AE 666 - feet

AE 666 [1, 2]

And they stood upon their feet,

(Revelation 11:11)

signifies a new life,

such as the regenerate man of the church has.

This is evident from the signification of "standing,"

as meaning to be and to live, and also to sustain;

also from the signification of "feet," as being the natural,

which is the ultimate of Divine order,

and the base upon which prior or higher things rest,

and upon which they subsist;

so "to stand upon the feet" signifies life in fullness,

because in the ultimate.

This the Lord teaches in John:

Jesus said to Peter,
He that has bathed needs not save to wash his feet,
but is all clean.
(John 13:10).

"To wash" signifies to be purified from evils and falsities,
which is to be regenerated,
therefore "he that has bathed" signifies he that has been purified,
that is, regenerated in respect to the spiritual,
which is the good of love and the truth of doctrine;
these must first be received in the memory and understanding,
that is, must be known and acknowledged.
"Needs not save to wash his feet"
signifies that the natural or external man
must then be purified or regenerated,
which is done by a life according to the precepts of love and faith,
that is, according to
the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word.
As this is done the man himself is purified or regenerated;
for to live according
to the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word
is to will them and thence to do them,
which is the same as to be affected by them and to love them;
for what comes to be of the will
comes to be of the affection and love,
and therefore of the man himself;
for the will is the very man,
since a man is his own love and his own affection.
This is why it is said that then "the whole man is clean."

The King

When he takes the throne of his kingdom,

he is to write for himself on a scroll

a copy of this law,

taken from that of the priests, who are Levites.

It is to be with him,

and he is to read it all the days of his life

so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God

and follow carefully all these words of this law 

and these decrees

and not consider himself better than his brothers

and turn from the law to the right or to the left.

(Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

AE 660 - a marriage

AE 660 [2]

. . . there is no good with any one

unless it is formed by truths,

nor is there truth with any one

unless it is made living by good . . .

as one is not possible without the other . . ..

Do Not Do

You are not to do as we do here today,

everyone as he sees fit . . ..

(Deuteronomy 12:8)

AE 659 - Thy tent is peace

AE 659 [18]

Thou shalt know that thy tent is peace,

and thy children as the herb of the land,

thou shalt come in old age unto the sepulcher

like the coming up of a heap of corn in its season.

(Job 5:24-26)

A "tent" signifies in the Word

the holiness of worship and the good of love,

because Divine worship in most ancient times

was performed in tents;

and because their worship was from the good of celestial love,

a "tent" signifies also that good;

and since there is genuine peace in celestial good

therefore it is said, "Thou shalt know that thy tent is peace."

Truths from that good and their increase are signified by

"the children which shall be as the herb of the land,"

for "sons" and "children" and likewise "the herb of the land"

signify truths from good;

that when wisdom has been imbibed

one shall come into heaven

is signified by "thou shalt come in old age into the sepulcher,"

"old age" signifying wisdom,

and "to come into the sepulcher" or "to be buried"

signifying resurrection;

and as this is the meaning it is added,

"like the coming up of a heap of corn in its season." 

The Lord Your God, Mighty and Awesome

And now, O Israel,

what does the Lord your God ask of you

but to fear the Lord your God,

to walk in all His ways,

to love Him,

to serve the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul,

and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees

that I am giving you today for your own good?

To the Lord your God belong the heavens,

even the highest heavens,

the earth and everything in it.

Yet the Lord set His affection

on your forefathers and loved them,

and He chose you, their descendants,

above all the nations, as it is today.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore,

and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

For the Lord your God

is God of gods and Lord of lords,

the great God, mighty and awesome,

who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,

and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

And you are to love those who are aliens,

for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Fear the Lord your god and serve Him.

Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

He is your praise,

He is your God . . ..

(Deuteronomy 10:12-21)

AE 658 - what one sees; AE 659 - "to be buried"

AE 658

. . . every one sees the things that are of the Lord,

and thus of heaven and the church,

according to what his state is . . ..

AE 659

. . . "to be buried"

signifies in the Word awakening into life and resurrection,

because when a man dies and is buried

he is awakened or rises again into eternal life.

