Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3683spiritual church, therefore a “vineyard” signifies the spiritual churchitself (n. 1069, 3220). As the Nazirite represented the celestial man,who is regenerated through the good of love, and not through thetruth of faith like the spiritual man, and who consequently is notregenerated as to the intellectual part, but as to the will part (as maybe seen above), therefore the Nazirite was forbidden to eat anythingwhich came forth from the vine, thus was not to drink wine (Num.6:3, 4; Judges 13:14); from this also it is evident that by the “vine”is signified the intellectual part that belongs to the spiritual man, asalready shown.[17] (That the Nazirite represented the celestial man may be seenabove, n. 3301.) Hence also it may be seen that it cannot possiblybe known why the Nazirite was forbidden whatever came forthfrom the vine (not to mention many other things regarding him),unless it is known what the “vine” signifies in its own sense, andalso unless it is known that there is a celestial church and a spiritualchurch, and that the man of the celestial church is regenerated in amanner different from the man of the spiritual church—the formerby means of seed implanted in the will part, the latter by means ofseed implanted in the intellectual part. Such are the arcana storedup in the internal sense of the Word.5114. And in the vine were three shoots. That this signifies thederivations thence even to the last is evident from the significationof the “vine” as being the intellectual part (of which just above, n.5113); and from the signification of “three” as being what iscomplete and continuous even to the end (n. 2788, 4495); andfrom the signification of “shoots” as being derivations. For as the“vine” is the intellectual part, the “shoots” are nothing else thanderivations thence; and as “three” signifies what is continuous evento the end, or from the first even to the last, by “three shoots” aresignified the derivations from the intellectual part down to the last,which is the sensuous; for the first in order is the intellectual part,and the last is the sensuous. The intellectual part in general is thesight of the internal man, which sees from the light of heaven,which is from the Lord, and all that it sees is spiritual and celestial.But the sensuous in general is of the external man, here the