The Bible

 

Ézéchiel 41:20

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20 Depuis le sol jusqu'au-dessus de la porte, il y avait des chérubins et des palmes, et aussi sur la muraille du temple.

Commentary

 

Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #709

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709. The name Jehovah is used because now the subject is charity. From verse 9 to the end of the previous chapter Jehovah is not used but God, the reason being that there the subject is the preparation of Noah, or the member of the Church called Noah, as regards things of his understanding, which are matters of faith. Here however it is the preparation of him as regards the things of his will, which are matters of love. When the subject is the things of the understanding, that is, the truths of faith, the name God is used, but when it is those of the will, that is, goods stemming from love, Jehovah is used. For it is not things of the understanding, that is, of faith, that constitute the Church but those of the will which are matters of love. Jehovah is present within love and charity, but not within faith except faith that inheres in love or charity. This also is why in the Word faith is compared to the night, but love to the daytime, as in Genesis 1 where the great lights are mentioned; the greater light, which is the sun and means love, has dominion over the day, while the lesser light, which is the moon and means faith, has dominion over the night, Genesis 1:14, 16. Similarly in the Prophets, Jeremiah 31:35; 33:20; Psalms 136:8-9; also Revelation 8:12.

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