The Bible

 

Génesis 2

Study

   

1 Y fueron acabados los cielos y la tierra, y todo su ornamento.

2 Y acabó Dios en el día séptimo su obra que hizo, y reposó el día séptimo de toda su obra que había hecho.

3 Y bendijo Dios al día séptimo, y lo santificó, porque en él reposó de toda su obra que había creado Dios en perfección.

4 Estos son los orígenes de los cielos y de la tierra cuando fueron creados, el día que el SEÑOR Dios hizo la tierra y los cielos,

5 y toda planta del campo antes que fuese en la tierra, y toda hierba del campo antes que naciese; porque el SEÑOR Dios aún no había hecho llover sobre la tierra, ni aun había hombre para que labrase la tierra;

6 Y un vapor subía de la tierra, que regaba toda la faz de la tierra.

7 Formó, pues, El SEÑOR Dios al hombre del polvo de la tierra, y sopló en su nariz el aliento de vida; y fue el hombre un alma viviente.

8 Y había plantado el SEÑOR Dios un huerto en Edén al oriente, y puso allí al hombre que formó.

9 Había también hecho producir el SEÑOR Dios de la tierra todo árbol deseable a la vista, y bueno para comer, y el árbol de vida en medio del huerto, y el árbol de la ciencia del bien y del mal.

10 Y salía un río de Edén para regar el huerto, y de allí se repartía en cuatro cabezas.

11 El nombre del uno era Pisón; éste es el que cerca toda la tierra de Havila, donde hay oro;

12 y el oro de aquella tierra es bueno; hay allí también bedelio y piedra cornerina.

13 El nombre del segundo río es Gihón; éste es el que cerca toda la tierra de Etiopía.

14 Y el nombre del tercer río es Hidekel; éste es el que va hacia el oriente de Asiria. Y el cuarto río es el Eufrates.

15 Tomó, pues, el SEÑOR Dios al hombre, y le puso en el huerto de Edén, para que lo labrase y lo guardase.

16 Y mandó el SEÑOR Dios al hombre, diciendo: De todo árbol del huerto comerás;

17 mas del árbol de la ciencia del bien y del mal, no comerás de él; porque el día que de él comieres, morirás.

18 Y dijo el SEÑOR Dios: No es bueno que el hombre esté solo; le haré ayuda que esté delante de él.

19 Formó, pues, el SEÑOR Dios de la tierra toda bestia del campo, y toda ave de los cielos, y las trajo a Adán, para que viese cómo les había de llamar; y todo lo que Adán llamó al alma viviente, es ese su nombre.

20 Y puso Adán nombres a toda bestia y ave de los cielos, y a todo animal del campo; mas para Adán no halló ayuda que estuviese delante de él.

21 Y el SEÑOR Dios hizo caer sueño sobre el hombre, y se adormeció; entonces tomó una de sus costillas, y cerró la carne en su lugar;

22 y edificó el SEÑOR Dios la costilla que tomó del hombre, en mujer, y la trajo al hombre.

23 Y dijo el hombre: Esta vez, hueso de mis huesos, y carne de mi carne; ésta será llamada Varona, porque del Varón fue tomada.

24 Por tanto, el varón dejará a su padre y a su madre, y se allegará a su mujer, y serán por una carne.

25 Y estaban ambos desnudos, Adán y su mujer, y no se avergonzaban.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #447

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

447. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million. (9:16) This symbolizes their reasonings concerning faith alone, with which they had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.

Armies symbolize goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities - here falsities accompanying evil, as we will see presently. Horsemen symbolize reasonings concerning faith alone, because a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word (no. 298) and also a destroyed understanding of the Word (nos. 305, 312, 320). Horsemen consequently symbolize reasonings based on a destroyed understanding of the Word - here reasonings concerning faith alone, because the subject is people caught up in that faith. Two hundred million does not mean two hundred million, but an abundance. The number two is used because two is said in application to goodness, and in an opposite sense, to evil (no. 322); and a hundred million, or ten thousand times ten thousand, is said in application to truths, and in an opposite sense, to falsities (no. 287).

It can be seen from this that the number of the army of horsemen being two hundred million symbolizes reasonings concerning faith alone, with which these people had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.

