![]() "Forty times shall he strike him, and not exceed, lest thy brother be accounted vile in thine eyes" ( Deuteronomy 25:3 and elsewhere). "If any man shall steal the soul (animam) of his brethren and shall make gain thereof" ( Deuteronomy 24:7). "Thou shalt open thine hand to thy brother when thy brother, a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman, shall be sold to thee, he shall serve thee six years" ( Deuteronomy 15:11, 12). "Behold, a man of the sons of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman" ( Numbers 25:6). ![]() "Would to God that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah" ( Numbers 20:3). "But as to your brethren, the sons of Israel, a man shall not rule over his brother with rigour" ( Leviticus 25:46) "When thy brother shall be impoverished" ( Leviticus 25:25, 35, 47). "I will return to my brethren, who are in Egypt" ( Exodus 4:18) Moses said unto Jethro his father-in-law, "Moses went out unto his brethren, that he might see their burdens" ( Exodus 2:11): "Until the remnant of his brethren return unto the sons of Israel" ( 5:3). ![]() "Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, the sons of thy kindred and the whole house of Israel" ( 11:15). "No one shall cause a Jew, his brother, to serve" ( 34:9). "Then shall they bring all your brethren, out of all nations, a gift to Jehovah" ( 66:20). (I.) All who were of the Israelitish Church called themselves brethren, as is clear from the following passages. But in order that what is signified by brother may be distinctly seen, it shall be illustrated from the Word. That formerly all those who were of one church called themselves brethren, and that the Lord calls those brethren, who are in love to Him and in charity towards the neighbour, is evident from many passages in the Word. This is why brother, in the spiritual sense, signifies charity. From this it came to pass that with the ancients, in the churches in which charity was the essential, all were called brethren the same was the case in our Christian Church at its beginning. Moreover, it is the chief commandment of the Lord the Father, that they should love one another, consequently it is love that makes them brethren love also is spiritual conjunction. It follows, therefore, that since they are the sons of one Father, they are also brethren. Such are called brethren because they all have one Father, that is, the Lord and those who are in the good of love to the Lord, and in the good of charity towards the neighbour, are His sons, and are also called sons of God, sons of the kingdom, and heirs. But by the brethren whom they accuse are meant all those in the heavens, and also all those on earth who are in the good of charity. What is wonderful, although those who are dragons make no account of life, yet they accuse the faithful in the spiritual world, if they observe any evil of ignorance, for they inquire into their life in order that they may reproach and condemn them, and therefore they are called accusers. For an accuser signifies one who attacks, rebukes, and reproaches, for he who accuses also attacks, rebukes, and reproaches moreover, in the original, an adversary and one who reproaches are expressed by the same word. 739, 742), and from the signification of the accuser of our brethren, as denoting those who fought against the life of faith, which is charity. Because the accuser of our brethren is cast down.- That this signifies after those have been separated from heaven, and condemned to hell, who fought against the life of faith, which is charity, is evident from the signification of being cast down, when said of the dragon, as denoting that those meant by the dragon were separated from heaven and condemned to hell (concerning which see above, n.
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