The Bible

 

Genesis 1:2

Study

       

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #487

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1603

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1603. 'After Lot had been separated from him' means when the desires of the External Man had been removed so that they did not obstruct. This is clear from the representation of 'Lot' as the External Man, and from what has been said already about his being separated, that is, those things that would cause obstruction. When these had been removed the Internal Man, or Jehovah, acted as one with the External Man, or the Lord's Human Essence. It is the external things that disagree - these alone - which have been spoken of already, that obstruct and so prevent the internal man, when operating into the external, from making it one with itself. The external man is no more than a kind of implement or organ, and does not in itself possess any life at all. From the internal man however it can receive life, and then it seems as though the external man does possess life from itself.

[2] With the Lord however after He had cast out hereditary evil and so purified the organic elements of the Human Essence, these too received life so that the Lord, who was already Life as regards the internal Man, became Life as regards the External Man as well. This is what 'glorification' means in John,

Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31-32.

In the same gospel,

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. Now therefore, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:1, 5.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:8.

  
/ 10837  
  

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