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...
youth
"Youths" or "Young men" generally represent intelligence or the understanding of truth. This is fitting, since adolescent boys tend to be more advanced intellectually than...
love
To some degree, there really is no spiritual meaning to the word “love” in the Bible. Why? Because if you truly love another, that is...
egypt
Egyptians represent those who are in natural science, thus the natural, but the Hebrews, those who are of the church, thus respectively the spiritual. The...
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...
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...
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...
images
'An image' signifies falsities from self-derived intelligence.
ephraim
Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt and was, along with his older brother Manasseh, elevated by Jacob to the same status...
arms
Arms and feet (Daniel 10:6) signify the exterior things of the Word, which are its literal sense.
known
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
cords
Rope or cord denotes conjunction.
jaws
Jaws,' in Isaiah 30:28, signify thoughts from the sensory bodily principle, and so: thoughts from fallacies.
back
There are many instances in the Bible which describe people turning back, looking back or going back. In most cases it is a negative, sometimes...
land
'Lands' of different nations are used in the Word to signify the different kinds of love prevalent in the inhabitants.
return
There are many instances in the Bible which describe people turning back, looking back or going back. In most cases it is a negative, sometimes...
sword
The three words, sword, famine and pestilence, appear in a group in 26 different Bible verses. That's not an accident. Sword, famine and pestilence describe...
cities
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jeremiah 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
consumed
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...
high
'Height' signifies what is inward, and also heaven.
call
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...
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...
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...
heart
The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor while a hard or stony heart means the love...
anger
Anger is an emotion so common to people that it requires no definition. However a couple of points of interest can be raised. 1) The...
man
"Man" is a tricky word to discuss, because the Hebrew of the Old Testament uses six different words that are generally translated as "man," with...
enter
All changes of place in the Bible represent changes in spiritual state. “Entering” – usually used as entering someone’s house or “going in unto” someone...
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...
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...
lion
'A lion' signifies the good of celestial love and the truth from that good.
dove
A dove (Gen. 8.) signifies goodness and truth. A dove, as in Hosea 11:11, signifies rational good.
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...
houses
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
compassed
To encompass, as in Genesis 19:4, signifies to be contrary, or to attack and assault with a hostile intention.
deceit
The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to the Writings it means using false thinking and logic to...
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...
judah
City of Judah,' as in Isaiah 40:9, signifies the doctrine of love towards the Lord and love towards our neighbor in its whole extent.
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