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Genesis 6

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1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

   

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Door

  
Photo by Gretchen Keith

Generally, doors in the Bible represent the initial desires for good and concepts of truth that introduce us to new levels of love and understanding, and even to the Lord Himself. Since a “house” represents a person’s desires, affections and passions, the door serves to introduce true ideas that can put those desires into action.

In John 10:7, the door signifies the Lord, who is good itself and truth itself. (Arcana Coelestia 2356[2])

In Revelation 3:8; 4:1, the door signifies admission to the arcana of heaven revealed. (Apocalypse Explained 260[2])

The meaning depends on context, of course. For example, references to doorposts and lintels are making a distinction between introductory goods and introductory truths. And, in Sodom, Lot's house had two doors -- an inner one and an outer one. When, in Genesis 19:6, Lot tried to convince the men of Sodom not to attack the angels visiting him, he went outside the inner door, but stayed inside the outer door. There, the outer door represents a desire for good that is resistant to the falsity represented by the men of Sodom; the inner door represents true ideas springing from that desire for good. Someone nurturing a desire for good could be admitted through the first door, but would have to learn the truth about how to express that desire before being admitted through the second.

(Odkazy: Genesis 19)


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Apocalypse Explained # 260

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260. Verse 4.1. After these things I saw, signifies the understanding illustrated. This is evident from the signification of "to see" as being to understand. "To see" signifies to understand because the sight of the eye corresponds to the sight of the mind, which is understanding. The correspondence is from this, that as the understanding sees spiritual things, so the sight of the eye sees natural things. Spiritual things are truths from good, and natural things are objects in various forms. Truths from good, which are spiritual things, are seen in heaven as distinctly as objects before the eye, yet with much difference; for these truths are seen intellectually, that is, they are perceived; and the nature of this sight or perception cannot be described by human words; it can be apprehended only so far as this, that it has in it consent and confirmation from the inmost that so it is. There are, indeed, confirming reasons in very great abundance, which present themselves to the intellectual sight as a one, and this one is as it were a conclusion from many particulars. These confirming reasons are in the light of heaven, which is Divine truth or Divine wisdom proceeding from the Lord, and which operate in each angel according to his state of reception. This is the spiritual sight of the understanding. Since with angels this sight operates upon the sight of the eyes, and presents the truths of the understanding in correspondent forms that appear in heaven not unlike the forms in the natural world that are called objects, so "to see," in the sense of the letter of the Word, signifies to understand. (What the appearances in heaven are, and that they correspond to the objects of the interior sight of the angels, see in the work onHeaven and Hell 170-176.)

[2] The expression "to see" and not to understand is used in the Word because the Word in its ultimates is natural, and the natural is the basis on which spiritual things have their foundation; consequently if the Word were spiritual in the letter it would have no basis, thus it would be like a house without a foundation. (On this, also see in the work on Heaven and Hell 303-310.) That in the Word "to see" signifies to understand, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Who said to the seers, See not; and to those that have vision, See not for us right things; speak to us smooth things, see illusions (Isaiah 30:10).

In the same:

The eyes of them that see shall not be closed, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken (Isaiah 32:3).

In the same:

Look, ye blind, that ye may behold, seeing great things ye do not keep them (Isaiah 42:18, 20).

In the same:

The priest and the prophet err among the seeing, they stumble in judgment (Isaiah 27:7).

And in other places:

Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not (Matthew 13:1-15; Mark 4:11-12; 8:17-18Isa. Isaiah 6:9-10; Ezekiel 12:2);

besides very many other instances, that do not need to be quoted, since everyone knows, also from the customary modes of speaking everywhere that "to see" signifies to understand; for it is said "I see that this is so," or "that it is not so," meaning "I understand."

[260 ½]. And behold a door opened in heaven, signifies the arcana of heaven revealed. This is evident from the signification of "door," as meaning admission (of which above, n. 208, here, a looking into, which is admission of the sight; moreover, the sight is admitted into heaven where the sight of the bodily eyes is dimmed, and at the same time the sight of the spirit's eyes is enlightened. By this sight all things seen by the prophets were seen. A "door opened in heaven" here signifies the arcana of heaven revealed, because at such a time things that are in the heavens appear; and before the prophets the things that are arcana of the church appear; here arcana respecting the things that were to take place upon the time of the Last Judgment, none of which have been revealed as yet, and which could not be revealed until the judgment was accomplished, and then only through some one in the world to whom it was granted by the Lord to see them, and to whom was revealed at the same time the spiritual sense of the Word. For all things written in this prophetic book were written respecting the Last Judgment, but by means of representatives and correspondences; for whatever is said by the Lord and is perceived by angels, in coming down is changed into representatives, and is so made to appear before the eyes of angels in the ultimate heavens and before prophetic men when the eyes of their spirit have been opened. From this it can be seen what is meant by "a door opened in heaven. "

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