Arcana Coelestia (Elliott): AC 1984

Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1984

1984. Few can believe that within the Word there is an internal sense which does not show itself at all in the letter. They cannot do so because it is as remote from the sense of the letter as so to speak heaven from earth. But it is clear from what has been stated in various places in Volume One that the sense of the letter contains such things within itself, and represents and means arcana which nobody sees except the Lord and the angels, who see them from Him. The relationship of the sense of the letter to the internal sense is like that of man's body to his soul. While a person is in the body and thinks from bodily things he knows hardly anything of the soul, for the body's functions are different from those of the soul, so different that if the soul's functions were disclosed they would not be acknowledged as such. It is similar with the inward part of the Word. Present there is its soul, that is, its life; and that inward part has no regard to anything except the Lord, His Kingdom, the Church, and those things with man which belong to His Kingdom and Church. And when the regard is to these it is the Word of the Lord, for in that case they have life itself within them. That this is how it is with the Word has been confirmed extensively in Volume One, and is something which I have been allowed to have definite knowledge of. For no ideas concerning bodily and worldly things can possibly come across to angels, but are cast aside and totally removed at the threshold while leaving man, as may be seen from experience itself presented in Volume One, 1769-1772 inclusive; and how they are altered, in 1872-1876.

[2] This is also quite clear from very many statements in the Word which are by no means intelligible in the sense of the letter, and which, if they did not possess that soul or life within them, would not be acknowledged to be the Word of the Lord. Nor would they be seen to be Divine to anyone who has not been trained from infancy to believe that the Word is inspired and so is holy. Who from the sense of the letter would know of the meaning of those statements in Genesis 49 which Jacob made to his sons before he died?

Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the path, biting the horse's heels, and its rider will fall backwards. Verse 17.

A troop will plunder Gad, and he will plunder the heel. Verse 19.

Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving beautiful words. Verse 21.

Judah will bind to the vine his ass's foal and to the choice vine his she-ass's colt. He will wash his garment in wine and his clothing in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Verses 11, 12.

Very many places in the Prophets contain similar statements. But what these words mean is not at all evident except in the internal sense in which every single detail links together in a very lovely order.

[3] What the Lord declared in Matthew about the last times is similar,

At the close of the age the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Matt 24:29, 30.

These words do not mean at all the darkening of the sun and the moon, or the falling of the stars from the sky, or the mourning of tribes. Instead they mean that charity and faith - sun and moon in the internal sense - are going to be darkened in this fashion. They mean that the cognitions of good and truth - 'the stars' which are here called 'the powers of the heavens' - are going to fall away and disappear. And they mean all things of faith, which are 'the tribes of the earth', as has also been shown in Volume One, in 31, 32, 1053, 1529-1531,1808.

These few observations now show what the internal sense of the Word is and also that it is remote, in some places very remote, from the sense of the letter. Yet be that as it may, the sense of the letter represents truths, and also sets forth appearances of truth for a person to see by when he does not see by the light of truth.

GENESIS 17

And Abram was a son of ninety-nine years, and Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless.
And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you more and more.
And Abram fell on his face,^a and God spoke to him, saying,
As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
And no longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
And I will make you more and more fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an eternal covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.
And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession; and I will be their God.
And God said to Abraham, And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.
This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you, and your seed after you: Every male among you is to be circumcised.
And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
And a son eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, and he who is the purchase of silver, from every son who is a foreigner and not of your seed.
He must be circumcised ^b who is born in your house or who is the purchase of your silver; and My covenant shall be in your flesh as an eternal covenant.
And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from his peoples; he has broken My covenant.
And God said to Abraham, Sarai your wife you will not call by her name Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. And I will bless him, and he will become nations; kings of peoples will be from her.
And Abraham fell on his face ^a and laughed, and said in his heart, Will one be born to a son of a hundred years? And will Sarah, a daughter of ninety years, give birth?
And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before You!
And God said, Truly Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him as an eternal covenant, for his seed after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and I will make him fruitful and I will multiply him more and more Twelve princes will he beget, and I will make him into a great nation.
And I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at the set time next year.
And He finished speaking to him, and God went up from over Abraham.
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all born in his house, and every one purchased with his silver, every male among the men (vir) of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that same day, just as God had spoken to him.
And Abraham was a son of ninety-nine years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
On that very day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27 And all the men of his house, he that was born in the house and he who was the purchase of silver, from the son who is a foreigner, were circumcised together with him.

Notes

^a lit. faces
^b lit. By being circumcised he shall be circumcised

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