The Bible

 

Genesis 1:29

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29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #22

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22. Verse 5 And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

What 'evening' means, and what 'morning', is recognized from what is said above. 'Evening' means every prior state, because it is a state of shade, that is, of falsity and of absence of faith, while 'morning' is every subsequent state, because it is one of light, that is, of truth and of cognitions of faith. 'Evening' in general means all the things that are man's own, whereas 'morning' means all those that are the Lord's, as is said through David,

The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken within me, and His word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has said, the Rock of Israel has spoken to me. He is like the morning light, when the sun is rising on a cloudless morning, shining bright, as when after rain tender grass [springs up] from the earth. 2 Samuel 23:4.

Because 'evening' is a time when there is no faith, and 'morning' when there is, the Lord's Coming into the world is called 'the morning', and the time at which He comes, since faith does not exist at that point, is called 'the evening', as in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:13-14.

In the Word, 'morning' stands in a similar way for every coming of the Lord, and so is a term describing the new creation.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6027

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6027. 'And he sent Judah before him to Joseph' means a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial. This is clear from the representation of 'Judah' as the good of the Church, dealt with in 5583, 5603, 5782, 5794, 5837; and from the representation of' Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877. And 'sending before him', it is self-evident, means communicating. The reason why Judah and not anyone else was sent was so that a direct communication of good with good might be denoted, that is, a direct communication of external good, which 'Judah' represents, with internal good, which 'Joseph' represents. For good that is the good of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour flows in from Him by way of the internal into the external, the amount of good in the external determining how much is received there. But if merely the truth of faith and no good is present in a person's external, the inflow of good from the Lord by way of the internal cannot be received in the external. For no direct communication with truth can exist there, only an indirect one through good. This is why Judah and not anyone else was sent from Jacob to Joseph.

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