israel
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...
whoredom
'And [Tyre] shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication,' as in Isaiah 23:17, signifies the vaunting and boasting of falsity.
daughters
Marriages among people – both in the Bible and in life – represent spiritual marriage. Women represent the desire to be good and to do...
moab
Ammonite and Moabite ('Deuteronomy 23:3'), signify the profanation of the celestial and spiritual things of faith.
called
To call someone or summon someone in the Bible represents a desire for conjunction between higher and lower states of life. For instance, imagine someone...
gods
The Lord is called "Jehovah" in the Bible when the text is referring to his essence, which is love itself. He is called "God" when...
eat
When we eat, our bodies break down the food and get from it both energy and materials for building and repairing the body. The process...
bowed down
To bow in prayer is common in most religious practices, so it's not surprising that “to bow” in the Bible represents humility and worship in...
bowed
To bow, as in Genesis 18:2 signifies to humble.
Baal-peor
Baal-peor ('Numbers 25:5') signifies the adulteration of good.
anger
'Wrath,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies aversion from truth. 'Great wrath,' as in Revelation 12:12, signifies hatred against the new church.
the Lord
The Bible refers to the Lord in many different ways, which from the text seem indistinguishable and interchangeable. Understood in the internal sense, though, there...
lord
The Lord, in the simplest terms, is love itself expressed as wisdom itself. In philosophic terms, love is the Lord's substance and wisdom is His...
said
As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What...
moses
Moses's name appears 814 times in the Bible (KJV), third-most of any one character (Jesus at 961 actually trails David at 991). He himself wrote...
heads
The head is the part of us that is highest, which means in a representative sense that it is what is closest to the Lord....
sun
The 'sun' signifies celestial and spiritual love. The 'sun' in the Word, when referring to the Lord, signifies His divine love and wisdom. Because the...
Fierce anger
'Fierce anger,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies grievous aversion from good.
turned
Swedenborg says that the Lord is the sun of heaven, and like the natural sun of our world shines on everyone, good or evil. What...
judges
It’s easy to see the connection between judging and truth. In a court of law, the judge’s whole purpose is to find the truth. In...
slay
'To slay a man to his wounding,' means extinguishing faith, and 'to slay a young man to his hurt,' signifies extinguishing charity, as in Genesis...
men
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
children
A child is a young boy or girl in the care of parents, older than a suckling or an infant, but not yet an adolescent....
came
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
brethren
There are two ways "brother" is used in the Bible, ways that are still reflected in modern language. One denotes an actual blood relationship; the...
sight
The symbolic meaning of "seeing" is "understanding," which is obvious enough that it has become part of common language (think about it; you might see...
congregation
A congregation is a group of people with common loves, interests, and purposes. It often refers to a church group. In the Word it is...
door
In a general sense, doors in the Bible represent the initial desires for good and concepts of truth that introduce people to new levels of...
tabernacle
'The tabernacle' has almost the same meaning as 'temple,' that is, in the highest sense, the Lord’s divine humanity, and in a relative sense, heaven...
son
Marriages in the Bible represent the union we all can have between the desire for good and the understanding of truth (or an understanding of...
aaron
Aaron was the brother of Moses. He symbolizes two things, at different stages of the story. During the first part of the exodus, when he...
saw
The symbolic meaning of "seeing" is "understanding," which is obvious enough that it has become part of common language (think about it; you might see...
rose up
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...
rose
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...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
after
According to Swedenborg, time and space don’t exist in spiritual reality; they are purely natural things that exist only on the physical plane. This means...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
both
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...
Woman
The word "woman" is used a number of different ways in the Bible – as a simple description, as someone connected to a man ("his...
died
'The soul going forth' and 'dying,' as in Genesis 35:18, signifies the extreme of temptation, which is when the old self dies and the new...
twenty
'Twenty,' when referring to a quantity, signifies everything, or fullness, because it is ten twice. In Genesis 18:31, 'twenty', like all numbers occurring in the...
four
The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents...
Four thousand
Four thousand signifies all truths from good.
thousand
As children, most of us at some point frustrated our mothers into using the phrase “if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand...
spake
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
wrath
Fury is a receding from good, and anger is a receding from truth.
zealous
Jealous' or 'zealous,' in Genesis 30:1, signifies an aspect of indignation.
say
As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What...
give
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...
peace
In ordinary life, we tend to think of "peace" as essentially "a lack of conflict." As a nation, if we're not at war, it's a...
seed
'A seed' signifies love, and everyone who has love, as in Genesis 12:7. 8:15, 16. 'A seed' signifies faith grounded in charity. 'A seed' signifies...
everlasting
'Perpetual' in the literal sense, means to the end of one’s life, after death, and eternity.
priesthood
'The priesthood' represents the Lord regarding the work of salvation, because this proceeds from the divine good of his divine love. 'The priesthood of Aaron,...
God
When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is...
name
It's easy to see that names are important in the Bible. Jehovah changed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, changed Jacob to Israel and...
house
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
midian
'Simran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Jishbak, and Shuah,' as in Genesis 25:2, represent the general divisions of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, in the heavens and in...
head
The head is the part of us that is highest, which means in a representative sense that it is what is closest to the Lord....
smite
'To smite' signifies condemnation. 'To smite,' as in Genesis 14:15, signifies vindication. 'To smite,' as in Genesis 32:8, signifies destruction. 'To smite the earth with...
sister
The Lord calls people who are in truth from the good of charity from Him 'sisters,' as in Matthew 12:50. 'Sister' denotes intellectual truth, when...
day of
'Day of vengeance' signifies a state of damnation.
day
"Day" describes a state in which we are turned toward the Lord, and are receiving light (which is truth) and heat (which is a desire...
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