All changes of place in the Bible (according to Swedenborg) represent changes in spiritual state. “Entering” – usually used as entering someone’s house or “going in unto” someone – particularly means adopting a spiritual state that is compatible with someone else in order to communicate with them or be conjoined with them. This is easily seen in the fact that a man “going in unto” a woman is sort of a Biblical euphemism for a physical relationship.
In a broader sense, all the spiritual changes we go through in our lives involve “entering” and “leaving,” so when the Bible uses the phrasing “going in and coming out,” it symbolizes someone’s entire spiritual life.
Passage from Swsedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5776
‘Joseph’s house’ means a communication with the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going into the house’ as a communication, and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, dealt with in 5469. ‘Going into the house’ means a communication for the reason that ‘the house’ means the actual person, 3128, 5023, thus that which makes the person, namely his mind together with the good and truth present there, 3538, 4973, 5023. When therefore the expression ‘going into the house’ is used, entering his mind, thus having a communication with it, is meant.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6901
‘And you and the elders of Israel are to go in to the king of Egypt’ means a communicating to those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going in to’ as a communicating to, for in the spiritual sense ‘going in to’ is communicating one’s thought to another; from the representation of ‘Moses’ as the law from God, dealt with in 6827; from the meaning of ‘the elders’ as those with intelligence, dealt with in 6524, 6525, 6890; and from the representation of Pharaoh or ‘the king of Egypt’ as falsity molesting the Church’s truths, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683. From all this it is evident that ‘you and the elders of Israel are to go in to the king of Egypt’ means the communication of such truths as belong to the law from God, and belong to intelligence acquired from that source, to those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7498
‘Go to Pharaoh, and you are to tell him’ means the appearance of the truth from God among those engaged in molestation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going (in) to someone’ as becoming present or appearing, dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘telling’ as communication; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as those who in the next life molest members of the spiritual Church, dealt with in 7107, 7110, 7126, 7142, 7220, 7228, 7317; and from the representation of Moses, who was to go in to Pharaoh and speak to him, as the truth from God, dealt with in 6771, 6827, 7014, 7382. The reason why ‘going (in) to’ means the presence or appearance is that in the spiritual sense things connected with the mind and therefore with thought are meant, and when ‘going (in) to someone is used in reference to thought, it means making that person present in one’s thought; for one who thinks about another causes that other to be present in his thought. And what is astonishing, in the next life when one person is thinking about another because he wishes to talk to him, that other becomes present with him. From this it is evident that in these matters there is a similarity between what goes on in the thinking of a person in the world and what takes place visibly in the next life. From all this one may now see that ‘going (in) to someone’ means the presence or appearance.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9927
‘When he goes into the holy place before Jehovah, and when he comes out’ means in every state of good and truth in worship. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going into the holy place’ and ‘going in before Jehovah’ as worship, dealt with above in 9903, 9907. The reason why the state of good and truth in worship is what is meant is that everything constituting the worship of the Israelite and Jewish nation was representative of internal worship, and internal worship springs from good and truth, or rather from an affection for good and a belief in truth. The reason why their every state is meant is that it says ‘when he goes in’ and ‘when he comes out’, and ‘going in and coming out’ means all aspects of the state. For actions that involve movement from place to place, such as walking, moving about, or advancing, mean the state of the thoughts and affection belonging to whatever thing they refer to, and so in a general sense they mean the state of life. As regards ‘walking’, that it has this meaning, see 519, 1794, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, as likewise do ‘advancing’ and ‘journeying on’, 8103, 8181, 8397, 8557; and in the next life movements and advancements from place to place are states, 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2837, 3356, 9440. From this it is evident that ‘going in and coming out’ means the whole of a state of life or of whatever thing these words refer to. And because they refer here to worship springing from good and truth, the entire state of good and truth in worship is what ‘going in and coming out’ means.
[2] The origins of this meaning of ‘going in and coming out’ lie in representatives in the next life. For they who are there move about, walk, advance, go in and come out, just as in the world. But all these movements take place in accord with the state of the life of their thoughts and affections, see the places referred to above. They are not however immediately aware of the fact that these are the origin of the movements they make, or that those movements are correspondences, and for this reason real appearances. From this it is evident that all forms of movement mean things which constitute states of life. So it is that ‘going in and coming out’ means the entire state of life, thus the state of whatever thing these words refer to, from beginning to end. This is the source of the customary saying used by the ancients, that they knew someone’s going in and coming out, or entering and departing, by which they meant that they knew the entire state of his life. And since this saying traces its origin back, as stated above, to correspondences in the next life, a similar use of the saying occurs in the Word; and where it occurs it has a similar meaning, as in the following places: In the first Book of Samuel,
Achish called David and said to him, You have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the camp has been good in my eyes. For I have not found evil in you. 1 Sam. 29:6.
