AR 54 - the presence of the Lord

AR 54

And when I saw Him,

I fell at His feet as though dead.

(Revelation 1:17)

. . . A person's own life 

cannot endure the presence of the Lord

such as the Lord is in Himself,

indeed such as He is in the inmost constituents of His Word.

For His Divine love is altogether like the sun,

which no one can endure as it is in itself,

because it would consume him.

This is the meaning of the declaration

that no one can see God and live

(Exodus 33:20 and Judges 13:22).

. . . But still the Lord moderates and tempers His Divinity

so as to make it possible for a person

to endure His presence.

This He does by veilings.

It was what He did when He revealed Himself

to many people in the Word.

Indeed, it is by veilings

that He is present in everyone who worships Him.

As He says in John:

He who . . . keeps (My commandments) . . .,

in him (I) will make (My) abode.

(John 14:21,23)

Joab and David at Rabbah

Meanwhile Joab fought

against Rabbah of the Ammonites

and captured the royal citadel.

Joab then sent messengers to David, saying,

"I have fought against Rabbah

and taken its water supply.

Now muster the rest of the troops

and besiege the city and capture it.

Otherwise I will take the city,

and it will be named after me."

So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah,

and attacked and captured it.

He took the crown from the head of their king -

its weight was a talent of gold,

and it was set with precious stones -

and it was placed on David's head.

He took a great quantity of plunder from the city

and brought out the people who were there,

consigning them to labor with

saws and with iron picks and axes,

and he made them work at brickmaking.

He did this to all the Ammonite towns.

Then David and his entire army 

returned to Jerusalem.

(II Samuel 12:26-31)

(A talent was pretty heavy and was equal to

about 75 lbs. or 34 kilos or 5.36 stone.)

AR 53 - the sun

AR 53 [7]

Since the sun means the Lord

with respect to Divine love and wisdom,

therefore in their holy worship

ancient peoples turned their faces to the rising sun,

and their temples also,

a practice that continues to this day.

. . . the world's sun means self-love

and a conceit in one's own intelligence,

and self-love is diametrically opposed to Divine love,

while a conceit in one's own intelligence

is opposed to Divine wisdom.

To worship the world's sun

is also to accept nature as the creator of all things

and one's own prudence as the effector of all things,

which entails a denial of God

and a denial of Divine providence.

The Ark Comes to Jerusalem

They brought the ark of the Lord

and set it in its place inside the tent

that David had pitched for it,

and David sacrificed burnt offerings

and fellowship offerings before the Lord.

After he had finished sacrificing

the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings,

he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty.

Then he gave a loaf of bread,

a cake of dates and a cake of raisins

to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites,

both men and women.

And all the people went to their homes.

(II Samuel 6:17-19)

AR 50 - waters

AR 50

And His voice as the sound of many waters.

(Revelation 1:15)

This symbolizes (signifies) natural Divine truth.

. . . they have forsaken Jehovah,

the fountain of living waters.

(Jeremiah 17:13)

In that day . . . living waters

shall flow from Jerusalem.(Zechariah 14:8)

Jehovah is my shepherd . . .,

He leads me to still waters.(Psalm 23:1,2)

(Jesus said,) "If anyone thirsts,

let him come to Me and drink.

Whoever believes in Me,

as the Scripture says,

out of his belly will flow

rivers of living water.(John 7:37,38)

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"

and let him who hears say, "Come!"

And let him who thirsts come.

And whoever desires,

let him take of the water of life freely.(Revelation 22:17)

Waters in these passages mean truths,

and it is apparent from this

that the sound of many waters

means the Lord's Divine truth in the Word . . ..

David Moves to Hebron

In the course of time, David inquired of the Lord.

"Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?" he asked.

The Lord said, "Go up."

David asked, "Where shall I go?"

"To Hebron," the Lord answered.

So David went up there with his two wives,

Ahinoam of Jezreel 

and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

David also took the men who were with him,

each with his family,

and they settled in Hebron and its towns.

Then the men of Judah came to Hebron

and there they anointed David king

over the house of Judah.

