The Bible

 

Genesis 1:9

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9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Commentary

 

Land

  

'Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute the church. The reason why 'land' denotes the church in the Word is because the land of Canaan was the land in which the church had been since the most ancient times. Hence, when 'land' is named in the Word, it means the land of Canaan, which then means the church. For when the expression 'the land' appears there, people in the spiritual world do not concern themselves with the idea of a land, only with the idea of the nation inhabiting it. And yet not with an idea of that nation but with an idea of the essential nature of it.

'Land' or 'earth,' as in Genesis 20:15, signifies the doctrine of love and charity.

'Land' signifies the celestial principle of love in Genesis 24:4.

In Genesis 26:12, 'land' signifies rational things.

In Genesis 28:13, this signifies the good of the natural.

The 'land' represents the divine of the rational principle in Genesis 30:25.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 5577)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8936

Study this Passage

  
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8936. 'And shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings' means worship in particular according to each person's state of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of 'burnt offerings and sacrifices' as all inward worship in general, and also all the varieties of it in keeping with the different kinds of celestial and spiritual realities that are involved, that is, the different forms of the good of love to the Lord and the different truths of faith in Him, 922, 923, 2165, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2930, 3519, 6405, thus in keeping with every state of spiritual life in particular. This accounts for the institution of so many different kinds of sacrifices; that is, in addition to the daily sacrifices there were those offered on sabbath days, at feasts, new moons, inaugurations, and consecrations, as well as those for all guilt, sin, cleansing, healing, and childbirth. It also accounts for the use according to the occasion of different living creatures, such as oxen, young oxen, lambs, rams, she-goats, and he-goats, each of which meant a different kind of good that belongs to spiritual life, 1823, 2180, 3519.

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