Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7401

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7401. 'So that you may know that there is none like Jehovah our God' means that there is one God and none besides Him. This is clear from the consideration that when the historical sense says that 'none is like Jehovah God' the meaning in the internal sense is that there is no God besides Him, and that since there is none besides Him there is one God. In the Word it is frequently stated that there is none like Jehovah God, and also that there is no God like Him. It was stated in this way in the Word because in the land where the Church existed, as also in lands where the Church did not exist, people at that time worshipped a number of gods, and each person gave precedence to his own god over another's god. They distinguished those gods from one another by their names, the God of the Israelites and Jews by the name Jehovah. The Jews and Israelites themselves also believed that a number of gods existed, but that Jehovah was greater than all others on account of His miracles. When therefore those miracles ceased they instantly declined into the worship of other gods, as is evident from the historical parts of the Word. They did, it is true, declare with their lips that there is one God and none besides Him, but they did not believe it in their hearts. This then explains why the Word says that Jehovah is greater than all other gods and that there is none like Him, as in David,

Who is a great God like Goda? You are the God who does wonders. Ps 77:13,14.

In the same author,

Who is like Jehovah our God? Ps 113:5.

In the same author,

A great God is Jehovah, and a great King above all gods. Ps 95:3.

In the same author,

Great is Jehovah, and highly exalted; He is to be feared above all gods. Ps 96:4.
Jehovah is therefore also called God of gods and Lord of lords in Ps 136:2, 3; Dan 2:47.
However the truth which the internal sense contains - that there is one God and none besides Him - is evident in Isaiah,

Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no God else; and there is not the like of Me. Isa 46:9.

Notes

a The Latin means You but the Hebrew means God.


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