sense and in a supereminent degree,
and the origin is from Him.
So it follows that so far as anyone has the Lord with himself,
so far he is the neighbor;
and because no one receives the Lord,
that is, good from Him,
in the same manner as another,
therefore no one is the neighbor
in the same manner as another.
For all who are in the heavens,
and all the good who are on the earths,
differ in good; no two ever received a good
that is altogether one and the same;
it must be various, that each may subsist by itself.
But all these varieties,
thus all the distinctions of the neighbor,
which are according to the reception of the Lord,
that is, according to the reception of good from Him,
can never be known by any person,
nor indeed by any angel,
except in general . . .
neither does the Lord require
any more of the person of the church,
than to live according to what he knows.

The life of charity
is a life according to the commandments of the Lord;
and to live according to Divine truths
is to love the Lord.
--- (AC 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645)

Israel Without Weapons

Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel,
because the Philistines had said,
"Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!"
So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have
their plowshares, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened.
The price was two thirds of a shekel
for sharpening plowshares and mattocks,
and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes
and for repointing goads.

So on the day of the battle
not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan
had a sword or spear in his hand;
only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.
(I Samuel 13:19-22)

NJHD 66-67, 81 - the love of self

NJHD 66-67, 81
A person is in the love of self,
when, in those things which he thinks and does,
he has no regard for the neighbor,
nor for the public,
much less for the Lord,
but only for himself and his own;
consequently when everything which he does
is for the sake of himself and his own, and when, 
if he does anything for the public and his neighbor
it is only for the sake of appearance.

It is said for the sake of himself and his own,
because he who loves himself also loves his own,
who are, in particular, his children and relations,
and in general, all who make one with him,
and whom he calls his own.
To love these is also to love himself,
for he regards them as it were in himself,
and himself in them.
Among those whom he calls his own,
are also all those who praise, honor,
and pay their court to him.

Those who are in the loves of self and the world
are not bound by internal, but by external restraints;
and on their removal, they rush into wickedness.
--- (AC 10744, 10746)

All in the spiritual world
turn themselves according to their loves;
they who are in love to the Lord
and in love towards the neighbor,
to the Lord;
but those who are in the love of self
and in the love of the world,
turn their backs on the Lord.
--- (AC 10130, 10189, 10420, 10742)

Israel Asks for a King

When Samuel grew old,
he appointed his sons as judges for Israel.
The name of his first-born was Joel
and the name of his second was Abijah,
and they served in Beersheba.
But his sons did not walk in his ways.
They turned aside after dishonest gain
and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together
and came to Samuel at Ramah.
They said to him, "You are old,
and your sons do not walk in your ways;
now appoint a king to lead us,
such as all other nations have."

But when they said,
"Give us a king to lead us,"
this displeased Samuel;
so he prayed to the Lord.
And the Lord told him:
"Listen to all that the people are saying to you;
it is not you they have rejected,
but they have rejected Me as their King.
As they have done from the day
I brought them up out of Egypt until this day,
forsaking Me and serving other gods,
so they are doing to you.
Now listen to them;
but warn them solemnly and let them know
what the king who will reign over them will do."
(I Samuel 8:1-9)

NJHD 56 - a river

NJHD 56
A person has for an end
that which he loves above all things;
he regards it in each and all things.
It is in his will like the latent current of a river,
which draws and bears him away,
even when he is doing something else;
for it is this which animates him.
It is such that
one person explores and also sees it in another,
and either leads him according to it,
or acts with him.
 

Samuel Grows

But Samuel was ministering before the Lord -
a boy wearing a linen ephod.
Each year his mother made him a little robe
and took it to him
when she went up with her husband
to offer the annual sacrifice.
Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying,
"May the Lord give you children by this woman
to take the place of the one
she prayed for and gave to the Lord."
Then they would go home.
And the Lord was gracious to Hannah;
she conceived and gave birth
to three sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel
grew up in the presence of the Lord.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up,
and He let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized
that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.
The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh,
and there He revealed himself to Samuel
through His word.

