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.
edom
'Edom' or 'Idumea,' as in Isaiah 34:5, signifies those who are in evil and in falsities thence derived.
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...
daughters
Marriages among people – both in the Bible and in life – represent spiritual marriage. Women represent the desire to be good and to do...
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...
Adah
Adah, Lamech's wife, (Genesis 4:9), represents the mother of the celestial things of faith.
hittite
'A Hittite' in a good sense, signifies the spiritual church, or the truth of the church. The Hittites were among the upright Gentiles who were...
Aholibamah
Aholibamah, one of Esau's women ('Gen 36:2'), signifies the affection of apparent truth, which is first conjoined to natural good represented by Esau.
hivite
The Hivites' represent those who were in idolatry, but in which there was something of good.
Ishmael
'Ishmael' represents the first rationality pertaining to the Lord. 'Ishmael' signifies rationality separate from good. 'Ishmael' signifies the Lord's merely human rational. Ishmael, in Genesis...
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...
nebajoth
'Nebaioth,' as in Genesis 28, denotes good of the spiritual church.
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...
reuel
'Reuel' was a priest and so denotes the good of the church.
korah
Korah was a man of the tribe of Levi, who together with Dathan and Abiram, both Reubenites, led an insurrection against Moses and Aaron. Apparently...
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...
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...
cattle
Animals in the Bible generally refer to spiritual activity, the things we actually do on a spiritual level. "Cattle," as typically used in the Bible,...
beasts
"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the...
acquired
Acquisition (Genesis 12:5) means all things which are sensual truths or things of science which are the ground of thought in man. Acquisition and purchase...
Land of Canaan
The land of Canaan' in the Word, means love, and consequently, the will of the celestial self.
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...
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...
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...
brother
Brethren (Gen. 27:29) signify the affections of good.
abundant
'Sufficiency' relates to the reception of good, because good is the spiritual nourishment of the soul, as natural food is the nourishment of the body.
dwell
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...
sojournings
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...
bear
Like many verbs, the spiritual meaning of "bearing" something depends greatly on context – what it is that's being borne, and why. It is further...
dwelleth
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...
mount
The Writings tell us that the Lord's love is the sun of heaven, and it is natural for us to look above ourselves to the...
Seir
'Mount Seir' denotes the human essence of the Lord.
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...
names
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...
son
'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...
wife
It is because of a celestial and angelic proprium, or selfhood, that the church is called 'a woman,' 'a wife,' 'a bride,' 'a virgin,' and...
Teman
In Habakkuk 3:2-4, 'Teman' has respect to celestial love, and 'Mount Paran' to spiritual love.
concubine
'Sons of concubines' signify the spiritual degree.
zerah
'Zarah' in Hebrew, means 'to rise.' It's related the sun and the first appearance of its light. In Genesis 38:30, 'Zarah' or 'Zerah' signifies that...
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...
horite
'Horites,' as mentioned in Genesis 14:6, represent those who are principled in the persuasions of what is false, grounded in self-love.
the inhabitants
'The inhabitants of Teman,' as in Jeremiah 49:20, signifies the evils and falsities opposed to the Lord’s celestial kingdom.
inhabitants
Inhabitants,' in Isaiah 26:9, signify the men of the church who are in good of doctrine, and thence in the good of life.
horites
'Horites,' as mentioned in Genesis 14:6, represent those who are principled in the persuasions of what is false, grounded in self-love.
found
Finding, or being found, can have different meanings in the Word, depending on the context. Here are two examples, From Arcana Coelestia 5756, 'Behold, the...
wilderness
'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because...
feeding
When the Bible talks about "feeding" it is generally referring to instruction in spiritual things – teaching people the true concepts that can lead them...
asses
Donkeys signify the things relating to the self-intelligence of the sensual man; and camels, the things of self-intelligence in the natural man (Isa 30:6, 7.)
Uz
'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....
Land of Seir
'The land of Seir' signifies celestial and natural good.
kings
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...
reigned
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
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...
reigning
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
Sons of Israel
'The camp of the sons of Israel' represents the church.
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...
reigneth
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
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...
city
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jeremiah 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
dieth
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
reign
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
Bozrah
Bosrah, as in Isaiah 63:1 signifies a vintage, which is predicated concerning truth. Bozrah has respect to the divine truth, and Edom, to the divine...
midian
'Midianites' signify people who are in the truth of simple good.
field
When we have a desire to be good people and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?" "What should...
moab
Ammonite and Moabite ('Deuteronomy 23:3'), signify the profanation of the celestial and spiritual things of faith.
saul
Saul was the first king of Israel, anointed by Samuel when the people insisted on having a king. Like all the kings, both good and...
rehoboth
'Rehoboth,' as in Genesis 10:11, signifies false doctrines coming from the illusions of the senses, or ignorance, with a predominating desire for innovation or superiority.
river
'Rivers' signify truths in abundance serving the rational self, and so, the understanding, for the purpose of doctrine and life. 'Rivers' or 'floods' signify temptations....
Pau
'Pau' denotes doctrine.
families
Families (as in Genesis 8:19) signify goodnesses and truths arranged in man by the Lord, according to order. See Secrets of Heaven 917. In Nahum...
places
'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...
dwellings
Habitation, as mentioned in Genesis 27:39, signifies life. The habitation of holiness signifies the celestial kingdom. The habitation of honorableness signifies the spiritual kingdom, as...
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