HEMELSE VERBORGENHEDEN in de Heilige Schrift of het Woord van de Heer ONTHULD allereerst die in Genesis waaronder de wonderbaarlijkheden gezien in de geestenwereld en in de engelenhemel

door EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

‘Zoekt eerst het rijk Gods en Zijn Gerechtigheid, en alle dingen zullen u toegeworpen worden.’ Mattheüs 6:33

EERSTE DEEL

De hemelse Verborgenheden die in de Heilige Schrift of het Woord van de Heer onthuld zijn, staan in de verklarende paragrafen, genoemd: de INNERLIJKE ZIN van het Woord. Over de aard van die zin leze men wat daarvan uit ondervinding is aangetoond, nr. 1767-1777, nr. 1869-1879;

en bovendien in de tekst van het werk zelf: nr. 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, en einde van 1502, 1540, 1659, 1756, 1783, 1807.

De Wonderbaarlijkheden, die gezien zijn in de geestelijke wereld en in de engelenhemel, zijn geplaatst in paragrafen voor en na elk hoofdstuk.

DE INHOUD VAN DIT EERSTE DEEL

1. De opwekking van de mens uit de dood en zijn ingang in het eeuwige leven, nr. 168-181.

2. De ingang van de wederopgewekte in het eeuwige leven, nr. 182-189.

3. Vervolg; de ingang van de mens in het eeuwige leven, nr. 314-319.

4. Van welke aard dan het leven van een ziel of van een geest is, nr. 320-323.

5. Enige voorbeelden wat geesten in het lichaam gedacht hebben over de ziel of de geest, nr. 443-448.

6. De hemel en de hemelse vreugde, nr. 449-459.

7. Het vervolg van de hemel en de hemelse vreugde, nr. 537-546.

8. Vervolg van de hemel en de hemelse vreugde, nr. 547-553.

9. De gezelschappen die de hemel vormen, nr. 684-691.

10. De hel, nr. 692-700.

11. De hellen van degenen die hun leven in haat, wraaklust en wreedheid hebben geleefd, nr. 814-823.

12. De hellen van degenen die hun leven met overspel en ongeremde lust hebben doorgebracht; ook de hellen van de bedriegers en heksen.

13. De hellen van de gierigaards; dan het vuile Jeruzalem en de rovers in de woestijn; ook de volkomen vuile hellen van degenen die helemaal tijdens hun leven in beslag zijn genomen in het najagen van pleziertjes, nr. 938-946.

14. Andere hellen, die van de vorige zijn onderscheiden, nr. 947-970.

15. Verwoesting, nr. 1106-1113.

16. De Oudste Kerk, die Mens of Adam genoemd wordt, nr. 1114-1129.

17. De mensen vóór de vloed, die vergaan zijn, nr. 1265-1272.

18. De ligging van de Grootste Mens en de plaats en afstand in het andere leven, nr. 1273-1278.

19. Vervolg over stand en plaats en over afstand en tijd in het andere leven, nr. 1376-1382.

20. De innerlijke gewaarwording van geesten en engelen en de sferen in het andere leven, nr. 1383-1400.

21. Vervolg over de innerlijke gewaarwording en sferen in het ander leven, nr. 1504-1520.

22. Het licht waarin de engelen leven, nr. 1521-1534.

23. Vervolg over het licht waarin de engelen leven, hun paradijzen en woningen, nr. 1619-1633.

24. De taal van de geesten en de engelen, nr. 1634-1650.

25. Vervolg over de taal van de geesten en de engelen, nr. 1757-1764.

26. De Heilige Schrift of het Woord, dat Goddelijke dingen verbergt, en voor de goede geesten en de engelen zichtbaar zijn, nr.1767-1777.

27. Vervolg van de heilige Schrift of het Woord, nr. 1869-1879.

28. Enkele bijzonderheden over geesten en engelen in het algemeen, nr. 1880-1885.

10. The internal sense of the Word is primarily for the angels, but it is also for men.

So that it may be known what the internal sense is, its nature and its origin, this will be stated in summary form. They think and speak differently in heaven from people on earth, in heaven spiritually and on earth naturally. Therefore when people read the word the angels who are with them perceive it spiritually, and the people naturally. So, angels are in the spiritual sense, people in the external sense; and yet they still make one unit because there is a correspondence between them. Angels not only think spiritually, they also speak spiritually; also, their presence with people, and their conjunction with people is achieved through the Word. This is seen in the work Heaven and Hell, where the wisdom of the angels of heaven is considered: 265-275; their speech: 234-245; their connection with people: 291-302; their connection through the Word: 303-310.

