Arcana Coelestia # 17
17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face 1 of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face 1 of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called 'a void and an empty earth', and also 'ground', in which no good or truth at all has been sown - 'void' where there is no good, and 'empty' where there is no truth. Consequently there is 'thick darkness', or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,
My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25.
Фусноте:
1. literally, the faces
Arcana Coelestia # 8626
8626. 'The war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation' means that by the Lord's Divine power they have been subjugated and cast into hell, out of which they can never rise up. This is clear from the meaning of 'the war of Jehovah' as being cast into hell; and from the meaning of 'from generation to generation' as everlastingly, so that they can never rise up out of it. This is done to them by the Lord's Divine power, see immediately above in 8625 (end). The reason why 'the war of Jehovah' means being cast into hell is that the war of Jehovah is everlasting victory. Hellish genii are completely incapable of waging war and fighting against Jehovah, that is, the Lord. But it seems to them that they fight; indeed it also seems to them sometimes that they are victorious, when they subdue those immersed in evil. Nevertheless they have no power whatever against the Divine; the smallest amount of Divine power is enough, every time it is called on, to tame instantly the entire devil's crew, even if it consisted of millions. However He allows them the opportunity to act, just so far as their activity may serve a useful purpose and the Lord can turn their evil into good, a subject which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere. 1 All this goes some way to prove that 'the war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation' means being subjugated by the Lord's Divine power and cast into hell, from where they can never rise up.
Фусноте:
1. This proposal was not fulfilled, but presumably the material mentioned here concerning the hells appeared in the work published a few years later, in 1758, whose English title is Heaven and Hell.