(II Samuel 2:1-4)

AR 47 - wool and snow

AR 47

His head and hair were white like wool,

as white as snow.

(Revelation 1:14)

This symbolizes (signifies) the Divine love

accompanying Divine wisdom in first things and last.

[6]  The head and hair are described

as being like wool and like snow

because wool symbolizes goodness

in outmost expressions,

and snow symbolizes truth

in outward expressions . . .

inasmuch as wool comes from sheep,

which symbolize the goodness of charity,

and snow comes from water,

which symbolizes truths of faith.

David Spares Saul a Second Time

So David and Abishai went to the army by night,

and there was Saul,

lying asleep inside the camp

with his spear stuck in the ground near his head.

Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

Abishai said to David,

"Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands.

Now let me pin him to the ground

with one thrust of my spear;

I won't strike him twice."

But David said to Abishai, "Don't destroy him!

Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed

and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said,

"the Lord himself will strike him;

either his time will come and he will die,

or he will go into battle and perish.

But the Lord forbid

that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed.

Now get the spear and the water jug

that are near his head, and let's go."

So David took the spear and water jug

near Saul's head, and they left.

No one saw or knew about it,

nor did anyone wake up.

They were all sleeping,

because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.

(I Samuel 26:7-11)

AR 32 - brothers and companions

AR 32

. . . people who possess the goodness of charity

also possess truths of faith,

since charity is the soul and life of faith.

. . . In the spiritual sense of the Word

a brother means someone

who possesses the goodness of charity,

and a companion someone

who for that reason possesses truths of faith.

. . . That is because charity unites,

but not so much faith unless it springs from charity.

When faith springs from charity,

then the charity unites

and the faith affiliates.

David at Nob

David went to Nob,

to Ahimelech the priest.

Ahimelech trembled when he met him and asked,

"Why are you alone? 

Why is no one with you?"

. . . David asked Ahimelech,

"Don't you have a spear or a sword here?

I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon,

because the king's business was urgent."

The priest replied,

"The sword of Goliath the Philistine,

whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here;

it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.

If you want it, take it;

there is no sword here but that one."

David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."

(I Samuel 21:1, 8-9)

AR 24 - coming with the clouds

AR 24

Behold, He is coming with the clouds (of heaven).
(Revelation 1:7)

This symbolically means (signifies) that the Lord

will reveal Himself in the literal sense of the Word

and lay open its spiritual meaning

at the end of the church.

Someone who knows nothing

of the internal or spiritual meaning of the Word

cannot know what the Lord meant

by His coming in the clouds of heaven.

For He said to the high priest who was adjuring Him

to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God,

As you have said . . . . I am.

And you will see the Son of Man

sitting at the right hand of power

and coming with the clouds of heaven.

(Matthew 26:63,64; Mark 14:61,62)

Moreover, in speaking to His disciples

about the end of the age, the Lord said,

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear . . .,

and they will see (Him) coming in the clouds of heaven

with power and . . . glory.(Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26)

The clouds of heaven in which He will come

mean nothing else than the Word in its literal sense,

and the glory in which they will see Him,

the Word in its spiritual meaning.

The reality of this can hardly be believed

by people who do not think of the Word

beyond the sense of the letter.

To them a cloud is a cloud,

and so they believe

that the Lord will appear in the clouds of the sky

when the Last Judgment is at hand.

But this idea collapses

when the meaning of a cloud is known,

that it is Divine truth

in its outermost expressions,

thus the Word in its literal meaning.

Samuel Anoints David

The Lord said to Samuel,

"How long will you mourn for Saul,

since I have rejected him as king over Israel?

Fill your horn with oil and be on your way;

I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.

I have chosen one of his sons to be king."

But Samuel said, "How can I go?

Saul will hear about it and kill me."

The Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say,

'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.'

Invite Jesse to the sacrifice,

and I will show you what to do.

You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate."

Samuel did what the Lord said.

When he arrived at Bethlehem,

the elders of the town trembled when they met him.

They asked, "Do you come in peace?"

