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...
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...
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...
speak
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
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....
israel
'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...
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...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
Woman
'Virgin' and 'woman,' in the Word, signify the affection of good.
vow
In Genesis 28:20, 'he vowed a vow' denotes, in the internal sense, willing that the Lord will provide. In the highest sense, where the Lord...
nazarite
'Nazarites' represent the Lord regarding His divine human, especially His divine natural. 'Nazarites,' in the Israelitish churches, represent the Lord regarding the Word, in its...
Wine
In Revelation 18:13, 'wine, oil, flour, and wheat' signify celestial principles of worship.
Strong drink
Strong drink' signifies the truth of the natural self.
drink
To be drunken without wine (Isa. 29:9), are they who are unconcerned about the Word, and the truths of faith, and thus have no inclination...
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...
days
"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...
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....
hair
'Hairs of the head, the beard, and the feet,' as mentioned in Isaiah 7:20, signify the following things: 'Hairs of the head' signify the outermost...
Grow
‘To grow’ signifies to be perfected.
come
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
dead
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
unclean
'Pollution' denotes the truth of faith defiled.
father
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...
mother
In general, mothers in the Bible represent the Lord's church on earth, or the church among those who know and follow the Lord. In some...
brother
Brethren (Gen. 27:29) signify the affections of good.
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...
die
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
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...
shave
'To shave the head' was strictly prohibited for the high-priests and his sons because of the holy representation of hair and of the Nazarite.
day of
'Day of vengeance' signifies a state of damnation.
day
The expression 'even to this day' or 'today' sometimes appears in the Word, as in Genesis 19:37-38, 22:14, 26:33, 32:32, 35:20, and 47:26. In a...
bring
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “bring” is highly dependent on context, but in general it represents an introduction to a new...
two
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...
Turtles
'Turtles' and 'young pigeons' signify spiritual things.
pigeons
A dove (Gen. 8.) signifies goodness and truth. A dove, as in Hosea 11:11, signifies rational good.
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...
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...
one
A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, line workers building them, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They...
sin
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
hallow
'To sanctify' denotes being led by the Lord. 'To sanctify' denotes being incapable of being violated.
lamb
'A lamb' signifies the good of the innocence of infancy. 'A lamb' signifies the Lord regarding His divine humanity. The lamb,' as in Revelation 8:11,...
the first
'Resurrection' signifies salvation and eternal life. 'The first,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part...
first
Why would it be insulting for a man to refer to his married partner as his “first wife”? Because it implies there will be a...
ram
'A ram' signifies the Lord’s divine spiritual nature pertaining to a person. 'A ram' signifies the good of innocence and charity in the internal self....
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...
Offerings
'Offerings' signify worship.
unleavened
For something to be “unleavened” means that it's been made without yeast. Since yeast is what makes bread rise and take on its airy texture,...
Unleavened bread
'Unleavened bread' signifies the holiness of love, or the holy of holies, so, pure love. The baking of unleavened bread is purification.
cakes
Cake denotes the conjunction of the spiritual and celestial principles, which appertained to the Lord, (Gen. 18:16.)
Fine flour
Fine flour, as in Ezekiel 16:19, signifies the spiritual principle of charity.
flour
In Revelation 18:13, 'wine, oil, flour, and wheat' signify celestial principles of worship.
oil
Oil – typically olive oil – was an extremely important product in Biblical times, for food preparation, medicinal ointment and for burning in lamps. As...
wafers
Cake denotes the conjunction of the spiritual and celestial principles, which appertained to the Lord, (Gen. 18:16.)
anointed
Oil in the Bible represents the Lord’s love, so anointing someone (or something) with oil was a way to make that person (or object) a...
offering
It was customary in the representative Ancient Church, and later in the Jewish Church, when people went to the judges, and at a later time,...
before
In most cases, the meaning of "before" is pretty straightforward, both as a way of assessing relative time, and in its use meaning "in someone's...
Shave the head
'To shave the head' was strictly prohibited for the high-priests and his sons because of the holy representation of hair and of the Nazarite.
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
fire
Fire, in the spiritual sense, can mean both love and hatred depending on the context, just as natural fire can be both comforting in keeping...
under
In the Bible, things that are lower down, or under, physically, generally represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases, the...
cake
'Wafers,' as in Exodus 16:31, signify spiritual good. More generally, they signify the outermost celestial good in the external self.
wafer
'Wafers,' as in Exodus 16:31, signify spiritual good. More generally, they signify the outermost celestial good in the external self.
hands
'Washing of the hands' was an ancient declaration of innocence, and signifies purification from evils and falsities, as in Psalms 73:13 and Matthew 27:24.
after
Behind, or after, (Gen. 16:13), signifies within or above, or an interior or superior principle.
wave
'A wave' denotes life flowing in.
Wave offering
'A wave offering,' as in Exodus 29:27, signifies life flowing in from acknowledging the Lord.
holy
The Bible describes many things as being holy, or sacred. The Ark of the Covenant is one very holy object. The inmost chamber of the...
vowed
In Genesis 28:20, 'he vowed a vow' denotes, in the internal sense, willing that the Lord will provide. In the highest sense, where the Lord...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
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...
bless
The Lord is perfect love expressed as perfect wisdom. He created us so that He could love us, could give us love and wisdom of...
keep
"Keeping" in the Bible generally has to do with controlling the actual actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away...
face
“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That’s a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because...
shine
“Light” in the Bible represents divine truth, ideas which pour out to us from the Lord’s infinite love. It makes sense, then, that when something...
lift
The idea of "lifting" is used in a number of different ways in the Bible. In general, it means connecting with a higher spiritual state...
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...
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