Week 3    Day 6

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The Inheritance of Benjamin—Jerusalem

Jerusalem

AC 2909:4. Hebron represented the Lord’s spiritual church in the land of Canaan. And on this account David was required by the command of Jehovah to go to Hebron, and there he was anointed to be king over the house of Judah; and after he had reigned there seven years and six months, he went to Jerusalem and took possession of Zion (see 2 Sam. 2:1-11; 5:5; 1 Kings 2:11). And then for the first time the spiritual church of the Lord began to be represented by Jerusalem, and the celestial church by Zion.

AC 2534:6. The wiser anyone is, the more easily is a [spiritual] idea gathered when those representatives from the Jewish Church are removed. For example, where the “temple” is mentioned, those who think more wisely do not perceive the temple at Jerusalem, but the Temple of the Lord. Where “Mount Zion” or “Zion” is mentioned, they do not perceive that mountain at Jerusalem, but the Lord’s kingdom. And where “Jerusalem” is mentioned, they do not perceive the city that was in the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, but the holy and heavenly Jerusalem.

AE 449:4. Jerusalem fell to that tribe [Benjamin] because “Jerusalem” signified the church in respect to doctrine and worship, and all doctrine of the church is the doctrine of truth conjoined to good, and all worship is effected according to doctrine through the natural man; for... worship is an effect from the effecting cause which is in the spiritual man.

AE 449:5. From this the signification of “Benjamin” in the following passages can be seen. In Jeremiah: “In hallowing the sabbath, they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the circuits of Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland and from the mountain and from the south, bringing burnt-offering and sacrifice and gift-offering and frankincense” (17:26).

This was done for hallowing the sabbath because the “sabbath” signifies the union of the Divine and the Divine Human in the Lord, and in a relative sense the conjunction of His Divine Human with heaven and with the church, and in general the conjunction of good and truth... “The cities of Judah, the circuits of Jerusalem, and the land of Benjamin,” signify truths conjoined to good in the natural man; “the cities of Judah” the truths of good; “the circuits of Jerusalem” the truths of doctrine in the natural man, and “the land of Benjamin” their conjunction. For “cities” signify truths, “Judah” the good of the church, “Jerusalem” the doctrine of truth, “circuits” such things as are round about or below, which are the truths of good in the natural man, and “the land of Benjamin” the church in respect to the conjunction of these in the natural man.

“From the lowland, from the mountain, and from the south,” signifies good and truth in the natural man from a celestial origin and from a spiritual origin, “lowland” signifying good and truth in the natural man. This is because in lowlands, that is, below the mountains and hills, those dwell who are in the lowest heaven, and are called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural... “Mountains” signify those who are in celestial good, and “the south” those who are in spiritual good and thence in the light of truth.

“To bring burnt-offering and sacrifice, and gift-offering and frankincense,” signifies worship from celestial good and from spiritual good in the natural man, “burnt-offering” signifying worship from celestial good, “sacrifice” worship from spiritual good, “gift-offering and frankincense” good and the truth of good in the natural man.

Such is the signification of these words. Why else should it be said that in hallowing the sabbath they should come “from the cities of Judah, from the circuits of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, the mountain, and the south,” and why not from the whole land of Canaan?

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