The Bible

 

Genesis 8

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1 And God remembereth Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which [are] with him in the ark, and God causeth a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subside,

2 and closed are the fountains of the deep and the net-work of the heavens, and restrained is the shower from the heavens.

3 And turn back do the waters from off the earth, going on and returning; and the waters are lacking at the end of a hundred and fifty days.

4 And the ark resteth, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, on mountains of Ararat;

5 and the waters have been going and becoming lacking till the tenth month; in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, appeared the heads of the mountains.

6 And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah openeth the window of the ark which he made,

7 and he sendeth forth the raven, and it goeth out, going out and turning back till the drying of the waters from off the earth.

8 And he sendeth forth the dove from him to see whether the waters have been lightened from off the face of the ground,

9 and the dove hath not found rest for the sole of her foot, and she turneth back unto him, unto the ark, for waters [are] on the face of all the earth, and he putteth out his hand, and taketh her, and bringeth her in unto him, unto the ark.

10 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and addeth to send forth the dove from the ark;

11 and the dove cometh in unto him at even-time, and lo, an olive leaf torn off in her mouth; and Noah knoweth that the waters have been lightened from off the earth.

12 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and sendeth forth the dove, and it added not to turn back unto him any more.

13 And it cometh to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], in the first of the month, the waters have been dried from off the earth; and Noah turneth aside the covering of the ark, and looketh, and lo, the face of the ground hath been dried.

14 And in the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth hath become dry.

15 And God speaketh unto Noah, saying, `Go out from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee;

16 every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, among fowl, and among cattle, and among every creeping thing which is creeping on the earth, bring out with thee;

17 and they have teemed in the earth, and been fruitful, and have multiplied on the earth.'

18 And Noah goeth out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him;

19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl; every creeping thing on the earth, after their families, have gone out from the ark.

20 And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;

21 and Jehovah smelleth the sweet fragrance, and Jehovah saith unto His heart, `I continue not to disesteem any more the ground because of man, though the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil from his youth; and I continue not to smite any more all living, as I have done;

22 during all days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, do not cease.'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #870

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870. That by a “dove” are signified the truths and goods of faith with him who is to be regenerated, is evident from the signification of a “dove” in the Word, especially the dove which came upon Jesus when He was baptized, of which we read in Matthew:

Jesus when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him (Matthew 3:16; also John 1:32; Luke 3:21-22; Mark 1:10-11).

Here the “dove” signified nothing else than the holy of faith; and the “baptism” itself, regeneration; so that there was signified, in the new church which was to arise, the truth and good of faith which is received by regeneration from the Lord. Similar things were represented and involved by the young pigeons or turtledoves that were offered for sacrifice and burnt offering in the Jewish Church, of which we read in Leviticus (Leviticus 1:14-17, Leviticus 5:7-10, Leviticus 12:6, 8; 14:21-22; 15:14, 29-30; Numbers 6:10-11; Luke 2:22-24), as is evident from the several passages. That they had such a signification everyone may comprehend from the sole consideration that they must needs represent something; for otherwise they would have no meaning and would be in no respect Divine, for what is external of the church is an inanimate affair, but lives from what is internal, and this from the Lord.

[2] That a “dove” in general signifies the intellectual things of faith, is also evident in the Prophets, as in Hosea:

Ephraim will be like a silly dove, without heart; they called Egypt, they went unto Assyria (Hosea 7:11).

And again, concerning Ephraim:

They shall be afraid, as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria (Hosea 11:11).

Here “Ephraim” denotes one who is intelligent, “Egypt” one who has knowledge, “Assyria” one who is rational, a “dove” what is of the intellectual things of faith; and here also the subject is the regeneration of the spiritual church. Again in David:

O Jehovah, deliver not the soul of Thy turtledove unto the wild beast (Psalms 74:19); where “wild beast” denotes those who are of no charity; the “soul of the “turtle dove” the life of faith. See also what has been said and shown before about birds 1 , that they signify intellectual things: gentle, beautiful, clean, and useful birds, intellectual truths and goods; but fierce, ugly, unclean, and useless birds, the opposite, or falsities, such as the raven, which is here opposed to the dove.

