The Bible

 

Genesis 12:8

Study

       

8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1470

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1470. Behold I pray, I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look upon. That this signifies that truth from a celestial origin is delightful, is evident from the signification of “a woman beautiful to look upon.” All truth that is celestial, or that is produced from the celestial, is happy in the internal man, and delightful in the external, and with the celestial angels is so perceived; but it is altogether otherwise when it is not from a celestial origin. There are two kinds of happiness in the internal man, to which correspond two kinds of delight in the external man; one is of good, the other is of truth; celestial happiness and delight are of good, spiritual happiness and delight are of truth. It is also known that truth itself is attended with happiness and delight, but these are essentially such only when the truth is from what is celestial, for then the truth itself also becomes celestial, and is called celestial truth. To speak comparatively, truth is then like the light of the sun in the springtime, which has heat in its bosom, from which all things on the earth are made to vegetate, and are as it were animated. This celestial truth is the beautiful itself, or beauty itself. This is the truth which is here called “a woman beautiful to look upon.” What further arcana are involved in these words, will be manifest from what follows.

  
/ 10837  
  

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