The Second Climb up Mount Sinai

The Lord said to Moses,

“Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones,

and I will write on them the words

that were on the first tablets,

which you broke. 

Be ready in the morning,

and then come up on Mount Sinai.

Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 

No one is to come with you

or be seen anywhere on the mountain;

not even the flocks and herds

may graze in front of the mountain.”

(Exodus 34:1-3)

CL 127, 130 - the correspondence & wisdom of married love

CL 127

. . . married love corresponds to

an affection for genuine truth

and its chasteness, purity and holiness;

that insemination corresponds to

the power of truth;

that procreation corresponds to

the propagation of truth;

and that love for little children corresponds to

the protection of truth and good.

CL 130

People are capable of

knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.

Knowledge has to do with concepts,

intelligence with reason,

and wisdom with life.

[4] . . . the question arises,

what wisdom of life is.

In brief summary, it is this:

to refrain from evils

because they are harmful to the soul,

harmful to the civil state,

and harmful to the body,

and to do good things

because they are of benefit to the soul,

to the civil state,

and to the body.

This is the wisdom that is meant by

the wisdom to which married love attaches itself.

Two Tables of Stone

When the Lord finished speaking

to Moses on Mount Sinai,

He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony,

the tables of stone

inscribed by the finger of God.

(Exodus 31:18)

CL 121, 122, 123 - the paths of good and truth

CL 121

The spiritual offspring that are born

from the Lord through the church

are truths and qualities of goodness,

because the Lord is good itself and truth itself

(which in Him are not two but one),

and because nothing can issue from Him

but what is in Him and is Him.

. . . A person has understanding,

perception and all thought as a result of truths,

and love, charity and all affection

as a result of qualities of goodness,

because all the characteristics of a human being

are connected with truth and good.

CL 122

In addition, man is born with a faculty of knowing,

understanding and becoming wise,

and this faculty receives truths,

by which he gains

knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.

And since the female was created

through the truth of the male

and is formed into a love of it

more and more after marriage,

it follows that she also receives

her husband's truth into herself

and joins it to her good.

CL 123

. . . when a person sees truth in his thinking,

he rarely reflects on the good that flows into it

from the love in his will and gives it life.

A wife also does not reflect on

the goodness in herself,

but on her husband's inclination toward her,

which depends on the ascent

of his understanding to wisdom.

She influences him with the goodness

that is in her from the Lord

without the husband's having

any awareness of that influence.

From this the truth now appears,

that a person acquires truth from the Lord,

and that the Lord joins good to that truth

according as the truth is put to use,

thus as a person tries to think wisely

and so live wisely.

"I Am Sending An Angel Ahead of You"

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you

to guard you along the way

and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

Pay attention to him

and listen to what he says.

Do not rebel against him;

he will not forgive your rebellion,

since my Name is in him.

If you listen carefully to what he says

and do all that I say,

I will be an enemy to your enemies

and will oppose those who oppose you.

My angel will go ahead of you

and bring you into the land of the

Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,

Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,

and I will wipe them out.

Do not bow down before their gods

or worship them

or follow their practices.

You must demolish them

and break their sacred stones to pieces.

Worship the Lord your God,

and His blessing will be on your food and water.

I will take away sickness from among you,

and none will miscarry or be barren in your land.

I will give you a full life span.

(Exodus 23:20-26)

CL 120 - sons and daughters

CL 120

For the Lord is the source

from which all good and truth flow,

and it is the church

which receives this good and truth

and puts them into effect.

Moreover, the spiritual virtues

of heaven and the church

all have to do with good and truth.

It is because of this

that sons and daughters in the Word

in its spiritual sense

mean truths and good -

sons meaning

truths conceived in a person's spiritual self

and born in the natural self,

and daughters meaning

qualities of goodness

similarly conceived and born.

Restitution

"If a man steals an ox or a sheep

and slaughters it or sells it,

he must pay back

five head of cattle for the ox

and four sheep for the sheep.

"If a thief is caught breaking in

and is struck so that he dies,

the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;

but if it happens after sunrise,

he is guilty of bloodshed.

"A thief must certainly make restitution,

but if he has nothing,

he must be sold to pay for his theft.

"If the stolen animal is found alive 

in his possession -

whether ox or donkey or sheep -

he must pay back double."

(Exodus 22:1-4)

CL 112, 113 - true married love

CL 112, 113

. . . true married love . . . is possible

only between one male and one female,

and that it is from creation heavenly,

most interior,

and the soul and parent of all good loves . . ..

It is so conjunctive

that by it

two minds can become one mind,

and two persons like one person,

which is what is meant

by their becoming one flesh.

. . . the origin of true married love

. . . (is) from the God of heaven and earth.

"Do Not Be Afraid."

Moses answered the people,

"Do not be afraid.

Stand firm

and you will see the deliverance

the Lord will bring you today.

The Egyptians you see today

you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still."

(Exodus 14:13-14)

CL 101, 102 - soul, mind, body - body, mind, soul

CL 101, 102

Every person consists of three components

which follow in order in him:  soul, mind, and body. 

The inmost one is his soul. 

The intermediate one is his mind. 

And the outmost one is his body. 

Everything that flows into a person from the Lord

flows first into his inmost component, 

which is the soul,

and descends from there

into his intermediate component, 

which is the mind,

and through this

into his outmost component, 

which is the body.
A marriage of good and truth

flows in from the Lord in a person in the same way.

. . . married partners become an image

of the marriage between good and truth

only as the inner faculties of their minds are opened,

because the mind only gradually opens

from infancy to late old age. 

