IBhayibheli

 

Ézéchiel 41:19

Funda

       

19 une face d'homme tournée d'un côté vers la palme, et une face de lion tournée de l'autre côté vers l'autre palme; il en était ainsi tout autour de la maison.

Amazwana

 

Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2935

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

2935. 'Let him give me the cave of Machpelah [which is his]' means the obscurity of faith [that was theirs]. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cave' as obscurity, dealt with in 2463, and from the meaning of 'Machpelah' as faith which is enveloped in obscurity. The reason 'a cave' means obscurity is that it is a place filled with darkness. When reference is made to a mountain cave - as in Genesis 19:30, where it is said that Lot lived in a mountain cave - obscurity as regards good is meant, but when reference is made to the cave in the field of Machpelah obscurity as regards truth is meant. Here, because the expression 'the cave of Machpelah' is used - Machpelah being the field at the end of which the cave was situated - an obscurity as regards truth, or what amounts to the same, as regards faith is meant. From this it is also evident that Machpelah is faith which is enveloped in obscurity.

[2] Those who are being regenerated and becoming spiritual are very much in obscurity as regards truth. With them good from the Lord is indeed flowing in, but truth less so. Consequently a parallelism and correspondence exists with man between the Lord and good, but not between Him and truth, see 1832. The chief reason for this is that men do not know what good is, and if they did know they would still not believe it at heart. And as long as their good is enveloped in obscurity, so too is their truth, for it is from good that all truth springs. Or to be more explicit, the idea that the Lord is Good itself, and that everything which in itself is a manifestation of love to Him and of charity towards the neighbour is good, and that everything which declares and confirms this is truth, they do not know except in an extremely obscure way. Indeed they even entertain doubts, and allow reasonings to enter in against those considerations. And as long as their state is such, the light of truth from the Lord cannot flow in. Indeed they think of the Lord as they do of another human being and not of Him as God; and they model their idea of love to Him on some worldly kind of love. What genuine affection that stems from charity towards the neighbour is they scarcely know at all, or even what charity is and what the neighbour is. Yet these are essentials. From this one may recognize the great obscurity in which spiritual people are and which is all the greater before regeneration has taken place, which state is the subject here.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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