For after death a man continues to live equally as in the world,

but he lays aside the earthly or material body,

which served him for use in the natural world,

and continues his life in a spiritual body.

Burial, therefore, is only the rejection, as it were,

of the natural body that he carried about in the natural world.

Burial signifies awakening into eternal life or resurrection,

because the angels do not know

what the death of a man is nor what his burial is,

since with them there is no death and therefore no burial,

but they perceive all things spiritually;

when, therefore, the death of a man is mentioned in the Word,

instead of death

they perceive his passing over from one world into another;

and where burial is mentioned

they perceive his resurrection into life.

Acknowledge and Take to Heart

Acknowledge and take to heart this day

that the Lord is God in heaven above 

and on the earth below.

There is no other.

Keep His decrees and commands, 

which I am giving you today,

so that it may go well with you

and your children after you

and that you may live long in the land

the Lord your God gives you for all time.

(Deuteronomy 4:39-40)

AE 654 - Why the Children of Israel Always Wanted Egypt

AE 654 [62-64]

We frequently read,

in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word,

that the Israelitish people burned with a desire

to return into Egypt,

and that this was forbidden them,

and they were threatened

with plagues and punishments if they did so;

but the reason for this has heretofore been known to no one.

The reason was that the sons of Israel

were to represent a church from its first rise to its end;

and the church is first formed with a person

by knowledges and cognitions in the natural man,

for by these the natural man is first cultivated;

for every man is born natural,

therefore the natural must first be cultivated

in order that it may finally serve as a basis

for man's intelligence and wisdom.

Afterwards by means of knowledges and cognitions

which are implanted in the natural man,

an intellectual is formed,

that man may become rational.

But in order that a man from being rational

may become spiritual

he must needs endure temptations,

for by these the rational is so subdued,

as not to call forth from the natural

such things as favor the lusts,

and destroy the rational.

Finally when man has in this way been made rational

he then is made spiritual,

for the rational is the medium between

the spiritual and the natural,

consequently the spiritual flows into the rational,

and through this into the natural. 

In a word, a man must first

enrich the memory with knowledges [scientiae],

afterwards by these his understanding must be cultivated,

and finally the will.

The memory belongs to the natural man,

the understanding to the rational,

and the will to the spiritual.

This is the way of man's reformation and regeneration.

This is why the sons of Israel were first led into Egypt,

afterwards into the wilderness to undergo temptations,

and finally into the land of Canaan,

for as has been said, they were to represent the church

from its first rise to its last end.

Their abiding and sojourning in Egypt

represented the instruction of the natural man;

their wanderings forty years in the wilderness

represented the temptations

by which the rational man is formed;

and the land of Canaan,

into which they were finally brought,

represented the church, which regarded in itself is spiritual.

But they who are not willing to be reformed and regenerated

stop at the first stage, and remain natural;

and this is why the sons of Israel,

who were not willing,

so often desired to return to Egypt (which desire of theirs

is frequently mentioned in the book of Exodus);

for they were natural,

and were scarcely capable of becoming spiritual,

and yet they were to represent those things

that belong to the spiritual church;

for this reason they were led into Egypt,

and afterwards into the wilderness,

and finally into the land of Canaan,

thus representing the rise, progress,

and final establishment of the church with man.

This makes clear why the sons of Israel

were so strongly forbidden to return into Egypt;

for by so doing they would have represented

that from being spiritual men they had become natural,

and when a spiritual man becomes natural

he no longer sees any truths

and does not perceive any goods,

but falls into falsities and evils of every kind. 

Towns and Pasturelands for the Levites

On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho,

the Lord said to Moses,

"Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in

from the inheritance the Israelites will possess.

And give them pasturelands around the towns.

then they will have towns to live in

and pasturelands for their cattle, flocks

and all their other livestock.

The pasturelands around the towns

that you give the Levites

will extend out a thousand cubits from the town wall.

Outside the town,

measure two thousand cubits on the east side,

two thousand on the south side,

two thousand on the west

and two thousand on the north,

with the town in the center.

they will have this area as pastureland for the towns.

