Arcana Coelestia #57
57. 'The plant yielding seed' is every truth that looks towards a use. 'The tree in which there is fruit' is the good that accompanies faith. 'Fruit' is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, while 'seed', the source of the fruit, is what He gives to the spiritual man. This is why it is said that 'the tree producing seed will be for you for food'. That celestial food is called 'fruit from a tree' is clear from the next chapter where the subject is the celestial man. Here let just that be mentioned which the Lord spoke through Ezekiel,
Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food. Its leaf will not fall nor its fruit fail. It is re-born monthly, for its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for medicine. Ezekiel 47:12.
'Waters from the Sanctuary' means the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the Sanctuary; 'fruit' means wisdom, which is food for them; 'leaf' is intelligence, which is given them for a use, which is called 'medicine'. Spiritual food however is called 'a plant', as stated through David,
[Jehovah is] my Shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me 1 lie down in green pastures. 2 Psalms 23:1-2.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin means You makest me; but the Hebrew means He makes me or, as Swedenborg renders in other places where he quotes this verse, He will make me.
2. literally, pastures of the plant
Apocalypse Explained #658
658. Their bodies three days and a half. 1 - That this signifies the complete extinction of Divine Truth and Divine Good, is evident from the signification of bodies, namely, of the witnesses, as denoting those who have extinguished in themselves all Divine Truth and Divine Good. For the two witnesses, whom they slew, signify the goods of love and of charity and the truths of doctrine and of faith, see above (n. 228, 635); consequently their bodies, when slain, signify that these have been extinguished. But because the good of love and of charity and the truth of doctrine and of faith cannot be extinguished except with those who are in falsities of doctrine and in evils of life, therefore these are meant, since others do not see that the goods of love and the truths of doctrine are extinguished. For every one sees the things which are of the Lord, and thence the things which pertain to heaven and the church, according to the quality of his state, and it is from this that he sees, therefore he cannot see otherwise than in agreement with that quality. Thus he who denies the Lord and His Divine in heaven and in the church does not see them, because he regards them negatively, therefore he does not see the witnesses alive, but their bodies as carcases, that is, he considers the goods of love and truths of doctrine as nothing, consequently also extinguished. The above is evident from the signification of three days and a half, as denoting what is complete, in this case, a complete extinction.
[2] "Three and a half" denotes what is complete, because three signifies an entire period or duration from beginning to end, consequently, where the church is treated of, as in the present case, three and a half signifies even unto its end, and at the same time to a new beginning wherefore it is said that after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them and that they stood upon their feet, which signifies the beginning of a new church after the end of the old. For all the good of love and truth of doctrine is extinguished at the end of the church, but then there is a resuscitation which takes place with those in whom a new church is established by the Lord, which is also signified by the spirit of life which entered into them. A full or complete state is also signified by three days and a half, for the reason that this number has a similar signification to that of the number seven, for it is its half; and a number halved, like a number doubled, has a signification similar to that of the number itself that is halved or doubled; and the number seven signifies all, also what is full and complete, and it is used in reference to what is holy pertaining to heaven and the church. The signification of this number may be seen treated of above (n. 20, 24, 257, 300). That the greater numbers, as they are composed of smaller numbers, have a signification similar to that of the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, may be also seen above (n. 430:1-4), and that three signifies an entire period greater or less from beginning to end may be seen above (n. 532).
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