The Bible

 

Genesis 1:28

Study

       

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #52

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

52. As long as someone is a spiritual man, the dominion over him runs from external man to internal man, as is said here, 'They will have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air', and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'. When however he becomes celestial and does what is good out of love, then the dominion over him runs from internal man to external man. This is how the Lord describes Himself, and so simultaneously the celestial man, who is a likeness of Him, in David,

You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, 1 and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Psalms 8:6-8.

Here therefore the beasts are mentioned first, the birds next, and the fish of the sea after that, for the reason that the celestial man starts with love which resides in the will. With the spiritual man it is different. With him fish and birds, which have to do with the understanding, the domain of faith, come first, while beasts come afterwards.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10442

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

10442. 'Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants' means for heaven and the Church's sake. This is clear from the meaning of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Israel' as the Lord's Divine Human, thus that which is Divine and His in heaven and in the Church; and since that which is Divine and the Lord's composes heaven and the Church, the same three also mean heaven and the Church. For 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' in the Word, that these things are meant by them, see 1965, 3305(end), 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6589, 6804, 6847, and also by 'Israel', 4286, 4570, and in the places referred to in 8805, 9340. The fact that such things are meant by 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' is clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11.

Here 'reclining with them' means being in heaven where the Lord is. This is also evident from the consideration that names do not pass into heaven but the heavenly and Divine realities meant by them, 10216, 10282.

  
/ 10837  
  

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