The Bible

 

Genesis 1:5

Study

       

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

Commentary

 

Midst

  

The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation that drives everything else. In general this will be something we love or feel, because at the core of things we are what we love; our loves define us.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 44, 90, 268; Arcana Coelestia 2252, 2940, 10153, 10365, 10557, 10635, 10641)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7349

Study this Passage

  
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7349. 'Thus says Jehovah, Send My people away in order that they may serve Me' means that they should leave those who belong to the Church in order that in freedom they may worship their God. This is clear from the meaning of 'sending' as leaving; from the representation of the children of Israel, to whom 'My people' refers here, as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7075, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223; and from the meaning of 'serving Me' as worshipping their God. The reason for saying 'worship in freedom' is that no worship was possible where falsities were molesting them; and a further reason is that all worship that is truly worship must take place in freedom, 1947, 2875, 2876, 2880, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031.

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