Sleeping in the Bible represents a state of spiritual obscurity, in which we are distanced from the Lord and are not aware of His love and His wisdom. The Lord put the people of the Most Ancient Church (Adam) into such a state of obscurity (sleep) because they wanted to live from themselves. And in a way, humanity has been asleep ever since, unaware that our thoughts, our feelings, our very life and love flow into us from the Lord, and are not our own.

But the Lord would let Adam carry on. He took a part of him that was least alive – meaning the least receptive of the Lord, since the Lord is life – and prepared to make a new person that would give Adam the life he wanted. The people of the Most Ancient Church would be cut off from direct communication with the Lord and with heaven, but would instead – through the nearly lifeless bit of humanity represented by the rib – be able to experience life as their own.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 147, 148-151)

94. Verse 7 And Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; ¹ and man became a living soul. 'To form the man, dust from the ground' is to form his external man, which had not previously been man, for it was said in verse 5 that there was no man to till the ground. 'Breathing into his nostrils the breath of life' ¹ means giving him the life that is inherent in faith and love. By 'man became a living soul' is meant that the external man as well became living.

Poznámky pod čarou: