Secrets of Heaven # 64
64. THIS, then, is the Word's inner meaning, the true and genuine life in it, which does not reveal itself at all in the literal meaning. But the number of secrets hidden within is so large that volumes would fail to unfold all of them. I have offered just a few, of a type confirming that regeneration is the theme and that it progresses from outer to inner self.
That is what angels see in the Word. They know nothing whatever of the literal contents, or the most obvious meaning of even one word, still less the names of different lands, cities, rivers, and people that come up so frequently in the narrative and prophetic parts. 1 All they picture are the things those words and names symbolize. Adam in paradise, for instance, brings the earliest church to their minds — and not even the church itself but its belief in the Lord. Noah brings up the picture of that church's remnant among its successors, lasting up to Abram's time. Abraham 2 never makes them think of a man who lived long ago but of a saving faith, which he represented. And so on. In sum, they see spiritual and heavenly realities in the Word, completely separate from the words and names.
Notas de rodapé:
1. By the narrative parts, Swedenborg means the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), as well as Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, and the two books of Kings. By the prophetic parts he means Psalms and the major and minor prophets. See §66 and, for an even more detailed listing, §2606. [LHC]
2. Abraham and the Abram just mentioned are the same man (see Genesis 17:5). When Swedenborg speaks in the previous sentence about the earliest church's successors, he is talking about various phases of the ancient church, represented by the descendants of Noah listed in Genesis 10 and 11; see §§1130, 1279-1282. Abram is a transitional figure, representing the final, effete stages of the ancient church and the beginning of its own successor, the "representative church," or Jewish religion; see §§1282, 1361, 1375. Because Abram is that figure's name at the point in his life when he represents the transition, Swedenborg so names him. The reason for the shift to the name Abraham immediately afterward, in a more general statement about angelic views on the man, is probably that this is the name by which he is more commonly known. [LHC, SS]
