The Bible

 

Genesis 1:15

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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 #710

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710. 'Enter, you and all your house, into the ark' means things that constitute the will. This is clear from what has just been stated. In the previous chapter, which dealt with things of the understanding, verse 18 reads differently, namely 'You shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you'. That 'a house' means the will and what constitutes the will is clear from various places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. Jeremiah 6:11.

Here both 'houses' and 'fields and wives' refers to things of the will. In the same prophet,

Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jeremiah 29:5, 28.

Here 'building and dwelling in houses' has to do with the will, 'planting gardens' with the understanding. The same applies in other places. And frequently 'the house of Jehovah' stands for the Church where love is the chief thing. 'The house of Judah' stands for the celestial Church, 'the house of Israel' for the spiritual Church, because 'a house' means the Church. Consequently the mind of the member of the Church, which has within it things of the will and those of the understanding, that is, of charity and of faith, is meant by 'a house'.

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

Commentary

 

Grass

  

'Grass' is natural truth, and 'flower of the field' is spiritual truth, as in Isaiah 40:5, 6. Green grass, in the Word, signifies the good and truth of the church, and of faith, which first springs up in the natural man. This is also signified by 'herb in the field.' Grass and the pulse of the herb, as in Psalm 32:2, signify what is most vile. Grass signifies science from a spiritual origin, or that by which spiritual truth is confirmed. 'Reeds and rushes' signify science from a sensory origin, or the things which confirm the fallacies of the senses, as in Isaiah 25:7. This science, considered in itself, is only a part of the lowest natural degree, which may be justly called material and bodily, in which there is little or no life. Green grass also signifies that which is alive with man. 'Grass burnt up' signifies the things which are dead in him. Grass signifies the scientific principle. Just as green grass serves animals for support, spiritual truth serves men for spiritual nourishment.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 507)