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Genesis 1:15

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15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #476

Studere hoc loco

  
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476. That 'male and female' means the marriage of faith and love has been stated and shown already. That is to say, 'male' or man (vir) means the understanding and what belongs to the understanding, and so what belongs to faith, while 'female' means the will, or what belongs to the will, and so what belongs to love. This also is why she was called Eve, from a word meaning life, which belongs to love alone. 'Female' therefore also means the Church, as also shown already, and 'male' the man (vir) of the Church. At present the subject is the state of the Church at the time it was spiritual and shortly to become celestial, which is why the word 'male' comes first, as it does also in 1:26-27. Furthermore the expression 'to create' has regard to the spiritual man. As soon however as that marriage has taken place, that is, the Church has become celestial, it is no longer called 'male and female' but 'Man' (Homo) who by virtue of the marriage means both. Consequently 'and He called their name Man', which means the Church, follows next.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #3192

Studere hoc loco

  
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3192. 'And the servant took Rebekah and went' means that natural Divine Good did the introducing. This is clear from the meaning of 'the servant' as natural Divine Good, as above in 3184, and from the meaning of 'taking Rebekah and going' as introducing, that is to say, bringing to 'Isaac', who is the Divine Good in the Rational, as becomes clear without further explanation. The implications of this are that truth from the natural could not be raised up to good in the rational except by means of natural Divine Truth and natural Divine Good. Natural Divine Truth, which is called 'the man', was to point the way and lead; natural Divine Good, which is referred to as 'the servant', was to bring truth from the natural and introduce it to the good in the rational. To use a comparison, they are like two wings which raise up the possessor of them. These matters cannot be explained any more fully or intelligibly here. One must first know what natural Divine Truth is, and what natural Divine Good is; and these are referred to later on in the internal sense where Joseph is the subject.

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