Sons
'Sons of Canaan,' as in Genesis 10, are people who kept external worship separate from internal.
Shem
'Shem' can be understood to be internal worship, 'Japheth' is the corresponding external worship, 'Ham' is internal worship corrupted, and 'Canaan' is external worship separate...
born
In a general sense, being "born" in the Bible represents one spiritual state producing another, usually some form of love or affection producing or "giving...
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...
Sons of Japheth
In Genesis 10, the people called 'the sons of Japheth,' were those who kept external worship corresponding with internal, or lived in simplicity, friendship, and...
Gomer
‘Gomer’ denotes those who are in outward worship.
Magog
'Magog' signifies people in external natural worship.
Madai
'Madai,' as in Isaiah 21:1, signifies the external church, or external worship in which is the internal. See Genesis 10:2, where 'Madai' is called 'the...
Javan
'Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, and Javan,' as in Isaiah 66:19, signify varieties of external worship.
Tiras
'Tiras,' as in Genesis 10:2, was one of the nations practicing external worship corresponding with internal. These nations, in an internal sense, signify several doctrines,...
Riphath
'Riphath,' in Genesis 10:3, was one of several nations which had an external form of worship, and signifies several doctrinal matters, which respected ritual observances...
Togarmah
'Togarmah,' as in Ezekiel 27:14, signifies people in internal worship.
Sons of Javan
'Sons of Zion' and 'Javan,' as in Zechariah 9:13, signify the internal and external truths of the Word. The Apocalypse Explained 724. In Arcana Coelestia...
Elishah
Elishah, Tarshish, Kitthin, and Dodanium (Gen. 10:4) signify so many several doctrinals respecting ritual observances, and derived from external worship prevailing with Javan.
Nations
'Nations' signify people who are in the good of love and charity from the Lord. Two nations in the womb,' as in Genesis 25:23, signify...
Lands
'Lands' of different nations are used in the Word to signify the different kinds of love prevalent in the inhabitants.
Tongue
'The tongue,' as an organ, signifies doctrine, but as speech, or language, it signifies religion. 'Tongue' signifies perception of truth with respect to speech, and...
Families
Families (Gen 8:19) signify goodnesses and truths arranged in man by the Lord, according to order. Families have respect to truths. (Nahum 3:4)
Sons of Ham
In Genesis 10, the people called 'the sons of Ham,' had a corrupt internal worship.
Cush
Cush (Ezek. 29:10) signifies the interior knowledges of the Word, applied to confirm false principles originating in scientifics. Cush and Phut (Ezek. 30:4-6) signify knowledges...
Phut
'Phut' denotes knowledges from the literal sense of the Word.
Canaan
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...
Raamah
From Arcana Coelestia 1168: 'The sons of Raamah,' as in Genesis 10:7, signify the knowledges of celestial things. From Arcana Coelestia 1171: That by "the...
Sheba
'Sheba, Havilah, Sabthah, Regmah, and Sabthecha,' the sons of Cush, as in Genesis 10:7, were several nations which were did not have internal worship, but...
Dedan
Dedan (Gen. 10) signifies the knowledges of celestial things of an inferior order, such as consist in ritual observances. Dedan, in Jer. 49:8 signifies rituals...
begotten
To beget or to be begotten is very similar in meaning to birth: It represents one spiritual state leading to the next spiritual state. "Beget,"...
Nimrod
'Nimrod,' as in Genesis 10, signifies people who make internal worship external by depending upon external worship alone.
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...
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...
Jehovah
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...
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...
kingdom
In the most general sense, a kingdom in the Bible represents a church. In a more specific sense, a kingdom represents a church in regards...
babel
Babylon was an ancient city built on the Euphrates river in what is now southern Iraq. It once was the capital of a great empire...
land of
'The land of Shinar,' as in Genesis 10:10, signifies external worship, which has profane internal.
Nineveh
'Nineveh' signifies the falsities of doctrinal matters, also the Gentiles, or the falsities originating in the fallacies of the senses, in the obscurity of an...
broad places
Swedenborg tell us that in terms of measurement, height relates to the desire for good and breadth relates to the knowledge of truth. Following that,...
