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Index - Arcana Coelestia (Hyde edition) #2

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2. B

Babel (Babel). What is signified by Babel, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322. Babel denotes worship whose externals appear holy, but the interiors are profane, 1182; worship in which there is the love of self, thus profaned worship, 1326; also what vastates, 1327:6. Babel denotes the profanation of good; Chaldea denotes the profanation of truth, thus those who have self for the end in worship; to whom worship is for the sake of self and the love of ruling, for which holy goods serve as means. Chaldea denotes those whose holy things are not true, 1368, 3901:8, 6534:6.

[Babylon. See BABEL.]

Back (tergum). [See also AFTER.] The voluntary of man is presented from the back, from correspondence with the Grand Man, 8194. To go after them, when it relates to the Divine, denotes to protect the voluntary against infernals, for they are from the back, 8194.

[Back. See BACKWARDS.]

Back Parts (posteriora). They who deny the Word do not see the back parts of Jehovah: shown, 10584:3. To see the back parts of Jehovah denotes the external things of the Word, the Church, and worship, 10584.

Backwards (retro). [See also AFTER.] That one ought not to look away from good to truth, thus backwards: illustrated, 7923, 8516; shown, 10184. What to look from good to truth means, explained; and what from truth to good, which is the inverse, and what to look from good is, according to the order of heaven, and that then the Lord has rest, and as it were man also, 8505, 8506, 8510. He who is led of the Lord by means of good is he that lives according to Divine order, thus in the Lord, 8512.

What is implied by backwards, 248. What to look backwards, or to look back (respicere), signifies, 2454, 7857. To look backwards denotes to turn from good in which there is the celestial, to the doctrinal of faith, and so to leave good, 5895:5, 5897:9. To turn back again to take a garment denotes to turn from the good of truth in which one is to the doctrinal of truth, 3652. To go backwards denotes to be in evil: shown, 10584e.

Badger (melis). The skins of badgers denotes external goods, 9471.

[Bake, To. See To BOIL.]

Baker (pistor). Baker denotes, in the internal sense, the sensual things subject to the voluntary part; whence this is, 5078, 5082.

Balaam (Balaam). Concerning Balsam,1343e. That there were Divine prophecies with others than the Israelites, exemplified by Balsam, 2898.

Baldness (calvities). Baldness denotes that there is no truth: shown, 3301:9. See HAIR (pilus). Baldness denotes deprivation of the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good: shown, 9960:3.

[Band. See under BOND and TROOP.

Bank (ripa). What is signified by the bank of the river, 5205. The bank of the stream denotes the state of falsity, 7308.]

Banner (vexillum). When it is an ensign, 8624. See SIGN.

Baptism (baptismus). See INUNDATION. What baptism is; briefly, 2702e. Doctrine of Baptism, 10386-10392. Baptism is a sign that a man is of the Church, and a memorial that he is to be regenerated by means of the truths of faith and a life according to them, 10386-10388. The waters of baptism also signify temptations, 10389. Because baptism is a sign and a memorial, therefore a man can be baptised when an infant as well as when an adult, 10390. Baptism does not bestow faith, nor salvation, but it testifies of these, if anyone is being regenerated, 10391. Explanation of Mark 16:16: baptising denotes regeneration by the Lord by means of truths from the Word, 10392.

How infants represented baptism, 2299. Baptism denotes initiation into the Church and those things which are of the Church, and this S. regeneration and those things which are of regeneration, 4255:5. Baptism signifies regeneration, for this is effected by spiritual combats, it also signifies temptation, 5120:12. Washings formerly and baptism today signify regeneration by means of the truths of faith, because waters denotes the truths of faith, 9088. Washing denotes purification, but complete washing, or that of the whole body, which is called baptising, denotes regeneration: shown, 10239. The baptising of the Lord was a representative of the glorification of the Lord's Human by means of temptations, 10239:4. Washing the feet of the Lord's disciples (John 13:5-10) is explained, 10243.

[Bar. See STAFF.

Bared. See BERED.]

Barley (hordeum). Barley denotes good of the natural or external man: shown, 7602.

Barren (sterilis). What barren s.; that truths were not received, 3857. That the barren called themselves dead was because they had no goods and truths, which are sons and daughters, 3908. Barren denotes no life from truth and good: shown, 9325; also the nations who are not in good, because they are not in truths, and yet desire truths that they may be in good: shown, 9325:7.

Base (basis). Base denotes support, 9643; by means of the truth of faith from good, 9748. The base of the layer, in which purification took place, denotes the natural: shown; the subject of the ten bases near the Temple of Solomon, etc., is explained, 10236.

Basin (pelvis). Basin denotes the good of the natural, 7920; and the natural, 7922.

[Basis. See BASE.]

Basket (canistrum). See BASKET (corbis).

Basket (corbis). Basket denotes the voluntary part as containing good: shown, 5144. Perforated baskets denotes voluntary things without termination in the middle, 5145:2. Basket (corbis seu canistrum) denotes the sensual delight, and is predicated of good, and a bowl or goblet denotes the sensual scientific, which is the ultimate, and is predicated of truth, 9996.

[Be, To, Being. See ESSE.

Beam. See ROOF.]

Beams (asseres). Beams for the dwelling denotes the good which supports heaven, 9634.

Bear, To (portaree). To bear denotes to continue in a state of good and truth, so to exist and subsist,9500; to exist and subsist: briefly shown, 9737; to preserve, 9900.

[Bear, To. See To BRING FORTH.]

Beard (barba). Before the flood they believed that the Lord would come, but aged and bearded; thence was the religious observance as to the beard, 1124. Beards denotes sensual scientifics which are ultimate truths, 9960:3.

Beast (bestia). [See also WILD BEAST.] Beasts live according to order, but not man, 6372. That there is an influx into the lives of beasts is known 1633. There is an influx from the spiritual world into the souls of beasts and into their bodies, but it is differently received; concerning which, 3646. Beasts are in the order of their own nature, and, therefore, there is a general influx into them from the spiritual world, 5850. All scientifics are in loves: illustrated from beasts, 6323. Concerning some who live like beasts which have little of life, and life was inspired into them through angels, 3647.

Man has a connection with the Lord above beasts, and thence he cannot die, 4525. The distinction between man and beasts is that man has an internal, that he can be elevated towards the Lord, can see external things in himself, can think of Divine things, and can be conjoined to the Lord, and so can live after death, 9231. How much man is above beasts, 6323:3.

Beasts of various kinds were represented when discourse with angels was about affections: beautiful animals,-tame and useful, when about good affections, and hideous, fierce, and useless when about evil affections, 3218. Beasts in the Word and rituals represent goods and truths with man; and whence this is, 2179. Beasts signify affections; evil with the evil, and good with the good, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776. That beasts denotes affections is from the representatives in the spiritual world, 5198:2. That beasts signify such things as are of affection and inclination, illustrated from representatives in heaven, 9090:2. Beasts in the sacrifices signified celestial and spiritual things, 1823; tame and useful beasts, the celestial things which are of good, and the spiritual things which are of truth: shown, 3519:2; principally in the sacrifices, 3519s. Beasts signified goods: shown, 2180. Evil beasts signified evil affections, 719. There are beasts that signify the voluntary things, and those that signify the intellectual things of man; what they are, 2781. That beasts signified affections and inclinations such as man has in common with them: references; and, therefore, they were used in sacrifices: references, 9280. Man and beast denotes interior and exterior evil of lust, and interior and exterior good or evil, 7424; shown, 7523. From man even unto beast denotes the interior and exterior evil lusts, 7872. A beast of burden denotes what is stupid and but little conscious, 9040.

Beast of Burden (jumentum). See BEAST.

Beast, Wild (fera). Beasts and wild beasts denotes affections and lusts, 45, 46. Wild beasts denotes what is living and good, 774; also the living; why, 841, 908; also signifies ferine, 908:3; the viler things in man, 1030; the evils and falsities of the love of self and the world, thus those who are in these: shown, 9335; also the upright gentiles, because they are in falsities: shown, 9335:5. Evil wild beasts denotes a lie from the life of lusts, 4729; vastation of the evil from falsity, and damnation from the evil thereof: shown, 7102:2. Wild beast of the field denotes those who are in the delights of external truth, 9276.

