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.

脚注:

Water is the basis of life, the essential ingredient in all drinks, and in the form of rivers, lakes and oceans supports life in myriad ways. The spiritual meaning of water is similarly basic: It represents truth in general, the ideas and concepts that guide us to do good things in our lives. In a more specific sense, it represents truth at its simplest level: the ideas we learn from the Bible and simply believe. Swedenborg refers to this as “natural” truth or “truths of faith.” They are not things we have explored, figured out or confirmed through life; rather they are things that we accept to be true because we’ve been told they are true. Like water, these ideas flow to us from other sources. And like water, they are ever-changing; to build something permanent we might look to the more permanent ideas represented by stones. But water is crucial to life, and so are these accepted ideas. Water can also, of course, be threatening. Rivers, lakes and oceans are inherently dangerous, and flooding was an ever greater threat in Biblical times than it is now. These aspects represent the opposite meaning – water as falsity, twisted ideas which support evil and can overwhelm and destroy us if we’re not careful.