[2] That armies in the Word symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities, can be seen from passages where the sun, moon and stars are called armies or hosts, and where the sun symbolizes the goodness of love, the moon the truth of faith, and stars concepts of goodness and truth, and the antithesis in an opposite sense (nos. 51, 53, 332, 413). All of these are called armies or hosts in the following passages:

Praise (Jehovah), all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars...! (Psalms 148:2-3)

My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. (Isaiah 45:12)

By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalms 33:6)

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. (Genesis 2:1)

(The male goat's horn) grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground... He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host... And the host was sent under the yoke for its transgression, (because) it cast truth to the ground... Then... a holy one said..., "How long will... the sanctuary and the host be trampled under foot?" (Daniel 8:10-14)

Jehovah has given forth His voice before His army. (Joel 2:11)

...(on the roofs of the houses) they have burned incense to all the host of heaven... (Jeremiah 19:13)

(Lest you bow down to and serve) the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the host of heaven... (Deuteronomy 4:19; cf. 17:3, Jeremiah 8:2)

So, too, Isaiah 13:4; 34:4; 40:26, Jeremiah 33:22, Zechariah 9:8, Revelation 19:14.

[3] Since the hosts of heaven symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, therefore the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth, or Jehovah of Hosts. And therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 39).

Moreover, we read in the book of Psalms,

Bless Jehovah, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His will. (Psalms 103:21)

Evils and falsities in the church are symbolically meant by the armies of the nations in Isaiah 34:2; and by the army of the king of the north with which he came against the king of the south, in Daniel 11:13, 15, 20. The king of the north is the falsity accompanying evil in the church, and the king of the south is the truth accompanying goodness in it.

The Lord says,

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. (Luke 21:20)

Jerusalem there symbolizes the church, and the armies symbolize the evils and falsities that will devastate it. The subject is the end of the age, which is the final period of the church.

Evils and falsities are symbolically meant by armies in Joel,

I will restore to you the years that the locust, the beetle grub, the locust's larva, and the caterpillar has eaten, My great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)

To be shown that the locust and the rest symbolize falsity of the lowest sort, see no. 424 above.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #51

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

51. Having in His right hand seven stars. (1:16) This symbolizes all concepts of goodness and truth in the Word, which exist therefore in angels in heaven and in people in the church.

When angels are below the heavens, a great number of what look like little stars appear around them, and likewise around spirits who, when they lived in the world, acquired concepts of goodness and truth for themselves from the Word, or truths of life and doctrine. These little stars appear fixed, however, in the case of those who possess genuine truths from the Word, but wandering in the case of those who possess falsified truths.

(Regarding these little stars, and the stars appearing in the sky there, I could relate marvelous things, but that is not the subject of this work.)

It is apparent from this that stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word.

The Son of Man's having them in His right hand means, symbolically, that they come from the Lord alone through the Word. Seven symbolically means all, as may be seen in no. 10 above.

[2] That stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word may be seen also from the following passages:

(I will) turn the earth into a wasteland... ...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. (Isaiah 13:9-10)

The earth that will be turned into a wasteland is the church, in which, having been laid waste, concepts of goodness and truth in the Word are not seen.

When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens... All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

Darkness upon the land is the darkness of falsities in the church.

The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:10; 3:15)

...after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24)

The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs... (Revelation 6:13)

...a star (fell) from heaven to the earth. (Revelation 9:1)

Stars falling from heaven do not mean stars, but concepts of goodness and truth perishing.

[3] This is still more apparent from the statement that a dragon swept down a third of the stars from heaven, in Revelation 12:4, and the statement that a he-goat cast down some of the stars and trampled them, in Daniel 8:8-11. That is why the next verse in Daniel goes on to say that it cast truth to the ground (Daniel 8:12).

Stars also symbolize concepts of goodness and truth in the following passages:

(Jehovah) counts... the stars; He gives all of them names. (Psalms 147:4)

Praise (Jehovah), all you stars of light! (Psalms 148:3)

The stars from their courses fought... (Judges 5:20)

From this it is apparent what is meant by the following statement in Daniel:

The intelligent shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, ...those turning many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)

The intelligent are people concerned with truths, and those turning many to righteousness are those concerned with goodness.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.