神
The Lord is love itself, expressed in the form of wisdom itself. Love, then, is His essence, His inmost. Wisdom - the loving understanding of...
雅各
Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to...
起来
It is common in the Bible for people to "rise up," and it would be easy to pass over the phrase as simply describing a...
伯特利
When Jacob had his famous dream, of a staircase leading to heaven, he named the place "Bethel," which is Hebrew for "the house of God."...
住
Many people were nomadic in Biblical times, especially the times of the Old Testament, and lived in tents that could be struck, moved and re-raised...
坛
The first altar mentioned in the Word was built by Noah after he came out of the ark. On that altar, he sacrificed clean animals...
哥哥
Brethren (Gen. 27:29) signify the affections of good.
以扫
Esau (Gen. 28:5, etc.) signifies the truth of good in the natural principle. Esau (Gen. 32:3) signifies celestial good in the natural principle.
中间
'Middle' denotes what is primary, principal, or inmost.
我们
Angels do give us guidance, but they are mere helpers; the Lord alone governs us, through angels and spirits. Since angels have their assisting role,...
路
These days we tend to think of "roads" as smooth swaths of pavement, and judge them by how fast we can drive cars on them....
给
Like other common verbs, the meaning of "give" in the Bible is affected by context: who is giving what to whom? In general, though, giving...
示剑
In Genesis 12:6, 'Abram’s passing through the land unto the place Shechem' signifies a new state of the Lord when the celestial aspects of love...
橡树
'Oak' signifies the sensory good and truth of the church, and consequently, the lowest part of the natural, which is either the truths and goods,...
下
Generally speaking things that are seen as lower physically in the Bible represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases this...
迦南
Canaan signifies a worship in things external without internals, which arose out of the internal church corrupted, called Ham. Thus it is that Ham is...
地方
'A dry place,' as in Luke 11:24, signifies states of evil and falsity which are in the life of someone who does the work of...
叫
'To proclaim' signifies exploration from influx of the Lord.
死
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
来
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
以色列
'Israel,' in Jeremiah 23:8, signifies the spiritual natural church. The children of Israel dispersed all the literal sense of the Word by falsities. 'The children...
全能的
'Shaddai,' as in Genesis 43:14, signifies temptation, and consolation after temptation. This is because the ancients called the one and only God by various names...
王
The human mind is composed of two parts, a will and an understanding, a seat of loves and affections, and a seat of wisdom and...
亚伯拉罕
Abraham (or Abram, as he is named in the beginning of his story) is one of the major characters in the story of the sacred...
以撒
'Isaac' represents spiritual love. 'Isaac,' in Genesis 17:19, signifies the rational divine. 'Isaac' signifies the Lord's divine rational in reference to divine good. Isaac' signifies...
後
'A hind,' as mentioned in Genesis 49:21, signifies the affection of natural truth.
说
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
石
Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in...
油
Oil – typically olive oil – was an extremely important product in Biblical times, for food preparation, medicinal ointment and for burning in lamps. As...
以法他
Ephrata (Gen. 35:16, 19 and Psalms 132:6) signifies the spiritual of the celestial principle, in a former state, the new state succeeding that, is called...
儿子
'A son,' as in Genesis 5:28, signifies the rise of a new church. 'Son,' as in Genesis 24:3, signifies the Lord’s rationality regarding good. 'A...
灵魂
The nature of the soul is a deep and complicated topic, but it can be summarized as "spiritual life," who we are in terms of...
父亲
Father in the Word means what is most interior, and in those things that are following the Lord's order, it means what is good. In...
伯利恒
There is a strong relationship between Ephrath and Bethlehem in the Bible; they might be two different names for the same town, or it’s possible...
听
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
二
The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see...
长子
When the Bible talks about generations or birth order, the internal meaning has to do with the progression of spiritual states and their relative importance....
西缅
In Revelation 7, 'Simeon', in the highest sense, signifies providence, in a spiritual sense, love towards our neighbor, or charity, and in a natural sense,...
犹大
City of Judah,' as in Isaiah 40:9, signifies the doctrine of love towards the Lord and love towards our neighbor in its whole extent.
百
It's a landmark for a young child to count to 100; it sort of covers all the "ordinary" numbers. One hundred is obviously significant for...
八十
Swedenborg tells us that 80, like 40, can represent a state of temptation, when we face and battle our desires for evil – and that...
