Jacob
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...
angels
"Angels" in the Bible represent qualities of the Lord himself, or a variety of things that come directly from the Lord. On a lower level...
God
The Lord is love itself, expressed in the form of wisdom itself. Love, then, is His essence, His inmost. Wisdom - the loving understanding of...
met
In natural language, to "meet" someone can be positive or negative: it can be a welcoming and greeting, or it can be "meeting" them in...
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...
host
A host and an army come from the same Hebrew word and mean the same thing in Bible; when the Children of Israel were numbered...
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...
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...
place
'A room' or 'place' denotes state.
Mahanaim
'Mahanaim,' as in Genesis 32:2, signifies the celestial and spiritual heavens, and in the supreme sense, the divine celestial and divine spiritual of the Lord.
Sent
'Being sent' everywhere signifies, in an internal sense, going forth, as in John 17:8. In similar manner, it is said of the holy of the...
Esau
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.
brother
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...
Land of Seir
'The land of Seir' signifies celestial and natural good.
Land
Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute...
land of
'The land of Rameses,' as in Genesis 47:11, signifies the inmost of the spiritual principle in the natural mind.
Seir
'Seir,' as in Genesis 33:14, signifies the conjunction of spiritual and celestial things in the natural level, that is, the truth of faith with the...
country
Generally in the Bible a "country" means a political subdivision ruled by a king, or sometimes a tribe with a territory ruled by a king...
Edom
'Edom' or 'Idumea,' as in Isaiah 34:5, signifies those who are in evil and in falsities thence derived.
my lord
Characters in the Bible will often address others using the term “my lord,” and it seems to be no more than an expression of respect....
servant
“Servant” literally means “a person who serves another,"" and its meaning is similar in reference to the spiritual meaninngs of the Bible. Our lives in...
saith
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...
sojourned
There is a long history of using travel to round out an education, from the 19th-century “world tours” taken by Oxford and Cambridge graduates to...
Laban
'Laban' signifies the affection of good in the natural self, or the affection of external good, and properly collateral good of a common stock. The...
Oxen
'Oxen' or 'calves' signify the affections of the natural mind.
Women
'Women,' as in Genesis 45:19, signify the affections of truth. But in Genesis 31:50, 'women' signify affections of not genuine truth, so not of the...
Tell
'To tell' signifies perceiving, because in the spiritual world, or in heaven, they do not need to tell what they think because they communicate every...
Find
To not to be found any more, signifies not to rise again.
Coming
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
Four hundred
Four hundred signifies vastation, temptations, and the duration thereof.
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...
hundred
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...
afraid
Fear of the unknown and fear of change are both common ideas, and together cover a broad spectrum of the fears we tend to have...
people
The Bible generally uses two different terms for large groups: “people” and “nation.” When it uses the term “nation,” it is talking about a group...
come
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
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...
Company
A company, congregation, and a multitude, in the Word, are predicated of truths.
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...
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...
abraham
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...
Isaac
'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...
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...
Well
'A well,' as in Numbers 21:17-18, signifies the Word of the ancient church. 'A well,' or 'pit,' as in Luke 14:5, signifies falsity and the...
Worthy
People in truths from the Lord, because they are in conjunction with Him, are called 'worthy,' as in Revelation 3:4. All worth in the spiritual...
the least
'Tittle' or 'the least' in the Word represents heavenly things.
least
The idea of "least" is not addressed directly in Swedenborg, but a central idea is relatively clear from several references to Matthew 25:40: And the...
truth
In John 14:6, 'the way is doctrine,' 'the truth' is every thing pertaining to doctrine, and 'the life' is the essential good which is the...
staff
To ask counsel at their stocks,' as in Hosea 4:12, signifies the good of the delight that comes from some lusts.
Passed
'Passed' or 'expired' denotes the conclusion of whatever state is being discussed.
over
'Upon' or 'over' signifies being within.
