Arcana Coelestia #46
46. That 'beasts' means affections residing with man - evil affections in evil men and good affections in good men - becomes clear from many examples in the Word, as in Ezekiel,
Behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, so that you will be tilled and sown; and I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will be multiplied and be fruitful, and I will resettle you 1 to be as in your ancient times. Ezekiel 36:9-11.
This refers to regeneration. In Joel,
Fear not, you beasts of My field, for the dwelling-places of the wilderness have been made green. Joel 2:22.
In David,
I was stupid, a beast 2 was I with God. Psalms 73:12.
In Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast, and I will watch over them to build and to plant. Jeremiah 31:27-28.
This refers to regeneration.
[2] 'Wild animals' (fera) has a similar meaning, as in Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 3 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.
In Job,
You will not fear the wild animals of the earth, for your covenant will be with the stones of the field, and the wild beasts of the field will be at peace with you. Job 5:22-23.
In Ezekiel,
I will make with them 4 a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. Ezekiel 34:25.
In Isaiah,
The wild animals of the field will honour me, for I have given water in the desert. Isaiah 43:20.
In Ezekiel,
In its branches all the birds of the air 3 made their nests and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.
This refers to Assyria, which means the spiritual man and is compared to the Garden of Eden. In David,
Praise Jehovah, all his angels, praise Him from the earth, sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, and all beasts, creeping things, and flying birds! Psalms 148:2-4, 7, 9-10.
Here the list is precisely the same - sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, beasts, creeping things, and birds. Unless they all mean things that are alive in human beings, they cannot possibly be referred to as praising Jehovah.
[3] A careful distinction is made in the Prophets between beasts and wild animals of the earth, and between beasts and wild animals of the field. The practice of calling goods 'beasts' extends to calling people in heaven who are nearest to the Lord 'living creatures', both in Ezekiel and in John,
All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God. 5 Revelation 7:11; 19:4.
The expression 'creatures' is also used of people who are to have the gospel preached to them because they are to be created anew, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15.
Footnotes:
1. literally, I will cause you to inhabit
2. literally, beasts
3. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)
4. The Latin means with you; but the Hebrew means with them which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.
5. The Latin means the Lamb; but the Greek means God which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.
Arcana Coelestia #300
300. As regards the first arcanum, that 'Jehovah God' is used to mean the Lord and at the same time heaven, it should be recognized that in the Word, always for some hidden reason, the Lord is sometimes called simply Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, sometimes Jehovah and God interchangeably, sometimes the Lord Jehovah, sometimes the God of Israel, and sometimes simply God. In Genesis 1, for example, where again an utterance is made in the plural, 'Let Us make man in Our image', God is the only name used. Not until the next chapter, where the celestial man is the subject, is He called Jehovah God-Jehovah, because He alone has Being and is Living, and so from His essence; God, because of His ability to accomplish all things, and so from His power, as is clear in the Word where the two names are used separately, Isaiah 49:4-5; 55:7; Psalms 18:2, 28, 30-31; Psalms 38:15. Consequently any angel or spirit who spoke to a person, or who people thought had the ability to accomplish something, they called God, as is clear in David,
God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the Gods will He judge. Psalms 82:1.
And elsewhere in David,
Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods? Psalms 89:6.
And elsewhere in the same,
Confess the God of Gods; confess the Lord of lords. Psalms 136:2-3
It is from power that even men are called 'gods', as in Psalms 82:6; John 10:34-35. And Moses is spoken of as 'a god to Pharaoh', Exodus 7:1. And this also is why [in Hebrew] the word for God, Elohim, is plural. But because angels have no power whatsoever from themselves, as they themselves also confess, but from the Lord only, and as there is but one God, Jehovah God is therefore used in the Word to mean the Lord alone. Yet when anything is accomplished through the ministry of angels He is spoken of in the plural, as in Genesis 1. In the present chapter too, since a celestial man, as man, did not bear comparison with the Lord, but with angels, it is therefore said that 'the man has become as one of Us in knowing good and evil', that is, become someone wise and having intelligence.
