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From Swedenborg's Works

 

Secrets of Heaven #49

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49. Genesis 1:26. And God said, "Let us make a human in our image, after our likeness; and these will rule over the fish of the sea and over the bird in the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every creeping animal that creeps on the earth."

To members of the earliest church, whom the Lord addressed face to face, he appeared as a human being. (Many things could be told about these people, but this is not the right time.) 1 As a consequence, they used the term human for none but him, or for his qualities. They did not even call themselves human, excepting whatever they could tell he gave them, such as all the good embraced by love and all the truth espoused by faith. These traits they described as human, because they were the Lord's.

[2] As a consequence, the terms human being and son of humankind 2 in the prophets have the Lord as their highest meaning. At a lower but still internal level, the meaning is wisdom and understanding and accordingly everyone who has been reborn. An example from Jeremiah:

I looked at the earth, and there — void and emptiness; and to the heavens, and there — no light in them! I looked, and there — not a human! And all the birds of the heavens had fled. (Jeremiah 4:23, 25)

At the inner level, the following passage in Isaiah uses a human being to mean one reborn, and on the highest level the Lord himself, as an exemplar:

This is what Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel and its fashioner, has said: "I made the earth, and the human being on it I created. My hands stretched out the heavens, and to their whole army 3 I gave commands." (Isaiah 45:11-12, 13)

[3] For this reason, the prophets saw the Lord as a human being. Ezekiel was one who did:

Above the expanse was a seeming appearance of sapphire stone, like a throne, and on the likeness of a throne was what looked like the appearance of a person on it, high above. (Ezekiel 1:26)

When Daniel saw the Lord, he called him "Son of Humankind," or human being, which is the same thing:

I looked, and there! In the clouds of the sky, it was as if the Son of Humankind was coming. And he came to the Ancient One, and they brought him before [the Ancient One]. And he was given power to rule, and glory, and kingship; and all peoples, nations, and tongues will serve him. His ruling power is eternal, a power that will not pass away, and his kingship one that will not perish. (Daniel 7:13-14)

[4] In fact, the Lord often calls himself Son of Humankind, 4 or human; echoing the prophecy in Daniel that he will come in glory, he says:

They will see the Son of Humankind coming in the clouds of the sky with strength and glory. (Matthew 24:27, 30)

"The clouds of the heavens" (or sky) is what the literal meaning of the Word is called. "Strength and glory" are terms for the Word's inner meaning, which at each and every point focuses exclusively on the Lord and his kingdom. This focus is what gives the inner meaning strength and glory.

Footnotes:

1. One significant later passage discussing the people of the earliest church is §§1114-1129. [LHC]

2. On the term "son of humankind," see note 1 in §39. [JSR]

3. On the stars and other heavenly bodies as an "army," see note 1 in §73. [LHC]

4. Aside from the passages in Matthew that Swedenborg cites just below in the text, passages in which Christ refers to himself as the Son of Humankind include Matthew 8:20; 9:6; 10:23; 11:19; 12:8, 32, 40; 13:37, 41; 16:13, 27-28; 17:9, 12, 22; 18:11; 19:28; 20:18, 28; 24:37, 39, 44; 25:13, 31; 26:2, 24, 45, 64; Mark 2:10, 28; 8:38; 9:12, 31; 10:33, 45; 13:26; 14:21, 41, 62; Luke 5:24; 6:5, 22; 7:34; 9:22, 26, 44, 56, 58; 11:30; 12:8, 10, 40; 17:22, 24, 26, 30; 18:8, 31; 19:10; 21:27, 36; 22:22, 48, 69; John 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27, 53, 62; 8:28; 12:23; 13:31. [SS]

  
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Many thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation and its New Century Edition team.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Secrets of Heaven #73

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73. Genesis 2

1. And the heavens and the earth were completed, and their whole army. 1

2. And on the seventh day God completed the work that he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

3. And God blessed the seventh day and consecrated it, because on it he rested from all the work that he had done as God in creating it.

4. These are the births of the heavens and the earth when he created them, on the day on which he, Jehovah God, made the earth and the heavens.

