The Bible

 

Genesis 2:3

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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.

Commentary

 

Beast

  
"Noah and His Ark" by Charles Willson Peale

In Genesis 1:24, beasts signify the things of man's will or loves. (Arcana Coelestia 44, 46)

In Genesis 9:10, beasts signify all that was living in the man of the Ancient Church, and also what belonged to his new will; likewise the lower things of his understanding and the will therefrom. (Arcana Coelestia 1026-1029)

In Psalm 104:20, beasts signify affections longing to be instructed, or spiritually nourished. (Apocalypse Explained 650[10])

In Luke 10:35, since the beast was a donkey, this signifies to instruct another according to his capability. (Apocalypse Explained 1154)

The beast of the south (Isaiah 30:6) signifies people who are principled in the knowledges of good and of truth, but do not apply them to life and instead to science.

Every beast and creeping thing (Genesis 8:19) signifies the goodnesses of the internal and external man.

"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the lust to do evil.

The beast ascending out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) signifies reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 13, 773; Revelation 13:11)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #94

Study this Passage

  
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94. Verse 7 And Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; 1 and man became a living soul. 'To form the man, dust from the ground' is to form his external man, which had not previously been man, for it was said in verse 5 that there was no man to till the ground. 'Breathing into his nostrils the breath of life' 1 means giving him the life that is inherent in faith and love. By 'man became a living soul' is meant that the external man as well became living.

Footnotes:

1. literally, of lives

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