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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #41

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9031

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9031. 'And thoroughly cure him' means restoration, that is to say, through explanation; for if statements in the literal sense of the Word are looked at on a more internal level, all are in agreement. The situation here is as it is with statements in the Word which speak of the sun's rising or setting, though in reality it neither rises nor sets. However, it presents the appearance of doing so to inhabitants on earth, because of the earth's daily rotation on its axis. This natural truth lies hidden within the former, which accords with the appearance presented to the eyes. If the truth had been stated in the Word contrary to that appearance, the common people would not have understood it; and what the common people do not understand they do not believe either. It is similar with the Sun of heaven, which is the Lord; this too is said to rise. But it is said to rise in the heart when a person is being regenerated, and also when he is governed by the good of love and faith; and it is said to set when a person is immersed in evil and in falsity arising from it. But in reality the Lord is always where the sun is rising, for which reason also He is called the Sunrise or the East, and never where it is setting. Nor does He turn away from anyone; rather a person turns away from Him, which is the reason for the appearance that the Lord turns His face away, and even brings about what is ill. Therefore also such a thing is said of Him in the Word; and that too is a truth, though it is an apparent truth, and so does not conflict with the former. From all this one may now see what 'thoroughly curing' means in the internal sense, namely the restoration of spiritual truth, which is brought about by correct explanation of factual truth, or truth belonging to the literal sense of the Word.

[2] The situation is just the same with every truth that belongs to the literal sense. In natural light, which a person who perceives things on a sensory level possesses, that truth is seen as it is actually stated in the Word. For the literal sense is natural and is for those who perceive things on a sensory level. But when the same truth is presented in the light of heaven it is seen according to the internal sense; for this sense is spiritual and is for those whose perception lies on a heavenly level, because the things that belong to natural light vanish in the light of heaven. Natural light is like gloom or like a cloud, but heavenly light is like the glory and brightness after the cloud has been removed. Therefore also the literal sense of the Word is called 'a cloud' and the internal sense 'the glory', see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4391, 5922, 6343, 8106, 8443, 8781.

[3] The reason why 'thoroughly curing' means restoring in the spiritual sense is that 'sickness' and 'illness' mean poor health of the internal man. The internal man is in poor health when its life, which is spiritual life, is sick, that is, when the person turns aside from truth to falsity and from good to evil. When this happens that life is sick; and when the person turns away completely from truth and good that life dies. But its death is called spiritual death, which is damnation. This being the situation with the life of the internal man, such things as constitute sicknesses and death in the natural world refer, when spoken of in the Word, to sicknesses of spiritual life and to the death of that life. So too with curings or healings from sickness, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah strikes Egypt striking and curing, as a consequence of which they turn themselves towards Jehovah; and He will be entreated by them, and He will cure them. Isaiah 19:22.

In the same prophet,

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, bruised because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are cured. 1 Isaiah 53:5.

These words refer to the Lord.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Return, O perverse children, I will cure you of backsliding. 2 Jeremiah 3:22.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I will bring curing and remedy to it; 3 and I will cure them and reveal to them the abundance of peace, and truth. Jeremiah 33:6.

In the same prophet,

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have multiplied medicaments; there is no curing for you. Jeremiah 46:11.

And in Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, [every] tree for food, whose leaf does not fall, and whose fruit does not fail it is reborn monthly, for its waters flow out from the sanctuary, wherefore its fruit is for food, and its leaf for medicaments. Ezekiel 47:12.

'Fruit for food' stands for the good of love and charity, which serves to nourish spiritual life, and 'leaf for medicaments' for the truths of faith which serve to refresh and restore that life. For the meaning of 'fruit' as the good of love and charity, see 3146, 7690; and for the meaning of 'leaf' as the truth of faith, 885.

[5] Since sicknesses and illnesses, also curings and medicaments, mentioned in the Word do not refer to natural life but to another kind of life distinct and separate from natural life, it is evident to anyone who ponders on the matter for a while that a person possesses another kind of life, which belongs to his internal man. Those who think materialistically of the life a person has do not believe that he has any life other than that of the body which is the life of the external or natural man. They wonder what the life of the internal man may be, indeed what the internal man may be. If they are told that this life is the life of faith and charity, and that the internal man is the person's spirit which lives after death, and which in essence is the real person, they wonder all the more. And those of them who live solely for the body and not for the soul, thus who are altogether natural people, understand nothing of what they are told about the life of faith and charity or about the internal man. For when they think, they see things altogether in natural light and not at all in spiritual light, on account of which also after death their thought remains materialistic. They live then 'in the shadow of death', that is, steeped in falsities arising from evil; they are in utter darkness and are blind to the light of heaven.

Footnotes:

1. literally, and in His wound curing has been given to us

2. literally, cure your turnings away

3. literally, I will cause curing and remedy to go up to it

  
/ 10837  
  

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