Arcana Coelestia #222
222. 'Hiding themselves from the face of Jehovah' is being afraid of this dictate, as people conscious of evil normally are. This is clear from their reply in verse 10, 'I heard Your Voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked'. 'The face of Jehovah', that is, of the Lord, is mercy, peace, and all good, as is quite clear from the blessing,
Jehovah make His face 1 shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face 1 upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:15, 26.
And in David,
God be merciful to us and bless us, and make His face 1 shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.
And elsewhere in David,
Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good? Lift up the light of Your face 1 upon us, O Jehovah. Psalms 4:6-7.
The Lord's mercy is for this reason called 'the angel of His face' 1 in Isaiah,
I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. In all their affliction there was no affliction, and the angel of His face 1 saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.
Footnotes:
1. literally, faces
Heaven and Hell #141
141. THE FOUR QUARTERS IN HEAVEN
Both in heaven and in the world there are four quarters, east, south, west and north, determined in each world by its own sun, in heaven by the Sun of heaven which is the Lord, in the world by the sun of the world. Yet there are great differences between them; FIRST, that in the world, the south is said to be where the sun is in its greatest altitude above the earth, the north where it is in its opposite position beneath the earth, the east where it rises at the equinox, and the west where it then sets. Thus, in the world it is from the south that all the quarters are determined. In heaven, however, the quarter where the Lord appears as a Sun is said to be the east. Opposite to this is the west, on the right in heaven is the south and on the left there the north, and this in every turning of face and body. Thus, in heaven it is from the east that all the quarters are determined. It is said to be the east (oriens) where the Lord is seen as a Sun, because all origin (origo) of life is from Him as a Sun. Moreover, so far as angels receive heat and light or love and intelligence from Him, the Lord is said to arise (exoriri) upon them. For the same reason, in the Word the Lord is said to be the East 1 (Oriens).
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the highest sense the Lord is the East (Oriens), because He is the Sun of heaven, which is always in its rising and never in its setting (Arcana Coelestia 101, 5097, 9668).