And Samuel's word came to all Israel.
(I Samuel 2:18-21; 3:19-4:1)

NJHD 50 - the sensual

NJHD 50
Sensual people reason sharply and shrewdly,
because their thought is so near their speech
as to be almost in it,
and because they place all intelligence in discourse
from the memory alone.
--- (AC 195, 196, 5700, 10236)
But they reason from the fallacies of the senses,
with which the common people are captivated.
--- (AC 5084, 6948, 6949, 7693)
Sensual people are more crafty and malicious than others.
--- (AC 7693, 10236)
The avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous,
and the deceitful especially are sensual.
--- (AC 6310)
Their interiors are foul and filthy.
--- (AC 6201)
By means thereof they communicate with the hells.
--- (AC 6311)
They who are in the hells are sensual
in proportion to their depth.
--- (AC 4623, 6311)
The sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself
with a person's sensual from behind.
--- (AC 6312)
They who reasoned from the sensual,
and thereby against the truths of faith,
were called by the ancients
serpents of the tree of knowledge.
--- (AC 195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313)

The Benjamites

The people grieved for Benjamin,
because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
And the elders of the assembly said,
"With the women of Benjamin destroyed,
how shall we provide wives for the men who are left?
The Benjamite survivors must have heirs," they said,
"so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.
We can't give them our daughters as wives,
since we Israelites have taken this oath:
'Cursed by anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.'
But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh,
to the north of Bethel,
and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem,
and to the south of Lebonah.

So they instructed the Benjamites, saying,
"Go and hide in the vineyards and watch.
When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing,
then rush from the vineyards
and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh
and go to the land of Benjamin.
When their fathers or brothers complain to us,
we will say to them,
'Do us a kindness by helping them,
because we did not get wives for them during the war,
and you are innocent,
since you did not give your daughters to them.'"

So that is what the Benjamites did.
While the girls were dancing,
each man caught one
and carried her off to be his wife.
Then they returned to their inheritance
and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

At that time the Israelites left that place
and went home to their tribes and clans,
each to his own inheritance.

In those days Israel had no king;
everyone did as he saw fit.
(Judges 21:15-25)

NJHD 43 - it is so provided and ordered by the Lord

NJHD 43
It is so provided and ordered by the Lord,
that so far as a person thinks and wills from heaven,
so far the internal spiritual person is opened and formed.
It is opened into heaven even to the Lord,
and the formation is according to those things
which are of heaven.
But, on the contrary,
so far as a person does not think and will from heaven,
but from the world,
so far the internal spiritual person is closed,
and the external is opened.

Laish

Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest,
and went on to Laish,
against a peaceful and unsuspecting people.
They attacked them with the sword
and burned down their city.
There was no one to rescue them
because they lived a long way from Sidon
and had no relationship with anyone else.
The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob.

The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there.
They named it Dan
after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel -
though the city used to be called Laish.
There the Danites set up for themselves the idols,
and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses,
and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan
until the time of the captivity of the land.
They continued to use the Idols Micah had made,
all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

In those days, Israel had no king.
(Joshua 18:27-31; 19:1)

NJHD - all things

NJHD 29
As all things in the universe,
which are according to Divine order,
have relation to good and truth,
so all things with a person
have relation to the will and the understanding;
for good with a person is of his will,
and truth with him is of his understanding;
for these two faculties, or these two lives of a person,
are their receptacles and subjects.
The will is the receptacle and subject
of all things of good,
and the understanding the receptacle and subject
of all things of truth.
Goods and truths with a person are nowhere else;
and because goods and truths with a person are nowhere else,
so neither are love and faith elsewhere;
for love is of good,
and good is of love;
and faith is of truth,
and truth is of faith.
 

The Coming Birth of Samson

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord:
"O Lord, I beg you,
let the man of God you sent to us
come again to teach us how to bring up the boy
who is to be born."

God heard Manoah,
and the angel of God came again to the woman
while she was out in the field;
but her husband Manoah was not with her.
The woman hurried to tell her husband,
"He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"

Manoah got up and followed his wife.
When he came to the man, he said,
"Are you the one who talked to my wife?"

"I am," he said.

So Manoah asked him,
"When your words are fulfilled,
what is to be the the rule for the boy's life and work?"

The angel of the Lord answered,
"Your wife must do all that I have told her.
She must not eat anything
that comes from the grapevine,
nor drink any wine or other fermented drink
nor eat anything unclean.
She must do everything I have commanded her."

Manoah said to the angel of the Lord,
"We would like you to stay until
we prepare a young goat for you."