‘Your going out and your coming in has been good in my eyes’ stands for the fact that he was well pleased with the entire state of the other’s life.
[3] In the second Book of Samuel,
You know Abner, that he has come to persuade you, and in order that he may know your departing and your entering, and that he may know everything that you do. 2 Sam. 3:25.
‘Knowing the departure and entrance’ stands for knowing all the thoughts and deeds of his life, which is why it also says, ‘and that he may know everything that you do’. In the second Book of Kings,
I know your sitting, and your going out, and your coming in, and that you rage* against Me. 2 Kings 19:27; Isa. 37:28.
This refers to Sennacherib, king of Assyria. ‘Knowing his going out and his coming in’ stands for knowledge of all aspects of what he plans. In David,
Jehovah will guard you from all evil, He will guard your soul. Jehovah will guard your going out and your coming in from now and even for evermore. Ps. 121:7, 8.
‘Guarding the going out and the coming in’ stands for protecting every aspect of life in keeping with a state of good and truth.
[4] In Moses,
Let Jehovah God of the spirits of all flesh set** a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of Jehovah may not be like a flock which have no shepherd. Num. 27:16, 17.
‘Who may go out before them, and who may come in before them’ stands for one who may lead them, and so whom they may look to and follow in every state of life. In John,
He who does not go through the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who goes in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door; if anyone goes in through Me he will be saved, and will go in and come out and find pasture. John 10:1, 2, 9.
‘Going in’ here means doing so into heaven, thus into the good of love and faith since that good composes heaven. ‘Going in and coming out’ consequently means being led by the Lord in every state of life, and therefore thinking and willing good in freedom, that is, in love and faith received from the Lord since love and faith constitute freedom.
[5] In Luke,
Jesus sent the twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God, and said to them, Whatever house you go into, there stay, and from there come out. Luke 9:4.
‘Going into a house, staying there, and from there coming out’ stands for the enjoyment of heavenly fellowship with those who receive the Lord in faith and love; for in heaven those who live together in the same community are also in the same house, which they go into and come out from, since they are governed by a like good. But those governed by an unlike good cannot do so; or if they do get in, they do not go in through the doors but by some other way. Anyone who does not know that these kinds of things are meant cannot know what is implied by the command that whatever house they went into, there they were to stay and from there come out.
[6] In Ezekiel,
When the prince goes in he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate, and come out by the same way. When the people of the land go in before Jehovah at the appointed feasts, anyone going in by way of the north gate to worship shall come out by way of the south gate; and anyone going in by way of the south gate shall come out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he had gone in, but shall come out straight before him. The prince however shall be in their midst; when they go in he shall go in, and when they come out he shall come out. Ezek. 46:8-10.
These verses refer in the internal sense to a new heaven and a new Church, ‘the prince’ meaning the truth of faith springing from the good of love. In what manner that truth enters in with angels in heaven and with people of the Church on earth, and how after this it develops when it passes by an external way to more internal things, and when it passes by an internal way to more external ones, is described in those verses by the going in and coming out of the prince and the people of the land. ‘The south’ is the state of the truth of faith in the internal man, and ‘the north’ the state of it in the external man. ‘Going in and coming out’ is the state of life so far as good and truth, thus so far as worship, are concerned.
[7] From all this it may be recognized quite plainly that ‘going in’ and ‘coming out’ are descriptive of things such as belong to states of life conditioned by good and truth. For apart from this what real meaning could the prescription have, that the prince should go in by the one or the other gate, and the people of the land likewise? ‘The house’ here, or the temple, which they went into and came out from, means heaven and the Church, see 3720; ‘the prince’ the truth of faith, 5044; ‘the people of the land’ those who are in heaven or who belong to the Church, 2928; ‘the way’ that which leads to truth, 627, 2333; ‘the gate’ doctrinal teachings, 2851, 3187; ‘the south’ where truth dwells in light, 9642, thus truth in the internal man; and ‘the north’ where truth dwells in obscurity, 3708, thus truth in the external man.