The Bible

 

Genesis 7

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1 And Jehovah saith to Noah, `Come in, thou and all thy house, unto the ark, for thee I have seen righteous before Me in this generation;

2 of all the clean beasts thou dost take to thee seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the beasts which are not clean two, a male and its female;

3 also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth;

4 for after other seven days I am sending rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and have wiped away all the substance that I have made from off the face of the ground.'

5 And Noah doth according to all that Jehovah hath commanded him:

6 and Noah [is] a son of six hundred years, and the deluge of waters hath been upon the earth.

7 And Noah goeth in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, unto the ark, from the presence of the waters of the deluge;

8 of the clean beasts and of the beasts that [are] not clean, and of the fowl, and of every thing that is creeping upon the ground,

9 two by two they have come in unto Noah, unto the ark, a male and a female, as God hath commanded Noah.

10 And it cometh to pass, after the seventh of the days, that waters of the deluge have been on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day have been broken up all fountains of the great deep, and the net-work of the heavens hath been opened,

12 and the shower is on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In this self-same day went in Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, unto the ark;

14 they, and every living creature after its kind, and every beast after its kind, and every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird -- every wing.

15 And they come in unto Noah, unto the ark, two by two of all the flesh in which [is] a living spirit;

16 and they that are coming in, male and female of all flesh, have come in as God hath commanded him, and Jehovah doth close [it] for him.

17 And the deluge is forty days on the earth, and the waters multiply, and lift up the ark, and it is raised up from off the earth;

18 and the waters are mighty, and multiply exceedingly upon the earth; and the ark goeth on the face of the waters.

19 And the waters have been very very mighty on the earth, and covered are all the high mountains which [are] under the whole heavens;

20 fifteen cubits upwards have the waters become mighty, and the mountains are covered;

21 and expire doth all flesh that is moving on the earth, among fowl, and among cattle, and among beasts, and among all the teeming things which are teeming on the earth, and all mankind;

22 all in whose nostrils [is] breath of a living spirit -- of all that [is] in the dry land -- have died.

23 And wiped away is all the substance that is on the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens; yea, they are wiped away from the earth, and only Noah is left, and those who [are] with him in the ark;

24 and the waters are mighty on the earth a hundred and fifty days.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #739

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739. 'A flood of waters' means the onset of temptation. This is clear from the fact that the temptation dealt with here regards things of the understanding, which temptation, as has been stated, comes first and is mild. Consequently it is called 'a flood of waters' and not simply a flood, as in verse 17 below. For the primary meaning of 'waters' is man's spiritual things, matters of faith in the understanding, and also their opposites, which are falsities, as may be confirmed from so many places in the Word.

[2] That a flood of waters or a deluge means temptation is clear from what has been shown in the preliminary section of this chapter, 1 and also in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, I will make a stormy wind 2 break out in My wrath, and there will be a deluging rain in My anger, and hailstones in rage to consume it, so that I may break down the wall you daub with whitewash. Ezekiel 13:11, 13-14.

Here 'stormy wind 2 and 'deluging rain' stand for the desolation of falsity, 'a wall daubed with whitewash' for a fabrication which looks like the truth. In Isaiah,

Jehovah God is a shelter from the deluge, a shade from the heat, for the spirit of violent men is like a deluge against a wall. Isaiah 25:4.

Here 'deluge' stands for temptation as regards things of the understanding, which is quite different from temptation as regards things of the will, which is called 'heat'.

[3] In the same prophet,

Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong, like a deluge of hail, a destroying tempest, like a deluge of mighty overflowing waters. Isaiah 28:2.

This describes degrees of temptation. In the same prophet, When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not deluge you. When you go through fire you will not be burned, and the flame will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2.

Here 'waters' and 'rivers' stand for falsities and delusions,' fire' and 'flame' for evils and evil desires. In David,

Therefore everyone who is holy will pray to You at a time of discovering. In the deluge of many waters they will not reach him. You are a hiding-place for me, You will save me from distress. Psalms 32:6-7.

Here 'deluge of waters' stands for temptation, which is also called a flood in the same author,

Jehovah sits over the flood; and Jehovah sits as King for ever. Psalms 29:10.

These quotations and those given in the preliminary section of this chapter 1 show that a flood or deluge of waters means nothing other than temptations and vastations, even though according to the custom of the most ancient people the description is of historical events.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. in 705

2. literally, spirit or breath of storms

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