The Bible

 

Genesis 1:19

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19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

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Arcana Coelestia #8890

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8890. 'You shall not do any work - you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your beast, nor your sojourner who is within your gates' means that at that time heaven and its blessedness are present in every single part of a person inwardly and outwardly. This is clear from the meaning of 'not doing any work' as rest and peace, thus heaven, for when a person is in heaven he is free from all apprehensiveness, uneasiness, and anxiety, and when free from these, blessedness is his; and from the meaning of 'you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your beast, and the sojourner within your gates' as every single part of a person inwardly and outwardly. For 'you' means the person himself, 'son' means his understanding, and 'daughter' his will, both of which reside in his internal man. 'Male slave' means his natural in respect of truth, and 'female slave' his natural in respect of good, thus both as they reside in his external man, while 'beast' means affection in general, and 'sojourner within the gates' factual knowledge in general. Thus every single part is meant. 'Son' means his understanding here because 'son' means truth, and truths constitute the understanding; and 'daughter' means his will because 'daughter' means good, and forms of good constitute the will. For the meaning of 'son' as truth, and so the understanding, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257; for 'daughter' as good, and so the will, 489-491, 2362, 3024; for 'male slave' as the natural in respect of truth, 3019, 3020, 3409, 5305, 7998; for 'female slave' as the natural in respect of good, 2567, 3835, 3849; for 'beast' as affection in general, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 2179, 2180, 3218, 5198, 7523, 7872; and for 'sojourner' as one who receives instruction in the Church's truths, 1463, 4444, 8007, 8013, so that 'the sojourner within your gates' is factual knowledge in general, since factual knowledge in general lies within the gates, that is, at the entrance to the truths the Church possesses.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #4759

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4759. 'For twenty pieces of silver' means the value set upon it. This is clear from the meaning of 'twenty' as the good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, which are called remnants, dealt with in 2280, and so as holy good or truth. In this case holy truth is meant because the phrase 'twenty pieces of silver' is used, 'silver' meaning truth, 1551, 2954. The same number also means that which is not holy, for most things in the Word have a contrary meaning also, here truth that is not holy in the case of those who alienated Divine Truth, or 'sold Joseph', 4758, but is holy in the case of those who accepted it or 'bought him'. The meaning here therefore is that which is not holy separated from charity, but which is holy in the case of the Ishmaelites, that is, those in whom simple good is present. These are the things that are meant by the value set upon it. The reason why 'twenty' also means that which is not holy is that 'twenty' means remnants, as stated above. If people do not have any remnants of good and truth within their interior man, only evil and falsity instead, their holiness is not holiness, and depending on the kind of evil and falsity present in them it is either filthiness or else profanity.

[2] This further meaning which 'twenty' has of that which is not holy is clear in Zechariah,

I looked, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, What do you see? I said to him, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, its breadth ten cubits. And he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land. Zechariah 5:1-3.

In Haggai,

When one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, there were only twenty; I smote you with blight, and all the work of your hands with mildew. Haggai 2:16-17.

[3] In Ezekiel,

Your food which you eat shall be in weight twenty shekels each day; from time to time shall you eat it; and you shall eat it indeed as a barley-cake. As regards that cake, with human excrement you shall make it in their sight. For thus, Jehovah said, shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations. Ezekiel 4:10, 12-13.

In these places 'twenty' stands for that which is unholy, unclean, and profane. The death in the wilderness of all over twenty years - a prediction recorded in Numbers 14:29; 32:11 - also represented that which was holy in the case of those under that age, and that which was not holy in the case of those over it. For all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670; and remnants are good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.

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