9408. 'And it was like the substance of the sky for clearness' means the translucence of the angelic heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sky (or heaven)' as the angelic heaven, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'clearness' or purity of substance, when said of the sky, as translucence. What the translucence of the angelic heaven is when the Word is the subject must be stated briefly. The angelic heaven is said to be translucent when God's truth shines through; for the whole of heaven is nothing other than a receptacle of God's truth. Each angel is an individual recipient of it, so that all the angels or heaven as a whole is a general recipient. This explains why heaven is called 'God's dwelling-place' and also 'God's throne'. For 'dwelling-place' means God's truth emanating from the Lord and received in the inmost heaven, which in comparison is good, 8269, 8309; and 'throne' means God's truth emanating from the Lord and received in the middle heaven, 5313, 6397, 8625, 9039. Since that which shines through, out of the sense of the letter of the Word, is God's truth as it exists in the heavens, it is the angelic heaven that shines through. For the Word is Divine Truth adjusted to all the heavens, and as a consequence of this it joins the heavens to the world, that is, angels to men, 2143, 7153, 7381, 8920, 9094 (end), 9212 (end), 9216 (end), 9357, 9396. From all this it is evident what the words 'the translucence of the angelic heaven' are used to mean.

[2] The reasons why in the internal sense 'the sky (or heaven)' means the angelic heaven lie with correspondence and also with the appearance. So it is that where the words 'heavens' and 'heavens of heavens' occur in the Word the angelic heavens are meant in the internal sense. For the ancients had no other idea of the visible sky than this, that the inhabitants of heaven lived there and that the stars were their dwelling-places. At the present day too, simple people - especially young children - have the same idea. So it is also that people look upwards to the sky or heaven when they worship God. This action too arises from correspondence; for a sky with stars appears in the next life, but this is not the sky seen by people in the world. Instead it is a sky that takes on an appearance which accords with the spirits and angels' state of intelligence and wisdom. The stars in it are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, and the clouds which are sometimes seen in the sky vary in meaning according to their colours, translucence, and movements, the blue of the sky being truth transparent with good. All this goes to prove that by 'heavens' the angelic heavens are meant. But by the angelic heavens God's truths are meant, because angels are recipients of God's truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Similar things are meant by 'heavens' in David,

Praise Jehovah, heavens of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:4.

In the same author,

Make melody to the Lord who rides above the heaven of the heaven of old. Psalms 68:33.

In the same author,

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit ¹ of His mouth. Psalms 33:6.

In the same prophet,

The heavens recount His glory, and the firmament declares the works of His hands. Psalms 19:1.

In the Book of Judges,

O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water. Judges 5:4.

In Daniel,

The horn of the he-goat grew right on towards the host of the heavens, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Daniel 8:10.

In Amos,

The Lord Jehovih, who builds His steps in the heavens ... Amos 9:6.

In Malachi,

If there is food in My house I will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Malachi 3:10.

In Isaiah,

Look out from the heavens, and see from the dwelling-place of Your holiness and of Your glory. Isaiah 63:15.

In Moses,

Blessed by Jehovah is the land of Joseph, in regard to the precious things of heaven, to the dew. Deuteronomy 33:13.

In Matthew,

Jesus said, You shall not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne. He who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. Matthew 5:32; 23:22.

[4] In these and very many other places 'heavens' means the angelic heavens. And since the Lord's heaven on earth is the Church, the Church too is meant by 'heaven', as in the following places: In John,

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away. Revelation 21:1.

In Isaiah,

Behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. ² Isaiah 65:17.

In the same prophet,

The heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will grow old like a garment. Isaiah 51:6.

In the same prophet,

I clothe heaven with darkness, and I make sackcloth its covering. Isaiah 50:3.

In Ezekiel,

I will cover the heavens, and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. And all the bright lights in heaven I will make dark, and I will put darkness over the land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

In Matthew,

After the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

What the meaning is of 'sun', 'moon', 'stars', and 'in the heavens', see 4056-4060.

In Isaiah,

O Jehovah God of Israel, You are God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Isaiah 37:16.

In the same prophet,

[I am] Jehovah who makes all things, who spreads out the heavens Alone, who stretches out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah who created the heavens, who formed the earth, and made it, and prepared it, did not create it an emptiness. Isaiah 45:18.

