1045. This discussion has dealt with the spiritual person (or the spiritual church) who has been reborn. The discussion that follows focuses on all people in general and then on those who can be reborn in particular.
Secrets of Heaven #16
16. Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.
The word beginning is being used for the very earliest times. The prophets frequently call them "the days of old." 1
"The beginning" includes the first period of regeneration too, as that is when people are being born anew and receiving life. Because of this, regeneration itself is called our new creation [2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15]. Almost everywhere in the prophetic books, the words creating, forming, and making stand for regenerating, though with differences. 2 In Isaiah, for example:
All have been called by my name, and I have created them for my glory; I have formed them; yes, I have made them. (Isaiah 43:7)
This is why the Lord is called Redeemer, One-Who-Forms-from-the-Womb, Maker, and Creator, as in the same prophet:
I am Jehovah, 3 your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your Monarch. (Isaiah 43:15)
In David: 4
The people created will praise Jah. 5 (Psalms 102:18)
In the same author:
You send out your spirit — they will continue to be created — and you renew the face of the ground. 6 (Psalms 104:30)
Heaven, or the sky, symbolizes the inner self, and the earth, before regeneration occurs, symbolizes the outer self, as may be seen below [§§17, 24:3, 27].
Footnotes:
1. For references to "the days of old," see Deuteronomy 32:7; Psalms 44:1; 77:5; 143:5; Isaiah 23:7; 37:26; 51:9; 63:9, 11; Jeremiah 46:26; Lamentations 1:7; 2:17; 5:21; Amos 9:11; Micah 5:2; 7:14, 20; Malachi 3:4. [LHC]
2. The Hebrew original of Genesis uses three distinct words for creation: בָּרָא (bārā), "create;" יָצָר (yāṣār), "form;" and עָשָׂה (‘āśā), "make." [RS]
3. Following a Christian practice of his times, Swedenborg used "Jehovah" as a rendering of the tetragrammaton, יהוה, "YHVH" (or "YHWH"), the four-letter name of God in the Hebrew Scriptures. In earliest times, Hebrew was written only with consonants; a system for indicating vowels was not perfected until the eighth century of the Common Era, and even in most modern Hebrew texts, vowels are not marked. The current scholarly reconstruction of the original pronunciation of the name is "Yahweh": see Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, under "YHWH." A strict understanding of the Second Commandment, "You are not to take the name of YHVH your God in vain" (Exodus 20:7), led pious Jews to avoid pronouncing the name aloud; instead the name אֲדֹנָי ('ăḏōnāi, literally meaning "my lord") was read. To indicate this, vowels similar to those in Adonai were added to YHVH, creating the form Jehovah. At occurrences of the combination אֲדֹנָי יהוה ('ăḏōnāi yhvh), "the Lord YHVH," the vowels for אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlōhîm), or "God," are added to the four consonants instead, again in adapted form, to make יֱהוִֹה (yĕhôvih). Swedenborg carefully represents this as "Jehovih." For a traditional Jewish view of this vocalization, see Gikatilla 1994, 148-149. "Yahweh" itself, יַהְוֶה (yahweh), may be grammatically an imperfect causative form of the verb הָיָה (hāyā), "to be," meaning "he causes to be" or "he creates" (Cross 1973, 65). This identification is controversial, however. Swedenborg himself connects the name "Jehovah" with being: see True Christianity 19:1, where he says the name means "I am" (see Exodus 3:14-15; 6:3). Some modern English Bibles use the name "Jehovah," while others render the term as "Lord," so capitalized; "Lord," in capital and lowercase; "Yahweh;" "Adonai;" or even "God." [GFD, RS]
4. As was the custom in his day, Swedenborg refers to Psalms as a book of David. [LHC]
5. "Jah" is a shortening of the name Jehovah. Jewish esoteric thought ascribed the different names of God to different aspects of the divine. "Jah" or "Yah" (Hebrew יָהּ [yāh]) was associated with divine wisdom and mercy (Gikatilla 1994, 4-5, 325). [RS, LHC]
6. The Latin word here translated "they will continue to be created" is creabuntur, a simple future form. Its subject is the world of living things, which are dependent on God for their existence. The original Hebrew has an imperfect verb form here, indicating an action that is continuous or not yet completed. Many English versions of the Bible render this word "they are created." [RS]