For people are born carnal,

and they become rational

as the mind just above the body opens

and as this rationality is purified . . .

from fallacious appearances that flow in

from the physical senses

and from urges that flow in from temptations of the flesh. 

Rationality thus opens,

and this is accomplished only through wisdom. 

Then, when the inner faculties of the rational mind

have been opened,

the person becomes an image of wisdom,

and this wisdom is the receptacle of true married love.

The wisdom which forms this image

and receives this love

is rational and at the same time moral wisdom. 

Rational wisdom views the truths and good virtues

that inwardly appear in a person

not as qualities belonging to him

but as qualities flowing in from the Lord. 

And moral wisdom shuns evils and falsities

as contagious diseases -

especially lascivious ones

which contaminate his married love.

Leaving Egypt

When Pharaoh let the people go,

God did not lead them on the road

through Philistine country,

that that was shorter.

For God said,

"If they face war,

they might change their minds

and return to Egypt."

So God led the people around by the desert road

toward the Red Sea.

The Israelites went up and out of Egypt

armed for battle.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him

because Joseph had made the sons of Israel

swear an oath.

He had said,

"God will surely come to your aid,

and then you must carry my bones with you

from this place."

After leaving Succoth

they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.

By day the Lord went ahead of them

in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way

and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light,

so that they could travel by day or night.

Neither the pillar of cloud by day

nor the pillar of fire by night

left its place in front of the people.

(Exodus 13:17-22)

CL 87 - everywhere united

CL 87

Unless something is added,

good is a nameless entity.

That which expresses it

and presents it to view

has to do with truth.

"Let My People Go"

Then the Lord said to Moses,

"Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh:

Because of My mighty hand

he will let them go;

because of My mighty hand

he will drive them out of his country."

(Exodus 6:1)

CL 86 - good & truth flow into everything from the Lord

CL 86

The fact that whatever flows into any vessel

is received by it according to its form

can be illustrated by . . .

the flowing in of heat and light from the sun

into species of plant life of every kind.

Each one of these receives that influx

according to its form.

Thus every tree receives it according to its form,

every bush according to its form,

every plant and every kind of grass

according to its form.

That which flows in is the same in every case,

but the way it is received

causes each species to remain the species it was

because the reception is according to the form.

Three Signs for the Israelites

Moses answered (the Lord),

"What if they do not believe me

or listen to me 

and say,

'The Lord did not appear to you'?"

Then the Lord said to him,

"What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground

and it became a snake,

and he ran from it.

Then the Lord said to him,

"Reach out your hand and take it by the tail."

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake

and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

"This," said the Lord,

"is so that they may believe

that the Lord, the God of their fathers -

the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac

and the God of Jacob -

has appeared to you."

Then the Lord said,

"Put your hand inside your cloak."

So Moses put his hand into his cloak,

and when he took it out,

it was leprous, like snow.

"Now put it back into your cloak," He said.

So Moses put his hand back into his cloak,

and when he took it out,

it was restored,

like the rest of his flesh.

Then the Lord said,

"If they do not believe you

or pay attention to the first miraculous sign,

they may believe the second.

But if they do not believe these two signs

or listen to you,

take some water from the Nile

and pour it on the dry ground.

The water you take from the river

will become blood on the ground."

(Exodus 4:1-9)

CL 83 - good and truth are everywhere united

CL 83

. . . good does not exist apart from truth,

nor truth apart from good,

consequently that there is

an eternal marriage between them,

and this marriage is the origin of married love.

Jacob's Instructions

Then he gave them these instructions:

"I am about to be gathered to my people.

Bury me with my fathers

in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

the cave in the field of Machpelah,

near Mamre in Canaan,

which Abraham bought as a burial place

from Ephron the Hittite,

along with the field.

There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried,

there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried,

and there I buried Leah.

The field and the cave in it

were bought from the Hittites."

When Jacob had finished

giving instructions to his sons,

he drew his feet up into the bed,

breathed his last

and was gathered to his people.

So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them . . ..

(Genesis 49:29-33; 50:12)

CL 80 - marriage & religion; CL 82 - a summary of New Church doctrines

CL 80 [2]

. . . all people who regard adulterous affairs as nothing,

that is, who believe they are not sins

and who commit them deliberately and so purposefully,

at heart are evil doers and irreligious.

For the human inclination toward marriage

goes hand in hand with religion at every step.

CL 82

The doctrines of the church

that is meant by the New Jerusalem

are as follows:

1.  There is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity,

and that God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.  Saving faith is to believe in Him.

3.  Evils must be abstained from

because they are of the devil and from the devil.

4.  Good deeds must be done

because they are of God and from God.

5.  These good deeds must be done by a person

as though he were doing them from himself,

but he must believe that they are from the Lord

in him and by means of him.

Jacob Goes to Egypt

So Israel set out with all that was his,

and when he reached Beersheba,

he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said,

"Jacob!  Jacob!"

"Here I am," he replied.

"I am God, the God of your father," he said.

"Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,

for I will make you into a great nation there.

I will go down to Egypt with you,

and I will surely bring you back again.

And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."

(Genesis 46:1-4)

CL 78 - marriage through the ages

CL 78 [8]

. . . married love in the first age was like gold,

in the second age like silver,

in the third age like bronze,

and in the fourth age like iron,

and that at last it ceased to exist.

But afterward my angel guide and companion said,

"Nevertheless, I am sustained by the hope

that the God of heaven,

who is the Lord,

will revive this love,

because it is possible for it to be revived."