Hand
Hands in the Bible represent power, the force with which things are put into action. To be specific, they represent the power of spiritual good -- which is the love of others and serving others -- expressed through spiritual truth -- which is an understanding and knowledge of what it is to love and serve others. This is in contrast to the feet, which represent power on the natural level, and a “rod,” which represents the power of the hand passed down into external or natural ideas. In a few cases in the Bible, hands also represent communication and a drawing together. This is true when people lift their hands to heaven or to Jehovah, and also when the Lord touches children or touches people to heal them.
Heaven and Hell # 30
30. The interiors of a man which belong to his internal mind (mens) and his external mind (animus) are also in like order. He has an inmost, a middle and an outermost part. For when man was created, all things of Divine order were brought together in him, so that he became Divine order in form, and consequently, a heaven in the least form. 1 For this reason man, as regards his interiors, has communication with the heavens. Also he comes, after death, among angels, among those of the inmost, middle or outermost heaven in accordance with the reception of Divine good and truth from the Lord while he lived in the world.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] All things of Divine order are brought together in man, and by creation man is Divine order in form (Arcana Coelestia 3628, 4219-4220, 4223, 4523-4524, 5114, 5608, 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10472).
In man the internal man was formed after the image of heaven, and the external after the image of the world, and this is why man was called by the ancients a microcosm (Arcana Coelestia 4523, 5608, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9706, 10156, 10472).
Thus man in respect of his interiors is by creation a heaven in least form after the image of the greatest; and such also man becomes when he has been created anew or regenerated by the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 911, 1900, 1928, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523-4524, 4625, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9632).
