Genesis 9
1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18
And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19
These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29
And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Arcana Coelestia #8099
8099. 'The Sea Suph' means the damnation which they first had to pass through. This is clear from the meaning of 'the Sea Suph' as the hell where those spirits are who are governed by faith separated from charity and lead a life of evil; and since 'the Sea Suph' means hell it also means damnation. The reason why they first had to pass through damnation is this: There were people belonging to the spiritual Church who were held back on the lower earth until the Lord's Coming, where they were molested by those governed by faith separated from charity. These have been the subject in the preceding chapters. When those people were delivered from that place they were not raised to heaven immediately. Before this they were led into a second state - a state of purification, which is a state of temptations. For truths and forms of the good of faith can be neither firmly accepted nor bonded together without temptations; and until these had been firmly accepted and bonded together those people could not be raised into heaven. These things were represented by the children of Israel, by their not being led straightaway into the land of Canaan but living first in the wilderness, where they remained for forty years, undergoing various temptations, which are described in the books of Moses.
[2] In regard to this matter, that they first passed through the Sea Suph, which means the hell of those who are governed by separated faith and lead an evil life, thus that they first passed through the middle of damnation, it should be recognized that this hell is situated deep down out in front beneath the adulterers' hells, stretching rather widely towards the left. It is separated from the adulterers' hells by waters like those of the sea on the right there, but higher up, is the place where those governed by the truth of faith but not by the good of faith are gathered - those meant by 'the Philistines', who are referred to just above in 8096. But the lower earth, the region where those who suffer molestation are, is beneath the soles of the feet, slightly out in front. Those who are delivered from molestation are not led towards the right since the ones meant by the Philistines are there. Instead they are led towards the left, through the midst of the hell that has been mentioned and they come out on the left, where there is a kind of wilderness. I have been allowed on two occasions to see that this is the way which they pass through when rescued from molestations. As they pass through they are protected by the Lord in such a way that nothing bad at all can touch them, let alone any damnation. For they are encompassed by a pillar of angels with whom the Lord is present.
[3] This is represented by the passage of the children of Israel through the Sea Suph. Such was also meant by the following in Isaiah,
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Were You not that which dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, which made the deep places of the sea a road, in order that the redeemed might pass through? Isaiah 51:9-10.
'The arm of Jehovah' is the Lord's Divine Human. 'The waters of the great deep' and 'the depths of the sea' are the hell in which those live who are governed by faith separated from charity and lead a life of evil. The waters like those of the sea beneath which they live are falsities; for in the next life falsities appear as thick, dark clouds, and also as deluges of water, 739, 4423, 7307. The redeemed who were to pass through them are those whom the Lord has delivered.
[4] In the same prophet,
Jehovah remembered the days of old, Moses, [and] His people, [saying,] Where is He who caused them to come up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put the spirit of His holiness in the midst of them? Isaiah 63:11.
In this prophetic utterance 'Moses' is used to mean the Lord, who is also 'the shepherd of the flock'. 'The people whom He caused to come up out of the sea' are those who were delivered from damnation. In Jeremiah,
At the noise of their fall the earth shook; [as for their] cry, the noise of it was heard in the Sea Suph. Jeremiah 49:21.
'The Sea Suph' stands for hell, for Edom and its damnation is the subject there. It says that the noise of it was heard coming out of the Sea Suph, when yet they were not the ones who were drowned in that sea but the Egyptians. From this it is evident that 'the Sea Suph' means hell and damnation 'Edom' there means those who are led by the evil of self-love to reject the truths taught by doctrine and to embrace falsities, 3322.
From all this one may now see what is meant in the representative internal sense by 'the sea Suph', and what is meant by the passage through it of the children of Israel and the drowning in it of the Egyptians, events described in the next chapter.