Jordan
The land of Jordan,' as in Psalm 42:6, signifies what is lowly, consequently, what is distant from the celestial, as the external parts of a...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
Fear
Fear has various significations according to the thing which causes it. Fear signifies love. Fear, as in Gen 28:17, signifies a holy change.
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...
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....
good
It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it’s true! The case is this: The...
Make
'To make,' as in Hosea 8:11, refers to good. In the opposite sense it refers to evil. To make heaven, and earth, and the sea,...
Seed as the sand
In Isaiah 48:19, 'seed as the sand' denotes good, and 'the offspring of the bowels as gravel' denotes truth, or people principled in love to...
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...
Sand
'Sand,' as in Matthew 7:27, signifies faith separate from charity.
sea
'The sea and the waves roaring' means heresy and controversies in the church and individual.
Multitude
'A multitude' relates to truths.
night
The sun in the Bible represents the Lord, with its heat representing His love and its light representing His wisdom. “Daytime,” then, represents a state...
Present
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,...
Goats
'Satyrs,' as in Isaiah 13:21, signify goods adulterated.
Twenty
'Twenty,' when referring to a quantity, signifies everything or fullness, because it is ten twice. 'Twenty,' as in Genesis 18:31, like all numbers occurring in...
Rams
'Rams of the breed of Bashan,' as in Deuteronomy 32:14, signify celestial spiritual things.
Thirty
'Thirty' has a twofold significance because it is is the product of five and six, and also three and ten. From five multiplied by six,...
forty
'Forty' means completeness because 'four' means what is complete, as does 'ten.' Forty is the product of four and ten. Compound numbers have a meaning...
ten
Most places in Swedenborg identify “ten” as representing “all,” or in some cases “many” or “much.” The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get...
Pass
'To pass,' as in Genesis 31:52, signifies flowing in. 'To pass the night,' as in Genesis 24:54, signifies having peace. 'To pass through,' as in...
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...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
Behind
Behind, or after, (Gen. 16:13), signifies within or above, or an interior or superior principle.
Us
Because people are governed by angels and spirits, in Genesis 1:26 it says 'let us make man into our image.' But because the Lord alone...
second
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...
Third
'Three' denotes fullness, and 'a third,' not full.
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...
goeth before
To "go before" in the Bible means either to lead or to prepare, depending on context. When it is said of the Lord or things...
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...
wives
The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg...
Sons
'Sons of Canaan,' as in Genesis 10, are people who kept external worship separate from internal.
alone
To be alone in the Bible represents being free of evil and false influences. That's why the Lord seeks solitude to pray, and why the...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
touched
Imagine having your mother touch your cheek. Then imagine having your spouse or someone you love romantically touch your cheek. Then imagine having a baby...
Thigh
In Revelation 19:16, 'the Lord’s thigh' signifies the Word regarding its divine good. 'The thigh and loins' signify conjugial love, and because this is the...
out of joint
Out of joint' denotes truths that have not yet been arranged into such an order that together with good they could all enter celestial-spiritual good.
go
In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through...
breaketh
To “break” something creates an image that is much different from “attacking,” “destroying,” or “shattering.” It is less emotional, less violent in its intent; it...
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...
Power
Power,' as in Revelation 4, signifies salvation, because all divine power regards this as its final purpose. A person is reformed by divine power, and...
ask
The words "ask" and "question" are used a number of different in natural language, and a number of different ways in the Bible. The spiritual...
blessed
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...
Peniel
'Peniel' signifies a state of temptation. 'Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,' in Genesis 32, in the internal historical sense, signifies a state...
Face to face
"I have seen God face to face" (Gen. 32:30), signifies to sustain the most grievous temptations.
Penuel
'Penuel,' as in Genesis 32, signifies a state of truth in good.
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...
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...
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...
Sinew
'A sinew' signifies truth, because truths are in good like sinews in flesh. This is what is being described in Ezekiel 37:6, 8.
Hollow of the thigh
'Hollow of the thigh' denotes where there is conjunction of conjugial love. 'And the hollow, of Jacob's thigh was out of joint in his wrestling...