[5] In the internal sense 'heaven and earth' in these and other places means the Church, the internal Church being meant by 'heaven' and the external Church by 'earth', see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535. From all this it is evident that by creation in the earliest chapters of Genesis, where it says, In the beginning God created heaven and earth, Genesis 1:1, And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, Genesis 2:1, a new Church is meant. For creation there describes regeneration, which is also called the new creation, as has been shown and may be seen in the explanations of those chapters.

5397. Genesis 42

1. And Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt; and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look at one another?

2. And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; go down there, and buy for us from there, and let us live and not die.

3. And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4. And Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, Perhaps harm may come to him.

5. And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6. And Joseph, he was the governor over the land, he was selling to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him, faces to the earth.

7. And Joseph saw his brothers, and recognized them; and he acted as a stranger to them, and spoke hard words to them, and said to them, Where have you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food.

8. And Joseph recognized his brothers, and they did not recognize him.

9. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed involving them; and he said to them, You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.

10. And they said to him, No, my lord; and your servants come to buy food.

11. All we, the sons of one man are we. We are upright men; your servants are not spies.

12. And he said to them, No, but the nakedness of the land you have come to see.

13. And they said, Twelve are your servants, brothers are we, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is not.

14. And Joseph said to them, It is as I spoke to you, saying, You are spies.

15. In this manner you will be tested: As sure as Pharaoh lives, ¹ you shall not go out of here unless your youngest brother comes here.

16. Send one of you and let him fetch your brother; and you will be in bonds, and your words will be tested, whether the truth is with you. And if not, as sure as Pharaoh lives, ¹ you are spies.

17. And he shut them up in custody for three days.

18. And Joseph said to them on the third day, Do this and you will live, [for] I fear God:

19. If you are upright men, let one brother among you be in bonds in the house of your custody, and you, go, take corn for the famine of your houses.

20. And bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be verified, and you will not die. And they did so.

21. And they said, a man to his brother, Assuredly we are guilty concerning our brother, whose anguish of soul we saw when he pleaded with us and we did not hear; therefore this anguish has come to us.

22. And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not say to you, saying, Do not sin against the boy - and you did not listen? And also, his blood; behold, it is required.

23. And they did not know that Joseph was hearing, because the interpreter was between them.

24. And he turned away from them and wept; and he came back to them and spoke to them; and he took Simeon from them, and bound him before their eyes.

25. And Joseph gave the command to fill ² their vessels with grain, and to restore their silver, each man's in his sack, and to give them provision for the way; and thus he did for them.

26. And they loaded their corn onto their asses, and went from there.

27. And one opened his sack to give fodder to his ass, in a lodging-place, and he saw his silver, and behold, it was in the mouth of his pouch.

28. And he said to his brothers, My silver has been restored, and also behold, it is in my pouch. And their heart went out of them, and they trembled [turning] a man to his brother, saying, What is this that God has done to us?

29. And they came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan; and they pointed out to him all that was happening to them, saying,

30. The man, the lord of the land, spoke hard words to us, and took us for men spying out the land.

31. And we said to him, We are upright men; we are not spies.

32. Twelve are we, brothers, the sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.

33. And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are upright men: Cause one brother among you to remain with me, and take [food for] the famine of your houses, and go.

34. And bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies, that you are upright men; I will give you your brother, and you will wander through the land, trading.

35. And so it was, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, each man's bundle of silver was in his sack; and they saw their bundles of silver, they and their father, and they were afraid.

36. And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me [of my children]; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you take Benjamin. All these things will be upon me.

37. And Reuben said to his father - he said, Make my two sons die if I do not bring him back to you; give him into my hand, and I will bring him back to you.

38. And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he, he alone, is left. And should harm happen to him on the road on which you go, you will cause my grey hair to go down in sorrow to the grave.

CONTENTS

³ The subject at the end of the previous chapter was the influx of the celestial of the spiritual into the known facts present in the natural and the joining of it to these. Now the subject is the influx of the celestial of the spiritual into the truths of faith there which are known to the Church and the joining of it to those truths. Dealt with first is the attempt to gain possession of these truths through the facts known to the Church, which are 'Egypt', and to do so without the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin', along with truth from the Divine, which is 'Joseph'. But this was a failure, and therefore they were returned to where they came from, together with a measure of the good of natural truth freely given.

Footnotes: