897. Since the subject here is regenerate people in the ancient church, looking [or seeing] symbolizes acknowledging and believing. This symbolism can be seen in the Word. In Isaiah, for instance:
You have not looked to its maker, and the one who formed it from long ago you have not seen. (Isaiah 22:11)
This is about the city of Zion. Not seeing the one who formed it from long ago is failing to acknowledge him, still less to put faith in him. In the same author:
Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and smear over their eyes, to prevent them from seeing with their eyes and hearing with their ears and understanding in their heart and turning and being healed. (Isaiah 6:9-10)
Seeing with the eyes stands for acknowledging and believing. In the same author:
The people walking in darkness have seen great light. (Isaiah 9:2)
This is about nations that had received the faith. It is like the current verse where it says "he removed the roof and saw." In the same author:
On that day, the deaf will hear the words of the Book, and out of the darkness and out of the shadows the eyes of the blind will see. (Isaiah 29:18)
This is about the conversion of the nations to the faith. Seeing stands for embracing the faith. In the same author:
You who are deaf, listen! And you who are blind, look and see! (Isaiah 42:18)
The meaning is similar.
[2] In Ezekiel:
... who have eyes to see and do not see, who have ears to hear and do not hear, because they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:2)
These words mean, "who are able to understand, acknowledge, and believe, but do not wish to."
The representation of the Lord by the bronze serpent in the wilderness provides clear evidence that seeing symbolizes believing, since everyone who looked at it was cured. Moses describes it this way:
"Put the snake on a pole, and it will happen that all who have been bitten and see it will live." It happened that if a snake bit a man and he looked at the bronze snake, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)
From this everyone can see that looking or seeing symbolizes faith. What could seeing in this passage be if not an act representing faith in the Lord?
Another conclusion from this is that on an inner level, Jacob's firstborn — Reuben, whose name comes from a word for seeing 1 — symbolizes faith. See earlier remarks concerning the church's firstborns at §§352 and 367.
Footnotes:
1. Swedenborg here is accepting the biblical association of the name רְאוּבֵן (rǝ'ûḇēn), or "Reuben," with the verb רָאָה (rā'ā), "to see." See Genesis 29:32: "And Leah conceived and bore a son and called his name Reuben, because she said, ‘Jehovah has seen my affliction, for now my husband will love me.'" [RS]