Beauty (pulchritudo). [See also COMELINESS.] Old women who have lived well, when they enter heaven, return to the flower of their youth, and become most beautiful, 553. Everything beautiful is from good, 553, 3080, 4985. The beauty of angels, which is ineffable, is from good through truth, 4985. The beauty of angels is ineffable, because they are forms of heaven, 5199. Angels are forms of love and charity, and love and charity shine forth from their faces, in a type, 3804:2, 4735:2, 4797, 4985e, 5199, 5530, 9879, 10177:4.

What beautiful form and beautiful in look signifies, 3821, 4985. See FORM. Beauty denotes truths from good, thence beautiful in look denotes what is of faith, 5199.

Bed (lectus). Bed denotes the natural: shown, 6188; the inmost; when, 7354. A bed is attributed to Jacob: shown; and when he is thought of, a bed appears in which there is a man, because a bed denotes the natural, and so does Jacob, 6463s. The head of a bed denotes the interior natural, 6188. To sit upon a bed denotes to turn oneself to the natural, 6226.

Bedchamber (cubiculum). See HOUSE.

[Bee. See INSECT.]

Beer-Lahairoi (Beerlachairoi). Beer-Lahairoi denotes Rational Divine Good born of the Divine Truth, 3194; also Divine Light, 3261.

Beer-Sheba (Beerscheba). Beer-Sheba denotes doctrine, 3466; the state and quality of doctrine: namely, that it is Divine to which human rational things are adjoined, 2614, 2723; the doctrine of charity and faith, 2858, 2859; charity and faith, 5997.

[Befall, To. See HAPPENINGS.]

Beginning (principium). See PHANTASY and PERSUASION. What the beginning signifies, 16. He who holds false principles makes all things favour them, 362, 794. He who confirms false principles from the Word; his quality, and that ho does so easily, 589. That the persuasion of what is false makes the life of his understanding, which life is hurtful, 794, 806. That the principles of what is false prevent the operation of remains, 798. That falsities do not condemn so much, unless they are from evils, and thereby men are confirmed in falsities, 845. How it is with accepted principles; that those in them cannot even see truths, 1017. That they who imbibe false principles are vastated, 1106; they are reduced to ignorance, and afterwards are imbued with truths of faith, 1109. How direful and horrifying are the persuasions of the antediluvians, 1270. That the spheres of persuasions and principles of falsity excite confirmations of the false, 1510, 1511. The sphere of phantasies is in the appearance of a cloud, 1512. That there are three kinds of persuasions of what is false; concerning which, 1673. Persuasions of what is false from the love of self, and from the love of the world; the difference, 1675:5. That principles of whatever kind, even truths, may be contaminated by a false principle: an example concerning faith, 2385:3. That they do not suffer themselves to be persuaded against their principles; if the love of self and of the world inflates them, it partakes of a kind of fire, 2385:2. How ideas bend themselves and enter successively into persuasions, or principles of what is false; and how they are bent towards goods and truths in the regenerated, 1874, 1875. How what is false can be confirmed by many things so that it still appears as if true; and how truth is confirmed: exemplified, 2482-2490. [There is nothing which may not be infused into principles of what is false as confirming them, 2567. There is an affirmative principle, a negative principle, and a doubtful principle, 2568. There are two principles, one of folly, and the other of wisdom, 2568:4. What it is to see from principles, or ends and causes, 2572. There are two principles of thinking, the affirmative and the negative; and there is a doubtful principle before they deny or affirm, 2588:2. They who are ignorant of principles are pot able to reason, 3748. That the essence and quality of a beginning is drawn and passes into the sequents, 3939. The quality of those who are confirmed in the principles of what is false, 3986:4. A confirmed principle of falsity does not admit the Divine, 3986:4. What are the principles of intelligence in which angels are above men, 4318. The principles of falsity entirely overshadow truths, 4674:2. From a false principle the deductions become false in a continuous series, 4717e, 4720e. A principle is like a soul from which is the life of the rest, 4736. The principles of falsity and the delights of life therefrom cannot be cast out except by temptations, 5037. Whence are the beginnings of many diseases, 5718. Whence is the leading principle, 6047:2. What the beginning of might signifies, 6344. A principle so called is indistinguishable, 7236, 9002. The principles of the truth of faith are entirely without effect with man, unless the Lord insinuates an affection of spiritual love, 7342. Everyone in the other life retains the principles of faith which he had in the life of the body, 8313. The beginnings of motions and senses are in the head, 9656. What the beginnings are like, 9656. The will and understanding are in their beginnings in the head, 10044. To say what is contrary to principles confirmed through his loves, is to say what is contrary to the man himself, 10307e.

Behind. See BACK.

Being. See ESSE.]

Bells (tintinnabula). Bells denotes all things of doctrine and worship which pass to those who are of the Church, 9921.

Belly (venter). What the serpent going on his belly signifies, 247, 248. What the fruit of the belly signifies, 3911. See To BRING FORTH. Belt (balteus). See CANDLE.

Bend Oneself Down, To (inflectere se). See TO BOW ONESELF DOWN.

Benjamin (Benjamin). Benjamin denotes the spiritual-celestial man, Joseph, the celestial-spiritual, 3969:3; or Benjamin, faith in which is charity, or truth in which is good, and Joseph, charity from which is faith, or good from which is truth, 3969:3; Benjamin is the spiritual of the celestial, and Joseph, the celestial of the spiritual: shown, 4592:5. Benjamin denotes a medium, 5411; concerning which see 5411:2, 5413, 5443; interior truth, 5600, 5631; the spiritual medium, 5639; the internal, because a medium; from the celestial of the spiritual as a father, and from the natural as a mother, 5686, 5689; as a medium, what was born after all; concerning which see 5688; new truth, 5804, 5806, 5809, 5812, 5816, 5830; a medium; why so; interior truth with respect to that in the natural with the father, 5843; a conjoining medium, and how it partakes of both, 5822; the truth of the good of the spiritual Church, which is Joseph, 6440. Joseph and Benjamin denotes the uniting medium represented by the veil, 9671.

Bered (Bared). What Bered signifies, 1958.

Bereft, To be Bereaved (orbus, orbari). Bereaved, when it relates to the Church, denotes to be deprived of its truths, 5536, 5632.

Beryl (tharschish). The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper denotes the spiritual love of truth, or the external good of the Spiritual Kingdom, 9872. What Tarshish signifies, 1156.

Bethel (Bethel). What Bethel signifies,1450, 1451, 1453, 1557. Bethel denotes the cognitions of celestial things which are in childhood, 1451; good in the ultimate of order, 3729; the cognitions of good and truth, in particular the natural in which interiors are terminated, 4539. The God of Bethel denotes the Divine in the Natural, thus in the ultimate of order, 4089, 4539. El Bethel denotes the Holy Natural; El, the Divine: Bethel, the Natural, 4559, 4560.

Bethlehem (Bethlechem). Bethlehem denotes the spiritual of the celestial in a new state; Ephrath, the same in a former state: shown, 4594.

Bethuel (Bethuel). Bethuel denotes the good of the nations of the first class, 2865, 3665, 3778:2.

Betroth, To (desponsare). See BRIDEGROOM.

[Bewail, To. See To WEEP.]

Besaleel (Bezaleel). Bezaleel who did works denotes those who are in the good of love, with whom the Church would be established, 10329.

Bilhah (Bilha). Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, signifies exterior affections serving for mediums, 3849.

Bind, To (ligare). What to bind signifies, when temptations are treated of, 2813.

Binding Together (colligatio). See BUNDLE.

Bird (avis). Why the birds were not divided in the sacrifices, 1832. Birds are represented when angels discourse on thoughts, ideas, and influx, 3219. A vision that represented obscure and deformed birds, also others noble and beautiful, when the discourse was on the influx of thoughts, and that those who were in falsity fell down from an angelic society, 3219. Concerning the baneful flying thing with the Egyptians, 7441. See INSECT. Concerning a beautiful bird which shall signify the inhabitants of Mars, 7620-7622. See MARS.

Birds denotes rational and intellectual things, 40:3, 745, 776, 991; intellectual things, thoughts, ideas, reasons, thus truths and falsities: shown, 5149, 7441; phantasies and falsities, 778, 866, 988.

