Commentarius

 

Alone

  
Photo of woman alone at dusk, by Joy Brown

To be alone in the Bible represents being free of evil and false influences. That's why the Lord seeks solitude to pray, and why the nation of Israel is often described as "dwelling alone." When "alone" is used in reference to ownership – when something is "his and his alone" – the meaning is more literal.

In Genesis 2:18, man being alone signifies that the first men became unwilling to be led by the Lord, desiring to lead themselves. In ancient times people who were "Alone" constituted those led by the Lord as celestial men, and evil spirits no longer infested them. But the Jewish church was not meant to be fully under the Lord's guidance and desired to be among the other nations (away from God); and as one who desires is already in evil, this was granted. (Arcana Coelestia 138, 139)

In Genesis 32:24, being alone or by himself signifies good and truth procured. (Arcana Coelestia 4273)

In Exodus 18:14, being alone signifies a state without influx of truth from good from any other source. (Arcana Coelestia 8689)

In Psalm 102:7, alone by itself signifies something of insignificance, and without relative assocation. The state of being alone here symbolizes a prayer of the Lord when in temptations even to despair. (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 352)

In Psalm 136:4, the Lord alone signifies that only the Lord has formed heaven and the church by means of His Divine Truth. (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 386)

Commentarius

 

Write, to

  

In John 8:2-11, when the woman taken in adultery was brought before him, the Lord wrote twice on the ground. This signifies the condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees for adulteries in a spiritual sense, they having adulterated the goods and falsified the truths of the Word. (Apocalypse Explained 222)

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #137

Studere hoc loco

  
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137. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The first three chapters of Genesis deal in general with the Most Ancient Church, which is called Man, from its earliest down to its final period when it perished. The foregoing section of this chapter dealt with it in its absolute prime when it was a celestial man. The present section deals with those people, and their descendants, who set their heart on the proprium.

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