Arcana Coelestia #9596
9596. 'From fine twined linen and violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet' means the spiritual and celestial realities from which those truths are derived. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine twined linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 9469; from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; and from the meaning of 'twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 9468. Such is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities, or the truths and forms of good, present with a person or an angel who is in the middle or second heaven follow one another. For truth from a celestial origin, meant by 'fine twined linen' comes first; then the love of or affection for truth, meant by 'violet'; after that the resulting love of or affection for good, meant by 'purple'; and finally spiritual good, meant by 'twice-dyed scarlet'.
[2] Because this is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities follow one another 'fine twined linen' is here mentioned first; but in the case of the veil that hung between the dwelling-place and the ark, or between the holy place and the holy of holies, dealt with in verse 31 of the present chapter, it is mentioned last. The reason why 'fine twined linen' is mentioned last in the case of the veil is that 'the veil' means the intermediary uniting the inmost heaven to the middle heaven, and therefore within this intermediary it must come last, in order that - to link the two heavens - it may then be first in the second of them.
[3] But properly 'fine twined linen' means the understanding part of the mind as it exists with the spiritual man or with an angel in the Lord's spiritual heaven. The reason why the understanding part is meant by 'fine twined linen' is that with the spiritual man a new will part is implanted by the Lord within the understanding part of his mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113; and since the understanding part in the spiritual man is meant by 'fine twined linen', so too is spiritual truth meant. This is because all truth belongs to the understanding part, and all good to the will part, 3623, 9300; for the understanding part is the receiver (subjectum) or container and the truth is what belongs to it, and these two make one. From these considerations also it may be seen that the actual understanding part of the mind with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is in the strict sense 'the dwelling-place', 9296, 9297, and that the spreading out of the curtains serves to describe it.
[4] From all this what 'spreading and stretching out the heavens' means in the following places may be recognized, such as in Isaiah,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath 1 to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.
In the same prophet,
I am Jehovah who makes all things, stretches out the heavens Alone, [and] spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.
In the same prophet,
It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens. Isaiah 45:12.
In Jeremiah,
... He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.
In Zechariah,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.
[5] 'Stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' is plainly similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains. And by this is meant regenerating a person and thereby creating or forming a new understanding in which there is a new will, which is the spiritual person's actual heaven in which the Lord dwells with that person. The fact that the regeneration or the formation of a new understanding, and of a new will within it, and so of a new person, is what 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' means is evident from actual explanations provided in the places quoted above. For they speak of Him who gives breath to the people on the earth, and spirit to those who walk on it, and also of Him who forms the spirit of man within him. 'Heaven and earth' means the Church, internal and external, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, and 'the earth' in general means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 9334; and these meanings too are plainly apparent in those places. For if 'the earth' did not have that meaning what sense could be made of 'spreading out the earth' and 'founding the earth', or 'forming the spirit of man within him 2 '?
[6] The fact that 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' here is similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains is clear from other places where the same idea is stated even more plainly, as in Isaiah,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.
In the same prophet,
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:2.
And in David,
Jehovah covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens as a curtain. Psalms 104:2.
These places also show what 'the expanse' or that which is spread out means in the first chapter of Genesis,
God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse, And God called the expanse Heaven. Genesis 1:6-8.
That first chapter describes the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church, 'the expanse' describing his new will and understanding. 'The waters under the expanse and those above the expanse' are the truths of the external man and those of the internal man. For the meaning of 'waters' as truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.
Notas a pie de página:
1. literally, soul
2. The Latin here is in ea (in it, i.e. in the earth). But in his rough draft Swedenborg has, as in other places, in medio ejus which is usually taken to mean within him but could possibly mean in the midst of it.
John 4
1
Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2
(although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples),
3
he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4
He needed to pass through Samaria.
5
So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
6
Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
8
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9
The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
11
The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
12
Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"
13
Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
15
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."
16
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17
The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,'
18
for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."
19
The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
21
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.
22
You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.
24
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
25
The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Christ). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things."
26
Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."
27
At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?"
28
So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29
"Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?"
30
They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31
In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32
But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."
33
The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"
34
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35
Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
36
He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37
For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'
38
I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
39
From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I did."
40
So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41
Many more believed because of his word.
42
They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
43
After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
44
For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45
So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
46
Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47
When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48
Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe."
49
The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50
Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51
As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives!"
52
So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him."
53
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.
54
This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