Footnotes:

1. Editor’s note by NCBSP: The descriptions occur in passages 40 and 776.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #776

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776. That “every fowl after its kind” signifies every spiritual truth, “flying thing” natural truth, and “winged thing” sensuous truth, is evident from what has been stated and shown before concerning “birds” (as at n. 40). The most ancient people likened man’s thoughts to birds, because relatively to the things of the will, thoughts are like birds. As mention is made here of “fowl” “flying thing” and “winged thing” and of these in succession, like things intellectual, rational, and sensuous in man, in order that no one may doubt that they signify these things, some passages from the Word may be adduced in confirmation, from which it will also be plain that “beasts” signify such things as have been stated.

[2] Thus in David:

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the fields, the fowl of the heaven, and the fish of the sea (Psalms 8:6-8).

This is said of the Lord, whose dominion over man, and over the things pertaining to man, is thus described. Otherwise what would be the dominion over “beasts” and “fowls?” Again:

Fruitful trees and all cedars, the wild animal and every beast, creeping things and flying fowl, let them praise the name of Jehovah (Psalms 148:9-10, 13).

The “fruitful tree” denotes the celestial man; the “cedar” the spiritual man. The “wild animal” and “beast” and “creeping thing” are their goods, as in the history before us; the “flying fowl” is their truths; from all of which they can “praise the name of Jehovah.” By no means can the wild animal, the beast, the creeping thing, and the bird do this. In profane writings such things may be said by hyperbolism, but there are no hyperbolisms in the Word of the Lord, but things significative and representative.

[3] In Ezekiel:

The fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the wild animal of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence (Ezekiel 38:20).

That such things are here signified by “beasts” and “fowls” is very manifest; for how would it be to the glory of Jehovah if fishes, birds, and beasts should shake? Can anyone suppose that such sayings would be holy if they did not involve holy things? In Jeremiah:

I beheld, and lo there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled (Jeremiah 4:25),

denoting all good and truth; “man” also denotes here the good of love. Again: They are burned up, so that none passeth through, neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled, they are gone (Jeremiah 9:10),

denoting in like manner that all truth and good have departed.

[4] And again:

How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither? for the wickedness of them that dwell therein the beasts are consumed and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end (Jeremiah 12:4).

Here the “beasts” denote goods, and the “birds” truths, which perished.

In Zephaniah:

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground (Zephaniah 1:3).

Here “man and beast” denote the things which are of love and of its good; the “fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea” the things which are of the understanding, thus which are of truth. These are called “stumbling-blocks” because goods and truths are stumbling-blocks to the wicked, but not beasts and birds; and they are also plainly spoken of “man.”

In David:

The trees of Jehovah are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted, where the birds make their nests (Psalms 104:16-17).

The “trees of Jehovah” and the “cedars of Lebanon” denote the spiritual man; the “birds” his rational or natural truths, which are as “nests.”

[5] It was moreover a common form of expression that “birds would make their nests in the branches” signifying truths, as in Ezekiel:

In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it, and it shall lift up its bough, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell every bird of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell (Ezekiel 17:23),

denoting the Church of the Gentiles, which was spiritual. This is “the goodly cedar;” the “bird of every wing” denotes truths of every kind. Again: All the birds of the heavens made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches all the wild animals of the field brought forth, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations (Ezekiel 31:6).

This is said of Asshur, which is the spiritual church and is called a “cedar;” the “birds of the heavens” denote its truths; the “beasts” its goods.

In Daniel:

The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of heaven dwelt in the branches thereof (Daniel 4:12, 21).

Here the “beasts” denote goods, the “fowls of the heavens” truths, as must be evident to everyone; for otherwise of what concern is it that the bird and the beasts dwelt there? And it is the same with what the Lord says:

The kingdom of God is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew, and became a tree, and the birds of the heaven lodged in the branches thereof (Luke 13:19; Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:31-32).

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