Birth (nativitas). See GENERATION. Births denotes those things that belong to faith, 1145, 1255; derivations of the Church, 1330; derivations, 3263; derivations, but when it relates to the Lord, denotes what is from the Divine Rational, and from this, the Natural, 3279; truth, because it is born of good, 4070; truths from good, or the things of faith from charity, 4668; the rebirth through faith and charity, 5598. To be born denotes to be reborn or regenerated, 5160. Conceptions and bearing are spiritual, and what things are understood, 3860, 3868. See also To BRING FORTH.

[Birthright. See PRIMOGENITURE.]

Bitter, Bitter Herbs or Bitterness (amarum, amaror seu amarstudo). Bitter herbs denotes undelightful things, and the undelightful things of temptation: shown, 7854. Bitter denotes what is undelightful, 8349.

Bitumen (bitumen). What bitumen signifies, 1299. Bitumen denotes good mixed with evils, 6724.

Blacks (nigri). The avaricious, when they are excoriated like swine, from being black become white, 939. In the habitation of dragons, black spirits were seen, 950. One who considered he had lived holily without works of charity became black, 952.

Black denotes evil, especially man's proprium, 3993:5, 3994. The black cattle in the lambs denotes the proprium of innocence; concerning which, 3994 4001.

Bladder (vesica). Concerning the correspondence of the kidneys, the ureters, and the bladder,5380-5386. See KIDNEYS. The functions of those who constitute the sphincter of the bladder or urethras, 5389.

Blain (pustula). A boil of blains denotes unclean things from evils with blasphemies, and blains denotes blasphemies, 7524.

[Blamelessness (immunitas). Blamelessness, in the original language, is expressed by a word that also means cleanness and purity. It relates to the affection of truth, 2526.]

Blasphemy (blasphemia). They who in heart deny the Word blaspheme it: shown, 9222. The blasphemies which are from the intellectual part, and those from the voluntary, [9221,] 9222:4.

[Blast (clangor). Blast denotes the truth of spiritual good, 8815.]

Bless, To (benedicere). To bless denotes to be fructified from the affection of truth, 2846; conjunction, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584; joy, 4216; that it was so done, 4309; a wish for conjunction, and fructification therefrom, 6091, 6099; foresight and providence, 6298; to intercede, 7963. To bless, when one bids farewell to one leaving, denotes to wish prosperity, 3185. What is signified by to be blessed, 981, 1731. To be blessed denotes to be arranged in spiritual and celestial order, 3017. To be blessed by Jehovah denotes to be enriched with the good of love, 3406. What blessed of Jehovah signifies, 1096 1422, 3119. Blessed of Jehovah denotes Divine Good, and also Divine Truth therefrom, 3140; all good from the Lord, 8674. What blessing signifies, 1096, 1420, 1422. It signifies love and charity from the Lord, and various things therefrom, which are consequents and increments in good and truth, 4981; prediction, 6230: shown, 6254; happiness to eternity, which is not what it is in time: illustrated, 8939; the reception of Divine Truth, and by means of it conjunction with the Lord, 10495. May God bless denotes a beginning, 3260.

Blessedness (beatitudo). Blessedness, from which Asher was called, in the highest sense, denotes eternity; in the internal sense, the happiness of eternal life; in the external sense, the delight of affections, 3938, 3939.

Blind, Blindness (coecus or coecus, coecitas). Blindness is predicated respecting those who are in falsities, also respecting those who are in ignorance: shown,2383. Blind denotes no faith, because no cognitions; and in the Word denotes those who are in ignorance of the truth, because they are outside the Church, but when instructed receive faith: shown to some extent, 6990.

Blood (sanquis). The cruel and violent, in the other life, are delighted to see blood, 954. Blood signifies violence offered to charity, and all evil, 374, 1005; what is holy, as the Lord Himself, love, and charity, 1001; the holy truth which proceeds from the Lord, and, in the opposite sense, truth falsified and profaned: shown, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326; holy truth which relates to the good of innocence, 7846, 7877; Divine Truth of the Divine Good which is from the Divine Human of the Lord, and what is reciprocal on man's part, 7850 (see SUPPER); Divine Truth: shown, 9127, the Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord: shown, 9393; Divine Truth, and it is the Lord's blood, 10026: shown, 10033:2; Divine Truth: references, 10210; the intellectual proprium; and flesh denotes the voluntary proprium: shown, 10283:2.

Blood crying signifies guilt, 376. By eating of blood profanation was formerly represented, 1003. Blood being demanded denotes remorse of conscience, 5476. The blood of grapes denotes Divine Good from the Lord's Divine Love, 6378. The blood of the lamb denotes the truth of the good of innocence, 7846. To shed blood denotes to offer violence to Divine Truth from Good: shown, 9127. What the Lord's blood shed with water signifies, 9127:6. Blood sprinkled upon the altar round about, and on the foundation of the altar, signifies the union of the Divine Truth with the Divine Good in the Lord, 10047. What is meant by the Lord redeeming man by means of His blood, in the external, internal, and inmost sense; that it means this, that He subjugated the hells, and restored all things to order in heaven, and that otherwise man could not be saved, 10152:2; that this was done through His Divine Human: shown, 10152:5.

Blue (caeruleum or caeruleum). The angels of the planet Jupiter are clothed in blue, and blue is loved by them, 8030. Blue is twofold, from red, or flame colour, and from white, or a lucid colour; that which is from red, or flame colour, is the celestial hove of truth, or the external of the good of the Celestial Kingdom, but that which is from white, or a lucid colour, is the spiritual love of good, or the internal good of the Spiritual Kingdom, 9868, 9870.

[Bluish Purple. See PURPLE.]

Body (corpus). See FLESH throughout. What is meant by to be withdrawn from the body, or not to know whether one is in the body or out of the body, 1883. That man does not rise again in the body, but immediately after death, and then he is in a body: illustrated, 5078. The state of man's body in the other life, as to its quality, 5079.

A man is regenerated so that external things may render obedience to internal, 911, 913. Concerning spirits who appear as corporeal; they are those who regard themselves in all and everything, 4221. The corporeal degree regarded in itself is the receptacle of sensations, thus also, together with them, it is a corporeal living thing, 5077. The corporeal life of a man appears to spirits as a black mass, but that of those who are in faith, as woody; from experience, 5865. There are spirits who appear with a gross body; they are those who have altogether persuaded themselves against the Divine, and so closed their interiors, 5991. Worldly and corporeal concerns destroy heavenly ideas; from experience, 6309. Concerning corporeal spirits, 6318.

The soul is the esse of man's life, the body is the existere therefrom, 10823. There is a likeness of the soul and body in everything with man, 1910. All things that are in the body represent the spiritual things that are in the Lord's kingdom, 2996, 2998. See REPRESENTATIONS. There is a correspondence of the gestures with the affections of the mind, 7596. Those things pertaining to man which pass from thought to speech, and from the will into act, thus into the body, flow according to a general influx by means of correspondences, 5862. The corporeal things of man are ruled from the general influx, 5990. There is a general influx into the actions and speech of the body, 6192, 6211. The thoughts and speech of the angels are circumstanced as the interior things in the body are, as compared with the external form of the body, 3347.

Body denotes the good of love: illustrated and shown, 6135:2; the receptacle of good, 6135. To come in the body, when said of servants, denotes with truth, but without delight, 8977. 8978, 8984. From the head through the neck into the body corresponds to the influx of the Celestial Kingdom into the Spiritual, 9913, 9914.

Body-Guard (satelles). Chief of the body-guards denotes the primary things of interpretation, 4790, 4966, 5084.

Boil (ulcus). See WOUND [and BLAIN.]

Boil, To (coquere). Boiled with water denotes that which goes forth from the truth of faith: shown, 7857. To boil and seethe on the sixth day for the Sabbath denotes preparation for conjunction, 8496. To boil stands for the conjunction of good, and to seethe, for the conjunction of truth: shown, 8496. To boil flesh denotes to prepare for the use of life: shown, 10105. Pot denotes doctrine: shown, 10105.

