The Bible

 

Genesis 2

Study

   

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 #8495

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

8495. A Sabbath holy to Jehovah is the morrow. That this signifies the conjunction of good and truth to eternity, is evident from the signification of “the Sabbath,” as being the conjunction of good and truth (of which below); and from the signification of “the morrow,” as being to eternity (see n. 3998). He who does not know what the Sabbath represented, and thus what it signified, cannot know why it was accounted the most holy of all things. But the reason why it was accounted most holy was that in the supreme sense it represented the union of the Divine and the Divine Human in the Lord; and in the relative sense the conjunction of the Divine Human of the Lord with the human race. Consequently the Sabbath was most holy. And because it represented these things, it also represented heaven in respect to the conjunction of good and truth, which conjunction is called “the heavenly marriage.” And as the conjunction of good and truth is effected by the Lord alone, and nothing of it by man, and as it is effected in a state of peace, therefore it was most severely forbidden that man should then do any work, insomuch that the soul which did this was to be cut off, as we read in Moses:

Ye shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you; he that profaneth it, dying shall die; for whosoever doeth work therein, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people (Exodus 31:14).

Therefore one was stoned who merely picked up sticks on that day (Numbers 15:32-36). Therefore also the commandment concerning the Sabbath is the third commandment in the Decalogue, immediately following the two concerning the holy worship of Jehovah (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). And therefore the Sabbath is called “an eternal covenant” (Exodus 31:16), for by “covenant” is signified conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804).

[2] From all this it can now be seen what is meant in the internal sense by the things said in the following passages about the Sabbath; as in Isaiah:

Blessed is the man who keepeth the Sabbath, that he profane it not; thus said Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose that in which I delight, and take hold of My covenant, I will give them in My house and within My walls a place and a name, better than sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name, that shall not be cut off; whosoever keepeth the Sabbath that he profane it not, and whoso taketh hold of My covenant, them will I bring in upon the mountain of My holiness, and I will cheer them in My house of prayer (56:2-7);

from all this it is evident that by “those who keep the Sabbath holy” are meant those who are in conjunction with the Lord. That they shall be in heaven is signified by “a place and a name better than sons and daughters being given them in the house of Jehovah, an eternal name that shall not be cut off,” and by their being “brought in upon the mountain of holiness.”

[3] In the same:

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, not doing thy wills on the day of My holiness, but shalt call the Sabbath delights, holy to Jehovah, honorable; and shalt honor it, so that thou do not then thy ways, nor find thy desire, or speak a word, then shalt thou be delighted upon Jehovah, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob (58:13-14);

here it is very plain what was represented by “not doing any work on the Sabbath day,” namely, that they should not do anything from their own, but from the Lord; for the angelic state in heaven is that they will and do nothing from themselves, or from their own, and do not even think and speak therefrom: their conjunction with the Lord consists in this. Their own from which they are not to act, is signified by their “not doing their own wills, nor doing their own ways, nor finding their own desire, nor speaking a word.” This state with the angels is the heavenly state itself; and when they are in it, they have peace and rest, and the Lord also has rest; for when they have been conjoined with Him, they labor no more, because they are then in the Lord. These things are signified by the words, thus shalt thou call the Sabbath the holy delights of Jehovah, and they shall be delighted upon Jehovah.” The Lord’s rest is signified by His resting on the seventh day after the six days’ creation (Genesis 2:2).

[4] Like things are understood by these words in Jeremiah:

If hearing ye shall hear Me, that ye bring not in a burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and that ye hallow the Sabbath day, so that ye do not any work therein, then shall there enter through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariot and on horses, they and their princes, the man of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited to eternity (17:24-25);

by “work on the Sabbath” is signified everything that is from our own; the state of those who are not led by their own, but by the Lord, is described by there “entering through the gates of the city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariot and on horses;” by “kings” are signified the truths of faith; by “princes,” the primary things thereof; by “sitting upon the throne of David,” that these are from the Lord; by “the chariot and horses,” the doctrinal and intellectual things of faith. Be it known that all things which come from the man’s own are evil, and that all things which come from the Lord are good. (That with those who are led by the Lord all things flow in, down to the least thing of life both of intellect and of will, thus down to each and all things of faith and of charity, see what has been abundantly shown from experience, n. 2886-2888, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7147, 7270)

[5] That the Sabbath was representative of the conjunction of the Lord with the human race, is evident in Ezekiel:

I gave them My Sabbaths that they might be for a sign between Me and them, to acknowledge that I Jehovah do sanctify them (20:12; also Exodus 31:13).

Therefore also it was forbidden to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day (Exodus 35:3), because by “fire” was signified everything that is of life; and by “kindling a fire,” that which is of life from man’s own. From all that has been said it is plain that the Lord is “the Lord of the Sabbath,” according to His words in Matthew 12:1-8; and it may be seen why many cures were performed by the Lord on the Sabbath days (Matthew 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-8; Luke 6:6-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:9-18; 7:22-23; 9:14, 16); for the diseases of which they were healed by the Lord involved spiritual diseases, which are from evil (see n. 7337, 8364).

  
/ 10837  
  

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