We know from biology that the brain coordinates and orders every activity in the body. Even the beating of your heart depends on electrical pulses from your brain. So our own physical “command structure” runs from the inside to the outside; it makes sense, then, that our spiritual “command structure” also runs from the inside — from our most internal aspects, and ultimately from the Lord himself — to the outside.
So when we see people giving commands in the Bible, it generally represents what Swedenborg calls “influx,” a sort of subtle feeding of ideas and motivations from higher states into lower ones. This is a way the Lord helps to open our minds and hearts so gently that we feel like it’s happening on its own.
There are also more direct and structured ways for internal things to imprint themselves onto external things. Ultimately, the Lord’s love is expressed as perfect truth, and that truth describes an alignment that all things can have with the divine — what Swedenborg calls “divine order.” Generally this alignment, and the truth that describes it, are meant when we see the Lord giving commands in the Bible.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6561
6561. ‘Your father commanded before he died, saying’ means that it is by the command of the Church. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as the Church, dealt with in 4286, 6426; from the meaning of ‘commanding’ as influx, dealt with immediately above in 6560, here a command which, being that of the Church, accordingly comes from the Divine; and from the meaning of ‘before he died’ as when the Church was still in existence.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5732
5732. ‘And he commanded the one who was over his house, saying’ means an influx from itself. This is clear from the meaning of ‘commanding as an influx, dealt with in 5486, and from the meaning of ‘the one who was over his house’ as the one who was to serve as communicator. The fact that the influx came from itself – from the internal celestial man, which ‘Joseph’ represents – is self-evident. The reason why ‘commanding’ means influx is that no one in heaven is given commands or orders. On the contrary one shares his thoughts and the other freely acts in accordance with them. The communication of thought, together with a desire to see something put into effect, is influx; and on the part of the receiver it is perception, which is why ‘commanding’ also means perception, 3661, 3682.
[2] Furthermore those in heaven not only think but also talk to one another – about those things that are matters of wisdom. Yet there is not in what they say any trace of an order given to another; for no one wishes to be the master and consequently regard another as his slave. Rather, each wishes to minister and be of service to another.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9779
9779. ‘And you shall command the children of Israel’ means the Lord’s command to the Church through the Word. This is clear from the representation of Moses, to whom ‘you’ refers here, as the Lord in respect of the Word, or the Word which comes from the Lord, dealt with in 4859 (end), 5922, 6752, 7014, 7089, 9372; and from the representation of ‘the children of Israel’ as members of the spiritual Church, dealt with in 9340. From this it is evident that Moses’ being told to ‘command the children of Israel’ means the Lord’s command to the Church through the Word.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10119
10119. ‘According to all that I have commanded you’ means according to the laws of Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘commanding’ – when done by Jehovah, that is, the Lord – as according to the laws of Divine order. Whatever the Lord commands is according to Divine order, thus according to its laws; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord’s Divine Good in the heavens, thus the Lord there, constitutes true order, and therefore everything the Lord commands is a law of order.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6692
6692. ‘And Pharaoh commanded all his people’ means a general influx into factual knowledge opposed to the Church’s truths. This is clear from the meaning of ‘commanding’ as an influx, dealt with in 5486, 5732, here a general influx since thecommand came from Pharaoh, who represents factual knowledge in general, 6015; and from the meaning of ‘his people’ as factual knowledge opposed to the Church’s truths. The meaning of the Egyptians, to whom ‘people’ refers here, as factual knowledge has been demonstrated often, see 6638. The reason why factual knowledge opposed to the Church’s truths is meant by ‘the Egyptians’ is that the representative forms and meaningful signs of the Ancient Church, a Church which had existed also among them, had been turned there into magic.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9290
9290. ‘As I commanded you’ means in keeping with the laws of order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘commanding’, when done by the Lord, as Divine Truth emanating from Him, for that Truth contains and teaches the commandments that have to do with life and with worship. This Divine Truth constitutes order itself in the heavens, and truths compose the laws of that order, 1728, 1919, 2258, 2447, 5703, 7995, 8700, 8988. From this it is evident that ‘as I commanded you’ means in keeping with the laws of order.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5486
5486. ‘And Joseph gave the command’ means an influx from the celestial of the spiritual. This is clear from the meaning of ‘giving the command’, when used in reference to the celestial of the spiritual, or the internal, in relation to the external, as an influx, for the internal has no other way of ‘giving the command’ than by flowing into something and disposing it to serve some purpose; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the celestial of the spiritual, often dealt with already.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2634
2634. ‘As God had commanded’ means according to Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘God commending’ or of commandments. God’s commandments, or the things which God has commanded, constitute Divine order wholly and in every single detail, so much so that Divine order is nothing else than the everlasting commandment of God. Consequently living according to God’s commandments and within God’s commandments is doing so according to Divine order and within Divine order. Hence the phrase used here – ‘God commanded’ – means according to Divine order.