Bond (vinculum). See CONSCIENCE. Those who are without conscience are ruled only by external bonds, 1077:2, 1080, 1835. These bonds become nothing in the other life, however one has lived according to them, 1835. What external bonds are, and that they are taken away in the other life, 1944:2; and when they are taken away the interiors rage against innocence, 2126. All affections are bonds, and they are external and internal, 3835. Unless the Lord ruled the evil by means of external bonds, they would all become insane, and the human race would perish, 4217:3. Those who are in external bonds can perform the more eminent duties well, and they denotes good deeds from those bonds; concerning whom, 6207:2.

Bonds denotes loves; internal bonds are the affections of truth and good, external bonds are the loves of self and the world, 9096. What the bands of the neck signifies, 3542:4. See NECK.

Bondage (servitus). See SERVANT.

Bone (os). Concerning those in the Grand Man who correspond to the bones, 5560-5564. Those who constitute the bones have little spiritual life, 5560, 5561. They are those who have been evil, but still have the remains of good after vastations, 5561; and because these are the bones, they have general, though almost indeterminate, thought, 5562. Pains are felt in various places of the skull occasioned by falsities from lusts; whence they are, 5563. Scientifics in spiritual things are as the bones in the body, 8005.

Bones denotes the intellectual proprium, thus the proprium as to truth, and, in the opposite sense, as to falsity: shown, 3812; the ultimate of the Church, thus they are representative; concerning which, 6592. By the rib, or bone, is signified the proprium, 147, 148, 149. What bone from bones, and flesh from flesh signifies, 157. My bone and my flesh denotes conjunction as to truths and goods, 3812, 3813. Not to break a bone of the paschal lamb denotes that the scientific shall be whole, 8005.

Book (liber). The Ancient Church had the Books of the Wars of Jehovah, and of the Enunciations of the Prophets, cited by Moses, 2686. The interior memory is the book of life, 2474; because in it are inscribed the things which belong to the will, 9386:2. The book of life denotes the internal, and those things which are said to be written there are from the Lord: illustrated and shown, 10505:3. To be blotted out of the book of life denotes to perish as to spiritual life, 10505, 10506. To write in a book denotes for remembrance: shown, 8620.

Border (limbus). [See also BOUNDARY.] Border denotes the termination from good lest they be assailed and injured by evils, 9492.

[Borders. See FRINGES.]

Born, To be (nasci). See BIRTH.

Born in the House (natus domus). What born in the house signifies,1708.

[Borrow, To. See MUTUAL.]

Bosom (sinus). [See also BREAST.] The quality of those who relate to the sinuses in the brain, and those who relate to the longitudinal sinus, 4048. The bosom denotes that which is one's own, thus the proprium, and appropriation by means of love: shown, 6960:2.

[Botany (botanica). In the vegetable kingdom on earth there is nothing that does not in some manner represent the Lord's kingdom, 1632. The celestial and spiritual things of the Lord flow into nature, and therefrom is the vegetative soul or life, 1632. A certain man skilled in botanical science, raised into paradisiacal scenes, saw shrubberies and lower gardens of immense extent, 4529. The green in the tree and in the herb of the field signifies the scientific and the sensual, 7691.]

Bound (vinctus). See PRISON and PIT. What is signified by the bound in prison: shown, 5037. To be bound denotes to be separated, 5452. The bound in the pit denotes the spiritual ones who before the Lord's coming were detained in the lower earth, and afterwards were elevated into heaven: shown, 6854.

Boundary (terminus). In every boundary denotes as far as truth which is from good extends itself, 8063. To enlarge the boundary denotes the multiplication and extension of truth from good, 10675.

Bow (arcus). Bow denotes the doctrine of truth: shown, 2686. A shooter with the bow, and darts, and arrows or javelins denotes doctrine, also, in the opposite sense, [falsity,] 2686, 2709. The shooter with the bow denotes the spiritual man, 2686; the man of the spiritual Church, 2709; the spiritual man, and, in the opposite sense, those who fight against him, 6422. To be slain with javelins denotes to perish as to spiritual good, 8800.

Bow Oneself, To (curvare se). To bow oneself, when it is predicated respecting a lion, denotes to put oneself in power, 6369.

Bow Oneself Down, To (incurvare se). To bow oneself down denotes the effect of humiliation, 2153; also to rejoice, 2927, 2950; adoration, 4689. To bend oneself denotes to be glad; and to bow oneself down denotes to rejoice. Bending down denotes exterior humiliation, and of those who are of truth; bowing down denotes interior humiliation, and of those who are of good, 5682, 7068. To bow oneself down with the face to the earth denotes humiliation, 6266. To bow oneself down, when spoken of the evil, denotes respect from fear, 7788. He bowed himself down denotes insertion for conjunction, 8663. To bow oneself from afar off denotes humiliation and adoration at heart, and then influx of the Lord, 9377.

Bowels (viscera). What is signified by the bowels and by going forth from the bowels, 1803. To come forth from the womb, and from the loins is predicated of good; but to be separated from the bowels, of truth, 3294. Concerning the correspondence of the viscera with the Grand Man, 5171-5189.

Bowl (schyphus). Bowl denotes the truth of faith which is from the good of charity, and, in the opposite sense, falsity by means of what is evil, and also falsity from evil: shown, 5120:2; that which is interiorly true, 5736. Bowl or goblet denotes the sensual scientific, and is predicated of truth, but a basket denotes the sensual delight, and is predicated of good, 9996:2. Almond-shaped bowls denotes scientifics from good, 9557.

Bowls (crateres). See VESSEL.

Boy (puer). See INFANT. The education of boys on the earth is very bad; an experience of boys fighting, to which they are incited by parents, 2309.

Boy denotes innocence and charity: shown, 430; innocence,-properly guiltless: shown, 5236; the first age of the Church, 4672. Boys signify various things, here the rational, 2782; and the Divine Rational in a certain state, 2793; the simple, when they are adjoined to old men, 7661.

Bracelets (armillae). Nose-rings and bracelets were given to brides, the former to be put on the nose, the latter on the hand; and by the nose-ring is signified good, by the bracelets, truth, and by the bride, the Church, 3103, 3105. A bracelet on the king's arm is a significative of truth from which is power, 3105.

Brain (cerebrum, cerebellum). The operation of heaven into the brain observed; and that the left part of the brain is for rational or intellectual things, 3884. Concerning the Grand Man, and the correspondence with the cerebrum and the cerebellum, 4039-4055. All things of the brain are according to the heavenly form, 4040-4042. The circumvolutions in the brain are according to that form, 4041. Thus by means of man there is descent from heaven into the world, and ascent from the world to heaven, 4042. In the heavens there are heavens and societies which relate to the cerebrum and the cerebellum both as a whole and in part, 4045. The quality of those who relate to the dura mater, 4046. The quality of those who relate to the pia mater, 4047. The quality of those who relate to the sinuses and the longitudinal sinus, 4048. The quality of those who relate to the ventricles, 4049. The quality of those who relate to the infundibulum; and its representation, 4050. The quality of those who relate to the isthmus, and the knots of glands, 4051. They who are in the will of good, and are in good therefrom, relate to the cortical substances, and they who are in the understanding of truth, and in the affections therefrom, relate to the fibres, 4052. The right part of the brain stands for those who are in the will of good, and the left part of the brain stands for those who are in the understanding of truth, 4052. As in heaven there is a sphere of ends, which are uses, so in the brain; and there are societies which only have for their end the pleasures of friendship; respecting which, 4054. How the fibres of the cerebellum and the cerebrum have changed with respect to the face, 4326. Concerning those who relate to the viscid excrementitious matters of the brain; they enter into the chambers of the brain, even into the spinal marrow, and induce insanities and death; an experience, 5717; of what quality they are, and whence, 5717. Those who relate to the thick phlegm of the brain, 5718. See DISEASE. Concerning the viscid matters of the brain, in which there is something vital; the conscientious relate to them; respecting whom, 5724. The left part of the brain is for truths and falsities, the right part for good and evil, 5725. [See also 4052 above.] The inhabitants of Mars relate to the medium between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, 7480, 7481. The inhabitants who love cognitions, and not a life according to them, relate to the interior membrane of the skull, and they who are accustomed to speak without affection, and to substract thoughts from others, relate to that membrane made bony, 7748.

