Genesis 2 tells the story of God’s creation of Adam from the dust of the earth, and the forming of the Garden of Eden at the headwaters of four rivers. In it there are many trees, with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of them. Then God seeks a helpmeet for Adam, and creates Eve from Adam’s rib while he is sleeping.

Here’s a brief outline:

• God rests on the seventh day, blesses it, and makes it holy. (Verses 1-4)
• God creates man, Adam, from the dust of the earth (Verses 5-7)
• God plants a garden in Eden (Verses 8-14)
• Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden, and warned not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Verses 15-17)
• God seeks a helpmeet for Adam, and creates Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, and they are married, conjoined. (Verses 18-25)

In its inner spiritual sense, this chapter continues the story of the regeneration, or rebirth, of a human being. The early verses describe a person reaching the seventh stage of rebirth, represented by the Sabbath. It’s the celestial or heavenly state, in which a person has become remade, internally, in the image and likeness of God. Then, God shines through in all that a celestial person does and speaks.

Also, on another level, this chapter begins the story of the most ancient church on earth, sometimes called the Adamic church. “Adam” in Hebrew means “man”, so this is the church of mankind, i.e. a beginning stage of spiritual development in early human beings.

The prior chapter ended with the sixth day, the spiritual stage when a person has been transformed by God into a spiritual person, after the lifelong series of battles that a person encounters in this process. In the opening of Genesis 1, a person is pictured as spiritually dead, void and empty, blind to the love and truth of God, and living his or her life in pursuit of worldly ambitions and sensual pleasures. The evil and falsities that permeate that kind of existence enslave us, and, on our own, we are fighting a losing battle. The bonds that restrain us from evil are fear of the law, fear of the loss of life or loss of wealth, and fear of damage to our reputations. This state is a “natural” one, i.e. not one with much spiritual depth or activity.

If we turn to the Lord for help, though, we can be reformed, and develop a spiritual life, and be reborn. A spiritual person is also in combat with temptations towards evil and falsity, but is victorious. The bonds that restrain such a person are internal – the bonds of conscience. The celestial person, who will be discussed in this chapter of Genesis, is no longer in such combat, because evil and falsities no longer hold any interest.

For this summary, here’s some important insight: In our life in this world, we are very much aware of our physical, natural existence, and largely unaware of our concurrent spiritual one. On the spiritual level, we are continually interacting with people who are already in heaven or hell – spirits, both good (angels) and bad (evil spirits). The classic cartoon image with the little angel on one shoulder and the little devil on the other, both trying to influence us, isn't that far from the truth.

In ancient times, people had a more direct ability to communicate with the spiritual world, but we’ve lost that ability as we’ve become more enmeshed in worldly affairs. In the spiritual battles we need to go through as we’re being reformed, as we become more in tune with God’s love and truth, angels are helping us on our path to reach heaven, both here, as we live out our lives, and then further in the next life.

Spiritual lessons from this chapter:

As we continue in our path to enlightenment, it is God who is still leading us and teaching us about his way. He will continue to feed us the spiritual food that will bring us wisdom and understanding. When we reach the final stage of rebirth, we fulfill the potential He hopes for when he creates us, being made in God's image and likeness -- still uniquely ourselves, but loving and wise, useful and active but internally at peace.

3599. 'And Isaac his father answered, and said to him' means a perception that natural good would be made Divine. This is clear from the representation of 'Isaac' as the Lord's Divine Rational as regards the Divine Good there, dealt with in 3012, 3194, 3210, from the meaning, in historical descriptions in the Word, of 'laying' as perceiving, often dealt with already, and from the representation of 'Esau', to whom Isaac addressed these words, as Natural good, also dealt with many times above. That it would be made Divine is clear from the blessing which is the subject in what follows. It has been stated above that 'Esau' represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards Divine Good, and 'Jacob' His Divine Natural as regards Divine Truth; but here 'Esau' represents Natural good that was to be made Divine, and in the verses prior to this 'Jacob' has represented Natural truth which too was to be made Divine. The implications of all this may become clear from what has been stated above in 3494, 3576. Yet to make the matter clearer still let a further brief statement be made about it here.

[2] Natural good, which Esau represents at first, is the Lord's Natural when He was a young child. This was Divine from the Father but human from the mother; and to the extent it was from the mother it was steeped in hereditary evil Its nature being such it was not able instantly to exist within that kind of order in which it could receive the Divine that was present inmostly, but it had first of all to be brought into order by the Lord. It is similar with the truth which Jacob represents; for where good is, so must truth be if it is to be anything at all. The whole area of thought, where truth resides, is joined to the area of will, where good resides. This is so even with young children. Once therefore the Lord had brought into order the Natural as regards Good and as regards Truth within Himself - into the kind of order in which the Natural received the Divine, so that He Himself was flowing in from His own Divine - and once He had gradually driven out everything human received from the mother, 'Esau' at that point represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards Good, and 'Jacob' His Divine Natural as regards Truth.

[3] But Esau and Jacob represent the Divine Good and the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Natural when they have been joined together as brothers. Regarded in themselves Divine Good and Divine Truth are a single power working together to give form to and to receive good and truth that are put into practice. The latter, that is to say, good and truth put into practice, are dealt with later on. These considerations show how many are the arcana contained in the internal sense of the Word. Those arcana are such that not even the most general aspects of them are intelligible to man, as is the case perhaps with those that have just been referred to. How then [can he grasp] the countless specific details regarding them? But they are suited to the grasp and understanding of angels who gain from the Lord heavenly ideas concerning these things and others like them, which ideas are enlightened by representatives full of indescribable pleasantness and bliss. From this one can have an idea of what angelic wisdom is like, yet only a remote idea of it because such things remain in the unenlightened part of man's understanding.