from WL Worcester (H Blackmer, ed.), 
The Sower.  Helps to the Study of the Bible in Home and Sunday School
 
(Boston: Massachusetts New-Church Union, n.d.)

Table of Contents
 

 

Lesson 59

Topical and Doctrinal Notes

Leading Thought: The Greatest Commandment

The Lord our Savior teaches us in the New Testament that the first of all the commandments is - what? Yes, to love the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul. He had taught the Israelites this in the Old Testament, where the commandment is given repeatedly. (See, for instance, Deut. 6:5; 10:12.) We have it in this chapter, in verse 13; and the consequence of keeping it is told in the beautiful promises about life in the land of Canaan. This means to us, of course, the promise of a lovely life in heaven, if we will keep this commandment.

Following the Lord's statute in verse 18, and elsewhere, the children of Israel copied the commandment on pieces of parchment, which they put in little cases, and by means of straps bound them upon their hands and between their eyes. Such a case with the parchment and the straps was called a "phylactery." They imagined that in this way they obeyed the Lord's statute, but if they had read the Lord's words more carefully, they would have seen that He meant more than this; that He did, indeed, want them to carry the commandment in this way, but, to remind them continually that they should always try to see what is meant by the commandment, and to do it. For the eyes see, and they correspond to the understanding, which sees spiritually. And the hands correspond to the ability to do what the understanding sees.

But the Jews obeyed only the outside of the statute, so that when the Lord was in the world, He said that they "make broad their phylacteries" "to be seen of men," and that they neglected the inside of the command. They "cleansed the outside of the cup and platter" and left the inside "full of extortion and excess."

The Lord has been very kind and gracious to us of the New Church; for He has taught us the inside meaning, or the internal sense, of the verses which we have just been talking about.

He has taught us that, just as our body has heart and lungs, so our spirit has will and understanding, which are the heart and lungs of the spirit. As the life of the body depends upon the heart and lungs and upon their being sound and well, so the life of our spirit depends upon our will and understanding, and on both being sound and well.

Since our will is to our spirit what our heart is to our body, the will is called "heart" in the Word of the Lord.

And since our understanding is to our spirit what the lungs are to our body, it is called "soul" in the Word. You may think this strange because you do not see any connection between "soul" and "lungs." You are right. It is not clear in English. But the three sacred languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, each have a word for "soul" which means also "breath." And as the lungs breathe, you can easily see that "soul" means something relating to the lungs. And indeed when we understand the truth about anything, then we breathe freely with our lungs, just as when we love a thing very much, our heart bounds.

The "heart," then, means our will, or our love; for what we love we will, and what we will we love. And "soul" or "breath" means our understanding, or our belief or faith; for what we understand we believe, or have faith in, and what we rightly believe or have faith in, this enters that part of our spirit called the understanding.

Now we are prepared to understand why the Lord tells us to love Him with all our heart and soul: we must love Him with all our will; and we must also believe in Him, and love to believe in Him, and study all that He teaches us in His Word, and love it because He has given it to us.

And the Lord has also taught us about the internal meaning of the statute to tie the commandment on the forehead and on the hand. It was to go on the forehead, because, when the Lord looks upon angels and people, He always looks upon their foreheads.

I wonder why?

Because the forehead signifies the goodness which comes to them when they love Him, and it is from His great Love that He looks upon them.

And. how do the angels look at Him?

Through their eyes. And this means through the intelligence and wisdom which they have received from Him through the Truth He has given in His Holy Word.

It was to represent this, that He told the children of Israel to bind the commandment between the eyes.

Do you remember that the Lord said, that on this commandment "hang all the law and the Prophets"? The "Law" means all the story part of the Word, and the "Prophets" means all the prophecy part. Therefore the commandment was bound on the head, which is the chief or first thing of person’s body; and on the hands, which are the most outside, or the last of the body, for the commandment is the first and the last that a person ought to think of, and love, and do.

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