[Bramble (rhamnus). Bramble denotes spurious good, 9277:4.]

Bramble-Bush (rubus). Bramble-bush denotes scientific truth, 6832, 6833, 6834.

Branch (calamus). The branches of the lampstand denotes the truths from good, 9551, 9555, 9556.

[Branches. See SHOOTS.]

Brass (aes). Brass denotes natural good: shown, 425, 1551.

Breach (ruptura). Breach denotes falsity by reason of the separation of truth froni good, and the injury therefrom: shown, 4926, 9163e.

Bread (panis). See also BARLEY, CORN, DRINK, FLOUR, FOOD, MEAT-OFFERING, WATER, WHEAT. Bread means every kind of food in general: shown, 2165; also sacrificial things: shown, 2165. What the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are, 1798:3. When a man is in what is holy of the Holy Supper, there is a correspondence with angels, 3464, 3735. Why in the Catholic Religion bread only is given in the Holy Supper, end not wine, 10040:2. See SUPPER. As the case is with truth in relation to good, so also is water in relation to bread, or drink to food, in nourishment, 4976. Bread and water are spoken of when all the goods of love and truths of faith are sd.: shown, 9323.

Bread denotes the Lord's flesh, and this is His Divine Good: shown, 3813. See FLESH and SUPPER. Bread signifies the celestial and the spiritual, 276, 680, [681;] what nourishes the life of heaven; and in what manner also the life of hell: illustrated, 8410; the good of celestial love, 10686. What bread in the Holy Supper signifies is the Lord, thus all the celestial things of love, therefore to love celestial food, 2165:4, 2177:7. By bread in the Holy Supper, and in the Lord's Prayer, angels perceive the good of love, and the Lord, 3735:2. Bread in the Holy Supper S. the Lord, thence His love towards the human race, and the reciprocal love of man; concerning which, 4211, 4217:2, 4735. When bread means all kinds of good it denotes spiritual life, 6118. Breads upon the table in the Tabernacle represented celestial and spiritual love, and in that the Lord Himself, 3478. See To EAT, FEAST, and FOOD. The bread of faces upon the table denotes the Lord as to celestial good, 9545. The bread of sacrifices, see MEAT-OFFERING. The meat-offering, which was bread, and the drink-offering, which was wine, signified such things as belong to the Church, as also in the Holy Supper: illustrated, 10137. To break bread, 5405. See To BREAK. To eat bread in the sweat of the countenance denotes to be averse, 276. Not to eat bread and drink water throughout forty days and nights denotes a state of temptation, 10686. What to eat together in the Holy Supper signifies, 2187.

Breadth (latitudo). Breadths denotes truths, 3433, 3434. Breadth denotes truth: shown, 4482. Length denotes good, breadth denotes truth, 1613; shown, 9487; and illustrated by extensions in the heavens, 10179. What length, breadth, and height signifies, 650. Length, breadth, and height denotes good, truth, and what is holy therefrom, because they are extensions with respect to the Lord, who is the centre, 4482:3. A land broad of space denotes an extension of truth which pertains to the Church, 4482.

Break, To (frangere). To break bread was representative of mutual love in the Ancient Church: illustrated and shown, 5405. To be broken and a fracture denotes dissipation, as also the injury inflicted on truths and goods: shown, 9163.

Breast (pectus). Breast denotes the good of charity; in the supreme sense, the Divine Spiritual of the Lord, 10087. To recline on the breast, or in the bosom, denotes to be loved, 10087:2; and John reclined on the Lord's breast, because he was representing the works of charity, 10087. See WORKS.

[Breastplate. See HABERGEON.]

Breastplate, [The Priest's] (pectorale). See URIM.

Breasts (ubera). Breasts denotes the affections of good and truth:

illustrated and shown, 6432.

[Breath (spiraculum). See under INSPIRATION.

Breathe, To. See BREATHING and INSPIRATION.]

Breathing (respiratio). The breathing of the men of the Most Ancient Church was internal, as is that of the angels, the external was only tacit, 607:2, 805:2, 1118-1120. The most ancient people had an internal breathing, and they breathed according to their state of love and faith in the Lord, 97, 1119, 3892. It was succeeded by external breathing, and so by speech by means of words, 608, 805:3. In course of time it became external, and no internal breathing remained, 1120. Distinct choirs were perceived, who pertained to the voluntary respiration, and to the spontaneous respiration of the lungs, 3351. Of what quality the breathing of the Popes is, when they are in the Consistory, 3750:2. Concerning the Grand Man, and the correspondence of the heart and lungs, 3883-3886. See also HEART and LUNGS. The alternate pulses of the heart insinuate themselves into those of the lungs, 3884:3. There is breathing in heaven, 3884. Breathing observed in heaven, also the pulse of the heart, 3885. The respirations and pulses are manifold, according to the societies there, and their states of faith and love, 3886, 3887, 3892, 3893. There are two kingdoms in heaven, the Celestial and the Spiritual; the Celestial pertains to the province of the heart, and the Spiritual to the lungs, 3887. The influx of the Celestial Kingdom into the Spiritual is as that of the heart into the lungs, 3887. The heart and lungs rule in the whole body, and mutually flow in, 3887:2, 3889, 3890. The heart corresponds to the will, breathing, to the understanding, 3888. Concerning the correspondence of the heart with those things which belong to love, and of the lungs with those which belong to faith, 3889. An experience respecting the breathing of heaven, 3891, 3893. They who are dedicated to the voluntary respiration are distinct from those who are dedicated to the involuntary, 3893. The evil cannot breathe in heaven, but as it were suffocate, 3894. The well-disposed are inaugurated into the breathings of heaven, 3894a. The persuasive, in the other life, suffocates; an experience concerning it, 3895. See PERSUASION. The breathing of the inhabitants of Mars is internal; something respecting it, 7362.

Breathing being made denotes what was undelightful and wearisome ceased, 7411. The Lord breathed into the disciples, and said, 'Receive ye the Holy Spirit,' is explained; that inspiration denotes the life of faith, 9229. To breathe denotes the state of the life of faith, and therefrom the soul and spirit, 9281. What to breathe into the nostrils signifies, 96, 97. See INSPIRATION.

Breeches of Linen (femoralia lini). Breeches of linen denotes the external of conjugial love: illustrated and shown, 9959; also protection from the hells, 9962.

Brick (later). Bricks denotes falsities which they framed, 1296; and clay denotes the evil which they invented, 6669; the fictitious and false things which are injected by the evil, 7113.

Bride, Bridegroom (sponsa, sponsus). See HUSBAND, MAN, WIFE, WOMAN. The Lord is called the Bridegroom from love, which flows in from Him, 3207. Bridegroom denotes the representative of the Church with the posterity of Jacob, 7047; good, and the bride denotes truth: shown, 9182:5.

A bride represented the Church, and therefore a nose-ring and bracelets were given to her; concerning which, 3103, 3105. The Church was compared to a bride, and in ancient time brides were given vessels of silver, and of gold, and garments, to signify truth, good, and their adornment, which belong to the Church, 3164, 3165.

The veil, with which brides covered the face, when they first saw the bridgeroom, denotes the appearances of truth, 3207. To be betrothed denotes agreement, and therefrom conjunction, 8996. Betrothal denotes the first conjunction, which is of the internal man without the external, marriage denotes the conjunction of the external also: shown, 9182.

[Brier (senticetum). Briers and thorns denotes falsity and lust, 2831:9. See THORN. Thorn and brier denotes falsities and evils therefrom, 9144:6. A pricking brier denotes the falsity of the concupiscences of self-love; and a grieving thorn denotes the falsity of the concupiscences of the love of the world, 9144:6.

Brimstone (sulphur). What brimstone signifies, 1299. Brimstone signifies the hell and the devastation of the evils of the love of self, 2446. The fire of brimstone denotes falsity from the love of self, 2446.

[Bring, To. See To CARRY.]