The angel of the Lord replied,
"Even though you detain me,
I will not eat any of your food.
But if you prepare a burnt offering,
offer it to the Lord."
(Manoah did not realize
that it was the angel of the Lord.)

Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord,
"What is your name,
so that we many honor you
when your word comes true?"

He replied,
"Why do you ask my name?
It is wonderful*."
(Judges 13:8-18)

[*NIV translates 'wonderful' as 'beyond understanding']

NJHD 24 - a summary

NJHD 24
Of those who are in truths from good,
consequently of truths from good.

 A summary:
Faith is by truths.
--- (AC 4353, 4997, 7178, 10367)
Charity towards the neighbor is by truths.
--- (AC 4368, 7623, 7624, 8034)
Love to the Lord is by truths.
--- (AC 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645)
Conscience is by truths.
--- (AC 1077, 2053, 9113)
Innocence is by truths.
--- (AC 3183, 3494, 6013)
Purification from evils is by truths.
--- (AC 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088, 10229, 10237)
Regeneration is by truths.
--- (AC 1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10028)
Intelligence and wisdom are by truths.
--- (AC 3182, 3190, 3387, 10064)
The beauty of angels, and also of men,
as to the interiors which are their spirits, is by truths.
--- (AC 553, 3080, 4985, 5199)
Power against evils and falsities is by truths.
--- (AC 3091, 4015, 10488)
Order, such as it is in heaven, is by truths.
--- (AC 3316, 3417, 3570, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10303)
The church is by truths.
--- (AC 1798, 1799, 3963, 4468, 4672).
Heaven is with man by truths.
--- (AC 3690, 9832, 9931, 10303)
Man becomes man by truths.
--- (AC 3175, 3387, 8370, 10298)
Nevertheless all these things are by truths from good,
and not by truths without good;
and good is from the Lord.
--- (AC 2434, 4070, 4736, 5147)
All good is from the Lord.
--- (AC 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 9981)

Gideon's Death

No sooner had Gideon died
than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals.
They set up Baal-Berith as their god
and did not remember the Lord their God,
who had rescued them
from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
They also failed to show kindness
to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon)
for all the good things he had done for them.
(Judges 8:33-35)

NJHD - wisdom

NJHD 9
For they who are in the good of love and charity,
as to the internal person,
are in heaven,
and as to that
are in an angelic society which is in similar good.
From which,
they enjoy an elevation of mind towards interior things,
and, consequently, they are in wisdom;
for wisdom can come from no other source than from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord;
and in heaven there is wisdom,
because there they are in good.
Wisdom consists in seeing truth from the light of truth;
and the light of truth is the light which is in heaven.

"For the Lord and for Gideon."

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.
During that night the Lord said to Gideon,
"Get up, go down against the camp,
because I am going to give it into your hands.
If you are afraid to attack,
go down to the camp with your servant Purah
and listen to what they are saying.
Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp."
So he and Purah his servant
went down to the outposts of the camp.
The Midianites, the Amalekites
and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley,
thick as locusts.
Their camels could no more be counted
than the sand on the seashore.

Gideon arrived
just as a man was telling a friend his dream.
"I had a dream," he was saying.
"A round loaf of barley bread
came tumbling into the Midianite camp.
It struck the tent with such force
that the tent overturned and collapsed."

His friend responded,
"This can be nothing other
than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite.
God has given the Midianites and the whole camp 
into his hands."

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation,
he worshiped God.
He returned to the camp of Israel and called out,
"Get up! 
The Lord has given the Midiante camp into your hands."
Dividing the three hundred men into three companies,
he placed trumpets and empty jars
in the hands of all of them,
with torches inside.

"Watch me," he told them.
"Follow my lead.  
When I get to the edge of the camp,
do exactly as I do.
When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets,
then from all around the camp blow yours and shout,
'For the Lord and for Gideon.'"
(Judges 7:8-18)

LJ 65, 66 - "the first heaven"

LJ 65, 66
It is said in the Apocalypse:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth;
the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
(Revelation 21:1)

. . . "the first heaven" is not meant the heaven formed
of those who have become angels
from the first creation of this world to the present time,
for that heaven is abiding, and endures to eternity;
for all who enter heaven are under the Lord's protection,
and he who has once been received by the Lord,
can never be plucked away from Him.
But by "the first heaven" is meant . . . for the most part 
of those who could not become angels.
. . . This is the heaven, of which it is said, that it "passed away."
It was called heaven,
because they who were in it dwelt on high,
forming societies upon rocks and mountains,
and living in delights similar to natural ones,
but still not in any that were spiritual;
for very many who come from the earth into the spiritual world,
believe themselves to be in heaven,
when they are on high, and in heavenly joy,
when they are in delights
such as they had in the world.

