The Bible

 

Genesis 1:9

Study

       

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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #58

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

58. Verse 30 And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air, 1 and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul [I give] every plant for food; and it was so.

The natural food of this same [spiritual man] is being described here. His natural level is here meant by 'wild animal of the earth' and by 'bird of the air, to which 'the edible and green plant 2 has been given for food'. Both kinds of food, natural and spiritual, are referred to in David as follows,

Jehovah causes the grass to grow for the beast, and the plant for man's service, that he may bring forth bread from the earth. Psalms 104:14.

Here 'beast' stands for both wild animals of the earth and birds of the air, 1 both being mentioned in verses 11-12 of that Psalm.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

2. See 996[3]

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8626

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

8626. 'The war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation' means that by the Lord's Divine power they have been subjugated and cast into hell, out of which they can never rise up. This is clear from the meaning of 'the war of Jehovah' as being cast into hell; and from the meaning of 'from generation to generation' as everlastingly, so that they can never rise up out of it. This is done to them by the Lord's Divine power, see immediately above in 8625 (end). The reason why 'the war of Jehovah' means being cast into hell is that the war of Jehovah is everlasting victory. Hellish genii are completely incapable of waging war and fighting against Jehovah, that is, the Lord. But it seems to them that they fight; indeed it also seems to them sometimes that they are victorious, when they subdue those immersed in evil. Nevertheless they have no power whatever against the Divine; the smallest amount of Divine power is enough, every time it is called on, to tame instantly the entire devil's crew, even if it consisted of millions. However He allows them the opportunity to act, just so far as their activity may serve a useful purpose and the Lord can turn their evil into good, a subject which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere. 1 All this goes some way to prove that 'the war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation' means being subjugated by the Lord's Divine power and cast into hell, from where they can never rise up.

Footnotes:

1. This proposal was not fulfilled, but presumably the material mentioned here concerning the hells appeared in the work published a few years later, in 1758, whose English title is Heaven and Hell.

  
/ 10837  
  

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