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Genesis 1:23

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23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

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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 if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.

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Apocalypse Explained # 82

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82. Verse 18. And the Living One, signifies who is from eternity. This is evident from this, that He who is from eternity is the only Living One, and that all others, who are not from eternity, have been created by Him, and thus made recipients of life from Him. Therefore He only who is from eternity has life in Himself, and no one besides Him. That the Lord, in respect both to the Divine and to the Human, has life in Himself, is evident from what is said in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:2-4, 14).

That the Lord is here meant by the "Word" is clear, for it is said, "the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us." In the same:

As the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).

In the same:

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

And in the same:

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

It is believed in the world that man has life implanted in him, and that it does not therefore flow in unceasingly from Him who alone has life in Himself, and who thus alone is Life. But this belief is a belief in what is false (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 9).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.