Bring Forth, To, Bearing (parere, partus). Bearing and conception stand for the thoughts and the fashion of the heart, 264. Spiritual conceptions and bearing are the things which are sd., 3860, 3868. The things that pertain to bearing signify those that belong to regeneration: shown, 9325. To bring forth denotes to exist, 2621, 2629; to acknowledge in faith and in act, 3905, 3915, 3919. To bear upon the knees denotes to acknowledge for one a own, 6585. Bearing and to bring forth stand for fertility in doctrinal matters, 2584. See also BIRTH, GENERATION. The fruit of the belly denotes acknowledgment, and also conjunction, 3911. To conceive denotes to receive; to bring forth denotes to acknowledge, 3919. The pain of one in labour is the greatest pain, and it denotes despair: shown, 8313:2. Abortion denotes when truths and goods do not succeed in their order, 9325.

[Broad. See BREADTH.]

Brother (frater). They were called brethren in the Church from good, but this was changed when doctrine succeeded to the place of life, 3803. They who are in charity are in conjunction with the Lord, and are called brethren, 4191. They are called brethren who are in truths from good; they are also called brethren by the Lord, 5409. All are called brethren by the Lord who have anything of the good of charity from Him, 5686, 5692. Formerly brethren were so called from spiritual affinity, but not so afterwards; why, 6756. Why the Lord called those brethren who were in good, 6756:5. They were called brethren, because they were from Jacob, others were called companions: shown, 6756:5. They who are together in one society, in the other life, are in fraternity, 4121.

Charity is the brother of faith, 367. The internal and external Church are brothers, the First and Second Ancient Church also, 1222. The good of the rational is the brother; truth, the sister, 2508e, 2524, 2556. The brother is so called from good, he is also the neighbour, 2360. Brother denotes good, also truth, 3303; a blood-relation by virtue of good, 3815. Brothers denotes goods, 4121. Good is relatively the lord, and truth, the servant; and they are also brothers, 4267. Brothers denotes the truths of the Church, 6756.

The affection of good and the affection of truth in the natural man are situated as brother and sister; but the affection of truth called forth from the natural man into the rational is as a married woman, 3160. Man with brother denotes the good of truth, 3459. To set before thy brethren and my brethren, that they may judge, denotes judgment from what is just and fair, 4167. A man to a brother denotes mutually, 4725. The conjunction of good and truth is represented by two married partners, and by two brothers, but with a difference; concerning which, 9806:2. By father, mother, brothers, children, and many names of relationship, are signified goods, and truths, also evils and falsities: shown, 10490. Brother and companion denotes good and truth, 10490.

[Brother-in-Law. See HUSBAND'S BROTHER.

Bruchus. See LOCUST.

Bruise. See under WOUND.]

Bruise, To (tundere). To bruise and to grind denotes the disposition of truths in series, and to prepare good, so that it can be applied to uses: shown, 10303. See TO GRIND.

[Brutes (bruta). Man, from his proprium and hereditary nature, is much worse than the brute animals,637:2, 3175. Why brute animals, dying, live no more, 5114:5. Some are inwardly brute animals, although they appear as men externally, 6318. Brutes act through their loves, and the affections thereof, 6323:2.]

Build, To (aedificare). To build denotes to raise up that which is fallen, 153. What to build a house signifies, 1488. To build denotes the increase of good from truth, 4390. To be built, when it relates to offspring, denotes to live, 3916.

Bullock (juvencus). See CALF and Ox.

Bulrush (juncus). Bulrush denotes what is mean, but still is derived from truth; and in the opposite sense. 6723.

Bundle (fasciculus). Truths with man are arranged in series, and these are signified by sheaves and bundles in the Word: shown only by references cited, 10303. See also SHEAF. Scientifics and truths in man are arranged bundlewise: illustrated, 5881. Those things which are in minds are arranged bundlewise: illustrated, 7408. Bundles denotes doctrinals, 4686, 4687; series of things in minds, 5339; series in which truths are arranged, also bindings together, 5530. See also GATHERINGS and SERIES.

Burden (onus). Burdens denotes bond-services, 6660; infestations by falsities, 6757; combats, 7104; spiritual combats, 7105.

[Burial. See To BURY.]

Burn. To (adolere). See FIRE.

Burnt-Offering (holocaustum). See SACRIFICE.

Bury, To, Burial, Sepulchre (sepelire, sepultura, sepulchrum). I have spoken with those who were buried, 4622:4. To bury denotes rejection, 6246; also that the state of representation was taken up by another, 3256. To be buried denotes rejected, 4564; to rise again, 4621; the renewal of the Church, 6522; regeneration, also resurrection, resuscitation, and renewal, because similar things are involved, 6554. To be buried in a good old age; what it signifies 1854. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried in the land of Canaan signifies regeneration and resurrection, because the Church was there, 6516. Sepulchre signifies resurrection and regeneration, and, in the opposite sense, damnation: shown, 2916, 2917; resuscitation; the reason; whence, 5551. To go down to the sepulchre mourning denotes to die, 4785. To cause to go down in evil and sorrow to the grave denotes to perish, 5832.

Bush (virgultum). See TREE.

Butler (pincerna.) Butler denotes sensual things subordinate and subject to the intellectual part, 5077, 5082.

[Butter (butyrum). Butter denotes the celestial, 2183; the celestial rational, 2184; celestial good; and honey denotes what is happy, pleasant, and delightful, which are from celestial good, 5620:3. See also HONEY.]

Butterfly (papilio). See WORM and INSECT. A comparison of the state of the blessed, after death, with the state of butterflies, 3000. A comparison of the conjugial state with the same, 2758. A representation of the state of spirits, in their world, when they are preparing for heaven, by the changes of small worms into butterflies; respecting which; then they are in their own heaven, 8848.

Buy, To (emere). To buy denotes to appropriate, 4397; shown, 5374, 5406, 5410, 5426; redemption, 6458, 6461. Acquisition denotes the good of truth, and purchase denotes truth, 4487. See also SILVER. What the purchase of silver signifies, 7999. See SILVER. Bought with silver denotes what is acquired in the natural by the spiritual, 7999e.

[Buz (Bus or Buz). Uz and Buz denotes various religious systems, 2860, 2864.

By-Path. See WAY.]

  
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Arcana Coelestia #3703

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3703. 'And He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father' means the Lord in whom that good originated. This becomes clear from the fact that Jehovah is the Divine Being (Esse) itself of the Lord, who is called 'the God of Abraham' by virtue of Divine Good - 'Abraham' representing the Lord as regards Divine Good, see 2172, 2198. And because Divine Good is the source of all celestial and spiritual goods, and consequently of all truths also, the phrase 'your (that is, Jacob's) father Abraham' is used, when in fact Isaac was his father. The reason why 'father' in the internal sense means good is that good is the source of every single thing that has being and truth the means by which it is brought into being. Thus every single thing is born from a marriage of good and truth. Heaven itself, which consists of nothing else at all but the Divine marriage of Good and Truth, derives from the Divine Marriage of Good and Truth and of Truth and Good within the Lord.

[2] The whole natural order also in every single part has reference to what is good and what is true. In it, that is, the natural order, the celestial and spiritual goods and truths that belong to heaven are represented, and in heaven Divine Goods and Truths that are the Lord's are represented. From this it becomes clear that good is like the father and truth is like the mother, and that therefore 'father' in the internal sense of the Word means good, and 'mother' truth. Indeed they mean the goodness and truth in which lower or derived goods and truths originate, which in relation to them are as daughters and sons, and are also consequently called daughters and sons in the Word, 489-491, 2362. They are also in relation to that good and truth as brothers and sisters, as grandchildren and great grandchildren, as sons-in-law, fathers-in-law, and daughters-in-law; in short they are as every degree of blood relationship and relationship by marriage. And all these relationships stem from the marriage of good, which is the father, to truth, which is the mother. For all things - every single one - in heaven exist as in blood relationships of love to and faith in the Lord, or what amounts to the same, of good and truth, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612, and the most ancient people therefore compared all these things to marriages, 54, 55. See also 718, 747, 1432, 2508, 2516, 2524, 2556.

[3] That 'father' in the internal sense of the Word means good may be seen from very many places, as from the following: In Isaiah,

Pay attention to Me, you who are pursuing righteousness, who are seeking Jehovah; look to the rock from which you were hewn; and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug; look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for when he was but one I called him; and I blessed him, and I will multiply him. For Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Isaiah 51:1-3.