Othniel

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord;
they forgot the Lord their God
and served the Baals and Asherahs.
The anger of the Lord burned against Israel
so that He sold them into the hands
of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,
to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.
But when they cried out to the Lord,
He raised up for them a deliverer,
Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother,
who saved them.
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him,
so that he became Israel's judge and went to war.
The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram
into the hands of Othniel,
who overpowered him.
So the land had peace for forty years,
until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
(Judges 3:7-11)

LJ 59 - prophets and false prophets

LJ 59

False prophets, who come in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravening wolves.
(Matthew 7:15)

By "prophets," in the internal sense of the Word,
are meant those who teach truth,
and by it lead to good;
and by "false prophets,"
those who teach falsity,
and seduce by it.

Buried in the Promised Land

After these things,
Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord,
died at the age of a hundred and ten.
And they buried him in the land of his inheritance,
at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim,
north of Mount Gaash.

Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua
and of the elders who outlived him
and who had experienced everything
the Lord had done for Israel.

And Joseph's bones,
which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt,
were buried at Shechem
in the tract of land that Jacob bought
for a hundred pieces of silver
from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.

And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah,
which had been allotted to his son Phinehas
in the hill country of Ephraim.
(Joshua 24:29-33)

LJ 54, 55 - Babylon

LJ 54, 55
By Babylon are meant all who wish to have dominion by religion.
. . . It should be known that the church becomes Babylonia,
when charity and faith cease,
and the love of self begins to rule in their place;
for this love
in proportion as it is unchecked,
rushes on, aiming to dominate
not merely over all whom it can subject to itself on earth,
but even over heaven;
nor does it rest there,
but it climbs the very throne of God,
and transfers to itself His Divine power.
. . . it did this, even before the Lord's coming . . ..
. . . that Babylonia was destroyed by the Lord
when He was in the world . . ..

But Babylon treated of in the Apocalypse,
is the Babylon of this day,
which arose after the Lord's coming,
and is known to be with the Papists.
This Babylon is more pernicious and more heinous
than that which existed before the Lord's coming,
because it profanes
the interior goods and truths of the church,
which the Lord revealed to the world,
when He revealed Himself.
How pernicious, how inwardly heinous it is:
may appear from the following summary.
-- They acknowledge and adore the Lord
apart from all power of saving:
-- they entirely separate His Divine from His Human,
and transfer to themselves His Divine power,
which belonged to His Human;
-- for they remit sins; they send to heaven; they cast into hell;
-- they save whom they will; they sell salvation . . ..
-- They not only adulterate and falsify the Word,
but even take it away from the people,
lest they should enter into the smallest light of truth;
and not satisfied with this, they moreover annihilate it,
acknowledging the Divine in the decrees of Rome,
superior to the Divine in the Word;
so that they exclude all from the way to heaven;
for the acknowledgment of the Lord,
faith in Him, and love to Him,
are the way to heaven;
and the Word is what teaches the way:
so it is, that without the Lord,
by means of the Word,
there is no salvation.
. . . From this summary it may appear
that they have no church there, but Babylon;
for the church is where the Lord Himself is worshiped,
and where the Word is read.

Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh

The people of Joseph said to Joshua,
"Why have you given us only one allotment
and one portion for an inheritance?
We are a numerous people
and the Lord has blessed abundantly."

"If you are so numerous," Joshua answered,
"and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you,
go up into the forest
and clear land for yourselves there
in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites."

The people of Joseph replied,
"The hill country is not enough for us,
and all the Canaanites who live in the plain
have iron chariots,
both those in Beth Shan and its settlements
and those in the Valley of Jezreel."

But Joshua said to the house of Joseph -
to Ephraim and Manasseh -
"You are numerous and very powerful.
You will have not only one allotment
but the forested hill country as well.
Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours;
though the Canaanites have iron chariots
and though they are strong,
you can drive them out."
(Joshua 17:14-18)

LJ 48 - walking

LJ 48
. . . the ways in which every one walks in the spiritual world
are actual determinations of the thoughts of the mind;
from this it is, that "ways," "walking," and the like,-
in the spiritual sense of the Word,
signify the determinations and progressions of spiritual life.
 

