The Bible

 

Genesis 2

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1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

   

Commentary

 

Heavens

  

'The former heavens, which passed away,' as mentioned in Revelation 21:1, signify the societies of people in the spiritual world who were only in external or apparent good. (Apocalypse Explained 675) Heavens are celestial and spiritual things. Consequently, they are inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and in the earth. This also refers to the church, and every individual, who is a kingdom of the Lord, or a 'church.' Consequently, heavens denote all things pertaining to love and charity, and faith grounded in them, as well as all things pertaining to internal worship. In like manner they denote all things pertaining to the internal sense of the Word. All these things are heavens, and are called, 'the throne of the Lord.' (Arcana Coelestia 2162)

(References: Apocalypse Explained 21)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1175

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1175. That 'Nimrod' means those who made internal worship external, and so means such external worship, becomes clear from what follows. But first of all it should be mentioned here what is meant by making internal worship external. It has been stated and shown already that internal worship, which springs from love and charity, is worship itself, and that external worship without that internal is not worship at all. Making internal worship external however consists in making external worship essential instead of internal, which is the reverse of worship itself. It is like saying that internal worship without external is no worship, when in reality external worship without internal is no worship at all. Such is the religion of people who separate faith from charity. That is to say, they make matters of faith more important than matters of charity, or rather, they make things which constitute cognitions of faith more important than the things which constitute life, and so make outward forms more important than inner essentials. All external worship is the outward form of internal worship, for internal worship is the inner essential itself. Making worship consist of the outward form devoid of its inner essential is making internal worship external. It is like saying, for example, that if a person lived where there was no Church, no preaching, no sacraments, and no priesthood, it would be impossible for him to be saved or to have any kind of worship, when in fact he is able to worship the Lord from what is internal. It does not follow from this however that there should not be external worship.

[2] To make the point plainer still, take as another example people who make the essential of worship consist in going to church, attending the sacraments, listening to sermons, praying, celebrating the festivals, and many more practices of an external and ceremonial nature, and who convince themselves, while talking of faith, that these activities, which are the outward forms of worship, are sufficient. People, it is true, who make worship springing from love and charity the essential engage in the same activities, that is to say, they go to church, attend the sacraments, listen to sermons, pray, celebrate the festivals, and much else, doing so most earnestly and carefully. But they do not make these practices the essential of worship. Since their external worship has internal worship within it, it has that which is holy and living within it; whereas the worship of the people mentioned above does not have anything holy or living within it. For it is the inner essential itself that makes the external form or ceremony holy and living. Faith separated from charity cannot make worship holy and living, for its essence and life are missing. Such worship is called 'Nimrod' and is born out of the cognitions, meant by 'Cush', which in turn are born out of faith separated from charity, a faith meant by 'Ham'. From Ham, or separated faith, through cognitions which belong to separated faith, no other kind of worship can possibly be born. These are the considerations meant by 'Nimrod'.

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