(Numbers 35:1-5)

AE 654 - being natural but not spiritual

AE 654 [57]

The person of the church 

from being spiritual becomes natural

when he separates faith from charity,

that is, he believes the Word but

does not live according to its commands;

so also when he clams to himself intelligence

and does not attribute it to the Lord;

from this is the conceit

whereby a person becomes natural.

For a person is first natural,

afterwards he becomes rational,

and lastly spiritual.

When a person is natural

he is in Egypt,

when he becomes rational,

he is in Assyria,

and when he becomes spiritual

he is in the land of Canaan, thus in the church.

Drive Out All the Inhabitants

On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho

the Lord said to Moses,

"Speak to the Israelites and say to them:

'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan,

drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you.

Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols,

and demolish all their high places.

Take possession of the land and settle in it,

for I have given you the land to possess.

Distribute the land by lot, according to the clans.

To a larger group give a larger inheritance,

and to a smaller group a smaller one.

Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs.

Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.

"'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land,

those you allow to remain

will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides.

They will give you trouble in the land where you live.

And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.

(Numbers 33:50-56)

AE 654 [28] - the spiritual and natural must act as one

AE 654 [28]

. . . all the intelligence of the spiritual person
has its limit and foundation in the natural person
and in his cognitions and knowledges . . .
for the spiritual person must act as one with the natural person,
as cause with effect,
and it acts as one by correspondences . . ..

The Change of Leadership

Moses did as the Lord commanded him.
He took Joshua and had him stand
before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly.
Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him,
as the Lord instructed through Moses.

(Numbers 27:22-23)

AE 654 - Israel

AE 654 [18]

When Israel was a child then I loved him,
and called My son out of Egypt.
(Hosea 11:1)

"Israel" signifies in the spiritual sense the church,
and in the highest sense the Lord,
who as He is the all of heaven is also the all of the church.
And as the sons of Israel were to represent the church,
and it was according to Divine order
that they should first be instructed
in such things as would be serviceable to the rational
and through this to the spiritual,
they first sojourned in Egypt,
and afterwards were led into the wilderness
that they might undergo temptations,
and that through these the natural man might be subdued;
for man does not become rational
until empty and false knowledges [scientifica] are removed,
and the natural man is thus purified,
which is effected mainly by temptations. 

The Second Census

After the plague,
the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest,
"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families -
all those twenty years old or more
who are able to serve in the army of Israel."

The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730.

All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000.
They were not counted along with the other Israelites
because they received no inheritance among them.

These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest
when they counted the Israelites 
on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Not one of them was among those 
counted by Moses and Aaron the priest
when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.
For the Lord had told those Israelites
they would surely die in the desert,
and not one of them was left
except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

(Numbers 26:1-2, 51, 62-65)
 

The Bronze Snake

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,
to go around Edom.
But the people grew impatient on the way;
they spoke against God and against Moses, and said,
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the desert?
There is no bread!
There is no water!
And we detest this miserable food!"

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them;
they bit the people and many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said,
"We sinned when we spoke against you.
Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us."
So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses,
"Make a snake and put it up on a pole;
anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.
Then when anyone was bitten by a snake
and looked at the bronze snake,
he lived.

(Numbers 21:4-9)

AE 652 - streets and real beauty

 AE 652 [10, 17]

. . . "streets" signify
the truths of doctrine leading to the good of life,
or truths according to which one must live.

. . . every one in the spiritual world is beautiful
according to truths from good,
and intelligence therefrom.

AE 653 - sin; AE 654 - conjunction

AE 653 [8]

. . . he who knows the will of the Lord
and does it not,
sins more than he who does not know it.

AE 654 [5]

. . . faith is conjoined to charity
when the spiritual person is conjoined to the natural . . ..

Not Even a Donkey

Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
and certain Reubenites -
Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth -
became insolent and rose up against Moses.
With them were 250 Israelite men,
well-known community leaders
who had been appointed members of the council.
They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron
and said to them,
"You have gone too far!
The whole community is holy,
every one of them
and the Lord is with them.
Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?"

When Moses heard this, he fell face down.

. . . Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord,
"Do not accept their offering.
I have not taken so much as a donkey from them,
nor have I wronged any of them."

(Numbers 16:1-4, 15)