Calah
Calah (Gen. 10:12) signifies falsity derived from evil lusts.
Resen
'Resen, between Nineveh and Calah,' as in Genesis 10:12, signifies false doctrinal matters of life, originating in the specific falsities signified by 'Nineveh' and 'Calah.'
city
In the ancient world cities were very nearly nations unto themselves – they existed within walls, with their own laws and customs, generally centered on...
Ludim
'Lydians,' as in Jeremiah 46:8, signify fact based rituals.
Lehabim
'Lehabim' signify the rituals of external worship, from a merely scientific perspective.
Naphtuhim
'Naphtuhim' signify external rituals of worship.
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...
Sidon
'Sidon' denotes people who possess celestial and spiritual riches which are knowledges.
First-born
First-born, in a supreme sense, represents the Lord as to divine celestial love, and also those respectively who were of the celestial church. First-born: Inasmuch...
Heth
The daughters of Heth, as mentioned in Genesis 27:46, signify the affections of truth from a ground that is not genuine. Here they are the...
Hamathite
A 'Hamathite' signifies variety of idolatry.
border
A 'hem,' 'skirt,' or 'border' signifies the extremes, or the natural principle.
Coming
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
Gerar
Gerar, as in Genesis 10:19, signifies those things which are revealed concerning faith.
Gaza
Gaza (or Azzah) signifies things revealed concerning charity.
sodom
"Sodom" in the Bible represents the love of self and the love of ruling or dominating others springing from the love of self. This is...
Lasha
Lasha' signifies falsities and evils in which knowledges terminate.
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...
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...
elder
In general, things that are “elder” in the Bible represent spiritual states that come before others. For example, of the two sisters Jacob married, Leah...
Sons of Shem
'Sons of Shem,' as in Genesis 10, signify internal people who worship the Lord, love their neighbor, and whose church was similar to the true...
Elam
Elam, mentioned in Isaiah 21:1, signifies faith originating in charity, consequently, the internal church. Elam, in Jeremiah 49:34, (Jer. 49:34), signifies the falsification of doctrine....
Arphaxad
Arphaxad (Genesis 10:24) signifies science.
Hul
'Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash,' as in Genesis 10:23, signify several kinds of knowledges derived from the knowledges of good, and anything pertaining those knowledges....
Salah
'Salah' denotes the products of knowledge.
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...
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...
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...
Peleg
'Peleg,' as in Genesis 10:25, signifies the internal worship of the ancient church called Eber. Peleg,' as in Genesis 11:16, being mentioned as the son...
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...
earth
"Earth" in the Bible can mean a person or a group of like-minded people as in a church. But it refers specifically to the external...
Joktan
Joktan,' as in Genesis 10:25, signifies the external worship in the church called Eber.
Almodad
Almodad (Genesis 10:26) was a ritual of the ancient church amongst the posterity of Eber.
Sheleph
'Sheleph,' as in Genesis 10:26, is a ritual of the worship of the church called Eber.
Hazarmaveth
'Hazarmaveth,' as mentioned in Genesis 10:26, signifies a ritual of the worship of the church called Eber.
Jerah
'Jerah,' in Genesis 10:27, is a ritual of the church called 'Eber.'
Hadoram
Hadoram, as mentioned in Genesis 27, signifies a ritual of the church called 'Eber.'
Uzal
'Usal,' as in Genesis 10:27, signifies a ritual of the church called Eber.
Diklah
Diklah, mentioned in Genesis 10:27, signifies a ritual of the church called Eber.
Obal
'Obal,' as in Genesis 10:28, signifies a ritual of the church called Eber.
Abimael
Abimael (Gen 10:28), represents the ritual of the church called Eber.
Ophir
'Ophir,' as in Genesis 10:28, signifies a ritual of the church called 'Eber.' Gold of Ophir,' as in Isaiah 8:13 and Psalm 45, signifies spiritual...
dwelling
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...
Sephar
'Sephar,' as in Genesis 10:30, signifies good.
mount
'Mount Olivet' signifies the celestial church, or celestial good, which comes from love towards the Lord, and divine love.
