The Bible

 

Genesis 8:16

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16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

Commentary

 

The Meaning of Noah and the Flood

By OffTheLeftEye Staff

Is the Noah’s Ark story in the book of Genesis really about God destroying creation? A spiritual Bible interpretation of the story reveals its true meaning.

In this video, host Curtis Childs guides us through the revelations about the Old Testament parable that eighteenth-century philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg had during his spiritual experiences. Swedenborg’s perspectives transcend literal interpretations to provide a hopeful lesson about salvation. While it may seem like the Bible story is about God destroying creation, Swedenborg’s spiritual perspectives suggest that it symbolizes God’s still-ongoing efforts to save us from self-destruction.

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This video is a product of the Swedenborg Foundation. Follow these links for further information and other videos: www.youtube.com/user/offTheLeftEye and www.swedenborg.com

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #782

Study this Passage

  
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782. The subject so far has been as follows: Down to verse 11 explains that the Church was preserved among those called Noah. Then comes a description of the state of the Church - first of all in this present section, as has been explained. After that comes a description of the nature of the state of this Church. Individual verses, indeed individual words, embody the specific features of its state. And since the subject at present is the state of the Church, what has been said already just above is repeated, indeed repeated twice over. That is to say, 'And those who were going in, male and female of all flesh, went in', repeats twice over the statement made in the previous verse, 'And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two, of all flesh'. The meaning of such repetition in the Word is that a different state is being dealt with. Otherwise, as anyone can appreciate, the repetition would be utterly pointless.

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