The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

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

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Commentary

 

Call

  
Two whitetail deer, photo by Joy Feerrar

To call someone or summon someone in the Bible represents a desire for conjunction between higher and lower states of life.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #112

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112. (Verse 8) And unto the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans write. That this signifies for remembrance to those within the church who wish to understand the Word, and do not yet understand it, and therefore have as yet but little knowledge of truth and good, which nevertheless they desire in heart is evident from the signification of writing as being for remembrance (see above, n. 95); and from the signification of the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans, as being those within the church who wish to understand the Word and do not yet understand it, and therefore have but little knowledge of truth and good, which, nevertheless, they desire in heart. That these are meant by the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans is evident from the things written to that angel, which follow. For it cannot be known who are meant by the angels of the several churches, except from the internal sense of the things written to them.

[2] In the things written to the angel of the church of Ephesus, treated of above, those are described who are in the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, and not at the same time, or not yet, in a life in agreement with them; and now those are described who are in the knowledges of truth and good and at the same time in a life in agreement with them; the latter therefore are those who have the affection of truth from a spiritual origin, but the former are those who have the affection of truth from a natural origin. In general, the affection of truth has two origins, namely, a natural origin and a spiritual origin. Those who have the affection of truth from a natural origin, primarily regard themselves and the world, and consequently are natural; but those who have the affection of truth from a spiritual origin, primarily regard the Lord and heaven, and consequently are spiritual. A man's affection or love looks either downwards or upwards; those who regard themselves and the world look downwards, but those who have regard to the Lord and to heaven look upwards. The interiors of a man's mind actually look to where his love or affection is, for his love determines them; and according to the determination of his interiors such is the man after death, and such he remains to eternity. To look downwards or upwards is to look from the love by means of the understanding, thus by means of those things which form and constitute the understanding, these being the knowledges of truth and good.

[3] The reason why that which is written to the angel of the church of Ephesus is concerning those within the church who are in the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good and not at the same time, or not as yet, in a life according to them, thus concerning those who are in the affection of truth from a natural origin; and now, in what is written to the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans, concerning those who are in the knowledges of truth and good and at the same time in a life in agreement with them, thus concerning those who are in the affection of truth from a spiritual origin, is, that the former is the first principle of the church, and the latter is the second. For no one can be introduced into the church, and formed for heaven, except by means of knowledges from the Word, without which a man would not know the way to heaven, and without which the Lord cannot dwell with him. That without the knowledges of truth and good from the Word no one can know anything concerning the Lord, the angelic heaven, or charity and faith, may easily be known; and what a man does not know, he cannot think about, and thus cannot will, therefore neither can he believe or love. It is therefore evident that a man by means of knowledges learns the way to heaven. That without the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, the Lord cannot be present with a man and lead him, is also known; for in the case of him who knows nothing concerning the Lord, concerning heaven, charity and faith, the spiritual mind, which is the higher mind, and is intended to see by the light of heaven, is void and has nothing from the Divine in it, and yet the Lord cannot dwell with a man except in that which is His own, that is, in those things which are from Him; hence it was said, that the Lord cannot dwell with man unless he be in the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and thence in the life thereof.

From these considerations taken together it follows, that the natural man can by no means become spiritual without the knowledges of truth and good from the Word.

[4] The reason why by the angel of the church of the Smyrnaeans are meant those within the church who are willing to understand the Word, and do not as yet understand, and consequently are, as yet, but little in the knowledges of truth and good, which nevertheless they desire, is, that they are in the spiritual affection of truth, and such also live the life of charity; for they have spiritual affection as a result of this, because there can be nothing spiritual in man but from charity. They who are in that affection study the Word, and desire nothing more than that they may understand it, and this because there are innumerable things in it which they do not understand, because the Word in its bosom is spiritual, involving infinite arcana. While therefore a man lives in the world, and sees from the natural man, he can be but little established in the knowledges of truth and good, but only in the generals, in which, however, innumerable things may be implanted when he comes into the spiritual world, or heaven.

[5] The man who is in the affection of truth from a spiritual origin, then knows much more than he knew before; for the general knowledges which he has are vessels, as it were, that can be filled with many things, and which actually are filled, when he comes into heaven. That this is the case is evident from this circumstance alone, that all the angels in heaven are from the human race, and yet their wisdom is such as can be described only by things inexpressible and incomprehensible, as is well known. (That the angels of heaven have no other origin than the human race, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 311-317; and in the small work, The Last Judgment 14-22.) The infilling with intelligence and wisdom above referred to, is meant by the words of the Lord in Luke:

"Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall be given into your bosom" (6:38).

In Matthew:

"Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance" (13:12; 25:29).

And in Luke:

"The Lord said to the servant who, from the pound given to him, gained ten pounds, Because thou hast been faithful in little, thou shalt have authority over ten cities (19:16, 17).

By ten is there signified what is much and full, and by cities intelligence and wisdom. (That ten signify much and full, may be seen,Arcana Coelestia 1988, 3107, 4638; and that cities signify those things which belong to intelligence and wisdom, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 3584, 4492, 4493, 5297.)

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.