Arcana Coelestia #45
45. This was how people who lived in most ancient times envisaged matters of the understanding and those of the will. Among the Prophets therefore, and consistently throughout the Old Testament Word, like matters are represented by various kinds of living creatures. There are two kinds of beasts - evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are gentle. Evil [and harmful] things in man were meant by such beasts as bears, wolves, and dogs, while good and gentle things were meant by beasts such as calves, sheep, and lambs. As the subject here is those persons who are to be regenerated, 'the beasts' are good and gentle ones, which mean affections. Things of a baser nature that derive from the body are called 'wild animals of the earth'. These are desires and pleasures.
Genesis 9:8-27
8
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18
And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19
These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
