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Genesis 8

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1 And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

2 the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

3 and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

7 and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 and the dove came in to him at eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive-leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dried.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.

21 And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #921

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921. And Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah. That this signifies a representative of the Lord, is evident from what has just been said. All the rites of the Ancient Church were representative of the Lord, as also the rites of the Jewish Church. But the principal representative in later times was the altar, and also the burnt-offering, which being made of clean beasts and clean birds, had its representation according to their signification, clean beasts signifying the goods of charity, and clean birds the truths of faith. When men of the Ancient Church offered these, they signified that they offered gifts of these goods and truths to the Lord. Nothing else can be offered to the Lord that will be grateful to Him. But their posterity, as the Gentiles and also the Jews, perverted these things, not even knowing that they had such a signification, and making their worship consist in the externals only.

[2] That the altar was the principal representative of the Lord, is evident from the fact that there were altars, even among Gentiles, before other rites were instituted, and before the ark was constructed, and before the temple was built. This is evident from Abram, as that when he came upon the mountain on the east of Bethel he raised an altar and called upon the name of Jehovah (Genesis 12:8); and afterwards he was commanded to offer Isaac for a burnt-offering on an altar (Genesis 22:2, 9). So Jacob built an altar at Luz, or Bethel (Genesis 35:6-7); and Moses built an altar under Mount Sinai, and sacrificed (Exodus 24:4-6). All this was before the [Jewish] sacrifices were instituted, and before the ark was constructed at which worship was afterwards performed in the wilderness. That there were altars likewise among the Gentiles, is evident from Balaam, who said to Balak that he should build seven altars and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams (Numbers 23:1-7, 14-18, 29-30); and also from its being commanded that the altars of the nations should be destroyed (Deuteronomy 7:5; Judges 2:2). Thus Divine worship by altars and sacrifices was not a new thing instituted with the Jews. Indeed altars were built before men had any idea of slaying oxen and sheep upon them, but as memorials.

[3] That altars signify a representative of the Lord, and burnt-offerings the worship of Him thereby, is plainly evident in the Prophets, as also in Moses when it is said of Levi, to whom the priesthood belonged:

They shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense in Thy nostrils, and whole burnt-offering upon Thine altar (Deuteronomy 33:10),

meaning all worship; for “to teach Jacob judgments, and Israel the law” denotes internal worship; and “to put incense in Thy nostrils, and whole burnt-offering on Thine altar” denotes corresponding external worship.

In Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look unto his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel; and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hand (Isaiah 17:7-8),

where “looking to the altars” plainly signifies representative worship in general, which was to be abolished. Again:

In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah (Isaiah 19:19),

where also “an altar” stands for external worship.

[4] In Jeremiah:

The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary (Lamentations 2:7);

“altar” denoting representative worship which had become idolatrous.

In Hosea:

Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars have been unto him to sin (Hosea 8:11);

“altars” denote here all representative worship separate from internal, thus what is idolatrous. Again:

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars (Hosea 10:8), where “altars” denote idolatrous worship.

In Amos:

In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off (Amos 3:14),

where again “altars” denote representative worship become idolatrous.

[5] In David:

Let them bring me unto the mountain of Thy holiness, and to Thy tabernacles. And I will go unto the altar of God, unto God the gladness of my joy (Psalms 43:3-4), where “altar” manifestly denotes the Lord.

Thus the building of an altar in the Ancient and in the Jewish Church was for a representative of the Lord. As the worship of the Lord was performed principally by burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and thus these things signified principally representative worship, it is evident that the altar itself signifies this representative worship itself.

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