The Word is understood differently by the angels in heaven and by people on earth; and an internal or spiritual sense exists for the angels, while for men there is an external or natural sense: 1887, 2395. The angels perceive the Word in its internal sense, not its external, from the experience of those from heaven who talked with me when I read the Word: 1769-1772. Angelic ideas ¹ and angelic speech are spiritual, while human ideas and speech are natural, and likewise the internal sense, which is spiritual, is for angels, as shown to me by my own experience: 2333. Nevertheless the literal sense of the Word ² serves as a means of communicating the spiritual ideas of angels, in the same way that words of speech serve for the sense of a thing with people: 2143. Those things which belong to the internal sense of the Word fall into such things as are in the light of heaven, and so into the perception of angels: 2618-2619, 2629, 3086. Likewise those things which the angels perceive from the Word are very precious to them: 2540-2541, 2545, 2551. Angels understand not even one expression of the literal sense of the Word: 64-65, 1434, 1929. Nor do they know the names of persons and places mentioned in the Word: 1434, 1888, 4442, 4480. Names cannot enter heaven or be pronounced there: 1876, 1888. All names in the Word signify spiritual realities, and in heaven they are converted into the ideas of spiritual reality: 768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 5225, 5287, 10329. Also, angels abstract spiritual realities from people and their names: 4380, 8343, 8985, 9007. How elegant the internal sense of the Word is, even where no names occur, is seen in examples from the Word: 1224, 1888, 2395. Also, several names in succession express one thing in the internal sense: 5095. Also, all numbers in the Word signify things: 482, 487, 647-648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253. Spirits too perceive the Word in its internal sense, in so far as their internal parts are opened to heaven: 1771. The literal sense of the Word, which is natural, may be transmuted in a moment of time into spiritual form among the angels, because correspondence exists: 5648. And this is without their hearing or knowing what is in the literal or external sense: 10215. Thus, the literal or external sense exists only with man and progresses no further: 2015.

There is an internal sense of the Word, and also an innermost or supreme sense, about which see 9407, 10604, 10614, 10627. The spiritual angels, that is those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, perceive the Word in its internal sense, and the celestial angels, who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, perceive the Word in its innermost sense: 2157, 2275.

The Word is for people and also for angels, being appropriate for both: 7381, 8862, 10322. It is the Word which unifies heaven and earth: 2310, 2495, 9212, 9216, 9357. The linking of heaven with people exists through the Word: 9396, 9400-9401, 10452. The Word is called a covenant [contract]: 9396-since a covenant signifies a linking together: 665-666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396, 10632. There is an internal sense of the Word because the Word came down ³ from the Lord through the three heavens right as far as humans: 2310, 6597. It has become appropriate for the angels of the three heavens and also for humans: 7381, 8862. It is from this that the Word is divine: 4989, 9280, and holy: 10276, and spiritual: 4480, and inspired by the Divine: 9094. That is inspiration: 9094.

Furthermore, people who have been regenerated are actually in the internal sense of the Word even though they do not know this, since their internal being is opened, which has spiritual perception: 10400. But in their case the spiritual essence of the Word flows into natural ideas and is thus established in a natural sense, since while they live in the world they think as natural beings, as far as perception is concerned: 5614. The light of truth among those who are enlightened comes from their internal being, and thus through their internal being from the Lord: 10691, 10694. Also along that course flows what is holy, among those who hold the Word holy: 6789. Since regenerated people are actually in the internal sense of the Word, and in its holiness, although they do not know that, after death they arrive at that of themselves, and are no longer in the literal sense: 3226, 3342-3343. The ideas of an internal person are spiritual, but while people live in the world they are not aware of them since people are in their natural mode of thought, to which they impart their reasoning faculty: 10236, 10240, 10551. But after death people come into them as their own because they belong properly to their spirit, and at that time they not only think but also talk as from them: 2470, 2472, 2476, 10568, 10604. It is for this reason that it is said that regenerated people do not know that they are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and that from this enlightenment comes to them.

Note a piè di pagina:

1988. 'Abram was a son of ninety-nine years' means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. This is clear from the meaning of 'nine' when thought of as one less than ten, or what amounts to the same, of 'ninety-nine' when thought of as one less than a hundred; for when Isaac was born to him Abram was a hundred years old. The nature of the internal sense of the Word is made especially clear by the numbers that are used, as it is by the names. Any numbers whatever, as also any names, that are mentioned in the Word mean real things; for nothing ever exists in the Word that does not have that which is Divine within it, that is, which does not have an internal sense within it. How remote this sense is from the sense of the letter is especially evident from the names and numbers, for in heaven they pay no attention whatever to names and numbers but to things meant by the names or numbers. For example, whenever the number seven occurs, holiness instantly suggests itself to angels instead of the number seven, for 'seven' means holiness from the fact that the celestial man is the seventh day or the sabbath, and so the Lord's rest, 84-87, 395, 433, 716, 881. The same applies to all other numbers, for example, to the number twelve. Whenever twelve occurs the idea of everything belonging to faith suggests itself to angels, for the reason that the twelve tribes of Israel meant everything belonging to faith, 577. That numbers mean real things in the Word has been shown in Volume One; see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893.

[2] It is similar with the number 'ninety-nine'. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred years', Abram's age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord's Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word 'a hundred' has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and 'ten' means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are - for nowadays what they are is not known - provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

[3] These considerations show what is meant by 'ninety-nine'. Being one less than a hundred, that number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. 'Ishmael' represented the first rational with the Lord, the nature of which has been shown adequately enough above in the previous chapter. But 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Divine Rational, as will be clear later on. Anyone may see that an arcanum is embodied within the following circumstance: Abram having remained such a long time in the land of Canaan - twenty-four years now, ten before Ishmael's birth, and thirteen after - and not as yet having had a son by Sarai his wife, he then first received the promise of a son, when he had now reached ninety-nine and would be a hundred when this son was born. The arcanum is that by means of these experiences he might represent the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and in fact of His Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with His Rational.