In Obadiah 1, the sole chapter in this book, there's a prophecy of destruction for Edom. The people of the land of Edom -- the Edomites -- were descendants of Esau, so they were cousins and neighbors of the Jewish people.

In Swedenborg's sketch of the internal sense of this part of the Word, (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 213), we find this:

- Edom represents people who are in self-intelligence and who pervert the sense of the letter of the word.

- In Obadiah 1:1-3, They must be combated, because they believe themselves to be more intelligent than others.

- In 1:4-5, They defend falsities by natural light, but they will perish, and with them, the falsities themselves.

- In 1:6, They have pride.

- In 1:7, They have no truths.

- In 1:8-9, They will perish on the day of judgment, because they have oppressed the church.

- In 1:10-14, They destroy the church still further, and this is their delight.

- In 1:15-16, Destruction will come upon them on the day of judgment.

- In 1:17, A new church will come into existence.

- In 1:18, in place of the former church, which is condemned.

- In 1:19-21, The new church will be in the understanding of truth, and those that are in it will be saved.

This story was written around 2600 years ago. There were people alive then who were impressed with their own intelligence. They didn't respect the Word's inner meaning, and twisted its literal meaning. In Obadiah 1:10, we see them even taking delight in destroying true ideas.

Today, maybe it's easier than ever to be impressed by our own intelligence, because we can do so much. We're putting vehicles on Mars, and making robots that can do back flips. But how should we regard the Word? We need to look at its deep meaning, to really understand spiritual truths -- so that we have the fundamental spiritual wisdom to hold and harness our intelligence -- and to be part of the Lord's church, where we're open to receiving his good and truth, and living by it.

3939. 'And she called his name Asher' means the essential nature. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, as above. The essential nature itself is what 'Asher' represents. In the original language Asher means blessedness, but the name includes within it everything meant by the words of Leah his mother - 'in my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed'. That is to say, the name also means the delight that belongs to the affections and corresponds to the happiness of eternal life. This is the fourth general means which joins the external man to the internal man. Indeed when anyone perceives within himself that corresponding delight his external man is beginning to be joined to the internal. It is the delights belonging to the affections for truth and good which cause the internal man and the external to be joined together, for without such delights no joining together at all is achieved since it is within those delights that the person's life dwells. For affections are the means by which every joining together is effected, see 3024, 3066, 3336, 3849, 3909. By 'the daughters who will call her blessed' Churches are meant; for 'daughters' in the internal sense of the Word are Churches, see 2362. This exclamation about blessedness was made at this point by Leah because the births by the servant-girls mean general truths which are the means that serve to effect any joining together so that the Church may come into being in a person. For when a person perceives this delight or affection he is starting to become the Church. That being so, Leah's exclamation about the fourth or last son by the servant-girls occurs here.

[2] Asher is mentioned in various places in the Word, but in those places - as with all the other sons also - the essential nature of the thing that is being referred to is meant by him, that is, the essential nature of people passing through the state under discussion at that point is meant. Also, what the essential nature is varies according to the order in which the sons are named. One thing is meant when Reuben or faith heads the list, another when Judah or celestial love does so, and yet another when Joseph or spiritual love. For the essence and nature of whichever one heads the list leads off and passes over into those that follow. This is why their spiritual meanings vary from place to place where they are mentioned. At this point where the birth of them is the subject they mean the general aspects of the Church and therefore all things of faith and love which constitute the Church. They have this meaning because the subject previous to this was the regeneration of man, that is, a person's states before he becomes the Church, and in the highest sense it was the Lord and how He made His Human Divine. So the subject is the ascent by means of the stairway even up to Jehovah which was seen in Bethel by Jacob.