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 on 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, 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 that compasseth the whole land of Cush.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: which floweth 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 of it thou shalt surely die.

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a 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 to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was its name.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam there was not found a 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 in its place.

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, he made woman, and brought her to 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 to 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 #8890

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8890. 'You shall not do any work - you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your beast, nor your sojourner who is within your gates' means that at that time heaven and its blessedness are present in every single part of a person inwardly and outwardly. This is clear from the meaning of 'not doing any work' as rest and peace, thus heaven, for when a person is in heaven he is free from all apprehensiveness, uneasiness, and anxiety, and when free from these, blessedness is his; and from the meaning of 'you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your beast, and the sojourner within your gates' as every single part of a person inwardly and outwardly. For 'you' means the person himself, 'son' means his understanding, and 'daughter' his will, both of which reside in his internal man. 'Male slave' means his natural in respect of truth, and 'female slave' his natural in respect of good, thus both as they reside in his external man, while 'beast' means affection in general, and 'sojourner within the gates' factual knowledge in general. Thus every single part is meant. 'Son' means his understanding here because 'son' means truth, and truths constitute the understanding; and 'daughter' means his will because 'daughter' means good, and forms of good constitute the will. For the meaning of 'son' as truth, and so the understanding, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257; for 'daughter' as good, and so the will, 489-491, 2362, 3024; for 'male slave' as the natural in respect of truth, 3019, 3020, 3409, 5305, 7998; for 'female slave' as the natural in respect of good, 2567, 3835, 3849; for 'beast' as affection in general, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 2179, 2180, 3218, 5198, 7523, 7872; and for 'sojourner' as one who receives instruction in the Church's truths, 1463, 4444, 8007, 8013, so that 'the sojourner within your gates' is factual knowledge in general, since factual knowledge in general lies within the gates, that is, at the entrance to the truths the Church possesses.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8643

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8643. 'And Jethro, the priest of Midian' means Divine Good. This is clear from the representation of 'Jethro, the priest of Midian' as the good of the Church which is guided by the truth that goes with simple good, dealt with in 7015, but at this point Divine Good, because 'Moses', whose father-in-law he was, represented Divine Truth; for when the son-in-law represents truth, the father-in-law represents good, that is, a higher level of good since he is his wife's father. The reason why Divine Good is represented at this point by 'Jethro' is that the subject in this chapter is the arranging of truths into order with a member of the spiritual Church, which is done by Divine Good working through Divine Truth. For whenever arrangement into order takes place it is done by good working through truth.

[2] Truths are arranged into order in this way with a member of the spiritual Church when his actions begin to be governed no longer by truth but by good. This state is his second state, which arises after he has undergone temptations. When truth governs his actions he undergoes temptation, to the end that the truths with him may become firmly accepted. Once they have been firmly accepted they are arranged into order by the Lord; and once they have been arranged into order the person enters the second state, in which the truths are in his will and in his actions. As a result of this they become part of his life, and are called forms of good. This arranging of truths into order is the subject below.

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