The Bible

 

Genesis 1:27

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27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Commentary

 

Beast

  
"Noah and His Ark" by Charles Willson Peale

In Genesis 1:24, beasts signify the things of man's will or loves. (Arcana Coelestia 44, 46)

In Genesis 9:10, beasts signify all that was living in the man of the Ancient Church, and also what belonged to his new will; likewise the lower things of his understanding and the will therefrom. (Arcana Coelestia 1026-1029)

In Psalm 104:20, beasts signify affections longing to be instructed, or spiritually nourished. (Apocalypse Explained 650[10])

In Luke 10:35, since the beast was a donkey, this signifies to instruct another according to his capability. (Apocalypse Explained 1154)

The beast of the south (Isaiah 30:6) signifies people who are principled in the knowledges of good and of truth, but do not apply them to life and instead to science.

Every beast and creeping thing (Genesis 8:19) signifies the goodnesses of the internal and external man.

"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the lust to do evil.

The beast ascending out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) signifies reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 13, 773; Revelation 13:11)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4575

Study this Passage

  
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4575. 'And kings will go out from your loins' means truths from the Divine Marriage. This is clear from the meaning of 'kings' as truths, dealt with in 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, and from the meaning of 'the loins' as the things of conjugial love, dealt with in 3021, 4277, 4280, and therefore as the things of the heavenly marriage, and in the highest sense of the Divine Marriage. Truths from the Divine Marriage proceed from the Lord's Divine Human and are called holy; for the Lord's Divine Human is the Divine Marriage itself, and the things proceeding from that Marriage are holy. These are called celestial and spiritual, and they constitute the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of truth joined to good, and of good joined to truth. This marriage exists in heaven and in every person who has heaven within him It also exists in every person within the Church, if good and at the same time truth are present in him.

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