Samuel replied, "Yes, in peace;

I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

Consecrate yourselves and come to sacrifice with me."

Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons

and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,

"Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord."

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."

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 16:1-7, 13)

AR 20 - kings

AR 20 [5]

. . . the Lord going to make people

who are wise from Him kings

does not mean that they will be kings,

but that they will be wise . . ..

Samuel Tells Saul

"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.

(I Samuel 15:22-23)

AR 8 - "Blessed is he . . . " (Revelation 1:3)

AR 8

Blessed is he who reads

and those who hear

the words of this prophecy,

and keep those things which are written in it.

(Revelation 1:3)

This symbolizes (signifies) their communion

with angels in heaven

who live according to the doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

"Blessed is he" here means

someone who in respect to his spirit is in heaven,

thus someone who, while living in the world,

is in communion with angels in heaven,

inasmuch as he is in heaven in respect to his spirit.

"The words of this prophecy"

mean nothing else

than the doctrine of the New Jerusalem . . .

Samuel Anoints Saul King

After they came down from the high place to the town,

Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house.

They rose about daybreak

and Samuel called to Saul on the roof,

"Get ready, and I will send you on your way."

When Saul got ready,

he and Samuel went outside together.

As they were going down to the edge of town,

Samuel said to Saul,

"Tell the servant to go on ahead of us"

-- and the servant did so -

"but you stay here awhile,

so that I may give you a message from God."

Then Samuel took a flask of oil

and poured it on Saul's head

and kissed him, saying,

"Has not the Lord anointed you

leader over His inheritance?"

(I Samuel 9:25-27; 10:1)

AR 3 - servants

AR 3

Now because truths,

by teaching goodness,

serve it,

therefore in general, and properly speaking,

by a servant in the Word is meant something serving,

or someone or something that serves.

In this sense

not only were prophets called servants of God,

but so, too, was the Lord in respect to His humanity.

[3]  In heaven,

all people in the Lord's spiritual kingdom

are called His servants,

while those in His celestial kingdom

are called His ministers.

That is because people in His spiritual kingdom

are governed by wisdom derived from Divine truth,

and those in the celestial kingdom

by love derived from Divine good.

And good ministers

while truth serves.

(AR - Apocalypse Revealed)

Samuel Grows Up

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.

(I Samuel 3:19-21)

DP 338 - the owl & the snake; the dove & the sheep

DP 338 [9]

. . . salvation depends on the way one lives.

Moreover, a person's way of life is not instilled in a moment,

but is formed gradually, and is reformed

as a person refrains from evils as being sins,

thus according as he knows what is sinful

and recognizes and acknowledges it,

and as he does not will it,

and for that reason desists from it,

and also as he knows, too,

those means which relate to a concept of God.

Because of his hereditary evil

a person may be compared to an owl

in respect to his intellect,

and to a snake

in respect to his will,

while a person who has been reformed

may be compared to a dove

in respect to his intellect,

and to a sheep in respect to his will.

Therefore any instantaneous reformation

and consequent salvation

would be comparatively like

changing an owl instantaneously into a dove,

and a snake into a sheep.

Who if he knows anything about human life,

does not see that this is not possible

unless the owl and serpent nature is taken away

and a dove and sheep nature implanted?

The Benjamites Fall

On that day

twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell,

all of them valiant fighters.

But six hundred men

turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon,

where they stayed four months.

The men of Israel went back to Benjamin

and put all the towns to the sword,

including the animals and everything else they found.

All the towns they came across

they set on fire.

(Judges 20:46-48)

DP 333 - the Lord foresees and provides

DP 333 [3]

If a spearman or musketeer should aim at a target,

and a straight line were to be drawn from the target

to a point a mile on beyond it,

then if the spearman or musketeer

should be off in his aim by only a finger nail,

on reaching the end of the mile

the missile or ball would be far wide of the line

drawn on beyond the target.

So it would be if the Lord did not every moment,

indeed every least moment,

regard eternity in foreseeing and providing

each person's place after death.

But this the Lord does,

because the entire future is present in Him,

and the entire present is to Him eternal.

