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1 Mose 7

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1 Und Jehova sprach zu Noah: Gehe in die Arche, du und dein ganzes Haus; denn dich habe ich gerecht vor mir erfunden in diesem Geschlecht.

2 Von allem reinen Vieh sollst du sieben und sieben zu dir nehmen, ein Männchen und sein Weibchen; und von dem Vieh, das nicht rein ist, zwei, ein Männchen und sein Weibchen;

3 auch von dem Gevögel des Himmels sieben und sieben, ein Männliches und ein Weibliches: um Samen am Leben zu erhalten auf der Fläche der ganzen Erde.

4 Denn in noch sieben Tagen, so lasse ich auf die Erde regnen vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte und werde vertilgen von der Fläche des Erdbodens alles Bestehende, das ich gemacht habe. -

5 Und Noah tat nach allem, was Jehova ihm geboten hatte.

6 Und Noah war sechshundert Jahre alt, als die Flut kam, Wasser über die Erde.

7 Und Noah und seine Söhne und sein Weib und die Weiber seiner Söhne mit ihm gingen in die Arche vor den Wassern der Flut.

8 Von dem reinen Vieh und von dem Vieh, das nicht rein ist, und von dem Gevögel und von allem, was sich auf dem Erdboden regt,

9 kamen zwei und zwei zu Noah in die Arche, ein Männliches und ein Weibliches, wie Gott dem Noah geboten hatte.

10 Und es geschah nach sieben Tagen, da kamen die Wasser der Flut über die Erde.

11 Im sechshundertsten Jahre des Lebens Noahs, im zweiten Monat, am siebzehnten Tage des Monats, an diesem Tage brachen auf alle Quellen der großen Tiefe, und die Fenster des Himmels taten sich auf.

12 Und der Regen fiel auf die Erde vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte.

13 An ebendemselben Tage gingen Noah und Sem und Ham und Japhet, die Söhne Noahs, und das Weib Noahs und die drei Weiber seiner Söhne mit ihnen in die Arche:

14 sie und alles Getier nach seiner Art und alles Vieh nach seiner Art und alles Gewürm, das sich auf der Erde regt, nach seiner Art und alles Gevögel nach seiner Art, jeder Vogel von allerlei Gefieder.

15 Und sie gingen zu Noah in die Arche, je zwei und zwei von allem Fleische, in welchem ein Hauch des Lebens war.

16 Und die hineingingen, waren ein Männliches und ein Weibliches von allem Fleische, wie Gott ihm geboten hatte. Und Jehova schloß hinter ihm zu.

17 Und die Flut kam vierzig Tage lang über die Erde. Und die Wasser mehrten sich und hoben die Arche empor; und sie erhob sich über die Erde.

18 Und die Wasser nahmen überhand und mehrten sich sehr auf der Erde; und die Arche fuhr auf der Fläche der Wasser.

19 Und die Wasser nahmen gar sehr überhand auf der Erde, und es wurden bedeckt alle hohen Berge, die unter dem ganzen Himmel sind.

20 Fünfzehn Ellen darüber nahmen die Wasser überhand, und die Berge wurden bedeckt.

21 Da verschied alles Fleisch, das sich auf der Erde regte, an Gevögel und an Vieh und an Getier und an allem Gewimmel, das auf der Erde wimmelte, und alle Menschen;

22 alles starb, in dessen Nase ein Odem des Lebenshauches war, von allem, was auf dem Trockenen war.

23 Und vertilgt wurde alles Bestehende, das auf der Fläche des Erdbodens war, vom Menschen bis zum Vieh, bis zum Gewürm und bis zum Gevögel des Himmels; und sie wurden vertilgt von der Erde. Und nur Noah blieb übrig und was mit ihm in der Arche war.

24 Und die Wasser hatten überhand auf der Erde hundertfünfzig Tage.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #716

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716. That holy things are signified by “seven” is evident from what has been said before respecting the seventh day, or the sabbath n. 84-87), namely, that the Lord is the seventh day; and that from Him every celestial church, or celestial man, is a seventh day, and indeed the celestial itself, which is most holy because it is from the Lord alone. For this reason, in the Word, “seven” signifies what is holy; and in fact, as here, in the internal sense partakes not at all of the idea of number. For they who are in the internal sense, as angels and angelic spirits are, do not even know what number is, and therefore not what seven is. Therefore it is not meant here that seven pairs were to be taken of all the clean beasts; or that there was so much of good in proportion to evil as seven to two; but that the things of the will with which this man of the church was furnished were goods, which are holy, whereby he could be regenerated, as was said above.