This refers to the Lord and His Coming, as is evident from every detail. As regards Divine Truth He is called 'a rock' and 'a pit', and as regards Divine Good 'Abraham your father'. And because the Divine marriage of Good and Truth is represented by Abraham and Sarah, see 1468, 1901, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, 2833, 2836, 2904, 3245, 3251, 3305 (end), the expressions 'Abraham your father' and 'Sarah who bore you' are used. This explains why it is said that they were to look to the rock and to the pit, and to Abraham their father and to Sarah. It also explains why the promises follow immediately after, declaring that 'Jehovah will comfort Zion', which is the celestial Church, see 2362, and that 'He will comfort her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah'.

[4] Abraham has a similar meaning when elsewhere in the Word he is called 'father', as in John,

Jesus said, I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you also do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to Him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's sons, you would do the works of Abraham. You do the works of your father. John 8:38-39, 41.

And in Matthew,

Do not presume to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree not bearing good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire. Matthew 3:9-10.

And in Luke,

When the poor man Lazarus died he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and when he was in hell he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Calling out he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. I ask you, father, to send him to my father's house. Luke 16:19-end.

In these places it is evident that Abraham was not meant but the Lord as regards Divine Good. For Abraham is unknown in heaven, and when his name is used in the Word the Lord is meant, see 1834, 1876, 1989, 3305 (end).

[5] That 'father' means good in the internal sense becomes clear from the following places: In Moses,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged on the land which Jehovah your God gives you. Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16.

This commandment, like the rest of the Ten Commandments, is true in both senses - in the internal sense 'honouring father and mother' is loving what is good and true, and in what is good and true loving the Lord, see 2609, 3690. 'Days on the land' means resulting states of good within the Lord's kingdom, as is clear from the meaning of 'days' as states, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and from the meaning of Canaan, to which 'the land' refers here, as the Lord's kingdom, 1607, 3038, 3481, and from 'being prolonged' having reference to good, 1613.

[6] Since 'father and mother' had these meanings many laws were therefore laid down in the Jewish representative Church relating to parents and sons. In every case good and truth were meant in the internal sense, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good and Divine Truth, as in Moses,

Whoever strikes his father and his mother shall surely die. If anyone curses his father or his mother he shall surely die. Exodus 21:15, 17.

In the same author,

Any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he who curses his father and his mother, his blood shall be on him. Leviticus 20:9.

Cursed is he who treats his father and his mother with contempt; and all the people shall say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:16, 17.

In Ezekiel,

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, 1 have in you been intent on shedding blood; in you they have treated father and mother with contempt. Ezekiel 22:6-7.

In Moses,

When a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, in no way obeying the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they correct him he still does not obey them, his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and to the gateway of their place. And all the men of that city shall stone him with stones so that he dies. Deuteronomy 21:18-19, 21.

[7] In all these places 'father and mother' in the sense of the letter is used to mean father and mother, but in the internal sense good and truth are meant, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good and Divine Truth. This is also the Lord's own teaching in Matthew,

Jesus stretching out His hand over His disciples said, Beyond My mother and My brothers; whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother. Matthew 12:49-50.

And in the same gospel,

Refuse to be called master, for one is your Master, Christ; but all you are brothers. And call nobody your father on earth, for one is your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 23:8-9.

It is not being called master or being called father on earth that is forbidden here, but acknowledging in the heart any other father than the Lord. That is, when the names master and father are used one should understand the Lord whom in the highest sense they represent, in the same way, as stated just above in 3702, as anything perceived on earth by the most ancient people who were celestial was to them the means for thought concerning the Lord.

[8] Much the same is embodied in what the Lord told one of the disciples who said,

Lord, let me first go away and bury my father. Jesus said to him, Follow Me; leave the dead to bury the dead. Matthew 8:21-22.

Indeed the relationship of father on earth to Father in heaven, who is the Lord, is as one who is dead to one who is living, even as the law itself about honouring parents is so to speak dead unless it holds honour, worship, and love to the Lord within it. For that law about honouring parents comes down from the latter Divine law. And because it comes down from the latter, the living element which exists within the law about honouring parents is received from this Divine law. This is why the Lord said, 'Follow Me, leave the dead to bury the dead'. What Elijah told Elisha is also similar in meaning,

Elijah passed beside Elisha and cast his mantle over him, and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me kiss, I beg you, my father and mother; then I will go after you. He therefore said to him, Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19-20.

Elijah represented the Lord - see Preface to Chapter 18, and 2762.

[9] In Malachi,

Lo, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a ban. Malachi 4:5-6.

And in Luke where the angel addresses Zechariah regarding his son John,

He will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Luke 1:17.

From these places it is evident that 'fathers' and 'sons' are not used to mean fathers and sons but the goods and truths of the Church which the Lord is going to restore.

[10] In Malachi,

May Jehovah be magnified upon the border of Israel! A son should honour his father, and a servant his lord. If I am a Father, where is My honour? If I am a Lord, where is the fear of Me? Malachi 1:5-6.

'A son' stands for those who are governed by the good of the Church, 'a servant' those who are governed by its truth. Here 'a Father' clearly stands for the Lord as regards Divine Good, and 'a Lord' as regards Divine Truth.

[11] In David,

My father and my mother have forsaken me, and Jehovah welcomes me. Psalms 27:10.

'Father and mother' stands for good and truth which are said to have forsaken a person when it is realized that of himself he is unable to perform anything good or to know anything true. For the meaning, it is evident, is not that David's mother and father forsook him.

[12] In the same author,

You are more beautiful by far than the sons of men. All glorious is the king's daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings. Instead of your fathers will be your sons; you will make them into princes in all the earth. Psalms 45:2, 13, 16.

This refers to the Lord. 'Instead of your fathers will be your sons' stands for Divine Truths becoming as Divine Goods. 'The king's daughter' stands for the love of truth; 'clothing with gold interweavings' for the nature of that truth grounded in good. Since the subject is the Lord and His Divine Human, as is evident from this Psalm as a whole and in every part, every single phrase clearly has reference to one and the same thing. So the phrase 'the king's daughter' is not used to mean the daughter of the king, nor are the phrases 'clothing with gold interweavings', 'instead of your fathers will be your sons', and 'their being made into princes in all the earth' to be taken literally, but each phrase means Divine celestial and spiritual things. 'A daughter' means affection or love, see 490, 491, 2362; 'the king' Divine Truth, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009; 'gold' good, 113, 1551, 1552. 'That which is interwoven' has reference to natural knowledge, 2831, in this case therefore to Divine natural truth. 'Clothing' means such truths as clothe good, 297, 2576; 'sons instead of fathers' truths begotten from good, in this case Divine Truths being as Divine Goods, 264, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 1729, 1733, 2159, 2623, 2803, 2813. 'Princes in all the earth' are the first and foremost things of the Lord's kingdom and Church - 'princes' being the things that are first and foremost, 1482, 2089, 'the earth' the Lord's kingdom and Church, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355.

[13] In Moses,

Your fathers Jehovah delighted to love, and He chose their seed after them, even you out of all peoples, as at this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. Deuteronomy 10:15-16.

'Fathers' here in the internal sense stands for the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches, whose members were so called by virtue of the love they had of good and truth - the most ancient people, who were celestial, by virtue of their love of good, the ancients, who were spiritual, by virtue of their love of truth. The goods and truths existing in the Church are referred to as 'the seed Jehovah chose'. Clearly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the latter's twelve sons are not meant by the fathers referred to here, nor the Israelite and Jewish people by 'the seed'. Rather the statement is made regarding them and addressed to them in order that the internal sense may be given some external form and so be intelligible to men.

[14] In Isaiah,

The boy will uplift himself against the old man, and the base fellow against the honourable; for a man will take hold of his brother in his father's house, [saying,] You have clothing, you will be leader for us. He will say, In my house there is neither bread [nor clothing]. Do not make me a leader 2 of the people. Isaiah 3:5-7.

This refers in the internal sense to a perverted state of the Church when truth is no longer acknowledged as truth, and it is not known what good is. 'A man will take hold of his brother in his father's house' stands for acknowledging everything as good. 'Clothing' stands for truth, 1073, 2576, 'a leader (or prince)' for a first and foremost matter of doctrine drawn from truth, 1482, 2089. 'In the house there is neither bread nor clothing' stands for neither good nor truth - 'bread' meaning good, 276, 680, 3478, and 'clothing' truth, 297, 2576.

