The Bible

 

Genesis 1

Study

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

 

Fruit

  
Apples at the farm market

We tend to think of "fruit" in two ways in natural language. One is as food that grows on trees and vines, sweet and delicious, and able to be eaten without harming the plant in any way. Another is as the things we produce, what our work yields for the betterment of the world. These are obviously connected: we are like trees, producing things that "feed" the world in some way, just as the tree produces fruit that feeds us. It makes sense, then, that the idea of fruit in the Bible is bound closely to the idea of goodness. Fruits that are eaten represent the desire for good and the energy to do what is good; fruit that is produced is the actual good that we go into the world and do.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #934

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934. That fruits symbolize the good works that a person does out of love or charity is, indeed, something known without confirmation from the Word, for no one who reads the Word interprets fruits to mean anything else.

Fruits symbolize the goods of love or charity because a person is likened to a tree and is also called a tree (nos. 89, 400).

That fruits symbolize the goods of love or charity, which in common speech are called good works, may be seen from the following passages:

...the ax is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree... which does not bear good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:10, cf. 7:16-20)

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; ...a tree is known by its fruit. (Matthew 12:33, cf. Luke 6:43-44)

Every branch... that does not bear fruit (shall be taken away); and every branch that bears fruit (shall be pruned), that it may bear more fruit... He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit... (John 15:2-8).

...bear fruits worthy of repentance... (Matthew 3:8)

He who received seed on the good ground is someone who hears the Word and heeds it (and) bears fruit... (Matthew 13:23)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) ."..I chose you... that you should... bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain... (John 15:16)

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; he came seeking fruit on it and found none. He said to the keeper of his vineyard, ."..Cut it down; why should it render the ground fruitless?" (Luke 13:6-9)

...a certain householder... leased (his vineyard) to husbandmen..., that (he) might receive its fruit. But the husbandmen (killed) his servants (that he sent to them)..., and last of all... his son... (Therefore he) will lease his vineyard to (others) who will render to him the fruits in their seasons... Therefore... the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it. (Matthew 21:33-35, 37-39, 41, 43)

And so on in many other places.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.