The Bible

 

Genesis 1:2

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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

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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.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2083

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2083. 'And you will call his name Isaac' means the Divine Rational. This is clear from Isaac's representation and also from the meaning of his name in the internal sense.

From Isaac's representation: As stated frequently already, 'Abraham' represents the Lord's Internal Man, 'Isaac' His Rational Man, and 'Jacob' His Natural Man. The Lord's Internal Man was Jehovah Himself. Because the Rational Man was conceived from the influx of the Internal Man into the External Man's affection for knowledge, 1896, 1902, 1910, it originated in the Divine thus joined to the Human. Consequently the first rational represented by 'Ishmael' was human, but it was made Divine by the Lord, and is then represented by 'Isaac'.

From the meaning of his name: He was given the name Isaac from the word for 'laughter', and because laughter in the internal sense means the affection for truth, which belongs to the rational, as shown above in 2072, Isaac accordingly here means the Divine Rational.

[2] From His own power the Lord made Divine everything that was human with Him. Thus He made not only the rational Divine but also the sensory part, interior and exterior, and so the body itself. In this way He united the Human to the Divine. It has been shown already that not only the rational, but also the sensory part, and so the whole body also was made Divine and Jehovah. This may also become clear to anyone from the fact that He alone has risen as to the body from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Divine Power both with His entire Divine and with His entire Human. 'Sitting at the right hand of Divine power' means having all power in heaven and on earth.

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