The Bible

 

Genesis 1:18

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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.

Commentary

 

God

  
Ancient of Days, by William Blake

When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is one, whole and complete in itself, and Jehovah also is one, a name applied only to the Lord. The divine love expresses itself in the form of wisdom. Love, then, is the essence of God -- His inmost. Wisdom -- the loving understanding of how to put love into action -- is slightly more external, giving love a way to express itself. Wisdom, however, is expressed in a great variety of thoughts and ideas, what the Writings collectively call divine truth. There are also many imaginary gods, and sometimes angels and people can be called gods (the Lord said Moses would be as a god to Aaron). So when the Bible calls the Lord "God," it is in most cases referring to divine truth. In other cases, "God" has reference to what is called the divine human. The case there is this: As human beings, we cannot engage the Lord directly as divine love. It is too powerful and too pure. Instead, we have to approach Him by understanding Him through divine truth. Divine truth, then, is the Lord in human form, a form we can approach and understand. Thus "God" is also used in reference to this human aspect, because it is an expression of truth.

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This video is a product of the New Christian Bible Study Corporation. Follow this link for more information and more explanations - text, pictures, audio files, and videos: www.newchristianbiblestudy.org

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Spiritual Experiences #5605

  
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5605. They have the Word of the ancient Church, which Moses mentioned, calling it "the wars of Jehovah" [Num. 21:14], and the prophetical enunciations, about which [he speaks] 1 . They said that this Word has been written so that they can be instructed in the details. It was also inspired, but because it ceased to be suitable to subsequent people another word (sic) was written. The nature of this Word is evident from the first Books of Genesis, which are taken from it.

Footnotes:

1. See The Doctrine of New Jerusalem concerning Sacred Scripture 103.

  
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Thanks to the Academy of the New Church, and Bryn Athyn College, for the permission to use this translation.