31 Kings

These are the kings of the land
that Joshua and the Israelites conquered
on the west side of the Jordan,
from Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon
to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir
(Their lands Joshua gave as an inheritance
to the tribes of Israel according to their tribal divisions -
the hill country, the western foothills, the Arabah,
the mountain slopes, the desert and the Negev -
the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites):

the king of Jericho - one
the king of Ai (near Bethel) - one
the king of Jerusalem - one
the King of Hebron - one
the king of Jarmuth - one
the king of Lachish - one
the king of Eglon - one
the king of Gezer - one
the king of Debir - one
the king of Geder - one
the king of Hormah - one
the king of Arad - one
the king of Libnah - one
the king of Adullam - one
the king of Makkedah - one
the king of Bethel - one
the king of Tappuah - one
the king of Hepher - one
the king of Aphek - one
the king of Lasharon - one
the king of Madon - one
the king of Hazor - one
the king of Shimron Meron - one
the king of Acshaph - one
the king of Taanach - one
the king of Megiddo - one
the king of Kedesh - one
the king of Jokneam in Carmel - one
the king of Dor (in Naphoth Dor) - one
the king of Goyim in Gilgal - one
the king of Tirzah - one
thirty one kings in all.

LJ 36 - faith

LJ 36
It is supposed that faith exists,
so long as the doctrinals of the church are believed;
or that they who believe, have faith;
and yet mere believing is not faith,
but willing and doing what is believed,
is faith.
When the doctrinals of the church are merely believed,
they are not in a person's life,
but only in his memory,
and from there
in the thought of his external person;
nor do they enter into his life,
before they enter into his will,
and from there into his actions . . ..

. . . when a person not only believes
the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word,
but wills them,
and does them;
then he has faith;
for faith is the affection of truth from willing truth
because it is truth.

. . .These things are said, in order that it may be known,
that faith is not only to believe,
but to will and do,
therefore there is no faith if there is no charity.
Charity or love is to will and to do.
 

The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal

Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal
an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,
as Moses the servant of the Lord
had commanded the Israelites.
He built it according to what is written
in the Book of the Law of Moses -
an altar of uncut stones,
on which no iron tool had been used.
On it they offered to the Lord
burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings.
There, in the presence of the Israelites,
Joshua copied on stones
the law of Moses, which he had written.
All Israel, aliens and citizens alike,
with their elders, officials and judges,
were standing on both sides
of the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
facing those who carried it -
the priests, who were Levites.
Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim
and half of them in front of Mount Ebal,
as Moses the servant of the Lord
had formerly commanded
when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law -
the blessings and the curses -
just as it is written in the Book of the Law.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded
that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel,
including the women and children,
and the aliens who lived among them.
(Joshua 8:30-35)

LJ - the clouds of heaven

LJ 28
Concerning the Last Judgment,
it is believed that the Lord
will then appear in the clouds of heaven
with the angels in glory,
and awaken from the sepulchers
all who have ever lived since the beginning of creation,
clothing their souls with their bodies;
and thus summoned together
He will judge them,
those who have done well, to eternal life or heaven,
those who have done ill, to eternal death or hell.
The churches derive this belief
from the sense of the letter of the Word,
nor could it be removed,
so long as men did not know
that there is a spiritual sense within each thing
which is said in the Word,
and that this sense is the Word itself,
. . . and that without such a letter,
the Word could not have been Divine,
or have served in heaven, as in the world,
for the doctrine of life and faith,
and for conjunction.
He therefore who knows the spiritual things
corresponding to the natural things in the Word,
can know that by
"the Lord's coming in the clouds of heaven,"
is not meant such an appearance of Him,
but His appearance in the Word;
for "the Lord" is the Word,
because He is the Divine truth;
"the clouds of heaven" in which He is to come,
are the sense of the letter of the Word,
and "the glory" is its spiritual sense;
"the angels" are the heaven from which He will appear,
and they also are the Lord as to Divine truths.
Hence the meaning of these words is now evident,
namely, that when the end of the church is,
the Lord will open the spiritual sense of the Word,
and thus the Divine truth, such as it is in itself;
therefore that this is the sign
that the Last Judgment is at hand.