5. And no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field was yet sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain on the earth. And there was no human to cultivate the ground.

6. And he made a mist rise up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

7. And Jehovah God formed a human, dirt from the ground, and he breathed into the human's nostrils the breath of lives, 2 and the human was made into a living soul.

8. And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, on the east, and put in it the human whom he had formed.

9. And Jehovah God caused to sprout from the ground every tree desirable in appearance and good for food, and the tree of lives in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10. And a river was going out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four headwaters.

11. The name of the first is Pishon; it is circling the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12. And the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium there, and shoham 3 stone.

13. And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is circling the whole land of Cush. 4

14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; 5 it goes east toward Assyria. And the fourth river is the Phrath. 6

15. And Jehovah God took the human and put the human in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to guard it.

16. And Jehovah God commanded the human concerning it, saying, "From every tree of the garden you definitely may eat.

17. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, because on the day on which you eat from it you will surely die."

73. Summary

HAVING been changed from lifeless people to people focused on spirit, we are now changed from spiritual to heavenly; and heavenly people are the subject here (verse 1).

Footnotes:

1. (in the text of Genesis 2:1). The word in Latin here translated "army" is exercitus, a rendition of the Hebrew צָבָא (ṣāḇā), whose plural, צְבָאוֹת (ṣǝḇā'ôṯ), is sometimes translated as "hosts." The idea is that the angels and stars constitute the "armies" of the Lord (Brown, Driver, and Briggs 1996, under צָבָא). See also note 1 in §119. [RS]

2. (in the text of Genesis 2:7). The unusual plurals in the phrase "breath of lives" here and "tree of lives" below in verse 9 are retained because they represent plurals in Swedenborg's Latin versions of these phrases, which are literal translations of the Hebrew. Swedenborg explains elsewhere that two lives are meant: the life of love and the life of faith (§304; see also §3623). On other unusual plurals in Swedenborg's Latin, see notes 2 in §6, 2 in §51 above. [LHC, GFD]

3. (in the text of Genesis 2:12). Swedenborg here transliterates the Hebrew word שֹׁהַם (šōham). The identification of the stone is uncertain. [LHC]

4. (in the text of Genesis 2:13). Some scholars agree with Swedenborg in identifying this Cush (or Kush) with Ethiopia (see §117), but the more literal-minded point out that Ethiopia is not circled by a river and lies far from the other rivers mentioned in this passage. There are other candidates, but the exact identification will probably remain uncertain. Whatever the quibbles of scholars, this Cush is subsumed into the symbolic complex that Swedenborg identifies with Ethiopia (see, for example, §1163). [SS]

5. (in the text of Genesis 2:14). The Hiddekel is the Tigris. [LHC]

6. (in the text of Genesis 2:14). The Phrath is the Euphrates. [LHC]

  
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Many thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation and its New Century Edition team.

The Bible

 

Mark 10

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1 He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.

2 Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

3 He answered, "What did Moses command you?"

4 They said, "Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her."

5 But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

7 For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,

8 and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

10 In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.

11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.

12 If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery."

13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.

14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, "Allow the little children to come to me! Don't forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it."

16 He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"

18 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one--God.

19 You know the commandments: 'Do not murder,' 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not give false testimony,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and mother.'"

20 He said to him, "Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth."

21 Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross."

22 But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.

23 Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, "How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!"

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, "Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!

25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."

26 They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, "Then who can be saved?"

27 Jesus, looking at them, said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God."

28 Peter began to tell him, "Behold, we have left all, and have followed you."

29 Jesus said, "Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,

30 but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.

31 But many who are first will be last; and the last first."

32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.

33 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles.

34 They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask."

36 He said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

37 They said to him, "Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory."

38 But Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

39 They said to him, "We are able." Jesus said to them, "You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;

40 but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared."

41 When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant towards James and John.

42 Jesus summoned them, and said to them, "You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.

44 Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.

45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

46 They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.

47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!"

48 Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, "You son of David, have mercy on me!"

49 Jesus stood still, and said, "Call him." They called the blind man, saying to him, "Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!"

50 He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

51 Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "Rabboni, that I may see again."

52 Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

   

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