The Birth of Samson

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,

so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines

for forty years.

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah,

from the clan of the Danites,

had a wife who was sterile and remained childless.

The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said,

"You are sterile and childless,

but you are going to conceive and have a son.

Now see to it that you drink

no wine or other fermented drink,

and that you do not eat anything unclean,

because you will conceive and give birth to a son.

No razor may be used on his head,

because the boy is to be a Nazirite,

set apart to God from birth,

and he will begin the deliverance of Israel

from the hands of the Philistines.

The woman gave birth to a boy

and named him Samson.

He grew and the Lord blessed him . . ..

(Judges 13:1-5;24)

DP 331 - Divine Providence is Divine Order

The Lord cannot go against

the Laws of Divine Providence,

because to do so would be

to go against His Divine love

and against His Divine wisdom.

DP 331

Of all the things emanating from Him,

Divine providence is the primary one,

for this is continually intent on the end

for which the universe was created.

The operation and progress

of the end through the means

is what we call Divine providence.

Now because the Divine emanation is the Lord,

and Divine providence is the primary thing that emanates,

it follows that

to go against the laws of His Divine providence

would be to go against Himself.

One can also say that the Lord is providence,

as we say that God is order.

For Divine providence is the Divine order

primarily concerned with the salvation of humankind,

and as order is impossible without laws,

since laws constitute it,

and since every law takes is origin from order,

so that it also is order,

therefore it follows that as God is order,

so He is the law of His order.

The same may be said of Divine providence,

that as the Lord is His providence,

He is also the law of His providence.

The Israelites Cried Out to the Lord

Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord,

"We have sinned against You,

forsaking our God and serving the Baals."

The Lord replied,

"When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites,

the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites

and the Maobites oppressed you

and you cried to Me for help,

did I not save you from their hands?

But you have forsaken Me and served other gods,

so I will no longer save you.

go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.

Let them save you when you are in trouble!"

But the Israelites said to the Lord,

"We have sinned.

Do with us whatever You think best,

but please rescue us now."

Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them

and served the Lord.

And He could bear Israel's misery no longer.

(Judges 10:10-16)

DP 329 - two elements of salvation, two tables of Divine law

DP 329

The means of salvation have to do with these two elements,

that one refrain from evils because they are contrary

to the Divine laws in the Decalogue,

and that one acknowledge the existence of God.

Everyone can do this,

provided he does not love evils.

For the Lord continually flows into the will

with a power that enables him to refrain from evils,

and into the intellect

with a power that enables him to think that God exists.

But even so, no one can do one

without at the same time doing the other.

The two are joined

as the two tables of the Decalogue are joined,

one of them being for the Lord,

and the other for man.

The Lord enlightens everyone from His table,

and empowers him,

but a person receives the power and enlightenment

in the measure that he puts into practice

the commandments contained in his table.

Before that the two tablets are as though

lying one on top of the other and sealed shut.

But as the person puts into practice

the commandments contained in his table,

the tables are unsealed and opened.

From the Song of Deborah

"March on, my soul; be strong!

"So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But may they who love You

be like the sun

when it rises in its strength."

(Judges 5:21,31)

DP 328 - little children

DP 328 [8]

The Lord has provided . . .

that all who die as little children be saved,

wherever they were born.

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

The angel of the Lord

went up from Gigal to Bokim and said,

"I brought you up out of Egypt

and led you into the land

that I swore to give to your forefathers.

I said, "I will never break My covenant with you,

and you shall not make a covenant

with the people of this land,

but you will break down their altars."

Yet you have disobeyed Me.

Why have you done this?

Now therefore I tell you

that I will not drive them out before you,

they will thorns in your sides

and their gods will be a snare to you."

(Judges 2:1-3)

DP 322 - predestination; DP 324 - love

Every Person Can Be Reformed,

and There Is No Predestination.

DP 322 [5]

(1)  The end in creation is a heaven from the human race.

(2)  It is owing to Divine providence, therefore,

that every person can be saved,

and that those are saved

who acknowledge God and live rightly.