[2] That “seven” signifies what is holy, or holy things, is evident from the rituals in the representative church, wherein the number seven so frequently occurs. For example, they were to sprinkle of the blood and the oil seven times, as related in Leviticus:

Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them; and he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, to sanctify them (Leviticus 8:10-11).

Here “seven times” would be entirely without significance if what is holy were not thus represented. And in another place: When Aaron came into the holy place it is said: He shall take of the blood of the bullock and sprinkle with his finger upon the faces of the mercy seat toward the east; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times (Leviticus 16:14).

And so at the altar:

He shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and sanctify it (Leviticus 16:19).

The particulars here, each and all, signify the Lord Himself, and therefore the holy of love; that is to say, the “blood” the “mercy seat” and also the “altar” and the “east” toward which the blood was to be sprinkled, and therefore also “seven.”

[3] And likewise in the sacrifices, of which in Leviticus:

If a soul shall sin through error, and if the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people, he shall slay the bullock before Jehovah, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before Jehovah, toward the veil of the sanctuary (Leviticus 4:2-3, 6).

Here in like manner “seven” signifies what is holy; because the subject treated of is expiation, which is of the Lord alone, and therefore the subject treated of is the Lord. Similar rites were also instituted in respect to the cleansing of leprosy, concerning which in Leviticus:

Of the blood of the bird, with cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop, the priest shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall make him clean. In like manner he was to sprinkle of the oil that was upon the palm of his left hand seven times before Jehovah. And so in a house where there was leprosy, he was to take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and with the blood of the bird sprinkle seven times (Leviticus 14:6-7, 27, 51).Here anyone may see that there is nothing at all in the “cedar wood” the “scarlet” the “oil” the “blood of a bird” nor yet in “seven” except from the fact that they are representative of holy things. Take away from them what is holy, and all that remains is dead, or profanely idolatrous. But when they signify holy things there is Divine worship therein, which is internal, and is only represented by the externals. The Jews indeed could not know what these things signified; nor does anyone at the present day know what was signified by the “cedar wood” the “hyssop” the “scarlet” and the “bird.” But if they had only been willing to think that holy things were involved which they did not know, and so had worshiped the Lord, or the Messiah who was to come, who would heal them of their leprosy-that is, of their profanation of holy things-they might have been saved. For they who so think and believe are at once instructed in the other life, if they desire, as to what each and all things represented.

[4] And in like manner it was commanded respecting the red heifer:

The priest shall take of her blood with his finger and sprinkle of her blood toward the face of the tent of meeting seven times (Numbers 19:4).

As the “seventh day” or “sabbath” signified the Lord, and from Him the celestial man, and the celestial itself, the seventh day in the Jewish Church was of all religious observances the most holy; and hence came the “sabbath of sabbath” in the seventh year (Leviticus 25:4), and the “jubilee” that was proclaimed after the seven sabbaths of years, or after seven times seven years (Leviticus 25:8-9. That in the highest sense “seven” signifies the Lord, and hence the holy of love, is evident also from the golden candlestick and its seven lamps (concerning which in Exodus 25:31-33, 37; 37:17-19, 23; Numbers 8:2-3; Zechariah 4:2) and of which it is thus written by John:

Seven golden lampstands; and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like unto the Son of man (Revelation 1:12-13).

It very clearly appears in this passage that the “lampstand with the seven lamps” signifies the Lord, and that the “lamps” are the holy things of love, or celestial things; and therefore they were “seven.”

[5] And again:

Out of the throne went forth seven torches of fire, burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God (Revelation 4:5).

Here the “seven torches” that went forth out of the throne of the Lord are the seven lights, or lamps. The same is signified wherever the number “seven” occurs in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:

The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of His people (Isaiah 30:26).

Here the “sevenfold light, as the light of seven days” does not signify sevenfold, but the holy of the love signified by the “sun.” See also what was said and shown above respecting the number “seven” (Genesis 4:15). From all this again it is clearly evident that whatever numbers are used in the Word never mean numbers (as was also shown before, (Genesis 6:3).

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