[15] Because father and mother, and also daughters and sons, represented goodness and truth in the representative Churches many laws existed which possessed from those representatives that which was Divine within them, such as the following,

If a priest's daughter has acted profanely by committing whoredom, she is profaning her father; she shall be burnt with fire. Leviticus 21:9.

'A priest's daughter' stands for the affection for good, 'father' for the good from which that affection springs. 'Committing whoredom' stands for profaning what is good. What 'committing whoredom' is, see 2466, 2729, 3399, and what 'acting profanely', 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3399. Also,

If a priest's daughter has been made a widow or divorced and has no seed she shall return to her father's house, as in her youth; she shall eat of her father's bread. No stranger shall eat of it. Leviticus 22:13.

[16] And this law also,

If you see among the captives a wife with a beautiful form and you desire her to take her for yourself as wife you shall bring her inside your home; and she shall shave her head and pare her nails; and she shall take off the clothing of her captivity born upon her, and shall sit in your house and lament her father and her mother a whole month; and after that you shall go in to her and know her, and she shall be your wife. Deuteronomy 21:11-13.

Every single detail in this law is representative of natural truth, which is adopted by good once it has been purified from falsities. Such truth is meant by 'a wife beautiful in form among the captives'; purification from falsities by 'bringing her inside your home', and by her 'shaving her head, paring her nails, taking off the clothing of her captivity, and lamenting her father and mother'; and adoption by 'after that going in to her, knowing her, and taking her as a wife'.

[17] The Marriage Laws requiring marriages to be contracted within the tribe and the family, and also the Inheritance Laws forbidding the transfer of inheritances from one tribe to another, which are written in the Word, also had the same origins, that is to say, in the celestial and spiritual marriage in the Lord's kingdom, or the marriage of good and truth, which are meant by 'father and mother'. The same applies to the laws laid down relating to the permissible and the forbidden degrees of affinity. Each law in the Word concerning those matters has reference inwardly to the law of the affiliation and joining together of good and truth in heaven, and to the affiliations of evil and falsity in hell, which are separated from the former. For laws to do with permissible and forbidden degrees, see Leviticus 20; for laws forbidding the transfer of inheritances from one tribe to another, and for those requiring marriages to be contracted within the tribe, see Numbers 27:7-9, and elsewhere. In heaven the position of every single thing is fixed according to blood relationships of good and truth and to relationships of them through marriage, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[18] Since the Israelitish people represented the Lord's kingdom in heaven and so the heavenly order existing there, the command was also given for them to be singled out according to tribes, according to families, and according to the houses of their fathers, see Numbers 26:1-end. In addition to this they were required to pitch camp around the tent of meeting in conformity with that heavenly order, and also to journey in conformity with it, as stated in Moses,

Each one of the children of Israel shall pitch camp beneath his own standard, by the ensigns of his father's house, at a distance around the tent of meeting. And in the same formations they also set out. Numbers 2:2, 34.

This was why, when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, the Spirit of God came upon him and he delivered this utterance, How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob, your dwelling-places, O Israel? They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, etc., etc. Numbers 24:2, 5-6, and following verses.

From every word used here it is evident that not Jacob or Israel were meant but the Lord's kingdom in heaven and His Church on earth, which were represented by that order in which he saw them spread out at that time.

[19] From these examples one may also know what is meant in the internal sense of the Word by orphans! that is, the fatherless, namely people whose state is a state of innocence and charity and who wish to know and put into effect what is good but are not able to do so. Such a state exists in particular with those outside the Church whom the Lord cares about and adopts in the next life as His sons. And since those people are meant by 'orphans', when these are mentioned in the Word, sojourners and widows are in many instances mentioned too. For 'sojourners' means those who are receiving instruction in goods and truths, 1463, and 'widows' those whose state is one of good but not so much of truth, or those whose state is one of truth but not so much of good, and who yet desire what they lack. Since these three - orphans, sojourners, and widows - belong to a very similar line of meaning, therefore all three are in most places mentioned together, as has been stated, see Deuteronomy 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19; Jeremiah 7:6; 22:3; Ezekiel 22:6-7; Zechariah 7:10; Psalms 94:6; 146:9. From these considerations one may now see what 'father' means in the genuine sense, namely good, and in the highest sense the Lord.

[20] Now because most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so has the word 'father'. In that sense it means evil. Equally so 'mother', which in the genuine sense means truth, in the contrary sense means falsity. The contrary meanings may be seen from the following places: In David,

The iniquity of his fathers will be remembered before Jehovah, and the sin of his mother will not be wiped out. Psalms 109:14.

In the same author,

They drew back and acted treacherously like their fathers; they turned about like a deceitful bow. Psalms 78:57.

In Moses,

Until the remainder of you waste away in their iniquity in the lands of your enemies: and they will also waste away in their fathers' iniquities with them. Leviticus 26:39. In Isaiah,

Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the iniquity of their fathers, and let them not rise up again and possess the earth, and fill the face of the earth with cities. Isaiah 14:21.

In the same prophet, I will repay your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together. Isaiah 65:7.

[21] In Jeremiah,

The house of Israel is ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, who say to wood, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave birth to me. For they have turned their neck to Me and not their face. Jeremiah 2:26-27.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I am laying before this people stumbling-blocks, and fathers and sons together will stumble against them, neighbour and his friend, and they will perish. Jeremiah 6:21.

In the same prophet,

The sons gather pieces of wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for Melecheth. 3 Jeremiah 7:18.

In Ezekiel,

I will do in you that which I have not done, and such things as I will not do any longer, because of your abominations. Therefore fathers will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgements on you, and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to every wind. Ezekiel 5:9-10.

This refers to the profanation of what is holy. In the same prophet,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, Your tracings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3.

[22] In Matthew,

Brother will deliver up brother to death, and father the son; and children will rise up against parents and put them to death. And so you will be hated by everyone for My name's sake. I have come to set a man (homo) against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's (homo) foes will be those in his own household. Whoever loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son and daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:21-22, 35-37; Luke 12:49, 52-53.

In the same gospel,

Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for My name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matthew 19:29; Luke 18:29-30; Mark 10:29-30.

In Luke,

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and his mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26.

[23] In Mark,

Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his children, and children will rise up together against parents and will kill them; for you will be hated by all for My name's sake. Mark 13:12-13; Luke 21:16-17.

This refers to the close of the age and is describing the state of the Church when perverted as regards good and truth, that is to say, when evil rises up against truth, and falsity against good. The meaning of 'father' in the contrary sense as evil is evident from the places just quoted and also from the following in John,

Jesus said, If God were your father you would love Me, for from God I went forth and now come. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning and took no stand on the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from what are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:42, 44.

Footnotes:

1. literally, arm

2. or a prince

3. melecheth is a Hebrew word for a queen.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2010

Study this Passage

  
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2010. Now because the word 'names means the essential nature, and also the knowledge of that nature, the meaning of the statement made in this verse becomes clear. That is to say, 'No longer will you be called by your name Abram, but your name will be Abraham' means, not what his nature had been previously but what it was going to be. The fact that Abram served other gods and worshipped the god Shaddai was shown above in 1992; but because he was to represent the Lord, and in particular His Internal Man, and so the celestial side of His love, his previous nature had to be effaced, that is, the name Abram had to be altered to another which was such that the Lord could be represented by means of it. The letter H therefore was taken from the name Jehovah - which letter alone in the name Jehovah entails the Divine, and means I AM or TO BE - and was inserted into his name, so that he was called Abraham. The same happened with Sarai further on; the same letter was added to her name, so that she was called Sarah. From this it also becomes clear that in the internal sense of the Word Abraham represents Jehovah or the Lord.

[2] It should be realized however that in representations no significance is attached to the nature or character of the one who represents, for in those representations no attention is paid to the person representing but to the thing which he represents, as stated and shown already in 665, 1097 (end), 1361. Therefore the meaning of the words here in the internal sense is that the Lord cast off the human and put on the Divine, which is also the particular point in the train of thought both before and after this statement, for the promise is now made concerning Isaac his son, who was to represent the Lord's Divine Rational.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.