Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 7932

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7932. Verses 25-28. And it shall be that when ye shall come unto the land which Jehovah will give you, as He hath spoken, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your sons shall say unto you, What is this service to you? that ye shall say, This is the sacrifice of the passover to Jehovah, in that He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He inflicted a plague on Egypt, and liberated our houses. And the people bent itself, and bowed itself. And the sons of Israel went and they did as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. "And it shall be that when ye shall come unto the land which Jehovah will give you," signifies to heaven which they shall have from the Lord; "as He hath spoken," signifies according to the promise in the Word; "that ye shall keep this service," signifies worship on account of liberation; "and it shall be, when your sons shall say unto you," signifies the interior perception of truth, which perception is of conscience; "What is this service to you?" signifies when they are in worship; "that ye shall say," signifies thought; "This is the sacrifice of the passover to Jehovah," signifies the worship of the Lord on account of liberation; "in that He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel," signifies that damnation fled away from the goods in which they were held by the Lord; "in Egypt," signifies when in the vicinity of the evil; "when He inflicted a plague on Egypt," signifies when they of the church were damned who had been in faith separate from charity; "and liberated our houses," signifies that still nothing damnable came to them, because they were in good from the Lord; "and the people bent itself, and bowed itself," signifies humiliation of the mouth and of the heart; "and the sons of Israel went and they did as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron," signifies that they who were of the spiritual church obeyed truth Divine; "so did they," signifies performance from the will.

[7932a.] And it shall be that when ye shall come unto the land which Jehovah will give you. That this signifies to heaven which they shall have from the Lord, is evident from the signification of "the land," here the land of Canaan to which they were to come, as being the Lord's kingdom, thus heaven (see n. 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4116, 4240, 4447, 5757). For the sons of Israel represented those who were of the spiritual church and were in the world before the Lord's coming, and could not be saved except by the Lord, and therefore had been preserved and detained in the lower earth, where meanwhile they had been infested by the hells which were round about. When therefore the Lord came into the world, and made the Human in Himself Divine, then when He rose again, He liberated those who had been preserved and detained, and after they had undergone temptations He raised them into heaven. These are the things which are contained in the internal sense in the second book of Moses, which is Exodus; by the Egyptians are signified those who had infested; by the bringing forth thence is signified liberation; by the life of forty years in the wilderness are signified temptations; and by the introduction into the land of Canaan is signified being raised into heaven (see what has been said above, n. 6854, 6914, 7091, 7828). For all this it is evident that by "when ye shall come unto the land" is signified to heaven which they shall have from the Lord.


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