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Genesis 3

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1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.

8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?

10 And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

11 And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

12 And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and the beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

16 To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

17 And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.

18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou eat the herbs of the earth.

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

20 And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them.

22 And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

23 And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.

24 And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

   

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True Christianity #260

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260. It is important to know as well that the literal meaning is a protection to prevent harm to the genuine truths that lie inside it. The nature of this protection is that the literal meaning can be turned this way and that and explained to different levels of comprehension without damaging or violating what is inside. It does no harm if one person takes the literal meaning one way and another takes it another way. It is harmful, however, if people bring in false ideas that go against divine truths. Only people who are adamant about falsities do this. Doing so does violence to the Word. The literal meaning offers protection to prevent this from happening. It also offers protection to people who have been given false ideas by their religion but have not become adamant about them.

The angel guardians in the Word both stand for and portray the protecting role of the Word's literal meaning. This protection is the meaning of the angel guardians who were placed at the entrance of the garden of Eden after Adam was thrown out with his wife. About this we read,

When Jehovah God expelled the human, he made angel guardians dwell on the east side of the garden of Eden and made the flame of a sword turning this way and that to guard the pathway to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:23-24)

[2] No one could see what these details mean without knowing the meaning of "angel guardians," "the garden of Eden," the garden's "tree of life," and "the flame of a sword" turning this way and that. These details have been explained in the relevant chapter of Secrets of Heaven, published in London [Secrets of Heaven 305-313]. To be specific, the "angel guardians" mean protection. The "pathway to the tree of life" means the access to the Lord available to people through the truths in the Word's spiritual meaning. The "flame of a sword turning" means divine truth on the outermost level, which is like the Word in its literal meaning; it is similarly capable of being turned this way and that.

The same thing is meant by the angel guardians made of gold that were placed on the two ends of the mercy seat that was on top of the ark in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18-21). The "ark" meant the Word because the Ten Commandments are the most basic thing in the Word. The "angel guardians" meant protection, which is why the Lord spoke with Moses from between the angel guardians (Exodus 25:22; 37:9; Numbers 7:89). Further, the Lord spoke to Moses in the earthly meaning because he does not speak with us unless he speaks in a complete way, and divine truth has its complete form in the literal meaning (see 214-224 above).

The angel guardians on the curtains and the veil in the tabernacle (Exodus 26:31) had a similar meaning. The curtains and the veil in the tabernacle meant the outermost aspects of heaven and the church; therefore they meant the outermost aspects of the Word as well (see 220 above).

The same applies to the angel guardians carved on the walls and doors of the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35); see 221 above. Likewise, the angel guardians in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20).

[3] Angel guardians mean the protection that prevents people from going directly to the Lord, heaven, and the divine truth in the form it takes inside the Word, and steers them instead to go indirectly through the [Word's] outermost level. For this reason we read the following statements about the king of Tyre:

You who seal up your measurement; full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in the Garden of Eden. Every precious stone was your covering. You, O angel guardian, were the stretching out of a covering. I lost you, O protecting angel guardian, in the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16)

"Tyre" means the church's knowledge of goodness and truth. "The king of Tyre" means the Word where that knowledge exists and originates. The king clearly means the Word on its outermost level and the angel guardian means protection, because it says, "You who seal up your measurement, every precious stone is your covering, you, O angel guardian, were the stretching out of a covering," and "O protecting angel guardian. " On the precious stones listed in that passage as referring to aspects of the literal meaning, see 217, 218 above. Since "angel guardians" mean the Word at the outermost level and protection as well, therefore we read the following phrases in David:

Jehovah bowed down the heavens and came down. He rode upon an angel guardian. (Psalms 18:9-10)

Shine forth, O Shepherd of Israel who sits upon angel guardians. (Psalms 80:1)

Jehovah sitting upon angel guardians. (Psalms 99:1)

Riding and sitting "upon angel guardians" refers to the Word's outermost meaning.

The Word's divine truth and the qualities of that truth are portrayed by four creatures that are also called angel guardians (Ezekiel 1:9-10), and by four creatures in the middle of the throne and next to it (Revelation 4:6-7). See Revelation Unveiled (which I published in Amsterdam) 239, 275, 314.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.