Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10732

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10732. 'You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwelling-places on the sabbath day' means that nothing of the love that is a person's own, that is, no self-love or love of the world, should appear at this time in any single thing in the person which comes from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a fire' as love in both the senses dealt with in 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141, at this point the love that is a person's own, namely self-love and love of the world, the source of every evil desire, and of all evil and falsity; and from the meaning of 'the dwelling-places of the children of Israel' as the Church's forms of good and its truths which reside with a person and come from the Lord. For by 'dwelling-places' the things that reside interiorly in a person, thus those in his mind, are meant, see 7719, 7910, 8269, 8309, 10153, in this instance the forms of good and the truths which come from the Lord; and by 'the children of Israel' the Church is meant, 9340. Because things such as these were meant by 'a fire', they were forbidden to kindle a fire on the sabbath day. As regards what being led by self and selfish loves and not by the Lord implies, see immediately above in 10731.


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