The Bible

 

Genesis 1:15

Study

       

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #58

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

58. Verse 30 And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air, 1 and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul [I give] every plant for food; and it was so.

The natural food of this same [spiritual man] is being described here. His natural level is here meant by 'wild animal of the earth' and by 'bird of the air, to which 'the edible and green plant 2 has been given for food'. Both kinds of food, natural and spiritual, are referred to in David as follows,

Jehovah causes the grass to grow for the beast, and the plant for man's service, that he may bring forth bread from the earth. Psalms 104:14.

Here 'beast' stands for both wild animals of the earth and birds of the air, 1 both being mentioned in verses 11-12 of that Psalm.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

2. See 996[3]

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8877

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

8877. 'On the third and on the fourth [generations]' means in a long sequence, and joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as what is complete from start to finish, dealt with in 2788, 4495, 7715, thus a long sequence, so that 'the third [generation on sons' is falsities in a long sequence (for the meaning of 'sons' as falsities, see immediately above in 8876); and from the meaning of 'four', like two, as joined together, dealt with in 1686, 5194, 8423, so that 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' are falsities joined together in a long sequence. This explanation of 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' must inevitably seem to be nonsensical or foreign to the meaning of the Word; but it should be remembered that in the internal sense numbers do not mean numbers but real things, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175.

  
/ 10837  
  

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