(3)  The person himself is at fault if he is not saved.

(4)  Thus all are predestined for heaven,

and no one for hell.

DP 324 [6]

All love wills the good of another.

Joshua

So the Lord gave Israel all the land

He had sworn to give their forefathers,

and they took possession of it and settled there.

The Lord gave them rest on every side,

just as He had sworn to their forefathers.

Not one of their enemies withstood them,

the Lord handed all their enemies over to them.

Not one of all the Lord's good promises

to the house of Israel failed;

every one was fulfilled.

(Joshua 21:43-45)

But as for me and my household,

we will serve the Lord.

(Joshua 24:15)

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.

(Joshua 24:28-30)

DP 321 - our choice

DP 321 [8]

. . . Divine providence does not assign evil to anyone,

nor good to anyone,

but that it is a person's own prudence

that assigns the one or the other to him.

. . . The end in Divine providence is goodness.

It therefore intends this in its every operation.

Consequently It does not assign good to anyone,

for in that case it would be made deserving of merit.

Nor does It assign evil to anyone,

for in that case

it would make him guilty of evil.

Nevertheless a person does both

owing to his inherent nature,

because he is nothing but evil.

The inherent nature of his will is love of self,

and the inherent nature of his intellect

is a conceit in his own intelligence,

and it is of the latter that his own prudence is born.

Cities of Refuge

So they set apart

Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali,

Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim,

and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

On the east side of the Jordan of Jericho

they designated Bezer in the desert

on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben,

Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad,

and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.

Any of the Israelites or any alien living among them

who killed someone accidentally

could flee to these designated cities

and not be killed by the avenger of blood

prior to standing trial before the assembly.

DP 318 - confirmations and persuasions

DP 318

But we must now say how a person's state is changed

by confirmations and consequent persuasions,

and this under the following series of headings:

1.  There is nothing that cannot be defended,

and falsity more easily than truth.

2.  Truth is not seen by confirmed falsity,

but confirmed truth causes falsity to be seen.

3.  To be able to confirm whatever one pleases

does not constitute intelligence,

but only ingenuity,

possible even in the worst of people.

4.  It is possible to have an intellectual confirmation

that is not at the same time a confirmation of the will,

but every confirmation of the will is also an intellectual one.

5.  A confirmation of evil by the will

that is at the same time an intellectual one

causes a person to believe

that his own prudence is everything

and Divine providence nothing,

but an intellectual confirmation alone does not.

6.  Everything confirmed by the will and intellect together

remains to eternity,

but not something confirmed only by the intellect.

Joshua Did It

As the Lord commanded his servant Moses,

so Moses commanded Joshua,

and Joshua did it;

he left nothing undone

of all that the Lord commanded Moses.

(Joshua 11:15)

DP 317 - what spiritual light does

DP 317

. . . spiritual light in its essence

is the Divine truth of the Lord's Divine wisdom.

It is because of this

that a person can think analytically,

draw conclusions about what is just and right

in judicial matters,

and see what is honorable in living morally

and what is good in living spiritually.

And he can see also many truths,

which fall into darkness

only as a result of confirmed falsities.

Before Jericho

Now when Joshua was near Jericho,

he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him

with a drawn sword in his hand.

Joshua went up to him and asked,

"Are you for us or for our enemies?"

"Neither," he replied,

"but as commander of the army of the Lord

I have now come."

Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence,

and asked him,

"What message does my Lord have for his servant?"

The commander of the Lord's army replied,

"Take off your sandals,

for the place where you are standing is holy."

And Joshua did so.

(Joshua 5:13-15)

DP 311 - being a real person

DP 311 [5]

Think in the same way that you speak

in favor of God, religion, righteousness and honesty,

and you will be a real person,

and Divine providence with then be your prudence . . ..

East of the Jordan

On the tenth day of the first month

the people went up from the Jordan

and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

And Joshua set up at Gilgal

the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.

