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.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #59

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59. The reason only edible and green plants are mentioned here as food for the natural man is this: While a person is being regenerated and becoming spiritual he is involved constantly in conflict, which is why the Lord's Church is called militant. For before regeneration started, evil desires were in control, since the whole person consisted entirely of evil desires and resulting falsities. During the process of regeneration his desires and falsities cannot be done away with instantly, since that would amount to destroying the whole person; indeed he has not acquired any other life for himself. So for a long time evil spirits are left with him to activate his desires, and so release them in countless ways. Indeed the spirits are left there to do this in order that those desires may be turned by the Lord towards something good, and in this way the person may be reformed. In the hour of conflict evil spirits are present who absolutely hate everything that is good and true, that is, every element of love and faith in the Lord - elements that alone are good and true because they contain eternal life. These evil spirits leave a person with no other food than that which is compared to edible and green plants. But the Lord gives him a food as well that is compared to the plant yielding seed and to the tree in which there is fruit. These are periods of peace and calm attended by their forms of delight and happiness. This cycle occurs repeatedly.

[2] If the Lord did not protect man moment by moment, and in every shortest instant, he would immediately perish, for there is such murderous hatred reigning in the world of spirits against all forms of love and faith in the Lord as to defy description. I can positively declare that this is so, because for several years now, although still in the [physical] body, I have also been in the next life in the company of spirits. I have been surrounded by evil spirits, even the worst of them, sometimes by thousands, who have been allowed to pour out their venom and molest me in every possible way, but who nevertheless could do no harm to the tiniest hair on my head, so well did the Lord protect me. From all these years of experience I have become thoroughly informed about the character of the world of spirits and also about the conflict which people who are being regenerated must inevitably undergo if they are to attain the happiness of eternal life. But because nobody from just a general description can be so well informed as to have a faith free from doubt, these matters in the Lord's Divine mercy will therefore be noted in greater detail later on.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9936

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9936. 'And it shall be on Aaron's forehead' means from the Lord's Divine Love. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good, which is the Good of His Divine Love, dealt with in 9806; and from the meaning of 'forehead', when the Lord is the subject, as His Divine Love. 'The Lord's face', which is the same as 'Jehovah's face', means all attributes of Divine Love, such as mercy, peace, goodness, or wisdom, 222, 223, 5585, 6848, 6849, 9306, 9545, 9546. These are meant by 'Jehovah's face' or 'the Lord's face' because in general 'the face' means a person's interiors, that is, a person's affections and consequent thoughts, thus the things which constitute his love and faith, see the places referred to in 9546. These are meant by 'the face' because they shine from the face, as if seen in their imprint or image, which also is why the face is called the image of the mind. So it is that when 'face' is mentioned in connection with Jehovah or the Lord the attributes of His Divine Love are meant. 'Forehead' in particular means Divine Love itself, because interiors have been allotted their own provinces in the face. The interiors that belong to love reside in the province of the forehead, those belonging to wisdom and intelligence in the province of the eyes, those belonging to perception in the province of the nose, and those belonging to utterance in the province of the mouth.

[2] From all this it is evident why 'forehead' - when the Lord, represented by Aaron, is the subject - means Divine Love. Since someone's forehead corresponds to his love those governed by celestial love, that is, by love to the Lord derived from the Lord, are said 'to have a sign on their foreheads', meaning that they are under the Lord's protection because they abide in His Love, as in Ezekiel,

Jehovah said, Go through the middle of Jerusalem and make a sign on the foreheads of the men (vir) who groan and sigh over all the abominations done in the midst of it, and strike; do not let your eye spare. But against any man (vir) on whom there is a sign do not go near. Ezekiel 9:4-6.

In John, in the Book of Revelation,

Behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. Revelation 14:1.

In the same book,

They will see the face of God and of the Lamb, and His name will be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:4.

In the same book,

It was declared that they should not harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only the people who did not have God's sign on their foreheads. Revelation 9:4.

[3] 'Having God's sign on their foreheads' and 'having God and the Lamb's name on them' stand for their being kept safe from molestation by evils from hell, because they abide in the Lord through love. 'The grass' and 'any green thing', which were not to be harmed, stand for true factual knowledge by means of which the truth of faith develops, 7571, 7691; and 'any tree', which too was not to be harmed, stands for the perception of truth springing from good, 103, 2163, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692.

[4] In Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. You shall bind these words as a sign onto your hand, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 8.

'As frontlets' stands for as a sign of love to Jehovah God. The words 'between your eyes' are used because intelligence and wisdom which are born from that love are meant by 'eyes'; and wisdom born from that love consists in having God constantly before one's eyes. This is self-evidently so because the subject is love to Jehovah God. The declaration that they should love Him with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength, means that they should do so with all their human powers. 'With the heart' means with the will where the good of love resides, 7542, 9050, 9300, 9495; and 'with the soul' means with the understanding where the truth of faith resides, and so with faith, 9050. These two powers belong to the internal man. 'With all their strength' means with those powers of will and understanding as they exist in the external man. The strength and power of the love of both, of the external man and of the internal, are meant by 'hands', 4931-4937, 7518; and this is why it says that those words were to be bound 'as a sign on the hand'.

[5] Since 'the forehead' by virtue of its correspondence means celestial or heavenly love with those who are good, with those who are bad it accordingly means hellish love, which is the opposite of heavenly. The forehead of the latter is called a bronze forehead in Isaiah 48:4, and an obstinate forehead in Ezekiel 3:7-8. And in reference to those ruled by hellish love it is said that they had the mark of the beast on their foreheads, Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4, and also the name of Babylon on their foreheads, Revelation 17:5.

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