The Bible

 

Genesis 1:7

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7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

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 #3620

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3620. 'I loathe my life on account of the daughters of Heth' means a connection with natural truth from some other source. This is clear from the meaning of 'loathing one's life' as no connection, that is to say, of the truth of the natural with the truth of the rational - for when these two are not connected to each other it seems to the rational as though its own life were no life, as may be seen from what has been stated above in 3493; and from the meaning of 'the daughters of Heth' as affections for truth from a non-genuine source, in this case affections for natural truth, since Rebekah said this to Jacob who, as shown above, represents natural truth. For 'the daughters' means affections, see 2362, and 'Heth' or Hittite truth from a non-genuine source, 3470. From these meanings it is clear that 'I loathe my life on account of the daughters of Heth' means that there should not be any connection with the natural through truth which does not come from a genuine source, thus that no connection with natural truth from some other source should exist. The connection with natural truth is dealt with later on where Jacob's stay with Laban is the subject - that is to say, when truths from a common stem have been joined on to it. Since the truths which 'the daughters of Heth' represent did not come from that common stem no connection of them with natural truth was possible, because they were dissimilar and did not accord with it. Actually the spiritual Church among gentiles, 2913, 2956, is represented by 'the sons of Heth', but as the Word does not exist in that Church the Word is not the source of its truths.

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