He said to the Israelites,

"In the future when your descendants ask their fathers,

'What do these stones mean?'

tell them,

'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'

For the Lord your God did to the Jordan

just what He had done to the Red Sea

when He dried it up before us

until we had crossed over.

He did this so that all the peoples of the earth

might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful

and so that you might always fear the Lord your God."

(Joshua 4:19-24)

DP 298 - a person is turned away from evil, not of himself, but by the Lord

DP 298 [5]

We say that when Divine providence 

grants a person to see truth

and gives him at the same time

an affection for it,

a person can be turned away from evil;

and the reason is that 

truth points the way and enjoins it,

and when the will puts it into practice,

it unites itself with the truth

and within itself 

turns the truth into good.

For it becomes then a matter of his love,

and that which is a matter of love is good.

All reformation is effect by means of truth

and not apart from it,

for without truth

the will is continually intent on its evil,

and if it consults the intellect,

it is not instructed,

but the evil is justified by falsities.

It Is Not Too Difficult

Now what I am commanding you today

is not too difficult for you

or beyond your reach.

It is not up in heaven,

so that you have to ask,

"Who will ascend into heaven to get it

and proclaim it to us

so we may obey it?"

Nor is it beyond the sea,

so that you have to ask,

"Who will cross the sea to get it

and proclaim it to us

so we may obey it?"

No, the word is very near you;

it is in your mouth and in your heart

so you may obey it.

For I command you today

to love the Lord your God,

to walk in His ways,

and to keep His commands, decrees and laws;

then you live and increase,

and the Lord your God will bless you in the land

you are entering to possess.

(Deuteronomy 30:11-13,15-16)

DP 296 - the Lord turns away evil if we do and ask

DP 296 [12, 15]

In the case of an evil person . . .

only a winnowing, purging and turning away

of his more serious evils from the less serious

is possible.

Possible in the case of a good person, however,

is a winnowing, purging, and turning away

not only of his more serious evils

but also of his less serious ones,

and this is accomplished

through the delights of his affections

for goodness and truth

and for justice and honesty,

into which he comes

to the extent that he regards evils as sins

and therefore refrains from them

and is averse to them,

and still more if he fights against them.

These are the means by which the Lord

purges all those people who are saved.

He purges them also by external means,

which have to do with his reputation and honor,

and sometimes with material gain.

But still the Lord implants in them

the delights of affections for goodness and truth,

by which they are directed and adjusted

so as to become the delight of a love for the neighbor.

It is apparent from this that in every person

Divine providence operates in a thousand ways,

even in very secret ways;

that is continually has as its end to purge him,

because it has as an end to save him;

and that nothing more is incumbent on the person

than to put away evils in his external self.

The Lord provides the rest,

if entreated to.

The Covenant Renewed at Moab

Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen

all that 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 29:2-6)

DP 288, 292 - people change what they receive from the Lord

DP 288

. . . any truth or good emanating from the Lord

is completely changed

when received by people caught up in falsity and evil,

and so transformed

that the original form is no longer visible.

DP 292 [3]

For the Lord says that

"He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,

and sends rain on the just and the unjust."

(Matthew 5:45)

By the sun in the highest spiritual sense is meant Divine love,

and by rain Divine wisdom.

Do Not Be Afraid

When you go to war against your enemies

and see horses and chariots

and an army greater than yours,

do not be afraid of them,

because the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt,

will be with you.

When you are about to go into battle,

the priest shall come forward and address the army.

He shall say:

"Hear, O Israel, today

you are going into battle against your enemies.

Do not be fainthearted or afraid;

do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.

For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you

to fight for you against your enemies

to give you victory."

(Deuteronomy 20:1-4)

DP 283 - the Lord heals

DP 283

A person is permitted to entertain evils in thought

even to the point of intending them

in order that they may be displaced . . .

by civil, moral, and spiritual precepts,

and this is the case when he thinks

that something is contrary to justice and equity,

contrary to honor and decorum,

and contrary to goodness and truth,

thus contrary to peace, happiness and blessedness of life.

Through these three classes of precepts

the Lord heals the will's love in a person -

at first, indeed by fears,

and afterward by loves.