Crossing the Jordan

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant
went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
Yet as soon as the priests
who carried the ark reached the Jordan
and their feet touched the water's edge,
the water from upstream stopped flowing.
It piled up in a heap a great distance away,
at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan,
while the water flowing down
to the Sea of Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off.
So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord
stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel passed by until the whole nation
had completed the crossing on dry ground.
(Joshua 3:14-17)

LJ 15 - when our focus is on the world

LJ 15
Then for the first time
they saw the cause of this blindness and ignorance,
which is, that external things,
which are worldly and corporeal,
had occupied and filled their minds to such an extent,
that they could not be elevated into the light of heaven
and behold the things of the church,
which are beyond its doctrinals.
For mere darkness inflows from corporeal and worldly things,
when they are so much loved
as they are at the present day . . ..

The Death of Moses

And Moses the servant of the Lord
died there in Moab, as the Lord had said.
He buried him in Moab,
in the valley opposite Beth Peor,
but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died,
yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.
The Israelites grieved for Moses
in the plains of Moab thirty days,
until the time of weeping mourning was over.

Now Joshua son of Nun
was filled with the spirit of wisdom
because Moses had laid his hands on him.
So the Israelites listened to him
and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.
(Deuteronomy 34:5-9)

LJ 10 - if the Lord had not come into the world

LJ 10
. . . the human race on this earth would have perished,
so that not one person would have existed on it at this day,
if the Lord had not come into the world,
and on this earth assumed the Human, and made it Divine;
and also, unless the Lord had given here such a Word
as might serve for a basis to the angelic heaven,
and for its conjunction.

The Song the Lord Gave Moses

"Now write down for yourselves this song
and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it,
so that it may be a witness for Me against them.
When I have brought them
into the land flowing with milk and honey,
the land I promised on oath to their forefathers,
and when they eat their fill and thrive,
they will turn to other gods and worship them,
rejecting me and breaking my covenant.
And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them,
this song will testify against them,
because it will not be forgotten by their descendants.
I know what they are disposed to do,
even before I bring them into the land
I promised them on oath."
So Moses wrote down this song that day
and taught it to the Israelites.
(Deuteronomy 31:19-22)

WH 11 - The Divine Marriage; The Word

WH 11
The Divine marriage
is the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth,
thus it is the Lord in heaven,
in whom alone there is that marriage.
Jesus also signifies the Divine good,
and Christ the Divine truth,
thus both signify the Divine marriage in heaven.

The Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord,
and of charity towards the neighbor.

Terms of the Covenant

These are the terms of the covenant
the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab,
in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:
Your eyes have seen all the the Lord did in Egypt
to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.
With your own eyes you saw those great trials,
those miraculous signs and great wonders.
But to this day the Lord has not given you
a mind that understands
or eyes that see
or ears that hear.
During the forty years that I led you through the desert,
your clothes did not wear out,
nor did the sandals on your feet.
You ate no bread
and drank no wine or other fermented drink.
I did this so that you might know
that I am the Lord your God.
(Deuteronomy 29:1-6)

WH 6, 10 - the Word & It's internal sense

WH 6
From the light of nature
nothing is known concerning the Lord,
concerning heaven and hell,
concerning the life of a person after death,
nor concerning the Divine truths
by which a person acquires spiritual and eternal life.

WH 10
In order that it may be known what the internal sense is,
the quality thereof, and from where it is,
it may here be observed in general,
that thought and speech in heaven
are different from thought and speech in the world;
for in heaven they are spiritual,
but in the world natural;
when, therefore, a person reads the Word,
the angels who are with him perceive it spiritually,
while people perceive it naturally;
consequently it follows,
that angels are in the internal sense,
while people are in the external sense;
but that nevertheless
these two senses make a one by correspondence.

The regenerate person
is actually in the internal sense of the Word,
although he does not know it,
since his internal person,
which has spiritual perception, is open.

Loans

When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor,
do not go into his house 
to get what he is offering as a pledge.
Stay outside
and let the man to whom you are making the loan
bring the pledge out to you.
If the man is poor,
do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession.
Return his cloak to him by sunset
so that he may sleep in it.
Then he will thank you,
and it will be regarded as a righteous act
in the sight of the Lord your God.
(Deuteronomy 24:10-13)